Day: May 2, 2013

The Essentials of Writing Great Horror

Guest post
by Caroline Gebbie

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” H P Lovecraft

Since we first gathered around campfires we have told stories to elicit emotion and one of the most basic emotions is fear. Writing great horror is about invoking that fear in the reader, it can be done in much the same way as you would elicit other emotions in any story. The elements you need to create that feeling of horror include characters, plot, setting, point of view conflict and theme. Continue reading “The Essentials of Writing Great Horror”

Featured Author: William Hertling

William Hertling is the author of the award-winning Avogadro Corp: The Singularity Is Closer Than It Appears and A.I. Apocalypse, near-term science-fiction novels about realistic ways strong AI might emerge. His books have been called “frighteningly plausible”, “tremendous”, “must read”.

These technothrillers are based in realistic technology because he’s worked in the tech industry for nearly twenty years, and holds more than a dozen patents in computer programming and network.

He’s also written articles about the future of robotics and artificial intelligence and how to predict the future.

He’s been influenced by writers such as Charles Stross, Cory Doctorow, Walter Jon Williams, and William Gibson.

William Hertling was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up a digital native in the early days of bulletin board systems. His first experiences with net culture occurred when he wired seven phone lines into the back of his Apple //e, creating an online chat system.

He currently resides in Portland, Oregon, and is working on his third novel, The Last Firewall. By day he works on web and social media for HP. Follow him on twitter at @hertling or visit his blog williamhertling.com.

Continue reading “Featured Author: William Hertling”

Happy Trails, Mr. Pish

This week marks the passing of Mr. Pish; the intrepid traveling terrier of children’s literature, mascot of Indies Unlimited, and cherished companion of award-winning author and photographer K.S. Brooks.

In his travels, he visited 41 States, the District of Columbia, and  seven provinces of Canada. He swam in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans as well as 3 of the Great Lakes, and The Mississippi and St. Laurence Rivers.

In 2011, Mr. Pish was selected by Fido Friendly Magazine as One of the “Top 50 in the World of Dogs.”

He was a champion of outdoor learning and literacy, with six titles to his credit, and more to come. His books are being used in schools in the United States, United Kingdom, and Mexico.

Mr. Pish was also the only canine candidate for President in 2012, and the only one endorsed by Indies Unlimited.

For such a small dog, he cast a long shadow and touched many lives. He leaves a great legacy. We encourage you to check out Mr. Pish’s books and to buy one for a child you know to share in the tradition of outdoor learning and literacy.

Featured Services: Writers Win

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”

– Leonardo da Vinci

Where Writers Win was born from a keen desire to help great writers become successful authors. It’s been a collaborative effort of the WWW team to create a one-stop experience for the emerging author: offering social media and media trainers, videographer and website designers, editors, research hounds and author marketing bloggers.

But emerging authors contribute as well, because they’re on the front lines talking about what’s really needed out there. And what folks have been telling us is that you often just don’t have the time or expertise to research your author marketing options. So out of frustration, you pay someone else to do that for you. Sadly, much of the time you’re disappointed, overcharged and under-served. Continue reading “Featured Services: Writers Win”