Absence & Presence

Well guys, I'll just be straight. Looks like my journal directive didn't quite work out. I forgot the cause of it, but something happened and I wasn't able to keep up with it.

And I've been failing to reach my quote consistently... Again. By now, I've written only about 55,000 words, which is equivalent to about 10,000 words a month... A measly 1/3 of my usual rate. And I haven't posted on this blog for a month and a half. A record if I may say so myself. For that I apologise.

I guess this year is going to be the least productive year of my life, and I won't try to justify it - I believe I've done that before.

I guess we all have our up and downs.

I'll just update you guys on my progress in Phonehead, my next major novel. In the month and a half that I've stopped posting and slowing down, I've managed to bring my new protagonist (with a retreating soldier in tow), who is in an electronic zombie apocalypse, from the highway on the way to find his girlfriend, to where she lived. They met, hugged and kissed, and resolved an argument between the soldier and a new character, a surprisingly rebellious police officer.

And now I'm writing Belinda (the girlfriend) and her story.

I believe the story would be finished by December latest, going by my current rate. However, fingers crossed - maybe I can get myself out of this slump.

I'm gonna brainstorm about what to put in this blog. It's been growing cobwebs and actual spider webs.

Writing Report S3 #5: Rewinding / News

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted much, but these days have been hectic. My tutoring business has boomed once more, and I'm getting used to the fact that there'll never be a day when I get to just stay at home and laze/sit/play games/watch Netflix/write. Anyway, it's not a big deal, as I'm still far from working myself to death like those 'modern heroes' in China.

There's a lot of progress made, though there were a couple of days when I was just burnt out:

On 21 April 2018 (Saturday), I wrote something like 300 words.

Then on the 22nd and 23rd April, I basically stopped. Too tired from work, I suppose.

On 24 April 2018 (Tuesday), I wrote 600 words.

On 25 April 2018 (Wednesday, yesterday), I wrote 650 words.

So far, I am able to bring the hero and his friend forward into the muck, finally combating the electronic zombies that has been plaguing them. They're still trying to get out of the expressway of death, but they're close... Hope nothing happens to them, heh :-)

---

In other news, I have finally something to release after something like half a year of dead silence. However, it's a tricky one as it can't be committed to Kindle Unlimited yet, so I'm unsure of how to proceed. I've thought of doing a pre-order for it, with some lucky folks receiving an ARC copy in exchange of an honest review, but then again, this is one of those when I'm not even expecting a 20% recoup of the initial capital - it will just be a way for me to continue on the road to actual profits.

I see red all the time and I'm tired of it. Red gets scary, I know.

Anyway, this is what I will be releasing very soon, probably within next month (May):

Yep, it's that interquel of The Keeper of Pulau Purba I talked about ages ago, and after a stint in an anthology, with good results, it's now going to strike out on its own, having attended the university equivalent of books.

Can't wait to see the reviews, because I think it's at least a little better than my debut novel.

Writing Report S3 #4: Rest & Write

The last 5 days have been kind of a hit-and-miss. On Saturday and Sunday, I wrote nothing, because I sort of have to take a break due to a certain personal issue, which is largely resolved by now. I couldn't write even if I wanted to. It's funny how it doesn't a natural disaster to suck the energy out of you. It stings whenever I had to skip on the writing - I'm hoping that I can regain the energy to be able to write despite whatever happens.

Anyway, if it is any consolation, Monday (16 April 2018) and Tuesday (17 April 2018) was productive as usual. 600 words per day. That's the rate I'm hoping to maintain for a few weeks before I up the pace again. I like putting myself back into the grinder, and 'normalcy' as people know it just wouldn't cut it. My fingers have to bleed if I am supposed to make any real progress.

And speaking of rates... Yesterday (18 April 2018) was terrible. I fell asleep after 150 words. I'm planning to make up for it today, by writing 1050 words. I hope I can - the reason why my writing had slowed down over the months was that I couldn't.

Anyway, my protagonist and his soldier buddy are now engaging in their first real challenge - working together and trying to get past an even bigger blockage on the Tampines expressway... Filled with the titular antagonists of the book.

At least it's going to be an extra exciting 1050 words this time around.

Writing Report Season 3 #3: Consistency

Well, it looks to me like I've been able to maintain a writing rate of above 500 words. Yesterday, on the 12th of April, I was able to write 600 words again.

The story continues, and my protagonist learns more about the... Phoneheaded situation surrounding him from the perspective of his soldier acquaintance.

I'm hoping to be able to push myself to 700 words a day, but I'm going to do it progressively. It's just like running a marathon. Consistency is key, and if you want to increase your speed, you gotta take your time on it, edge into your new velocity.

Anyway, just as a heads up, I would have forego writing today (just when I talked about consistency!), because I slept only 2 hours last night... Due to a rather embarassing thing I would rather not talk about.

Writing Report Season 3 #2: Progress

Hi guys, it's your resident monster maker again. This writing report is going to be for yesterday and the day before.

I think I've made some good progress on the speed of my writing. On 10 April (the day before), I wrote about 600 words. Yesterday, I wrote something like 750. I think 750 is a good rate to maintain for now, but I'm hoping to eventually hit 1,000 again.

Anyway, my auditor protagonist has finally found himself a car, a Mercedes-Benz no less - hey, if you're gonna brave the dangers of a recently post-apocalyptic world, you might as well do it in style and luxury, right?

Other than that, he's learnt some truths from his soldier acquaintance.

It's all good fun, can't wait to continue again. I'm not sure how long the novel would be though. I think it could end by 90,000 words? That would mean I'm almost half-way there. It's conceived as a different take on the zombie horror genre, so it's not exactly the most 'profound' thing I can write, and thus doesn't need so many words to cover, so...

Anyway, I'll catch you guys again! Gotta get back to writing. Wouldn't want to lose progress again, right?

Writing Report Season 3 #1: Dry Season

Hi guys,

As you may well know, I haven't been posting much on my blog. Basically, I've been suffering a dry season of writing. It's a lot of things walloping me at once, that I'm not sure how I'm supposed to rationalise.

So I won't. I'm just going to make it very simple for myself. I'm going to do what I always did to defeat a dry season. By punching it head on.

That's how season 3 of my writing report series started. I've decided that accountability helps, just like how it did before, and from today onwards, you guys will get a daily report on how much I've written, and what I'm writing. For today's installment, I'm going to start with yesterday...

In today, I've written about maybe 750 words. 500 of them were supposed to be done the day before yesterday. Yeah, it's that bad, which means the real progress I've made was just 250 words.

I'm in the middle of the 'Phonehead' novel I told you guys about. In an unexpected twist to even me, my protagonist met a new character who saved his life. A soldier, who seems to be keeping something from him as they abandoned their car to a vehicle pile-up on an expressway and walked on in search of another.

I'm hoping to be able to at least write 750 words today, but my eventual target is to reclaim what I lost - the 1,000 words a day daily goal.

I'll keep you guys posted.

Roleplaying

It's been a long time. I wish I could say that I have a novel well-baked and ready, but it's still far from it. Jake (the tentative name of my protagonist, which I feel is actually a little cheesy) is still prepping to rescue his girlfriend, and the world hasn't really gone to hell yet.

Anyway, I'm going to talk about something different today - a hobby related to writing that I've decided to return from retirement.

Roleplaying.

It's the direct application of writing for entertainment, pleasure. However, I'm nothing if not a little practical. So, I just have to ask myself: Is roleplaying useful in any way? Conversely, is it actually detrimental to professional writing?

By roleplaying, I meant over the internet, in a play-by-post forum. Basically, you create a character, and 'play' that character in a setting, usually in the same capacity as a writer who have control over the character, though some would directly take the place of the character (though this is far less common, and even actively discouraged). Your character interacts with others from your peers, and that's where most of the fun is.

Personally, my opinion of it is that roleplaying is generally detrimental to writing... But that's initially. However, I feel that the answer to this is far more complicated than a black-and-white thing, a yes-or-no question.

Let's break it down, shall we? We'll start with the negative impressions I have of roleplaying

Cons:

- Lack of control. You can't control your character entirely, and you don't control the story, even if you're the GM (Game Master).

- Exposure and vulnerability to other egos. It is entirely common for other roleplayers to 'ghost' - disappear from RPs. Many will create problems and make a big hoo-hah for one reason or another. Others will seek to exert pressure on you, to alter your character, the story (If you're GM) or anything else.

- Lack of professionalism. You're among people who aren't necessarily writers, nor would they embody the traditions, virtues and discipline that published/self-published writers have. Hence all the above.

- Drain on time and energy. Some RP will take up time and energy that would have otherwise been used for writing professionally. However, if roleplaying is done alongside writing, it may still affect your writing.

- Roleplays don't commonly last long due to the above problems, and even fewer would be finished at all.

Pros:

- It's good practice. You pump out words, and you might realise some truths because of it.

- It gives you access to an incredible resource. You get to read what others have written, and you might gain inspiration from them. You can compare notes, and improve yourself that way.

- Roleplaying is an excellent testing facility for characters you have in mind. You can 'test' to see how your characters would react to certain situations and other characters.

- It's habit-forming. It comes with the bit about roleplaying being good practice.

The Cons may seem to outweigh the Pros. However, this does not take into account the quality and real impact of each point. The truth is, it really depends on the individual. Personally, I find that it is actually good for new writers, since it's practice. Otherwise, I'm just doing it intermittently - and continue with the cycle of returning to roleplaying and then retiring once more.

A Brush With Mortality...

Hi guys! Sorry about the lack of activity here. In my Facebook page, I promised to reveal another writing spot that I've adopted but I haven't gotten around to it yet. The reason? You want the reason? Well, I've been feeling far too human for the past couple of weeks. It all started... When I was born.

But seriously, I have been sick for the past two weeks, and it began the worst way possible, with a killer fever/flu/cold/cough/headache combination that basically shackled me to my bed. The fever took a sleepless day or two to abate, the cold not long after, but the headache lingered on and off, and I've only just begun to leave behind my flu and coughing fits. And now, I've been having severe pains in my neck, probably from carrying my bag on the same shoulder for uncountable months.

In other words, I haven't been very productive as of late. I'm surprised that I can even write at all.

However, that's not what I'm here to talk about.

Let's just say that a brush with my mortality, as painful as the experience was, is actually inspiring in its own way. I'd even go on to say that you haven't really lived unless you've suffered a little. Yep, I might cry, scream, curse and swear at the bad days I've had and will have in the coming years, but looking back, it contrasted pretty well with the successes I've had. There's no happiness without sadness. Since the bad days are unavoidable, and most of them are past and cannot be changed, you might as well make the most of it!

Anyway, I feel that this feeds into my writing, and it's nothing new either. For my first novel, I've used the pain and suffering I've gathered from my army days to make the experience in it as authentic and twisted and enjoyable as possible.

I've never been this sick before in my entire life, but at least I know how it feels like. It's going into my writings one way or another.

Phonehead

Yes, I shit you not. That's what I'm working on now.

So far my first month of 2018 in writing has been a little slow, but so long as I'm making progress, I'm good. Anyway, yes, I'm working on something slightly different from what I usually write. The working title of the novel is literally called 'Phonehead', and its about a new app that completely entraps the user, such that their attention will be stuck on it. It gets worse from there, much, much worse.

I see it as a chance for me to take a breath of fresh air and work on something different - It's both horror and sci-fi in equal accord, with a little slap of the weird fiction juice. For this, I admit to have drawn some inspiration from Junji Ito - though it won't change my style profoundly because I found that we have a lot in common (except in terms of fame and wealth and skill :D).

Anyway, I am hoping that my inspiration for this book does not falter.

Progress on New Books & 2018's Good Start

It seems that joining the 2017-2018 new year countdown has given me an auspicious new start to a whole new year.

As I've reflected last year (probably... Must be the alcohol), I have completed the next installment to The Keeper of Pulau Purba close to the end of 2017, or at least the first draft.

What's interesting though is that in the last few hours before the new year countdown, I was able to sit down during a lull in the celebrations (yeah, I'm a bit of a party pooper) to actually do an outline for a book that I feel I should write. It covers about 75% of the plot and story, and is about 700 words long. It will serve as a guide to writing my next work.

It's going to be a science fiction, but with generous streaks of horror painted on it. I just love to make matters complicated. I can't really write pure genre fictions at all, it seems.

Anyway, this year is off to a good start. I'm starting to go back to my usual speed again. On the first two days of 2018, I was able to average at 500 words a day. Not too good, but better than 200 or 300. Yesterday, I wrote about 750. Nearly there. I'm going to try to return to 1,000 words. It helps a lot that I'm breaking new grounds here. No matter how much I'm in love with Pulau Purba, I guess I just need to sate my curiosity and desire for new lands.

To give a quick summary of this new book, it's basically about a new app that came out mysteriously, forcing users to stay glued to their phones, with both their eyes and hands. It gets worse from there, much, much worse... The story follows a 38-year-old accountant who's sick of the life and work he couldn't get out of. But there's going to be something he'll hate much worst. A primarily Sci-Fi novel, it will be set in the near-future.

Project Shadolure (The installment to TKoPP), as per my plan, will be put on developmental hold until after the second installment is completed, which will involve a foreign young girl (American) visiting Pulau Purba with her priest uncle to surprise her aunt, who is a very familiar USMC observer there.

Outside of writing (which is just as important), my career as a professional tutor has taken off. My early fears of abandonment by the parents who retained me proves to be self-torture. Most of them have resumed my service, and I'm back up to regular pay again, and more. I believe my monthly salary will even total $3000 with less effort than last year. I just need to keep it that way.

2017 In Review and 2018's Resolution

Hi guys, sorry for the long, long, looooooooooooooooooong overdue post, but y'all can rest easy now knowing that I'm still alive and not sacrificed to an Ancient One's cult.

It happens all the time. When year-end comes, I tend to let myself go a little and neglect a few things. It's like clockwork. I guess it's a combination of a few things, from military duties to fatigue to disillusionment, to the need to finally take a break and enjoy myself after holding out for so long. But the good news is, this phase never lasted in the past two years, and it won't kill my writing anytime soon.

One good thing about just sitting back and relaxing is that I get to reflect on what I've done in the 2017, to fight back any unrealistic expectations and regrets of mine and plan for the future.

Anyway, I'd like to think that 2017 has been a productive year. This is what I've achieved:

• Wrote the majority of Through the Abyssal Gates, I'd say about 80k out of 120k words, and then editing and publishing it.
• Wrote an interquel to The Keeper of Pulau Purba, about 35k words, which is published in my first anthology.
• Working on another interquel to The Keeper of Pulau Purba, now currently hanging at 70k words, though it won't be published this year, not by a long shot.
• More or less finished a Noir-styled screenplay for a roughly 20 minutes long film.

This is a mark up from 2016, when my main achievement is getting my first novel out, and working on a small part of the next book.

But let's talk about next year, 2018. What am I going to achieve? With the new year coming up, we'll call this my new year resolution of sorts, for my writing:

• Complete the Quadruples: four stories in novella length set in the same universe as The Keeper of Pulau Purba. As an estimation and benchmark, each novella will be 60k words in length, making a total of 240k words for the entire collection.

1. The first is already being worked on: Two security troopers on Pulau Purba telling each other stories of their encounters with the forces at work while patrolling the jungle half of the island.
2. The second will be about a young American girl visiting the island during their graduation parade and open house to surprise her aunt (of the USMC observation party there) with her uncle.
3. The third will be about a journalist who vows to cover the entire incident, risking life and limb and soul to do so.
4. The fourth will tie everything together with a rescue team, saving whoever there is to save on the island.

• Join whatever anthologies I can. This means the original group I got together with, as well as that of any genres. Each short story I contribute won't be as epic in terms of length though, due to expectations. I'd say at least 10k words long on average.
• Work on a book of a totally different genre: Science Fiction or Fantasy... or both (Science Fantasy).

Realistically, I won't be able to accomplish all of this, but I believe I'll be able to achieve at least a part of  the Quadruples, the anthologies and the new genre. It won't be a regression even if I did.

So... I hope you guys are looking forward to the new year as much as I am! There's always a new way for the world to end and for us to die every time the sun rises! :) Good luck!

An Under-Served Niche in Fantasy

As November progresses and I count down the days when I'd have to go back to an army camp to bumble like I always do, I have been concentrating more on consuming the media. While it is half about trying to just enjoy myself before the muddy inevitable, I see it as research as well, for what I will eventually have to do.

This month, I have been looking back at the films of my childhood, in the categories that I am writing now or intending to write. Horror, as well as fantasy and sci-fi.

One of those films is one that I barely remember at all. I have no real idea how I've come back to it after so many years. All I had were breadcrumbs to go on. I saw snippets of it and hear bits of it from the internet and YouTube, and from there I did my research, beckoned by echoes of my past.

I remember a scene used in Jon & Al Kaplan's musical about Liam Neeson and went from there. I searched about the moving fortress, about science fantasies. It took me weeks of curious twitch-searches and purposeless ventures, but eventually I happened upon it:

It's better than it looks...

Krull is a science-fantasy sword-and-sorcery movie from the early 80's, in theaters six years before I was born. By the time I watched it, it would have been 16 years old, maybe. That would be like watching The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring this year. Both films made an impression on me.

The synopsis is this: An alien overmind and its minions land on a planet from outer space using a mountain-like spacecraft and begins conquering the medieval population there. Lucky for them, the planet is ruled by two superpower kingdoms who decided to join in a permanent alliance via marriage. The marriage ceremony is interrupted by an alien assault, the princess is taken and the prince goes after her post-haste, with the help of an old sage and anyone he picks up along the way.

It's a film amazing for its time, and the special effects hold up pretty well (for the most part) even now. So in this film, we have laser alongside swords, aliens alongside cyclops, and a weird-looking starship alongside castles - though for the last part, the suspension of disbelief isn't too threatened by the fact that said starship looks like an evil mountain base.

Immediately, my imagination took over. The soldiers of the Princess Lyssa's kingdom look like their armour might have been inspired by futuristic designs. The castles are not as crude as true medieval constructions. The fact that the starship looks like a mountain is weird, but then again I won't be surprised if it isn't intentional as a way to disguise the base.

Then there's the aliens, who uses a single-shot laser staff (or rifle) that doubles as a spear. When they die, they will fall to the ground and some worm-like creature would bust out of their helmet to burrow into the ground. It's frightening yet amazing at the same time. It raises a lot of questions:

1) Why on Earth would invading high-tech aliens use single-shot laser staffs and not automatic laser rifles or something?

2) Why are the aliens so slow on foot?

3) What the hell is that worm-like thing in their head?

Here's my interpretation of what's going on:

1) It's possible that the aliens aren't military originally. They had to improvise designs. It could be that they are a rogue faction that decides to go on a forbidden conquest to rule over primitive races.

2) This ties in with the below question...

3) The worm-like things are the actual aliens, and the humanoid bodies are just machines that they pilot, albeit pretty fragile machines that could be destroyed with swords and multi-pronged javelins. Hence, it explains why they are sluggish, though they augment this with horses, probably sourced locally.

This brings me to my next point. As amazing as an idea Krull presents, it was a critical and commercial failure in its time. Despite this, it still managed to gain a cult following and make some tiny impacts on popular culture. It even managed to gain its own novelisation and comic book adaptation (by Marvel). But like any other new ideas, it has to fall flat first before it succeeds. A lot of plane designs were utter failures - until they weren't. Krull, I feel, has truly taken off from the storyboards - just that it didn't soar very far.

Krull can be described as a science fantasy, mashing together elements of both sci-fi and fantasy. It's rare in every media, and for good reason, if Krull is any indication. However, I believe that this special genre will have its time.

It's what I have decided that my fantasy books, if I ever get around to them, will be like. Science Fantasy is like a lost world that needs to be explored, and I want to be one of them who do. I want to be able to get it right, to be able to please both science fiction and fantasy readers. It will be hard, and greater people than me have failed, but I've gotta try. My passion compels me!

Halloween is Upon Us

Hey guys, exciting times! With the Chinese 7th Month not far behind us and the western Halloween mere days away, there's a lot of ghosts, zombies and various spectres running around lately. As it just so happens, I've decided to let my freaks out of the their cages as well. You see...

The hell gates are open at almost no cost! Now that'd get them running loose...

Hope the reception for this bookception is exceptional awesome...

Remember this guy? He's now yours at the price of... NOTHING! Yep, this fella is now on a free promotion, so if you really don't feel like sleeping, you can go ahead and download him for FREE. The offer stays up until the midnight of the 31st of October. Here's the Link:

Step through the Abyssal Gates if you dare...

Keep your flashlight handy for this one...

And then there's this guy. Do yourself a favour. Get it! If not for me, then for the 19 other authors who decided to take me into their pack. It's an anthology filled with a great variety of stories, made only possible by the number of horror writers coming together in a ritual of pain and torture and fear to summon our Great Lord into our midst.

Descent Into Darkness is available at the price of NEXT TO NOTHING! At $0.99!

Also, the paperback is available in case you want it in the room with you... While you sleep...

Enjoy: The first flight of stairs lie before you. Do you go down or chicken out?

Anyway, with that out of the way and the clown behind me dead, I'd like to take the opportunity to announce that I am about 50,000 words into my the first novella of a series of Pulau Purba novellas. I believe it'd be another 10,000 to 15,000 words before I'm done with it, although I'm always underestimating my word count, so take that to mean slightly more.

Happy Halloween!

My New Writing Hangout

Hi guys,

Never fear, I've been busy!

Last week, I had a thought that'd been intensifying throughout the days. As the end of the year draws near, I grew more tired day by day. That, and I could only keep up a routine only for so long. I would like to think that I'm a patient man, and two years of the same thing is long enough. Anyway, my productivity's down, and I have been frequently missing my quota, only hitting it sometimes, while at other times, I was writing at around 500 words each day before passing out. On some days, I'd even skip out on it.

That was when I'd decided. It's time to change up the routine! Introduce something new!

I've died and gone to heaven.

I'd decided to spice up my writing sessions, at least once a week. Previously, all my writing was done at home, sometimes in one long marathon, usually in two 500-word sessions per day. It was all nothing but the writing - no distractions except classical music on my other computer.

The alternative:

Yum... Always love myself some meat off a poor victim... (Of course it's not human!)

I didn't think it would work. See, there's a Korean BBQ restaurant in the local shopping centre, and lunch there is at a very reasonable price. About $17.50 per pax after GST and service. I get to barbeque my own meals there, so the result is a slow meal with time in between, so I thought I could squeeze in some time in between.

Of course, there were many reasons as to why such an idea would fail. First, my meal would require constant attention, attention which will be pulled away from my writing. Secondly, with that barbeque tray in the middle, it gets a little crowded. Third, any restaurant's noisy.

I managed to pull it off and more. The problems I encountered weren't much to begin with. I was able to multi-task, I was given a large table because it's office hours and there weren't as many customers, and noise means little when you're in the zone.

I was able to write 1,500 words in one seating that day. I haven't done such a thing even during my Batam writing retreat, where about 1,000 words in one seating is the norm.

I've done this again today, and I managed to pull off 1,300 words, even with company.

While I'm still trying to understand how on Earth such a place could accommodate writing so well, I have a few ideas:

- I have to wait for my meat to cook. It gives me time to write.

- The cosy, campfire-like ambience is good for self-reflecting and internal dialogues and struggles while writing.

- Each meal lasts several hours with my writing thrown in, as opposed to 30 minutes tops.

- The barbeque and the meal justifies sitting in one place for several hours, whereas just sitting down in my room for the express purpose of writing is intensive and thus exhausting and taxing on my nerves.

It's incredible. I guess I have another weapon in my arsenal for good writing. You guys should try it! And it doesn't have to be human meat!

A Night During the Descent Into Darkness

Hi guys, sorry for the late post!

Anyway, Descent Into Darkness has been out for two days now, and it's soaring in the charts!

We've just walked into the bar where H. P. Lovecraft's been conversing with Stephen King. We call it... The Night Club :D

Anyway, here's four more fellow writers who are with me in the anthology...

Cindy Carroll: She's been to many places alright...

Amazon Author Profile: Cindy Carroll

Cindy Carroll looks to be a highly versatile author, jumping from world to world - genre to genre, medium to medium. She has participated in many anthologies, so leaving your mind in her experienced hands shouldn't leave you with much doubts. Don't worry about waking up to find that decades have passed though, you'll probably only give hours if not mere days of your life to her writing... Well, let's hope so, or not :D

Scifi, horror, crime fiction - I wonder what's next? My bet's on fantasy. What's yours?

Max Lockwood: You can't see it in the picture, but he's wearing a belt full of revolvers and bullets. Lock & loaded!

Amazon Author Profile: Max Lockwood

Another seasoned writer, he has found his niche in post-apocalyptic fiction, and he doesn't just imagine it. He lived it in his life. Wanna survive a nuclear fallout? He's the guy you want to hook up with. If there's any writer who's going to survive the hell that is professional writing, it's him - so follow him, and your reading habit will last for decades to come. That is... If you can survive the horrors that will claw at you from his book.

He's covered two ways for the world to go Mad Max so far. Haven't read his story in our anthology yet, but I'd imagine a third one in there.

(Picture Unavailable: Just imagine someone cool and awesome here)

Delia Rai: Just entered the scene, but then again, so did literally every other writer at some point.

Amazon Author Profile: Delia Rai

I don't know much about Delia Rai, and neither does the great and mighty Amazon, but her story premise holds much promise: 'An unknown writer catapults into fame after he moves into a mysterious house with a locked door. An ambitious young journalist is sent to interview the writer, in the hope that she can find out if the rumors are true. Did the writer’s wife leave him or has something sinister happened to her? And why hasn’t the writer left the house in years? But the house is not about to reveal its dark secret without a price. Will she be willing to pay it?'

A strange writer and a missing spouse, and someone investigating him? I can already imagine a hundred ways things will head straight to the climax! The presence of three characters in the synopsis guarantees a story that isn't self-absorbed and there's much mystery that could be glimpsed in it. I say, give her your full attention?

Every writer, new and old, are like universes just waiting to be explored.

(Picture Unavailable: Just imagine someone with half his face torn off here)

E. E. Isherwood: He looks to be lurching around for a looooooong time...

Amazon Author Search: E. E. Isherwood

Now there's a zombie worth giving your brains to! This guy writes post-apocalyptic zombie fiction, and his zombie series has been searching for unwitting preys for a very long time... While I have my reservations about zombie media - you know how it is, as long as you do it right. Just look at The Walking Dead, and we don't have to look far to see the various zombie medias that had done well for themselves. Some of my favourite horror films are filled with zombies I had to wade through. Some pieces of horror media that has nothing to do with zombies will still have elements of it - if you know the symbolisms and analogies zombies are associated with.

We'll always need our zombies. Besides, it's not the only thing he's writing...