Matt Roberts's Blog, page 4

Last Month For Skinner

Hey folks, just a heads up. I’ve decided to take Skinner off the market at the end of this month. I’ve always planned on “finishing” it, which it needs and deserves, and I’ve been planning a short story collection for a while, too. I might just polish up Skinner and put it in the short story collection. Maybe, we’ll see.

Right now there aren’t many details to be had other than what I just gave you. The short story collection is just an idea right now, but I hope to make it a reality sometime in the near future. In any case, who knows what the future holds for Skinner, but if you’d like to read it as it is now and you haven’t got yourself a copy, head on over to Amazon and get it for your Kindle now! At the end of this month it’ll be gone!

Reblog: This Is The Kind Of Competition Publishers Want

This is good stuff. I found it courtesy of Alexandra Sokoloff, and feel as she does about it.

This Is The Kind Of Competition Publishers Want

Since the huge shift to online purchasing and e-books, a common meme is that there is some kind of “discoverability” problem in publishing.

The funny thing is readers don’t seem to have any problem finding books they love. Any readers I talk to have a time problem – reading lists a mile long and never enough hours in the day to read all the great books they are discovering.

The real discoverability problem in publishing is that readers are discovering (and enjoying) books that don’t come from the large publishers. What these publishers have is a competition problem not a discoverability problem.

Read The Rest Here…

Reblog: After the Writing: Producing a Novel for Publication

I just read this article on Today’s Author and found it really interesting. It has a lot of good advice in it for self-publishing your novels. And possibly the biggest tip, at least for me, is to TAKE YOUR TIME! Your book deserves to be polished and perfect, so give it the time it deserves!

After the Writing: Producing a Novel for Publication

I’ve been shamefully quiet on Today’s Author lately, although there has been a pretty good reason for it: I released my third novel on May 16, an urban fantasy thriller titled Inquisitor. May 16 also happened to be my birthday. I’ll just say I was really busy. There’s a lot that goes into the production and finalization of a novel, and I’m going to give you the ins and outs of it. When you release your first book, I hope you have smooth sailing!

We all have different opinions on lists. Put aside yours for a moment. If you’re a fan of lists, rejoice. If not… you’ll need one. There is a lot that goes into producing a novel, and unless you’re a super genius who never forgets a single detail, you’ll want a list. More importantly, you’ll want to stick to the list. It really will help you release the best novel possible. To simplify things, I’m going to give you a very basic list of things needing to be done to prepare a book for e-book and createspace print editions. My personal list was about four times this long…

Read more on Today’s Author…

Review: Never Sleep Again

Hey horror fans! I just discovered the documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, and boy was it fun watching the nearly 4 hours it offered on everybody’s favorite killer, Freddy Krueger.

Heather Langenkamp (Nancy) produced this direct to DVD documentary, and she also narrates it. There are many who stop by to talk about the movies, from most of the actors, to all of the directors and even people who weren’t in the movies.

Joining the many who spoke about the films was of course Wes Craven, Robert Englund and Robert Shaye. Shaye, of course, was the creator of New Line Cinema. The documentary wasn’t just about Freddy and Elm Street, it was also about New Line, because of course they both go hand in hand.

The documentary talks about every movie in the series, excluding the newer reboot. They talk about casting for each movie, finding a director for each, making sets, props, writing the scripts, box office numbers, and so on. Of course they do, they have 4 hours to kill.

One of the coolest things about the documentary, aside from its topic and seeing a lot of the stars from the films again, are the stories from behind the scenes that I never knew. They might be out there on certain DVD bonus features, but I wasn’t aware of most of the stories. So I learned a lot.

To make the movie more Elm Street, they got original poster designer Matthew Joseph Peak to make the art for the documentary, and they also got Charles Bernstein to compose the main theme for the film. He made the music for the first Elm Street. There was also some awesome clay animation all throughout the movie, made specially for it.

I’m not sure about the extras that come with the DVD, I only got to see the documentary on Netflix. So if you got Netflix and four hours to spare, check this out! It’s awesome.

Thrifty Books

My wife and I frequently shop at thrift stores. Well, her mostly. On one of the times I went in with her, I was checking out a rack with a bunch of bagged books hanging from it. Each bag had a number of miscellaneous books stuffed in them, some full of adult books, some full of young readers books. Every bag seemed to have a basic theme. I saw two with books I wanted and when I discovered the bags were only forty-four cents each I grabbed them up.

The first bag came with the Robert Tine novel, “Eraser” which I’ve always wanted to read. It also had the Carl Hiaasen book “Double Whammy” which I’ve never heard of but looks good (and it apparently has something to do with fishing, which I love to do). And lastly the reason I got the bag, “Needful Things” by Stephen King.

“Needful Things” was the first novel I ever read of that length. A real book! I was a young teen and decided to venture outside of what my school was making me read every year. I think I checked it out of the high school library. Not only was it my first novel, but it was my first Stephen King book as well, which jump started the long happy relationship I’ve had with him. It has had its ups and downs of course, but all good relationships do.

The second bag contained books for the younger readers. Those can be fun no matter what age you are. For instance, I’m a huge fan of the young adults series “Turbo Cowboys” by Tony Phillips. I’m sure many of you, like me, are fans of the Harry Potter series. So I saw a couple of books in this bag that I had to have in my collection.

Not my picture. Thanks, somebody on ebay.

First, I got “Iglook’s Seal” written and illustrated by Bernard Wiseman. Before I donate it back to the thrift store, I’m going to read it. “Little Witch” by Anna Elizabeth Bennett. That looks like it might be fun as well, and will get a read before I donate it. And then there was the book adaptation of “The Pagemaster” which I’ll definitely give a read.

That brings me to the two reasons I got this bag, and these will stay in my collection. “Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator” was an awesome find, especially since I had just purchased the first book. I couldn’t find a decent enough print copy to buy on Amazon, so I settled with e-pub. But finding “Great Glass Elevator” in print, this gets me excited to find the first. My wife never knew there was a “Great Glass Elevator” book and I was just telling her how great it was, so I thought it was cool that she could finally read it.

The last book was a great companion book to have with “Charlie…” It was another book by Roald Dahl called, “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More.” I’m going to have fun reading both of those because of course, Roald Dahl is amazing.

That’s it. Some awesome reading material for just $.88 and I got to help out the thrift store a little bit. Plus I’m donating back a couple of those books so that they can sell them again and make more money off of them.

So, have you ever found any good reading material at your local thrift shop? Or in a yard sale?

How about these books. Have you read any of them? I’ve never heard of “Double Whammy,” is that any good?

Book Review: Blood Moon

Alexandra Sokoloff is, of course, one of my favorite authors. And even though Huffington Post has a “Women You Should Be Reading” list and Alex is on it, I think you should read her work because she’s a great author and story teller. That should be true with any author. Their sex should have nothing to do with it, and if you’re reading authors based on whether they’re male or female, you’re missing out. It’s time to expand your horizons.

Regardless, her second book in the Thriller Award-nominated Huntress/FBI series, “Blood Moon” is a great follow up to the first, amazing novel “Huntress Moon” which blew me away.

It continues the story of Special Agent Matthew Roarke hunting down a female serial killer who is also the only possible way to stop other killings from happening. As with the first novel in the series, this one had me hooked from beginning to end and the pages couldn’t turn fast enough.

I have only two problems with the books… they end, and the new ones aren’t coming out fast enough. Seriously, no book series has ever had me hooked like these do, and I don’t think I can beg Alexandra enough to get the next book out any faster.

If you’re a fan of detective/crime novels, this series would definitely be right up your alley. Give them a read and you’ll see why they’ve won awards.

It should also be noted that when originally published they’re on e-book only, but the first book “Huntress Moon” has been released on paperback. I can only imagine “Blood Moon” will be as well after the third book is released, which again, can’t happen fast enough for my liking.

I give this book 9 of 10 stars (5 of 5 on Goodreads).

Book Review: Gerald’s Game

And just where the hell have I been?! Well, I’ve been around. Dealing with life. In between those life moments that nobody can afford to ignore, I’ve found a little bit of time here and there to read and write. Mostly read, which is just as important as writing. I’ve read a couple of good books and plan to write reviews for them, but for some reason I wanted to write one for this one first.

I’m going to skip a synopsis and go straight to the review, because I’m sure you’ve read this before. And if you haven’t, I’m sure you can find a synopsis somewhere before reading this. I’ll probably have spoilers too.

I had passed by this book in the book store multiple times and always wondered about it. Finally one of my friends made up some list that was going around on Facebook and in her list she said Gerald’s Game was one of her favorite books (or something like that). I asked about it and she said it was one of the most terrifying books she had ever read. Another friend told me the same thing. Excited, I planned it as the next book to read. My wife got it for me for my birthday and away I went.

I actually knew nothing about it going into it and was surprised to find out what it’s about, which you find out right in the beginning of the book. Stephen King jumps right into it. After Gerald’s death, which I found shocking, I then found the rest of the book shocking. Not because of what it was about, but because an entire novel was written based around this idea.

Basically, Gerald’s Game is about one small incident that was stretched out big enough to make a novel.

What intrigued me about that was, I have plenty of small ideas that I would love to turn into novels but didn’t think it would be possible. I even spoke with Alexandra Sokoloff once about it, and how my ideas for stories are typically short story ideas and if I’m lucky I’ll get a novel out of them. She was surprised, saying how all of her ideas are novel ideas and how she’d have a hard time writing a short story. To each their own, right?

Well honestly, I didn’t think it was possible to take an idea that on the surface had very little going on with it, and stretch it to make it something bigger. Stephen King, in all of his glory, showed me otherwise. There’s always plenty of places you can go with even the smallest of ideas. Use that imagination!

That was the biggest thing I took from Gerald’s Game, which was enlightening. As for the story itself, I enjoyed it. It wasn’t a huge terror to me, but I understand why it was to those ladies I spoke to about it. For me it was just another good King story. There were a few parts I grew tired of, such as the tall skeletal man in the corner she kept seeing. That was, until the end of the book, when I found out… well, you can find out for yourself.

Ultimately, it was a book that I couldn’t put down, such is the case with most all of King’s novels. It got me excited to read another book, which is good because I’m backed up!

I also discovered this is a sister story to Dolores Claiborne, so I might have to read it as well. Especially since a movie was made out of that.

I give this 7 of 10 stars (4 of 5 on Goodreads).

13 Stories Has Begun

Halloween has officially begun! If you haven’t yet, head on over to 13 Stories Til Halloween and get caught up. It shouldn’t take long, it started yesterday with “A Warm Welcome” and was followed by today’s story “The Block” by Joey Payne. The Mistresses of the Dark who run things there, Jordan and Beth, are keeping lock and key on the posting order of the stories to keep things extra interesting. So the only way to make sure you catch my contribution is to check in every day over there to read the next story! They’re posted at midnight (EST I think) every night until Halloween! Make sure to head over now and check out Joey Payne’s story, it’s a good one!

Happy October!

Hey gang, it’s that time of year again! IT’S OCTOBER!!!

Man oh man, do I love Fall! And what comes with it? The greatest holiday all year, Halloween! And what leads up to Halloween? Thirteen Stories!

Of course you know I have a tale in this year’s 13 Stories ‘Til Halloween, and it turned out nice and creepy! Once they told me what the theme was for this year I immediately thought of the classic tale of an evil family member out for revenge. More specifically, the short story “Father’s Day” on the cult classic movie “Creepshow.” I spun my tale around that premise and got something that I think might give you some shivers this Halloween!

To get you in the spirit, the fine folks over at 13 Stories made up this sweet trailer for the upcoming event!

In other news, I have decided to not do NaNoWriMo this year. I’ve finally fallen back into reading again and because of 13 Stories and Halloween itself coming up I’ve been in a creative mood and I foresee working on things that I’ve neglected for almost a year now happening very soon, hopefully. Which will inevitably lead to more writing and hopefully another project done and ready for print! We shall see though, I’m not holding my breath.

One thing at a time and right now Fall is upon us and 13 Stories will be here before we know it! Mark your calendar for October 19th and spread the word, it’ll be a lot of fun!

Hand One Is Dealt On Sale Now!

Hey folks, check this out. I was just cruising around Amazon when I stopped by the page for Hand One Is Dealt when I discovered a book store from California has a couple copies of the book, brand new, on sale! Also, Amazon has the book on sale as well for a whopping 40 cents off! Either way, now would be a great time to get your hands on a paper copy of the book if you’ve been wanting one!

I also noticed Krista Gossett posted a lovely review of Skinner on Amazon as well! If her name sounds familiar, she’s the amazing artist who hand painted the cover of Hand One Is Dealt for me!