DEVILS YOU KNOW -- THE BOOK THAT WON'T DIE

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is 666. -- Revelation 13:17

Way back in the gentle year of 2016, I published Devils You Know, a collection of horror-themed short stories I had written over the course of my lifetime. When I released this book, I did so with the full knowledge that collections by unknown authors do not sell, and I wasn't disappointed. From a financial standpoint, it barely moved the needle. However, it collected a certain amount of critical acclaim and was a Hoffer Award Finalist -- an honor I wasn't expecting and still take great pride in (even though "finalist" is another word for "you didn't win.")

2016 was obviously a long time ago, and I have done much since, both personally and professionally, so it would be fair to say that Devils slipped off my radar. I viewed it as a necessary, noble, and fully intended failure, a grand and well-intentioned gesture rather than an actual, material accomplishment. Every now and again, however, I made some feeble, niggling effort to do something with it, to get it a slightly larger audience, a slightly wider hearing. I succeeded only in more than doubling the number of the book's reviews, which sounds like a big deal until you consider it didn't have all that many to begin with.

Now, I am not a huge fan of book giveaways, but I ultimately decided to list it on Amazon for free. Not permanently, not even for a long while: just five days. Since it never made me any money to speak of anyway, I literally had nothing to lose, and much to gain in terms of a wider audience: the more people read a book, the higher the proportion of reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, and the more new, paying readers ultimately come along. So I bit the proverbial bullet and gave it away.

For the first few days there was a mere trickle of downloads. Many, many people put out free content on Amazon, and it's always hit or miss as to whether you will find any of those intrigued enough to click the mouse, or no. Today, however, and to my very great surprise, I saw the fabled, mythical, also proverbial needle rouse itself from its dusty place on the floor of the dial, and rise swiftly and surely until it pegged itself at maximum. As of today, Devils You Know is ranked:

#1 in Horror Anthologies (Kindle Store)
#1 in Horror Short Stories
#2 in Horror Comedy

The really interesting part is this. Out of the top 1,000 free books on the platform, its Amazon Best Sellers Rank is...no kidding...666. When I saw this, I didn't know whether to laugh or cross myself. I mean, it's not a collection of cozy mysteries or comedy stories. The devil is literally in the book. Who knows? Maybe someone is trying to tell me something.

In a day or two, possibly as soon as tomorrow morning, these numbers will fall and Devils will slink back into its crypt, all thirteen stories of it. Before it goes, however, I'd like to encourage you to go to Amazon and give it a try while it's still free. You have nothing to lose but your soul.