Monster due out in two days (cover reveal and longer extract)

My short horror story 'Monster' is going to be published in two days! Look out for it in amazon stores, and other retailers.

For those not in the know, Monster is a short horror story about a newly turned vampire fighting for humanity to see her as anything other than a monster.

Here's the finished cover:

 As promised here is a longer extract:

“What about my rights?” The long chains pinning the handcuffs to the floor clatter against the metal table. I don’t believe this. I don’t believe any of this.

The man flinches at the sound, like I’m some kind of dangerous creature. I’m not. I’m just Honey Mason, eighteen year old checkout girl at the local supermarket. I don’t smoke, get drunk, or do any kind of drugs. I do my taxes. I eat right. I don’t deserve to go to jail.

“Humans have rights”, the man finally takes off his sunglasses, revealing pupils constricted to pinpricks. He pretends he’s not afraid of me, but I can smell it on him. He stinks of fear. “You aren’t human.”

I want to argue, but I’m terrified he’s right. Two months ago I was human, before I met my new ‘friends’. Now I’m not so sure. The things I’ve seen, the things I’ve done, they exist in the world of monster not man. The world tastes different - I’m not even sure it had a taste before all this. I feel different; stronger, faster, weaker, hungrier.

“I haven’t killed anyone”, I say, even though I am not sure that is true.

"You will", he says, and there’s no trace of a lie on his face. He believes it’s the truth. His conviction makes my faith waver. "It's only a matter of time."

I want to scream I'm not like them. I will never kill anyone, but I pause wondering if what he was saying was the truth. After they turned me they said I would be like them. I would feel the hunger as strong as they did. Nothing would stand between me and the blood, not even the life that held it.

The month old blood feels stale in my veins. From across the table I can hear his blood, can see the artery in his neck flutter with every beat of his heart. My eyes linger too long on his jugular and the rate of fluttering increases.

I think on blood the way I used to ponder which takeout to get after a long day of work. His blood would taste wonderful, so refreshing after so long without. It would slip down my throat, warm and comforting, like the warm glass of milk and honey I used to chase away nightmares as a child. The metallic tang would be further deepened by the salty taste of fear. His blood holds everything mine has lost, energy, health, sustenance. Drinking it would bring life back to the sluggish movements caused by my long fast.

Then as every time before, I remember that this is a human, and I am a human despite what they say. The desire to bite vanishes into repulsion. But maybe they are right, and one day the desire will be too strong. If I kill, I will surely die as well, and all that will be left is the monster. I can’t risk it.

My shoulders slump in resignation. “I’ll go”, I say in a small voice.

His face is impassive despite the fear that leeches off of him. “You don’t have a choice.”

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To receive updates when this and future stories are published, you can subscribe to this blog or send an email to me on: saustin259@gmail.com with the words 'mailing list' in the subject line, and I will send you an email when a new story is published. Emails will only be sent when something is published, with a description, cover and short extract from the piece, so no worries about spam.

Playing with covers

I've been playing with book covers today, my reward for a hard week of work. I've been trying to get my head around the art program gimp (like photoshop - but free), and so far it's not going that well. I'm sure I'll understand it eventually. It took me ages to understand photoshop when I had that, but eventually I mostly understood that, so hopefully this will be similar.

I am playing with other designs, but here is one I've done so far:

The awesome picture is from desideriasp-stock .

Undecided whether this will be my new cover or not. I still have over two weeks to decide before the story is released on the 30th of June. Decisions, decisions. I like it, but I may play around on gimp to see if I can make anything I like even better.

Monster - a teaser

As promised here is an extract of my upcoming short horror story 'Monster'. It is due out on the 30th of June. I may post a longer extract closer to the release date, and keep an eye on the blog for previews of the cover.

This is the story of Honey, a girl struggling to keep her humanity when the government lock her up for being a newly turned vampire.

Extract:

 “What about my rights?” The long chains pinning the handcuffs to the floor clatter against the metal table. I don’t believe this. I don’t believe any of this.

The man flinches at the sound, like I’m some kind of dangerous creature. I’m not. I’m just Honey Mason, eighteen year old checkout girl at the local supermarket. I don’t smoke, get drunk, or do any kind of drugs. I do my taxes. I eat right. I don’t deserve to go to jail.

“Humans have rights”, the man finally takes off his sunglasses, revealing pupils constricted to pinpricks. He pretends he’s not afraid of me, but I can smell it on him. He stinks of fear. “You aren’t human.”

Holly Lisle editing course - Lesson 4 (and updates)

I finished this lesson at about nine last night, so that I would have it out of the way for starting my new job today. So that means I managed it in four days, not including a read through of the instructions on Thursday. It was a pretty straight forward lesson, even I wasn't too confused about what to do.

I'm going to use this evening and tomorrow evening to knock my short story 'Monster' into shape. Then it'll be about time for lesson five, focusing on my big project 'Seeker of Truth'. Maybe I'll even get some time in there to get on with planning the series I've got in mind for my next big project.

Monster is still on schedule for publication on the 30th of June. I'll let you know if that changes. Keep an eye on this blog for extracts and cover art as they become available.

Progress

This morning I finished my first draft of epidemic. I started it with only a vague idea of length. I knew it wouldn't be a novel, but I did have more events to put across than my shorter works. It has ended at 16,902 words. Now that is done I'm putting it aside for a big revision once my novel 'Seeker of Truth' is edited.

Epidemic is the story of the slightly antisocial Jon:

A paranoid microbiologist returns to his hometown, suspended for scaring staff about the impact of an outbreak, unfortunately he's right and must protect his town from the disease and the diseased.

Jon is a little rougher round the edges than my usual protagonists. He speaks his mind, and has no problems if feelings are hurt in the process. I've fallen a little in love with his egotistical ways, so he is being put away until maybe October or November when I can put aside the time to make his story really shine.

Next up for shining is 'Monster', the short horror story I mentioned in my last post. This is the story of Honey, a girl struggling to keep her humanity when the government lock her up for being a newly turned vampire.

It's 3.5k words long, and does contain some blood and gore. If anyone wants to beta, feel free to contact me.

My second publication

And our winner is:

Monster. This short sits at around 3.5k words and I'm going to try and polish it up and get it ready to publish by the end of June. This will be my second short published. It contains vampires, werewolves and really more nasty creatures than I've ever put in a short story before.

So far feedback says I'm off to a good start, but it still needs major editing to make it shine. So as soon as my first draft of my novella epidemic is done I'll make a start on those edits.

Next deadline for this: 2nd of June. By this time I want to have an edited version to get feedback on. This is going to be a push since I start a new job next week, and I have like a million other things to do, but I'm going to try my darndest.