A handful of seasonally-appropriate tales:
Tag: free stuff
“This Place is Best Shunned” 😱⛪️🦑
My latest dark tale, “This Place is Best Shunned,” is free to read on Tor.com RIGHT NOW!!!
Allie and Rooster are heading down to Asheville for Rooster’s new gig, a cushy stint as artist-in-residence at UNC. Rooster is more of a con artist than maker of art, but Allie doesn’t mind, because he’s good-looking, charming, and values what she is: a girl with a keen eye for abandoned places and a knack for getting into them. But when they stumble upon an old backcountry church—the perfect backdrop for Rooster’s latest project—they discover that some “abandoned” places have a knack for keeping themselves occupied.
(Amazing cover art is by David Palumbo!!!)
Flashback Friday: Halloween Edition 🎃🦇🔪
A seasonally appropriate list of creepyscarry links:
- Teddy Has an Operation (short film)
- A Researcher’s Descent into Madness (short film)
- Actual pages from an actual children’s book from the American “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s (absolutely factual historical info; not fictional in any way, except for in that thoroughly un-fun mass-hysteria-and-the-delusions-of-crowds way)
- “The Slender Men” audiobook (fun horror fiction dedicated to all those adjunct professors out there)
- “Whatever Comes After Calcutta” audiobook (this one wigs me out a little because when I wrote it I was exaggerating about “red” America, and now it sorta reads as almost documentary)
Can’t Leave Your House? I’ve Got the Distraction for You—
—about some folks who really can’t leave the house:
I mention this now because I just learned that Audible is temporarily bumping artists’ royalties—which is nice, as I used their service to produce the audiobook of There Was a Crooked Man, He Flipped a Crooked House (voiced by the inimitable David Sadzin).
You can buy the audiobook directly on iTunes and Amazon, or get it as a freebie with a one-month Audible trial membership.
If you’ve never tried Audible before, it’s actually pretty sweet—I used it for years when I used to commute. These days, your monthly membership gets you a full-length audiobook and two Audible Originals each month. The first month is free with this link (here’s a UK-specific link, for those who need one). The thing that astounds me: Even though I haven’t been a member in more than 13-years, I can still access all the stuff I got through Audible back in the day—i.e., you really do have lifetime access.
“absorbing horror novella” (Recommended Story)
Rich Horton, Locus, Sept 2017
If audiobooks aren’t your thing, you can also, of course, get the book on Kindle or as a paperback.
Stay home! Stay safe!
TREAT TIME! 🎃👻⚰️🍬 Free audiobook: “The Slender Men” by David Erik Nelson
Been casting around for a short-n-sweet Halloween read? The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine has just released their audiobook of my story “The Slender Men”—free download awaits!
Episode 209: The Slender Men by David Erik Nelson – The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine
(here’s a direct download of the MP3, if you prefer)
Rish Outfield—who produced this audio—was also the voice actor for the last story I sold to PseudoPod, “Whatever Comes After Calcutta.” I love what Rish does for horror stories; it’s just so spot on. This is basically as close as you can expect to get to what I hear in my head when I revisit “The Slender Men.”
Thank You, Toledo!
Had a blast at the Toledo Mini Maker Faire this past weekend; met tons of great folks—many of whom will be swinging by this space looking for the following links:
- Wanna download free sample music projects from my books? Go here: davideriknelson.com/makenoise
- Wanna buy an autographed copy of one of my DIY books? Go here: autographed books
- Wanna buy through Amazon? Go here: David Erik Nelson on Amazon
- Wanna see more of my fiction? Go here: davideriknelson.com/FreeFiction
Thanks! Don’t stop the rocking, Toledo!
eBooks! eBooks! FreeBooks!!! New horror and sci-fi from Dave-o!
Three offerings today—and you can get ’em all for less than a Subway sub:
- My most recent novella, There Was a Crooked Man, He Flipped a Crooked House is now available as a standalone ebook. Read the horror tinged “Non-Euclidian architectural petty-crime adventure” that’s racking up kudos and five-star reviews at a humbling clip. (If you want backstory on the story, here’s an interview I did with F&SF about it.)
- Price drop on my novelette “The Traveling Salesman Solution.” A time portal story, and also a grim moral koan. If I’ve ever written a story I think everyone in America should read, it’s this one. For a limited time this lil fella—my first sale to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and only true hard-SF tale—is just 99-cents!
- FREEBIE ALERT!!! From now until Monday my time-travel novelette “There Was No Sound of Thunder” is free on Amazon! This is the story that introduced the Parable of Too Many Hitlers. Read the story Locus magazine’s Lois Tilton called “Stoopid” (although, in all fairness, it was also a finalist for that year’s Asimov’s Award so maybe check it out and make the call for yourself?)
I know a goodly portion of you have already read one or more of these stories; all are woeful shy on Amazon/Goodread reviews. If you wanted to swing by and leave your thoughts, it’d be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for helping nudge the wheel!
Goodreads links:
- There Was a Crooked Man, He Flipped a Crooked House (coming soon?!)
- “The Traveling Salesman Solution“
- “There Was No Sound of Thunder“
Start NaNoWriMo Right! Smash Writers Bloc!
Lots of you are creative sorts, and all creative sorts struggle with the same million-faced goblin, under a variety of: Writer’s Block, procrastination, “activation energy,” the Lil Hater, Imposter Syndrome, not inspired, “so busy!”, obligations, etc.
I’ve spent pretty much my entire adult life wrestling this same sinister, slippery blob, and talking with other creative folk about what we each do to try and wrangle that ass-jackal into a corner so we can Get Shit Done.
I’d like to share the choicest bits with you. Learn to:
- Use “Sprint Bursts” to build your writing muscles
- Eat the frog and puke up the draft
- Harness the power of the Pomodoro
- Work with “The Guys Downstairs” to do the heavy lifting before you sit down to write
This is all wrapped up in a tidy little week-long clinic, waling you through the process of laying the groundwork for a solid Daily Writing Ritual. The clinic is totally free, with no lingering hassles. This list doesn’t get combined with my newsletter or anything else, and there is no hard sell, because I don’t have anything to sell. Just the benefit of my experience and that of the other writers I know. Sign up, get the first email the following Monday, and the final check-in/thank you a week later. That’s it.
Wanna invest 10 minutes a day into getting the words flowing? Check it out:
SPOILER ALERT: Today is a *really* good day to read my novella “Expiration Date”
Or, if not today, then certainly by, I dunno, let’s say Tuesday, October 10, around 8am. No reason. Just … sayin’
EXPIRATION DATE by David Erik Nelson
I’m not saying the End Is Near or nuthin’… just, well, you know. Whatever. Whatever, right?
Your EXPIRATION DATE is here
The final chapter of my latest novella, Expiration Date, is now available—which means the whole thing is up and ready for you to “binge read” (aka “read.”) I’m not gonna say that it’s the perfect beach read, but for a certain sort of mind (and a certain sort of beach) it is the perfect beach read.
The good folks at Arbor Teas have also gone out of their way to furnish book group support, and teamed up with the Ann Arbor District Library for special Expiration Date Summer Games badges and prizes.
