Promotions // The Strange New Normal
Aug 27, 2020 10:01 pm
Hello there, and welcome to this week's instalment of Not Entirely Here.
I originally thought the name of my site, and this newsletter, 'Not Entirely Here' was a fun play on words for science or speculative fiction, but as weeks turned into months, and months have now added up to almost half a year, it's also a commentary on my state of mind during the pandemic!
In this newsletter :
- When reality is stranger than fiction
- A library of free speculative fiction for you to choose from
- Your weekly suggestion: Amber Fisher
Here we go...
When reality is stranger than fiction
I've had to ditch a couple of drafts.
When I say 'ditch', I mean put them in that folder on my hard-disk called "Dump", where I relegate stories that are past saving.
Normally, that folder serves a very specific purpose. When a cliché is rattling around in my head, I give myself the time I need to write a short scene that contains it, make sure it's nice and tidy, and then put it in the 'dump' folder. There... cliché flushed out of my consciousness.
The 'dump' also contains story beginnings that were, with a little hindsight, just bad ideas, or ideas I couldn't convert into anything worth reading and had to be left behind.
Now there's a third category of writing in there. Speculative fiction stories that turned out to be true before I even had a chance to finish them. Two stories I had started involved viral pandemics. Neither of them bore all that much resemblence to what's going on in the world right now, but nevertheless, significant aspects of both stories now feel dated.
A third story (spoiler alert, it's called "The Nano") may be salvageable at some point because it has enough differences that it doesn't feel like a rehash of our recent past, but I've shelved it for the moment because it's hard to write speculative fiction on a subject that's too close to current events.
Challenging times...
A library of free speculative fiction for you to choose from
This week's promotion looks excellent, even if I say so myself. I would say that, of course, because my book is in it. But also, just look at that promotional graphic! Look at those covers!
I suggest you take a look at the books therein and test out a few new authors, it won't cost you a penny and there look to be some gems in there.
Your weekly suggestion: Amber Fisher
I've decided to try something new: a weekly recommendation (or two). The concept will no doubt evolve, but hopefully it's useful to you as a reader looking for new writing, and helps me contribute a little exposure to another author.
This week I'd like to suggest someone who's writing urban fantasy, a lot like me, but whose subject matter (necromancy) is a little different.
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But when a witch doctor with a rare talent prevents Kezia’s sick, elderly aunt from dying, Kezia is the only person who can end his cruel manipulation of life, suffering, and death.
The only problem? The witch doctor in question is already dead.
With hoodoo and death magic at her fingertips, a living opponent would be no match for Kezia. But when life is used as a weapon, will necromancy be enough to lay the suffering to rest?
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Endnotes
I'm working on the pre-launch for Emily Voss books 1-3, which is taking up almost all my time. I hope to be in a position to solicit advance readers in a month or so (to build reviews prior to publishing), and if I can get some traction and the feedback is good, I'll launch about a month after that.
Stay posted.
Thanks for reading.
Nick.
