A Fantastical Predicament

I'd like to ask your opinion. Yes, you.

Here's the question:

Do you believe that an author should stick to one genre?
If said author gains popularity with works of horror, should he/she only write in that genre for fear of losing the readers he/she has acquired?
Is this something an author should worry about?
If Stephen King suddenly decides to write romance, should he think twice?

I enjoy many different genres and always have numerous storylines swimming around my cranium. I write what I like. Some say I am a fantasy author. Fine. If those are the stories that grab you, please enjoy, but do not become angry if I step off into a different genre for a book or two. Or forever, for that matter.

There are those that show no interest in my non-fantasy works. Once again, fine and understood. It's those that act frustrated when I 'distract' myself with other stories, those are the ones that get on my nerves. Knock it off. I have varied interests. I love Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror. Some that fall somewhere in-between. Novels and comic books. I will continue to work on projects that I feel passionate about and hopefully someone out there will connect with it.

If not, I still have something that gives me great satisfaction, don't I?

So get ready for an Urban Fantasy/Cyberpunk/Parallel Realities/Thriller.

No, that's not a joke.

Walk with the Wind. 

William 

PS... I am outlining a second In the Shadow of the Black Sun trilogy.

PPS... Because I want to.

PPPS... Would love to hear your opinions on the author/genre question.

Ingheist is Live!

...and here's the link to purchase Ingheist for the Kindle. Click here.

New horror novel - Ingheist

A fatal accident befalls police officer Simon Heath while in pursuit of suspected criminals. A woman and her two children are killed and Simon is injured. After lawsuits and months of rehabilitation, he finds himself with his back against a wall. Now shunned by the police force and former friends, Simon is running out of options when a job opportunity suddenly falls into his lap.

Ingheist, a university located in mysterious Fallow's Down - a veritable magnet for the weird - calls him in for an interview and odd things begin to immediately transpire. Dark splotches of mold begin to appear in his home, spreading like mad and nearly impossible to remove, the odor barely tolerable.
The rules are different within the campus police force, each cop not quite normal. What unholy purpose does Ingheist have for him?

Pulled into a web of evil and losing his sanity, will Simon realize too late that he must run and run far?

Available for the Kindle in the next day or so.

Thanks!

William

The State of the Black Sun....

Man....I have a hard time killing characters in my stories. I plan it out way ahead of time, but when the time comes it's not easy. It doesn't matter if the character is a good guy or a villain. I just wrote the death of a character that has been present in the In the Shadow of the Black Sun series since Book 1. I found myself becoming emotional during the scene. Hopefully readers will have the same response upon reading it.
I started this series in the year 2000, so these characters have been with me for 13 years. I know them. I know how they feel, what their goals are, what shaped them in their past. To send one into the garden of the Wind, well it's a sad, sad day. And there are others that will join this dearly departed figure before the story concludes.
I'm sure George R. R. Martin doesn't have this issue. He seems to kill someone every other page, no? He's used to it by now.

I've been reading the Shannara series by Terry Brooks. I had read the original trilogy when I was a teenager, but got sidetracked and didn't continue. Now I'm into the second series of books and enjoying them quite a bit. His descriptions of the Four Lands just makes me wish I could explore the place. I've got many more books until I complete that series. What to read after that? Doctor Sleep by Stephen King? The Recluce Saga by Modessit? The Elric books? Philip K. Dick books? So many choices....

I also need to decide what to write next. I have several stories brewing in the cauldron....A new fantasy novel. A horror novel. A cyberpunk/urban fantasy-type story. And so on and so on.....

Thank you to all of the readers that contact me. I appreciate your support and feedback.


William

Patient by William Kenney

Patient

 

 

 

I could only partially open my eyes against the white glare above. A blurry figure moved up alongside the bed and roughly touched my arm, encircling my wrist for a moment, then, releasing it. My mind was a jumble of thoughts, overrun by confusion. My eyes darted about as I tried to focus on the woman that attended me, but she remained a soft and formless, ghost-like figure, the darkness of her eye sockets staring back at me, hauntingly. Her stark white uniform shifted about like a hovering specter, the darkness of her hair, a black halo. I assumed she was a nurse, the owner of the soothing voice that addressed me from above as I lie in the bed.

"It's okay," she said, her voice caressing me. Her breath was warm and sweet in my face. "We're going to take care of you."

How did I end up here?

I tried to speak, but couldn't find my voice, gurgling and choking instead.

I felt cold and shivered a bit as the woman's movements kicked up a slight breeze. I noticed another figure, appearing like a shadow to my left. This person reached out both hands and there came a slight tugging in my abdominal region. I was still far too groggy to lift my head and investigate the procedure that was taking place.

Blinking repetitively, I tried to clear my vision, to no avail. Somewhere within the room, a machine beeped out a quick rhythm. My pulse, I assumed. It sounded much too fast. What was wrong with me? Was this normal?

"Something wrong?" this new figure asked in an almost sing-song manner. It appeared as if I gazed upon her from the bottom of the sea, her face distorted and altogether disturbing. I could hear an odd thumping as she drew close and my stomach suddenly growled with hunger.

There was a loud banging sound as the door to the room burst open, the nurses turning and shouting in anger at the apparent intruder.

"What are you doing?" shouted one of them. "You can't be in here. This is a restricted a-"

Her voice was cut off then and I could hear the low, wet thump of her body hitting the floor.

My thoughts were chaos.

Why can't I see? What is happening?

I heard the other nurse scream for security, then fall silent among a clattering of metal utensils and pans.

A large form loomed over me, darker than the others had been, and exuded extreme cold. A long, pale face moved in close to mine with a ghastly smile and an ancient, musty odor. He turned and addressed someone across the room.

"He's fine, he's fine. Everything went according to plan."

He then turned back to me.

"It worked," he said with a whispered laugh as he searched my body with his eyes. "You were right all along. It worked. I didn't think it was possible. You were near death and look at you now."

"They did a fine job extracting you. If they had only known..."

He and the other unseen person began to laugh quietly, their voices echoing oddly in the small, white room.

"Come over, Matthias. Just look at him. The first Vampyr Lord to make the transfer, reborn in the body of a human newborn. He will reign for eons."

They wrapped me in a blanket and took me from the nursery, their leathery wings dragging the floor behind us.

Links to my books

With all of this talk of artwork for book covers, I thought I would remind everyone that I write as well. LOL. I'm posting links to each of my books in the hopes that you check them out, read the samples and hopefully purchase one or more. All of the stories have great reviews and I've gotten a lot of good feedback from readers.

In the Shadow of the Black Sun Saga
(All ages Dark Fantasy series)

• Book 1: A Dream of Storms
• Book 2: Shards of S'Darin
• Book 3: In Progress (No, that's not the title, silly)

Tales of Embremere
(All ages/YA Fantasy series)

• Book 1: Embremere
• Book 2: Ghosts of Embremere (In Progress)

Undergrowth
(A Horror Novella)

Undergrowth is free this weekend!

Download Undergrowth, a horror novella, free from Amazon right now!

Here is the link.

Undergrowth, for sale on Amazon

The cover to Undergrowth

Have any of you given my horror novella a try? Any thoughts? It's my homage to Lovecraft and Poe. They always give me a certain creepy feeling when I read them and with this, I was striving for the same. If printed, this would be roughly 35 pages, so it's a fairly quick read. I plan to expand a bit and publish some of the things that I have written outside of the fantasy realm.
There are more horror stories coming and even a cyberpunk tale on the horizon. The story that I am currently working on could even be considered Young Adult.
In other news, I watched the movie, Immortals, Saturday night. Yikes. I'll leave my comments about that movie on a separate post.

I welcome any comments or questions.

Thanks,

William

Undergrowth

Hello all. I should be releasing this novelette in the next few days. I consider it an homage to Lovecraft, whose creepiness I enjoy. I painted the cover as well with Graphic Design help from my wife, as always. You'll be able to find this on Amazon for the Kindle. I think I'll be charging only 99 cents for the book. Perhaps one day, I will collect my shorter stories into one collection.

In other news, sales of the In the Shadow of the Black Sun saga are great with the new release of Shards of S'Darin. David Woods and I are still forging ahead with our horror novel and I have several other projects going at the same time. I can't help it. My mind never rests. Fantasy, Horror, Cyberpunk, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy. It's all in there just waiting to come out.

Your comments are always appreciated and thank you for visiting.

Walk with the Wind (But don't get tangled in the undergrowth.)

William

The untitled blog post

Hi everyone in cyber-land,

I hope everything is going well. It's much of the same here. Crazy storm last night, lots of wind, thunder. Possibly the doing of Mournenhile. Of course, the writing continues on Shards of S'Darin as well as a few other stories that I am writing simultaneously (Horror collaboration, solo horror book, fantasy short story). My brain seems to work like that. I have multiple worlds in my head at the same time. Not really sure how I keep all of the details separate, but it seems to work. I'm considering entering a short story contest that's coming up. Short stories are a completely different animal than long-form works. Usually, when I attempt a short story, it grows into something much more complex. I grow too fond of the setting and characters to just leave it in a short form. I end up expanding it into something larger.
I'm also providing artwork for other writer's stories as well, interior and cover art. Art is one of my other passions, along with music. As soon as the books are published, I will display some of the pieces here.
Would anyone like to see an excerpt from the new book?

William

Too many stories...

I have so many ideas for stories, fantasy, horror, sci-fi, paranormal, that I couldn't possibly write them all before I die. I am effectively working on three stories at once right now. Shards of S'Darin, (Book Two of the In the Shadow of the Black Sun series), my horror collaboration with David Woods and a new horror story written in a completely different style for me, influenced by Lovecraft. Strangely, I have yet to read a Lovecraft book, so far only listened to the audiobook of The Dunwich Horror, but I've always been aware of his mythos. I just got them all as ebooks, so now I have no excuse. I just know that he wrote in a style reminiscent of older times. This is what I am trying to do with my new story. Of course, Shards is my main focus and so, too, will the third book in the series be, but it's a lot of fun to spread my wings a bit and write something completely different on the side. I came up with the craziest idea while shaving this morning, rather grotesque, really. Perhaps you'll read it later?

Walk with the Wind,

William

Creation...

So, I've really had to learn how to flip that switch in my mind lately. The switch that changes my attitude from fantasy to horror and back again. I'm writing both Shards of S'Darin and the new horror book (title currently a well-guarded secret) at the same time. It's not that difficult, both stories being so different. I've always been a fan of several different genres and have always wanted to take a stab at them. The horror book is set in modern times, so my writing style is much more casual and loose. My collaborator, David Woods and I have decided to alternate chapters. I've begun the first one, then he'll take the next. We've decided to keep the chapters relatively short, so that one writer doesn't 'take over' the story too much. Each should have a fair share of input.
I'm also working on some artwork for other author's books. Many people noticed the cover on A Dream of Storms and liked it a lot. Once they discovered that I had drawn and painted it, they inquired about having my art in their books as well. That's something else that I thoroughly enjoy, bringing other people's ideas to life. I've always done it. Years ago, working at a comic book shop, I would be constantly asked to draw people's characters (often role-playing characters) or superheroes. It was always great to see their expressions when they were handed my representation of their ideas. When their imaginations can be brought to life, they are very happy and I get a feeling of satisfaction.
So, here I sit with my little boy, watching him during the day, writing while he naps. Will what I write make a difference in the grand scheme of things? Who knows? But, when even one person writes to me and expresses how much they love my stories or characters, I get that same sense of satisfaction. I just love to create, whether it is with the written word or through art or music. I suppose I will always be creating even if no one ever experiences it but myself. I can't help it.

William

The Horror on the Horizon

So, as you know, I am currently working on the follow-up to A Dream of Storms. Shards of S'Darin continues the story of Hagan, Vasparian, Gorin and the others and their efforts to stop the armies of Mournenhile. What will it take to defeat the dark lord? The Pith, the foul creatures brought into existence by Mournenhile, are destroying everything in their path.  New characters and places. More glimpses into the history of these characters. I wish I could publish it right now, but it's not even half complete.
What you may not know is that I am collaborating on a horror novel as well. A friend, David Woods (follow him on Twitter, if you like) and I are currently outlining the story, creating characters and their names, locations and events. I've always loved horror and have always wanted to try my hand at it. We'll see how well the story works once we're finished. I love it so far.
One thing that I hate about writing is that you can write for hours and only have 3 more pages. They keys are clacking away, non-stop. You look at the clock. You look at your page count. Huh? Oh well, every page counts. A few pages a day adds up to a finished story.
I truly hope that all of you out there that have read A Dream of Storms have enjoyed the characters (good and evil) and the plot. It only gets better from here on out. These characters belong to you now as well and I do feel a responsibility to treat them with respect. If you haven't left a review for the book, please do. It will help convince others to try it. Many thanks to those that have gone out of their way to contact me and send me their compliments. I appreciate it.
Until next time.

Walk with the Wind

William