These are the photos that Chris Hedges, master book binder and all-around good guy sent me. I have the book in hand, and am working on embellishing, adding content, (scribbling in the book, okay? Also drawing. It’s what I do, and I had Chris add extra pages, just so there’d be room).
I saw today over in Lisa Snellings’ Blog that she is working on a new edition of “Resonant Kiss,” a sculpture that I own one of the early editions of…back when I bought it, it inspired me to write a poem…when I saw her post, I pulled that poem back out:
You can see her post (and an image of the sculpture) HERE …
Resonant Kiss
By David Niall Wilson
Inspired by the sculpture of the same name by Lisa Snelling
8:14 February 12, 2002
She sat rigid,
Legs curving gently as
The arched spine of the chair
pressed to her back.
The light was dim – and deep,
It seeped about her, curling with
The smoke of three dozen candles
flickering . . . dancing . . .
No music, and yet, they danced.
The sound floated softly on the breeze,
swirling in through a window,
Dropping from somewhere far above,
or rising from below.
He played for her each night,
and each night the sounds resonated
within her soul….
Each night she felt him nearer,
wrapping tightly
Binding with the subtle ties
of sound, and passion
brushing through her mind to
Erase thought and
Replace it with heat.
The feather brush of fingers,
flying note to note to skin to soul
and steady, rhythmic strokes
of soft bow strings
Teased her relentlessly
With whispered words
Just out of reach,
And a face that wavered
On the periphery
of consciousness.
He played
And her head dropped back,
Long hair draping over the chair,
nearly to the floor,
Her eyes closed to the lonely night
Her world an echo of notes,
Drifting
In the arms of the night.
Somewhere far above,
or below,
he caressed the curved neck of his instrument,
eyes closed and fingers lingering
against the vibration,
bow flinging his heart to the sky
He acknowledged her sacrifice,
clasping the wooden frame of his magic
Tightly between his thighs,
and dreaming – -
of her eyes.
When a gorgeous, three hundred year old vampire is kidnapped from her lover’s top floor, high-security suite, the city’s underground community is shaken.
The abduction seems impossible, and when things seem impossible, there is only one man in the dark, underground society of San Valencez, California who can be trusted to unravel them. Donovan DeChance is a collector of ancient manuscripts and books, a practicing mage, and a private investigator.
Called in to investigate, he soon finds that there is much more to the case than a simple abduction. There will be no ransom, and if he doesn’t prevent an ancient, forbidden ritual from reaching its culmination, far more than a single vampire’s undead life will be at stake.
Donovan, his fiery, sometimes lover Amethyst, and a troop of supporting characters follow the ghostly trail of the kidnapper through a winding maze of intrigue, always a step behind, through magical battles, murders, and confrontations with a rogue band of young vampires intent on beating Donovan at his own game.
Vintage Soul is a dark, urban, supernatural mystery. Set in a fictional underground society, a city within a city, it opens portals to the unknown darkness that surrounds us. Fast-paced, strewn with clues, investigation, and magic, this is a book sure to slake the appetites of fans of mystery and the supernatural. Welcome to the darkness; welcome to the world of Donovan DeChance. Vintage Soul is Book I of the DeChance Chronicles.
For any who never heard that I was doing it, but are interested in hearing it, I was interviewed live on Sci-Fi Saturday night’s podcast this weekend. We talked about e-Books, Vampires, and a lot of other things… They’re a fun group, and I had a blast (while my kids listened and provided commentary on Twitter…
In honor of Read an e-Book Week, Macabre Ink Digital Publishing offers the following coupon code: eBOOKWeek
If you use this to buy e-Books from Macabre Ink Digital and use that code, you will receive a discount of 50%. That’s right. $1.00 stories for .50 – $5.00 novels for $2.50. All week, from the 7th to the 13th of March.
If you’ve been wondering when would be the time to start checking out e-Books, this is your week – particularly if you’re after books from Ronald Kelly, Steve Savile, Steve & Melanie Tem, or – well – David Niall Wilson. Now go…browse…BUY…but buy tomorrow if you want to save some cash.
DNW
PS – don’t forget that every $5.00 spent between now and midnight on the 8th (EST) gets you an entry into the other contest for free books. What a deal!
The other day on the Amazon Kindle message boards, Smashwords author Ed Patterson met a U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq who wanted to download ebooks for his Kindle, yet Whispernet (Amazon’s wireless download service) didn’t work in Iraq.
Ed offered to email the soldier all 13 of his ebooks, for free. The soldier gratefully accepted.
Following the chance encounter with the soldier, Ed, himself an Army veteran, queried other indie authors on the Kindleboards message boards, asking if they too would be willing to offer their ebooks for free to troops deployed overseas.
In a matter of days, about twenty authors volunteered their books. Almost immediately, Ed began receiving additional requests for ebooks from soldiers and their families.
Ed and some of the authors started using Smashwords as the platform for distributing the ebooks to soldiers. Using the Smashwords Coupon Generator feature, authors are emailing 100%-off coupons to the soldiers.
My son turned 17 and in celebration, he and I went out for Sushi. We didn’t take the rest of the family because a: they hate sushi and b: he wanted to go bowling. So that is what we did. My younger son, Zane (Dudemister on YouTube) wants to be a film maker, and he recorded (and edited) some footage of the great sporting event…it’s a little long…
WIN AN ORIGINAL 1995 SIGNED COPY OF THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF ESCHER & OTHER ILLUSIONS – HERE’S HOW…
Between now and midnight EST on March 8th, I’ll be running a contest. For every five dollars spent in the Macabre Ink Digital Store, in the Horror Mall, (this includes titles by me that were published by Darkside Digital – find them HERE) at the Horror Drive Thru Fantasy & Horror Sites, and in the Amazon Kindle store on Macabre Ink Digital products, you get one entry. The more you buy, the more entries you receive.
All digital downloads by all authors published by Macabre Ink Digital are eligible, as are any print books in the Macabre Ink Digital store.
This collection has been out of print since the early 1990s, and there weren’t that many copies to start with. The prize is even more rare. I had to track it down and purchase it on line, and it arrived without the original signature page. To remedy this, I’m signing the title page and numbering it #666. I will also include a signed ARC copy of my new novel, VINTAGE SOUL, and your choice of one digital download from the store. That’s a decent prize package. Two runners up will receive $5.00 in Macabre Ink Digital store credit applicable to any title.
The clock starts now. If you purchase works through Amazon, the Drive-Thru, or The Horror Mall, you’ll have to contact me by leaving a comment here at this blog or at my author’s website to let me know. I CAN check to see what was purchased, but you’re on the honor system.
Let’s make this a real coming out party for Macabre Ink Digital. It’s a great time to see what we’re all about.
And he was me. I spent some time last week bringing my collection “The Fall of the House of Escher & Other Illusions” back to life as an e-book. This was published in 1995 – one of a series that included “Something Haunts Us All,” by Brian A. Hopkins, “Fugue Devil & Other Weird Hororrs,” by Stephen Mark Rainey, and “Endorphins,” by Nancy Kilpatrick. Volumes were also scheduled by Lois Tilton and John B. Rosenman, but the project faltered.
Anyway…it was interesting to go back and read the stories that defined my early career. I wrote with a lot of energy and passion back then – a little less craft, but for the most part, they stand up. Hell, I wrote novels based on two of the stories in this volume…I guess they stuck with me.
More on the book itself: I had to rescan and format two of the stories, and scan the artwork. It was a labor of love, let me tell you. I can say – I don’t write like this anymore. On one hand, I know the craft has improved. On the other, there’s an enthusiasm and style to these very early stories of mine that I still enjoy. This collection includes a romantic fantasy, two vampire stories, a couple of my patented religious horror stories…in other words, variety. I’ve published all the stories separately, and then I published the entire collection with all the original illustrations intact.
This is the first ever fiction collection by author David Niall Wilson. It was originally published as a signed, limited edition trade paperback in 1995. This book includes many early stories that have never been reprinted, and two – notably “On the Third Day,” and “A Candle Lit in Sunlight” that were later expanded to full-length novels. The cover is by the late and sorely missed Augie Wiedeman and the interior illustrations are by Michael Grilla. </P> <P>This collection includes vampires, magic, Lovecraftian horror, and religious fable. The introduction is by the late grandmaster of horror and fantasy, Hugh B. Cave.
All of the stories in this collection can be ordered individually on the site – or you can get the collection with original illustrations here. DOWNLOAD THE COLLECTION FROM MACABRE INK DIGITAL. Or click the titles below to order the individual stories. Very short stories have dropped to .50.
The other day on the Amazon Kindle message boards, Smashwords author Ed Patterson met a U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq who wanted to download ebooks for his Kindle, yet Whispernet (Amazon’s wireless download service) didn’t work in Iraq.
