The Horror That Lives Just Around the Corner

                  

When I was learning to write, I was taught about the distinctions between different types of fiction. Horror, of course, was one of the main genres and came in two varieties. It was broken down into natural horror (stories based on threats like criminals, sociopaths and the violently insane) and supernatural horror (stories based on unconfirmed concepts like vampires, zombies and ghosts).  Right now the craze in horror is completely of the supernatural variety. All you have to do is look at all the media devoted to the zombie apocalypse to see what I’m talking about. But in spite of the current trend, I write natural horror because I believe that it makes the stories much more frightening.

I have three urban horror stories currently available for free on Smashwords:

• The Replacements is a story about three high school boys who are forced to face their worst fears when they try to buy a girl in the sex trade.
• Spare Some Change reverses the power dynamic between an urban yuppie and a homeless man deep in the tunnels under New York City.
• Finally, Afraid of the Dark is set in a near future society where government sponsored killers roam the streets answering to no authority but their own.

I try to create a sense of realism in my horror that infects the mind of the reader. I don’t want you to imagine a theoretical horror. I want you to feel like “This could happen to me.” That’s when you get scared. That’s when horror works.

I know Halloween is traditionally about supernatural horror. I know that vampires and zombies have a lot of cache in modern entertainment. But I don’t relate to supernatural horror, so I don’t have any inspiration to write about that. Stories about being terrorized by homeless maniacs or slave traders might not be the trend now, but try not to follow the trends. I’m trying to tap into primal fears and the fear of someone who might be just around the corner is more powerful than the fear of something that might only exist in our collective imagination.

Have fun.

G

Read a Little Urban Horror and Your Train Ride Will Never Be the Same

A new urban horror story from Nightlife Publishing goes on sale this week. Here is a look at the cover and a preview of the special story I’ve written for Halloween.

Spare Some Change

Martin is young, arrogant and drunk when he decides to harass a homeless man on the train. But he doesn't realize the power that the old man wields in the tunnels. He can't escape from the wrath of the deranged torturers who want to punish him for the sins of everyone who has ever abused them. Will he be able to live through their brutality and see the outside world again?

Authors, book reviewers and bloggers who want to write a review for this or any other Nightlife Publishing title should contact me directly at gamalhennessy@gmail.com for press copies.

Have fun.

Gamal

Life, Death and Sock Puppets

A few days ago, a New York Times article revealed a little known practice in the self publishing business. It appears that several authors, some of them very high profile, are paying companies to write great reviews for their books on Amazon and on other sites. Some writers go one step further and pay for people to write very bad reviews of books written by their competitors. These paid writers are referred to as sock puppets and they could have a major effect on the publishing industry.

What’s Wrong With Sock Puppets?

The problem sock puppets create is twofold; first because there are so many books available online, many people make their choice of what to read based on skimming the reviews a book gets. They work under the theory that if a lot of other people liked a book, they might like it too. That theory is fine if you tend to like mainstream work, but it completely falls apart if a book gets 75 great reviews all written by one person who was paid to write them.

The bigger issue might affect Amazon directly. I am under the impression that the algorithms that Amazon uses to recommend books to people take the average customer review into account. If there are three hundred books on salsa dancing available, the first books you’re going to see are going to be the ones with more good reviews. I don’t think most people don’t search every result for every book search they do. I’m sure many of them only skim one or two pages of results. If the sock puppet books fill up those pages, the writers who didn’t pay for good reviews will never be seen and never be purchased.

Loving to Hate Sock Puppets

The more I learned about sock puppets, the more ambivalent I became. I spend a lot of time reading and writing about corporate spies and espionage. I am very familiar with the concepts of deception, persuasion and subterfuge. I can accept the idea that paid messages can come in the form of ads, sponsored blogs, subliminal messaging and other forms of psychological warfare. I don’t think there is anything sacred about customer reviews whether they are for hotels, electronics or books. It feels like the inevitable struggle that occurs whenever someone learns how to manipulate a system for their own purposes.

But as a writer I still have questions and dilemmas created by sock puppets. Why should I spend months trying to get real reviews if someone can spend $500 to get 50 fake ones? How do I even know how many sales the sock puppets are going to get me? Are these authors devaluing their own efforts for 10 extra sales or 10,000? Even if I did decided to pay for sock puppets, what am I saying about my own work? The last question is the most important one for me. Does paying for reviews make me a pragmatic publisher who adapts to the market in ways that will maximize sales or does it make me an insecure writer who isn’t confident enough in his work to let it stand on its own?

The Best Stories You May Never Read

At this point, I think I'm just going to go back to writing and leave the sock puppets to their marketing masters. I am too vain about my craft and too unsure about the real benefits of manipulating the system. My refusal to use sock puppets might mean that I am creating the best stories that no one will ever see. But at the very least, I want to feel good about what I'm doing.

Have fun.

G

Your First Look at Must Be the Music

The new erotic anthology from the Nightlife Publishing goes on sale in a few days. Here is a look at the cover and a preview of the story.

 

These two erotic stories are dedicated to the DJ.

 

In Let the Music Play, a man looks for love behind the turntables and finds himself lured by a beautiful woman into a risky liaison.

 

In Dance for Me, a DJ spins tracks for his lover, but what happens when his music inspires her to dance with another man? 

 

This title goes on sale on Amazon on September 4th. Authors, book reviewers and bloggers who want to write a review for this or any other Nightlife Publishing title should contact me directly at gamalhennessy@gmail.com for press copies.

Asset Management and Sharing Secrets is Now on Sale

Sex Lies and Spies is offering two new stories on Amazon today.

We are offering one espionage story in Asset Management and one erotic story in Sharing Secrets.

Amazon Prime users can download the books for free. If you are in the press, a blogger or a book reviewer & you'd like press copies of my August books please let me know.

Asset Management: ($1.99)

Rose Mendoza is an ambitious young executive looking to make her mark at the security firm of RSVP. One of her first projects is getting rid of an enticing veteran operator named William Baker.  But as Rose learns about Baker’s plans and his connection to the brutal vigilante Ria Marlen she is pulled into a crisis that could end her career or even end her life.

Sharing Secrets: ($.99)
There are two seductive daydreams in this collection:

The Open Window combines voyeurism and exhibitionism on a cold winter night in New York City that burns away the chill for everyone involved.

Toy Story describes a visit to a sex museum that leads to a man’s first encounter with his lover’s personal playthings.

Be sure to check out our other crime, erotica and espionage stories for your Kindle, iPad and smartphone.

Afraid of the Dark (Crime fiction)

Bedtime Stories (Erotica)

The Replacements (Crime Fiction)

Have fun.
Gamal