Drive-By Update - TREATMENT Now Available on Nook

 

Whoa, two Drive-By updates in almost as many days.  However, same e-book.  TREATMENT is now available in another location.

This time it's for Nook.

And check it out: the Nook version has a different cover.  How's that for salesmanship?

Drive-by Update: TREATMENT Now Available as an E-Book on Amazon Kindle

 

I used to do these things called drive-by updates.  Maybe this will be the first of many.  

TREATMENT

Anyway, my short story TREATMENT is now available as an e-book on Kindle.  It's kind of a zombie story.  More of a love story.  It's also depressing and sad but also has a bit of hope in it.  Maybe?

Merry Christmas!

The Evolution of Erik Williams's PIGS

UPDATED AGAIN!!! - Another New Cover!

Yes, another new cover.  This one embraces the larger "crime" element of the story.

UPDATED!!! - New Cover!

Well, the old cover, although I liked it, wasn't doing anything for anyone.  So, I tried something new.  Above is the latest cover.  Evolution, indeed.

 

Yes, here we are again, talking about one of my previously published works that's now a stand alone e-book. What can I say other than:

• It's my blog to pimp as a I please
• I need to give myself some love cuz who else is gonna?
• Publishing another story gives me another excuse to play with covers and Midjourney

So, here we are.  This time around, we're talking about Pigs.

So You Wrote a Story about Pigs? Sounds Delightful

Nah, it isn't exactly about pigs.  Nor is it any homage to Animal Farm.

No, this fair story was written back around 2012.  I had recently fallen into a rabbit hole of true crime research. A hole I haven't found a way out of.  At the time, I was diving deep, deep into Son of Sam and Manson.  I was part of a Facebook group that was doing further research on SOS, working with the late Maury Terry. I was also reading a lot about Santa Muerte cults and drug trafficking.

The results of those obsessions include my novel Progeny, my story Dying of the Light (part of the Tales from the Yellow Rose Diner and Fill Station antho), and my story Pigs.

Where Progeny and DotL focused on Santa Muerte stuff, Pigs really delves into the idea of being obsessed with true crime itself.  So much so that it may unlock a door into a world you weren't sure you wanted to know about.

The First Go-Round

When I finished Pigs, I sent it to a handful of places for consideration.  At the same time, Tom Moran, the publisher of Sideshow Press (who did a lovely limited edition of my novelette The Reverend's Powder) was putting together a new imprint called Gallows Press. Instead of limited editions, the goal was to fill the void that a lot of shuttered mass market horror paperbacks had left.

There were a couple of successful ones already doing the same thing. Places like Deadite Press.  And I believe Tom wanted to do the same thing.

To launch the imprint, he put together an antho aptly named The Gallows and asked a bunch of previous writers he'd worked with if they'd be willing to contribute.  I had Pigs already done and said, "But of course."

Side Note: The Gallows is a cool little antho with work by a bunch of well-known horror writers like Gene O'Neill, Shane McKenzie, and some asshole named Sam W. Anderson.

Erik Does An E-Book...Briefly

Fast forward to 2015.  It's October and I just got downsized from my job.  I'm getting five weeks of severance and looking for a new gig.  Meanwhile, I figure I need to get my hustle on and start reprinting stuff.

So, having had experience self-publishing through Kindle and always looking to monetize my stuff that I have the rights to, I made an e-book version of Pigs.  Even got a cover made by a pro and everything.  Here it is:

Now I know, it's not the best cover.  Nor does it remotely fit the story.  However, it was a premade cover, only cost $35, and I was trying to get my hustle on.

Not surprisingly, I never made the $35 back.  Let that be a lesson to you writers.

I think I kept it on sale for a while, forgot about it, pulled it down, put it back up again in 2017 for a small amount of time and then took it down.  I took it down to re-evaluate not only the cover but also if it was worth keeping it as a standalone e-book.

Welcome to the Present

I've decided it is worth doing as a standalone e-book because it sure as hell isn't hurting anything.

Unlike my experiments with The Yellow Bug and The Long Bright Descent, I didn't play with the cover for this endlessly.  Nor did I post a new cover with the e-book only to redo the cover again and again.

Why?

This is not an easy story to capture a cover for.  Yes, it deals with true crime but it also tackles a freaky cult whose members like to wear skinned pig's faces as masks.  The cover couldn't look like a true crime cover, IMO, but it couldn't look as goofy as the one above.

I wanted something pulpy, with a Hard Case Crime feel but also let you know it was a horror story while capturing a bit of that L.A. feel.

Once I had this:

I felt that was it and could move on without tinkering with it anymore.  I also know I'm not likely to do much better on my own using Midjourney and Canva.

The Evolution of Erik Williams's THE LONG BRIGHT DESCENT

!!!UPDATED!!! - New Cover!  Again.

Yes, I did another cover.  That is all.

UPDATED!!! - Or, I've Messed with this Cover So Much I Can't Keep Track But Here's the Latest!

Yeah, the heading pretty much is the update. Anyway, the above is the latest. 

Or: Erik Makes Another New Book Cover

Well, you've heard this story before.  Erik has another work of fiction of his that's been previously published and now he's releasing it (again) as an e-book with another new cover because he hasn't quite found one he likes until now...or something like that.

This time, it's for his tale The Long Bright Descent.

What was Wrong with the Other Covers?

First of all, nothing was really wrong with the other covers.  They just didn't capture what I was going for or I couldn't get Midjourney to interpret my artistic directions well enough to make me happy.

Put it another way, I was okay with the other versions but I kept tinkering, hoping I'd find something better.  I think I have this time.

Where Did it First Appear?

You mean where did it originally get published for money? Well, that would be in the fantastic PEEL BACK THE SKIN anthology from Grey Matter Press back in 2016.

It's also the story Shane Douglas Keene, in his review of the antho for This Is Horror, said, 

"It’s an expertly written, fast paced and entertaining tale of two ancient beings that clash in an eternal struggle for the survival of humanity."

Oh, and it also was an Honorable Mention for Ellen Datlow's YEAR'S BEST HORROR, 2016.

Anyhoo...

What's it About?

The Long Bright Descent?  You read the above quote, right?

Well, it's a modern tale about two people that must engage in some form of challenge each and every night.  The challenge is a choice between a chase or a battle of wits. If the result is a victory for our good guy, the world continues and the challenge is engaged again the following evening. If our good guy loses, the world ends.

If it sounds familiar to you, something out of Egyptian mythology set in our modern time, you'd be correct.

What about the Cover?

The cover was tough. I kept going with this theme of driving into the sunset since both sunsets and cars play significant roles in the story. Below are my attempts in order:

All of them felt abstract enough but not mythical enough to get the core heart of the story across, IMO. Sure, the last one also has the apocalyptic feel of the story, but lacks the character scope I think it needed.

The New Cover

Notice I call it the new cover, not the final cover.  As my experiment with The Yellow Bug has taught me about myself: I will continue to noodle these. 

At least this one has the characters better represented, crossing a modern feel wit an ancient supernatural one.

Or it could suck. But I like it.

For now.