Alan Baxter's Blog, page 17

Authors For Fireys

(Please note: All the photos in this post were collected over the last couple of weeks from Twitter and I’ve lost track of who took them. If a photo is yours and you’d like credit or you’d like the photo removed, please let me know on alan@warriorscribe.com and I’ll credit or remove right away. Thanks!)

I’m pretty sure that wherever you are in the world, you’ll be aware that Australia, especially the east coast, is suffering through the worst bushfires we’ve ever known. So far they’ve killed 23 people, burned 8.4 million hectares, destroyed more than 1700 homes, and over half a billion animals have died. When we use the word catastrophic, it’s not hyperbole. The ongoing, so far unmeasured health effects of living for weeks with an Air Quality Index more than double the level of New Delhi is something we’ve yet to see. The smoke has travelled to Chile and Argentina. It’s here in Australia, but it’s a global issue.

 

 

Our firefighters, known here as fireys, have been battling the unprecedented bushfires for months. This last couple of weeks have been pure hell. They are woefully underfunded mainly due to a criminally negligent government that still refuses to accept climate change and embraces fossil fuels. That government has gutted funding to essential services. Due to a changing climate, hazard reduction burns have been harder to do every year – the cool season when those measures are usually taken have been shorter, hotter, and drier, meaning the usual methods employed can’t be done nearly as effectively. Couple that with massive cuts in funding that prevent our fireys doing their best work during the fire season, and a distinct lack of equipment, and you can see why so many of us are furious with our so-called government right now.

 

Our fireys should be a full-time, salaried force, but most are volunteers. So much of their work is funded by donations (which yeah, is absolutely fucked, but see above.) These incredible men and women fight fires without pay, putting their lives at risk to save people, land, wildlife and homes. Several have already died this year. So people are stepping up where our government has failed. Generosity from at home and around the world has been fantastic. So many different ways of helping have emerged, and authors are getting on board too.

Presenting #AuthorsForFireys

It’s a Twitter auction of signed books, author services, tuckerisation, and much more. It runs until January 11th. People bid directly in @ replies to the tweet, and the highest bid wins. When that bidder shows a receipt of their donation to the CFA, the book or whatever is sent out. Brilliant idea!

You can get all the details about how it works here: https://authorsforfireys.wixsite.com/website

So check out #AuthorsForFireys and see where you can get involved.

I’ve got three separate auctions running:

Five novel pack (Alex Caine trilogy, Devouring Dark, Hidden City), signed, sent wherever you want:

It’s #AuthorsForFireys – a Twitter auction, bids in the replies, highest bid makes the donation, I send the books when you send me the donation receipt. Full details here: https://t.co/42Lg1JZH23

This item – 5 novels, all signed. @ your bid to this tweet. pic.twitter.com/NARWdXeeAA

— Alan Baxter (@AlanBaxter) January 6, 2020

Manifest Recall, signed, sent wherever you want:

I’m getting on board with #AuthorsForFireys A Twitter auction, bids in the replies, highest bid makes donation, I send the books when they send me the donation receipt. Full details here: https://t.co/42Lg1JZH23

Next item – signed Manifest Recall. @ your bid to this tweet. pic.twitter.com/O2w9CsEZDq

— Alan Baxter (@AlanBaxter) January 5, 2020

Crow Shine, Limited Edition signed and numbered hardcover (there’s only 100 of these in existence), sent wherever you want:

#AuthorsForFireys – Twitter auction, bid in the replies, highest bid wins, I send the book when you send me the donation receipt. Full details here: https://t.co/42Lg1JZH23

One for collectors – a Crow Shine Limited Edition signed and numbered hardcover. Only 100 exist! pic.twitter.com/4LxVvqLkPH

— Alan Baxter (@AlanBaxter) January 6, 2020

Bid high! And only vote for people who promise to tackle climate change head on.

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Books read in 2019

I’ve had a stellar reading year. 70 books read in 2019, some absolute gems among them. I always set my Goodreads challenge at 50 books and usually exceed it. But I only record the books I enjoy in my GR reading challenge, so I can recommend all of these. I include graphic novels, novellas and anything else that vaguely qualifies as a book! This year my son graduated to actual chapter books, so I’ve enjoyed a lot of kid’s stuff this year too. I didn’t include young kid’s books in previous years, but now we’re reading stuff like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Secret Seven, so I’ve started including them.

I thought I’d look at a few stats. I’m basing this purely on general knowledge and author name, so if I get anything wrong, I apologise. I wanted to read more books in translation this year, but I fell a bit short of that, only reading a few. I also try to make sure I get a relatively even split of men and women authors, and a good amount of PoC authors, in order to have the broadest reading experience I can. I don’t want to only read old white man stories. And the wider I read, the better an author I become. Hopefully!

So:

Total books read: 70

Male/female author split: ~40/30 (this is approximate as some are multi-author anthologies, etc.)

PoC author: 6 (that I know of)

LGBT author: 5 (that I know of)

Books translated from a language other than English: 2

Non-fiction: 1 (this is bizarre, because I’ve read loads, but I guess I only finished one this year and added it to the challenge. I’ve read lots of stuff for pleasure and research, but not in its entirety.)

Overall, not a bad split in terms of gender, but I really want to do better with non-white, non-English language books in 2020. And I need to finish some of the non-fiction books I have on the go.

My reading challenge page is here, for details. Or you can click on the images below to see all the covers of the stuff I’ve read this year. What about you? A good reading year?

 

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SNAFU: Last Stand is out now

The SNAFU anthology series from Cohesion Press has rightly seen a lot of success. High-octane stories of military horror, loads of action, loads of monsters, how can you go wrong? I’ve had a pretty good run with writing for the series too – my stories appear in SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest, SNAFU: Future Warfare, and SNAFU: Black Ops. And now, I have a story in the latest volume, SNAFU: Last Stand. My story in this one is called “The Throat”. It shares pages with a bunch of incredible yarns from an impressive list of contributing authors, and it has a foreword by Hollywood’s own Tim Miller (Deadpool, Love, Death & Robots, etc.) I heartily suggest you get on board. Happy reading!

The US Amazon link is –> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZBY3GKQ

The UK Amazon link is –> https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZBY3GKQ

The AU Amazon link is –> https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07ZBY3GKQ

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#ScaryStories on Twitter

This writing business is a weird gig at the best of times. Sometimes, it’s downright bizarre. And usually lots of fun (not counting the endless waiting and relentless rejections!) And to make any kind of living, lowly mid-listers like myself are always on the lookout for extra work. The thing that came my way recently turned out to be a whole heap of fun. Along with a few fellow horror writers (John F D Taff, Richard Thomas, Olivia White, Gabrilelle Faust, Josh Bernoff, and Grady Hendrix) I was commissioned to write three scary stories to be promoted on Twitter throughout October, in the lead up to Halloween. Each story had to be pretty short, ideally around 500 words total. The other writers took various approaches – some penning straight-up third person yarns, some using a more obscure approach. Personally, I chose to use Twitter for the first person format it is and made my stories as indistinguishable from real life as possible. And in fact, all three draw on genuine real experience. How much? Well, that’s for you to wonder, dear friendo. Anyway, now the campaign is over, I thought I might immortalise the yarns here for posterity. I’ve regularly used Twitter for micro-fiction, and will continue to do so – I’m a writer, after all. But as these were three yarns for a particular purpose, I figured I’d keep them together here.

Below are each of the stories, in the order they were posted. At the start of each is the original first tweet, so you can click on that and read the thread on Twitter as it was posted, or you can just scroll through this post and read them here. All the other stories from the campaign are linked at the end. Enjoy!

Story 1 – Walking Rufus

Release Date: Tuesday, October 8 (~10pm Eastern Standard Time) | Wednesday, October 9 (~noon Aus. time)

Had a spooky experience last night. It started with a weird thing that happened walking my dog. #ScaryStories

— Alan Bax Murderer (@AlanBaxter) October 9, 2019

Had a spooky experience last night. It started with a weird thing that happened walking my dog. #ScaryStories

I kinda wrote it off as paranoia, but I’m not so sure. It began when I was walking Rufus along an old farm track we regularly use.

Here’s a photo of us enjoying it once before. It’s a great place to walk, because there are hardly ever any cars, except maybe the farmer in his pick-up every now and then. You can see up to one side it’s a steep hill of thick bush.

Walking there late yesterday, right before dark, there was crashing in the trees. Rufus stiffened, staring into the gloomy bush, his hackles up.

“Chill, dog,” I said to him. “Just a roo.” They blunder through there all the time. But this did sound a bit different.

The breaking sounds stopped, right in line with us, but too far in to see anything. I got Rufus to (reluctantly) come with me and we carried on. After a few paces the crashing started again. We stopped. It stopped too.

I had the sensation of being watched. Rufus growled.

I’d left the walk a bit late, so it was getting dark and, I’m not too proud to admit, I was getting spooked. I decided to call it a day and head home. I started back the other way and called Rufus to follow.

The noises started again—and they seemed to be getting closer. I started jogging. My nerves were up by now.

Roos don’t track people. Why would they? But what else could it be? Then Rufus barked and tore off into the trees.

I stopped, yelled for him, whistled, running back and forth near where he’d gone in. I heard his barking, and a deep growling sound, then more bush being ripped and broken.

Then a deep, thrumming kind of… groan? Then a yelp.

I shouted myself hoarse for Rufus. There was more thrashing in the bush. I braced myself, not sure how the hell to fight whatever might come out.

Relief surged through me when I saw Rufus, eyes wide with fear. He had blood around his mouth—and something else.

Once I realised the blood wasn’t his I decided not to think about where it came from.

I don’t know what else was on the fur around his snout. Some sort of grease or slime. In the failing light, it seemed almost green.

Rufus whined and trembled. “Come on!” I said, and we ran together the couple of kilometres home.

I thought that was it. But much later, right before I was about to go to sleep, Rufus leapt from his bed, teeth bared. He stared out the courtyard doors.

He stood there like this for ages, growling low, still with a tremor in his legs. No light out there.

It was late and I was a bit freaked out, so I didn’t do anything else, just decided to go to bed. Made sure everything was locked up and that was it.

But I can’t stop thinking about it today. Might not walk there again for a while…

This story originally ended here, but I followed it up with some extra fun, so click here to see how the thing grew from this original posting:

But I can’t stop thinking about it today. Might not walk there again for a while. #ScaryStories

— Alan Bax Murderer (@AlanBaxter) October 9, 2019

 

Story 2 – Hitchhiker

Release Date: Tuesday, October 15 (~10pm Eastern Standard Time) | Wednesday, October 16 (~noon Aus. time)

Let me tell you about the weirdest hitchhiker experience I ever had. #ScaryStories

— Alan Bax Murderer (@AlanBaxter) October 16, 2019

Let me tell you about the weirdest hitchhiker experience I ever had. #ScaryStories

I was on a short book tour, and being a low-key author like me, that means a lot of driving myself around and staying in cheap motels.

One time I was driving late after a signing. I’d decided to get in a few hours towards the next location before stopping for the night.

As I left town, a young woman was standing at the side of the road, thumb out.

Tall, blonde hair, well-dressed, and wearing a short denim jacket.

I thought she was taking a risk, but then again, maybe she was a serial killer and I was the one taking the risk if I stopped.

But I couldn’t ignore a woman on her own at night.

So I pulled over, asked her where to. She said, “Anywhere. Just away from him before it’s too late.”

Sounds pretty heavy, right? So she got in and I drove on. She was quiet, subdued. I guess scared.

I didn’t want to pry, but I asked if she was okay. She said, “He told me one day he’ll lock all the doors and burn the house down with me in it. So I’m leaving.”

I told her that sounded like the best plan. Did she need me to call the police? Could I take her anywhere specific? She shook her head, hugging herself. “I just need to get away,” she said, almost whisper.

Okay. I could help with that.

We drove on in silence for a while. Then she sucked in a breath. “Is it hot in here?” she asked.

She pulled off her denim jacket and threw it in the back.

I turned the AC up a bit, but I didn’t think it was hot. More silence. I tried to think of something to say.

Eventually I turned to tell her I where I was heading, just to make conversation. She wasn’t there. No-one was there.

My heart slammed and I nearly steered off the road. I’d been doing 100kmh on open highway for a good twenty minutes.

I figured I was more tired than I realised, and I stopped at the next motel.

I came back that way four or five days later. Passed through the same town late at night, maybe close to midnight.

I should have stopped there really, got some rest. But after the last time I was a little freaked and decided to drive right through.

On the way out the other side of town, I saw someone at the side of the road, thumb out.

I didn’t stop, didn’t catch her eye.

But I glanced over as I went past. Sure enough, the same well-dressed young woman, same blonde hair. Same need to leave. No jacket though.

Because that was still in the back of my car. Had been all week. I’ve kept it ever since.

Story 3 – The Old Lady In White

Release Date: Tuesday, October 22 (~10pm Eastern Standard Time) | Wednesday, October 23 (~noon Aus. time)

There’s an old lady in our lane, always wears white, and my son thinks she’s a witch. He says the white is camouflage. I’m inclined to agree with him. #ScaryStories

— Alan Bax Murderer (@AlanBaxter) October 22, 2019

There’s an old lady in our lane, always wears white, and my son thinks she’s a witch. He says the white is camouflage. I’m inclined to agree with him. #ScaryStories

It started with little things. One time on a bright sunny day some black cockatoos flew over, screeching like they do. “It’ll rain soon,” the old lady said. I looked at the clear blue skies and she just smiled. An hour later there was a downpour.

But that’s folklore, you know? There are other things, little things that add up to bigger things.

She grows weird herbs I’ve never seen anywhere else. They smell kinda… rich. She talks to her cat in a weird language. She says it’s Greek, but I’m not so sure.

Sometimes, at night, there’s a weird keening sound in the lane and my wife says it’s just the cows.

The mama cows lament their calves when they’re taken. It’s sad as hell. But this sound is different, and I think it comes from the old lady’s place.

One time I got home really late at night and saw movement behind her house.

I caught a glimpse of what looked like someone naked, dancing in the moonlight, such pale flesh. But not quite the right shape for a person.

I didn’t stop to see more.

She always smiles a little weirdly when she sees my son, and her voice changes. Becomes creaky and wheedling, like a child herself. It’s a hypnotising tone.

Sometimes her eyes are so bloodshot they look red.

But here’s the thing that really made me think my son is right about her.

A while ago, a backpacker was visiting. German, maybe, or Swiss? Anyway, he’d stopped with our neighbour across the lane for a while, doing work around their place in exchange for room and board.

He was arrogant, not a nice guy. Really up himself, thought he was better than everyone. No idea why.

One day the old lady was tending the herbs out the front of her place, and that backpacker dude told her she had an ugly garden. How weird is that?

“Why don’t you grow some nice flowers?” he asked her. “Instead of ugly leaves like your ugly face!” The hell?

The old lady didn’t respond, just scowled at him, and headed back inside. I caught her eye, but she only smiled. I felt sorry for her. “Pretty rude, mate!” I said to the guy. “What’s your problem?”

He just laughed. “Crazy old lady!”

Later that day, I heard music playing and saw the German dude working in the front yard of the neighbour’s place again. He had a radio on the fence, blasting too loud. Like I said, arrogant.

The day wore on and that music kept blaring. I went to ask him to turn it down, but he was nowhere to be seen. So I turned the radio off and left it for him to collect later. There was an empty coffee mug sat next to it.

Later that night as I was closing up the curtains I saw the radio was still on the fence, but the mug had gone. I remember it well, it had this strange design on it, like runes.

I never saw that guy again.

A week or so later I saw my neighbour and asked where the guy was, had he moved on?

“I guess so,” my neighbour said. “And honestly, we don’t miss him.” I asked if they kicked him out. “No,” they said. “It was weird. One day he was out here working in the front yard and then he was gone. Left his backpack behind and everything.”

“That *is* weird,” I said.

“We told the police,” my neighbour said. “They asked a lot of questions, took his bag, but we haven’t heard anything since. Maybe they’ll ask you some stuff soon.”

“I don’t know anything,” I said. “How strange.”

But then I remembered taking Rufus for a walk that day the radio was playing so loud. Right after I turned it off, I headed down the lane with the dog and I noticed smoke coming from the old lady’s chimney, kinda black and oily.

I thought it was odd, way too warm to need a fire. And I smelled something as well, partly enticing, partly disturbing, like roasting pork. I didn’t like it, and neither did Rufus. We hurried on.

After I spoke to my neighbour about the guy disappearing, I looked over to the old lady’s house. She was sitting in her front yard, drinking from a mug. The same mug I’d seen next to the radio that day. She grinned at me, and winked. #ScaryStories

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So there you have it! It was a pretty fun project. If you’re keen to read the Twitter threads of all the stories in the promotion, here’s a full list:

Olivia: Leave My Shells Alone

https://twitter.com/horrolivia/status/1181359223399161857

Alan: Walking My Dog

https://twitter.com/AlanBaxter/status/1181722583021936640

Gabrielle: Jack-O-Lantern

https://twitter.com/Gabrielle_Faust/status/1182098005769560065

John: Greenspace

https://twitter.com/johnfdtaff/status/1182461085829533698

Olivia: My Dear Old Neighbor Barbara

https://twitter.com/horrolivia/status/1182808127000981504

Gabrielle: Mirror Sister

https://twitter.com/Gabrielle_Faust/status/1183170219939942402

John: Chewed 

https://twitter.com/johnfdtaff/status/1183548259949858816

Gabrielle: Open Windows

https://twitter.com/Gabrielle_Faust/status/1183893318687698944

Alan: Hitchhiker

https://twitter.com/AlanBaxter/status/1184258388512821248?s=20

Olivia: Serena’s Necklace

https://twitter.com/horrolivia/status/1184620270071488512

John: Red, Red Paint

https://twitter.com/johnfdtaff/status/1185004665722822656

Richard: Danielle Descends

https://twitter.com/richardgthomas3/status/1185345627951108096

Josh: Aurora

https://twitter.com/jbernoff/status/1185707759347666944?s=21

Jess: WeWork

https://twitter.com/JessZafarris/status/1186070114518654985

Richard: Richard Returns

https://twitter.com/richardgthomas3/status/1186432591022428161

Alan: The Old Lady in White

https://twitter.com/AlanBaxter/status/1186793823256502272

Richard: Martin Migrates

https://twitter.com/richardgthomas3/status/1187157393546907649

Josh: Mindless Work

https://twitter.com/jbernoff/status/1187517404152238082?s=21

Grady: Square Feet

https://twitter.com/grady_hendrix/status/1187889147979223040

Jess: Opposite the Gorilla

https://twitter.com/JessZafarris/status/1188961273024843778

Grady: The Room Mate

https://twitter.com/grady_hendrix/status/1188247415414853632

Gabrielle: Daddy Long Legs

https://twitter.com/gabrielle_faust/status/1188607741063061504?s=21

Josh: Final Edit

https://twitter.com/jbernoff/status/1188977750004129792

 

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Awards eligibility post for 2019

We’re getting towards the pointy end of the year again (honestly, time is fleeting!) and it’s about now that I like to look back on published work for the year. It serves two purposes – one is a reminder for myself of what I’ve accomplished in a year, because it can be easy to forget how far I’ve come. Even when not much has happened in any given year, it’s worth celebrating what *has* happened. The second purpose is to remind folx what’s out there and eligible for awards, as it’s easy to forget that stuff too. I always appreciate these posts from other writers, so I make sure I do one. If anything I’ve had published this year rocked your world enough for you to consider it award-worthy, I would be eternally grateful for your vote!

Things like the Aurealis Awards and Australian Shadows Awards are jury voted, so I’ll be sure that I or my publishers enter my work in those. But things like the Ditmar Awards and Bram Stoker Awards are fan-voted, so it’s really great if you guys can get involved and vote for stuff (or recommend it, in the case of the Stokers). Remember, the more you get involved with fan-voted stuff, the more it represents the view of fandom as a whole rather than a focussed subset of active people.

For reference, here are the links to various awards rules and entries:

Aurealis Awards

Ditmar Awards

Australian Shadows Awards

Bram Stoker Awards

Shirley Jackson Awards

As for my own work, that being the real point of this post, here’s the stuff I had published in 2019 and what category it’s eligible for:

Served Cold (published September 2019, Grey Matter Press) is eligible for Best Collection in all Awards.

Original stories this year:

“Yellowheart” (originally published in Served Cold) is eligible in the Novelette/Long Fiction category of all awards.

and then the following stories are all eligible in the Short Fiction category of all awards:

“Exquisite” (originally published in Served Cold)

“The Ocean Hushed The Stones” (originally published in Served Cold)

“Jeremiah’s Puzzle” – Prehistoric anthology (ed. S J Larsson, Severed Press, July 2019)

The next two stories aren’t out yet, but they will be out this year and eligible, so look out for them!

“A Star Has Died” (A Silhouette Story) – Side Quests (OZTober, November 2019)

“The Throat” – SNAFU: Last Stand, (ed. AJ Spedding & Matthew Summers) Cohesion Press, due Nov 2019.

Should any of these be worthy, in your opinion, of an award nomination, I can’t thank you enough.

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Interviews in text and podcast and video oh my.

One of the things about being a writer is that people often want to interview you, to ask about your life and work. This is a great thing, and I’m always happy to get involved wherever I can. But interviews come in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes, people have a small following and they want the author to boost their listenership. Sometimes, they already have a big and engaged audience and the interview is excellent value for us, the authors, as it gets our name and work further out there. In most cases, the whole thing is symbiotic – we bring readers to their site/podcast/what-have-you, and they bring listeners to our books. One thing that I often think though, is how much do people out there really give a shit?

I can only base it on my opinion, and I often enjoy listening to or reading interviews, particularly with authors who’s work I admire. And especially if it’s with an interviewer who has done their homework, and asks interesting and thought-provoking things. Something I’ve noticed after a few years of doing this is that often someone will ask me for an interview and then when they get me on the mic or send me the questions, it’s clear they’ve done no research at all. There’s not a single question that couldn’t be answered from my Wikipedia page or by simply Googling “Alan Baxter” “interview” – seriously, do that and you’ll see how many of these things I’ve done.

Now there’s obviously going to be a lot of overlap. I’m only so interesting and I’ve only written so many books, and that’s okay, because each place will have a different audience. It’s all about reaching readersbut there’s a really noticeable difference between an interviewer who is keen and has done some homework compared to one literally just phoning it in. Anyway, I’ll rarely say no to interviews, because I’m small fry and I’m always keen to increase my readership. But when people get deep into things, I genuinely enjoy it. For me, the most fun interviews are usually podcasts. No typing and just talking shit for however long you want me. I’m good at that. I’ve made a whole list of links here with some of the most fun I’ve had with interviews over recent years (podcast, text and video). I’ll add to this as any more come along, and as I track down some others I couldn’t find right away. Enjoy! (And hey, if you’re new to the interviewing game and you’re thinking of asking me to do an interview with you, maybe look over one or two of these first!)

Podcasts:

This Is Horror – Always an absolute blast, and I’m always happy to go back.

TIH 174: Alan Baxter on Confronting Mortality, Starting Out Writing, and Early Life Lessons – https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/tih-174-alan-baxter-on-confronting-mortality-starting-out-writing-and-early-life-lessons/

TIH 175: Alan Baxter on Writing for Video Games, The Book Club, and Crow Shine – https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/tih-175-alan-baxter-on-writing-for-video-games-the-book-club-and-crow-shine/

TIH 176: Alan Baxter on Relocating to Australia, Writing Fight Scenes, and Martial Arts – https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/tih-176-alan-baxter-on-relocating-to-australia-writing-fight-scenes-and-martial-arts/

TIH 246: Alan Baxter on Devouring Dark, the Worst Flight Ever, and Releasing Four Books in One Year – https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/tih-246-alan-baxter-on-devouring-dark-the-worst-flight-ever-and-releasing-four-books-in-one-year/

TIH 247: Alan Baxter on Horror as a Dirty Word, The Master of Dark Fantasy, and the Supernatural – https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/tih-247-alan-baxter-on-horror-as-a-dirty-word-the-master-of-dark-fantasy-and-the-supernatural/

Write Through the Roof – On @ApplePodcasts – https://buff.ly/2mitUos or On @Stitcher – https://buff.ly/2mNZGdj

Conversations with Writers – this one got really deep and personal, almost as if he’d done too much research!

When you realise your book is broken.

This is a strange revelation to have on the day my latest book came out (thanks to everyone getting behind it, you people rock!), but here it is: The current novel I’m working on, that I’m about 62k words into (so maybe 3/4 or so done) is broken. And I mean really busted. The central premise for one major part of the story is so flawed the whole book falls down around it. It’s like playing Jenga, and you pull out the wrong block so the whole tower crashes down. I’m 62k words into this damn thing and just realised I pulled out the wrong block right near the start. The whole thing has been teetering on bloody-mindedness for weeks but I can’t bring the book home, because as soon as I take my hand off the tower, the whole thing collapses.

I can fix it, I think. Well, I’m sure. The major bones of the novel are salvageable, but… ugh.

I’ve been languishing in the third act now for a while, trying to figure out why I’m reluctant to keep writing. And I keep saying to myself, “Don’t overthink it! Trust in the story! It’s always worked before!” And it’s true, that has always worked before. But I often wondered if there would come a time when it didn’t work. Hello, this fucking book. It’s not working. The reason I’ve been so sluggish at moving on? It’s because I’ve realised what I’ve done so far is wrong. It took until now to really figure that out, but right from the start I was coming at this thing from the wrong angle.

The premise is sound. There are two primary threads that crash together to make the book, and those fundamental ideas are good. One of them works pretty much flawlessly. But the other one has a fatal flaw. A really brutal fuckedness that upsets the whole damn thing. How much that will pull the other thread out of true remains to be seen. So what now?

Like I said, I can fix it, but that requires a lot of thinking to restructure the whole core thread that isn’t working. And restructuring that thread means completely re-imagining the major supernatural threat of this novel. It can’t be what I thought it was. At least, not in the form it took throughout the writing so far. It has to be different for the story to work. But different how? Have you noticed yet that this blog post is as much me having a conversation with myself as it is telling you what’s happening?

Let me go on a tangent here. I met a mate of mine for breakfast a while ago. She said, “I have this major problem with the current book and maybe you can nut it out with me?” Of course, I was happy to. What happened is I sat there eating breakfast nodding and mm-hmming while she went through all that was wrong with the book and how it needed to be fixed. By the end she had her answers and I hadn’t said a word. That’s how writers work – we solve problems with words. She and I had breakfast. You and me? We’re hanging out in a blog post together, because no one was available for breakfast. Then again, I still don’t have answers, so maybe this blog post is only me realising I need to catch up with a mate and blather at them for a while.

So yeah, I need to completely re-imagine the Big Bad in this novel and let that foment in my braimneats. And then I have to go back to the start of the book and rewrite the whole damn thing. But doing it right this time.That’s okay, you know. I mean, it sucks massive hairy balls, but it’s okay. That’s the job. We get shit wrong sometimes. The book will no doubt turn out great and I’ll look like a genius or something, but these things are always born from me floundering away at the keyboard, with no idea what I’m doing. None of us really know what we’re doing. We pound on the word-making slab until a book is born.

But it’s important to recognise these revelations for what they are. It’s important to admit when things aren’t working, and then figure out how to fix them. I certainly don’t want to push on with a flawed book and then try to send it out for publication. We all know how that would end.

Regardless, first I need to get my head around how to change things so the story works. Perhaps I need to catch up with some folks for breakfast. I haven’t decided yet whether it means I take a while off to think, or shelve the whole book for an indefinite period and let it percolate, and work on something else in the meantime. I suppose I’ll wait and see. Now I’ve had this bolt of understanding, answers might come to me quickly. Or they might… not. I’ll let it simmer for a few days while I enjoy the launch of the new collection. Then I’m off to Comic-Con next weekend, so that takes some focus. I’ll let things rest until then, and see where I am. Maybe I’ll write a short story or two in the meantime, to keep the old creative juices warm and bubbly, while my hindbrain chews on this particular conundrum. Meanwhile, I do have a very big new project in mind that I was saving until after this book was written. Maybe that needs to move up the agenda. I won’t be doing anything until after Comic-Con.

Whatever happens, I’ll move on in one way or another because I’m a fucking professional. Shit, eh?

If you like what I do, the best way to support my work is buy my books, and share the word about them. Alternatively, you can also buy me a coffee at my KoFi page. Thanks!

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I got my #1 Best Seller!

After I wrote this blog post: The day I didn’t get to #1, and why, it seems kinda ironic and cool to be writing this one immediately afterwards. (And you just wait until you see the next post after this one.) But, for now I’m celebrating. HUGE thanks to everyone who got behind Served Cold on launch day yesterday. We had an epic day, and I landed that sweet #1 Best Seller tag after all. You can see all the launch shenanigans (including an excerpt from every story in the book) archived on the Facebook Event page here. Meanwhile, I’ll bask in these screenshots (click on them for a better resolution):

You’ll notice I held #1 and #8 in the Hot New Releases chart there, being for Kindle and paperback respectively. All this at the Australian store, of course. I’m still not a big enough hitter to smash these numbers at the US store, but one day I sure hope to be. So again, thank you to everyone for getting behind this book. I really hope you enjoy it if you bought it, and that you’ll give it a go if you haven’t grabbed it yet. If you do enjoy it, please tell your friends!

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The day I didn’t get to #1, and why.

I’m writing this because I think it’s an interesting experience that others might find enlightening. But I’m going to start with a caveat. I have nothing against Raymond E Feist at all. He’s a good guy, and this is entirely beyond his control. What happened is totally down to his publisher and Amazon, so no yelling at Ray, please. Look, here’s he and I on tour together at Supanova a couple of years ago:

(Click on any image in this post for a clearer look.) We had a good time then and I’ve nothing against him now. I greatly admire his body of work. Okay, so with that established, what happened?

Well, last Friday I very nearly hit my first number 1 bestseller spot on an Amazon list with paperback pre-orders of my new short story collection, Served Cold. But it didn’t happen. I stalled out at #2, which is a fantastic result and THANK YOU so much to everyone who kicked in, but you don’t get that sweet Bestseller badge for #2. Now obviously, an Amazon Australia sub-category is not the NYT Bestseller list by long way, but I’m not a big seller. I love my job and I do okay, but I’m no bestseller. I’ve topped a few bookstore charts and things when I’ve had events and signings, but I don’t shift a lot of weight, as they say in publishing. Which means I don’t sell heaps of books. So a bestseller badge on Amazon would mean a lot to me. It would be something I haven’t achieved before and every little step up like that is valuable in a career like this. And it has real value – a book that’s hot, gets hotter. People see a bestseller tag and give a book a go when they might have looked past it before. It gets the book added to bestseller lists that are presented when people search. That’s why such things exist. Building a career in writing is about getting hot and staying hot, otherwise it’s easy to languish and never sell much. So let’s break down what happened on Friday.

Served Cold went up for pre-order at the start of last week. On Friday I saw a sudden spike in the sales rank on Amazon Australia for the paperback pre-order. One of the things I saw was that not only was the book up to #86 in the overall store (a fabulous result already!) but it was at #2 in Horror Anthologies. I got excited, as I was obviously close to one of those #1 bestseller tags. So I put the word out on social media and asked people if they could help. I said that if they were thinking of getting the paperback, pre-ordering that day while the rank was hot might push me over the line to #1 in Horror Anthologies. And thank you so much to every one who jumped in to help – this community is fantastic and I can’t express how much I appreciate you all.

I watched the rank increase. It went up to #57 in the overall store, but still #2 in Horror Anthologies. Come on, I thought. I must be close. Then it got to #36 in the overall store, then #27, then #23. Holy crap! An amazing result. But still #2 in Horror Anthologies:

What’s going on? So I clicked through to see which book was holding me out of that #1 spot. Turns out it was a box set of Raymond E Feist fantasy novels. Holding #1 in Horror Anthologies.

That day I beat out actual horror short story collections by Stephen King and H P Lovecraft (holy shit, right?) but I can’t beat a box set of Feist novels. Here it is, with that orange #1 Bestseller badge that could have helped me out so much:

That badge is what I was after. What I thought I was so close to getting. But remember, I’m not a big seller. Even when I’m doing well, I can’t outsell Ray’s novels, especially with a collection of horror short stories. I especially can’t outsell a boxed set of the complete Serpentwar Saga. But what’s that doing listed as a Horror Anthology anyway? It’s dark in places, sure, but they’re fantasy novels. This highlights something publishers do to raise a book’s profile. Where do you think it’s easier to hit #1? In fantasy novels or horror anthologies? Even under Fantasy Anthologies this same box set is sitting at #8, not #1, because fantasy sells more than horror. Publishers know that. And while it’s a set of four books, it’s not really an anthology. But the publishers know a #1 bestseller tag is valuable, so they list books in sub-categories where competition is lesser, and then they can swiftly outrank the stuff that does actually fit that category. Which is good for them, but bad for the others. Bad for folks like me. Like I said at the top, I bear absolutely no ill-will to Ray Feist. He’s a great author and he sells heaps of books for good reason, and he had nothing to do with where the publisher listed his books. But I do get pissed off with publishers gaming the sub-categories like this, when I could have topped the Australian Amazon store, which would have been a career first for me, but this stopped it. Kinda bites the big one. You get no fancy badge and increased exposure for #2.

Oh well, that’s what happened and that’s the business. It is what it is, right? I topped out at #23 in the overall store, and that’s amazing. So a huge thank you to everyone who stepped up to pre-order their books and give me a shot at this. I appreciate you all so much, and I really hope you love the book. If you do, be sure to tell people, as word of mouth about books is ultimately more valuable than that orange badge I missed out on. Meanwhile, I’ll be over here writing more books. Maybe I’ll get that badge one day. Maybe I’ll sell as many books as Ray Feist one day. I’ll certainly keep trying. Meanwhile, Served Cold is still up for pre-order. It comes out on the 17th of September, so not long to wait.

Amazon AU – https://www.amazon.com.au/Served-Cold-Alan-Baxter/dp/1950569047/

Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com/Served-Cold-Alan-Baxter-ebook/dp/B07WVS9Y45/

Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Served-Cold-Alan-Baxter/dp/1950569047/

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Are you ready to be Served?

Hey witches and warlocks, my next collection, Served Cold, is out on Tuesday, but pre-orders are up now. And pre-orders REALLY help, especially on Amazon AU where it’s easier to hit a bestseller list. I’m sure you’ll dig this collection of 16 chilling tales, 3 of them brand new for this book. If you’re keen to give it a go, please pre-order! (Amazon AU are doing free shipping on orders over $39, so if you get SERVED COLD and something else, you don’t pay postage. Or you could buy 2 copies of SERVED COLD and gift one to a friend, and get free shipping that way.) Are you ready to be served?

Amazon AU – https://www.amazon.com.au/Served-Cold-Alan-Baxter/dp/1950569047/

Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com/Served-Cold-Alan-Baxter-ebook/dp/B07WVS9Y45/

Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Served-Cold-Alan-Baxter/dp/1950569047/

“In SERVED COLD Alan Baxter shows off his impressive versatility and range with a host of stories that mix old school terrors with very now concerns. At turns creepy and visceral, Baxter delivers the horror goods.” – Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World

“Step into the ring with Alan Baxter, I dare you. He writes with the grace, precision, and swift brutality of a prizefighter. SERVED COLD is a stellar showcase for his talents. If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading him yet, start here!”

 – Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Ararat and The Pandora Room

“Alan Baxter is one of the best horror writers in the business, and this is an exceptional collection. You’ll think of these stories every time you’re alone and the shadows don’t behave, but by then, it’ll already be too late.” – Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Turtle Boy, Kin, and Sour Candy

“SERVED COLD is a powerful collection of Alan Baxter’s writing at its best. These stories never shy from the darkness or the weird and yet are, at their core, deeply human. As readers, we identify with his characters even – or maybe especially – when we would rather not. Be it twisted desires or impossible choices, the harshest of consequences or the depths of despair, in these stories Baxter shines a light into the darker corners of what it means to be human.” – Joanne Anderton, award-winning author of The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories

 

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