I’ve just released the e-book Joined at the Muse. Those of you who know me might be surprised at the format for this one, but hear me out. I have over eighty short stories that have never been reprinted or collected. I have several novels that have been published, received stellar reviews, been read by the 300 people who bought limited editions, and disappeared.
In a business, if you have inventory, you find a way to move it. It occurred to me recently that in this digital age, while I still prefer my books made of paper and bound in leather, when possible, that the words and stories still need to be read. Moving into a new paradigm is always a bit shaky at first (as you may note in the format of the book if you download it).
Anyway…I started with my collection, Defining Moments, which is available (so far) for Kindle. I will be publishing that through MOBIPOCKET – where I also just released this new title, Joined at the Muse. The Mobi site makes books available for a multitude of platforms, and through a big list of sellers, and they are non-exclusive. Still good for the Kindle lovers out there, but not Amazon specific.
Anyway…last night, when I first posted that this book was available, I promised a story by story breakdown of how it came to be. Without further ado – Joined at the Muse:
Over the past twenty years I’ve had the good fortune to write and publish in partnership with some truly amazing, creative people. These stories are always a little more than they could have been with either author working solo – and always a little different than either imagines they will be from the start.
*A Poem of Adrian, Gray – by Brian A. Hopkins & David Niall Wilson
Brian and I wrote this story for a contest. There was a fiction contest to be judged at one of the first World Horror Conventions. We were already working on this strange piece involving the Millenium computer bug, designer drugs, and poetry, and thought…what the heck. The story placed – it was second or third, I can’t quite recall. Then we sold it to Gothic.net – a sale that started a long string of success for me in that market.
In this story, a man who makes his living trying to fix bugs in computer software is up against the Millenium bug, trying to eradicate the year 2000 glitches before the year itself arrives and things go dark. Most of you will remember the hooplah surrounding that. He also manufactures designer drugs, and through this has access to exclusive clubs. Along the way he meets a girl – a poet – who “writes” people. From there we descend through verse and surreal imagery into our tribute to Dorian Gray.
*The Purloined Prose – by Patricia Lee Macomber & David Niall Wilson
This began as a story for a themed anthology involving Edgar Allen Poe as a character. In the long run, it was too long for that market, and was eventually published in two parts by The Book of Dark Wisdom – and will also be reprinted in their first anthology.
In this story, during a chance encounter in a bar, Poe comes into possession of a secret that leads, in the end, to his stories, and his success – but not without a price. This was a lot of fun to work on, particularly because I got to write it with Trish, who is always my sounding board and partner in anything I do on my own.
*A Wreath of Clouds – by Stephen Mark Rainey & David Niall Wilson
This story began through shared e-mails. I had a snippet of a sort of Lovecraftian tale on my hard drive that I could never seem to move forward on. I sent it to Mark to see if he had any ideas, and he did. We moved it forward very slowly. In fact, though we started it easily ten years ago, we just finished it last month. This is the first time this story has seen print.
There is a house on a mountain, overlooking the sea. When author and researcher Daniel Schell notices an odd light surrounding the place and decides to take a drive up the mountain to check it out, his world shifts. Other dimensions and the strange old owner of the mansion draw Daniel farther and farther from his comfortable reality.
*Moon Like a Gambler’s Face – by Richard Rowand & David Niall Wilson
I truly enjoyed this collaboration. Richard Rowand bought my first professionally published story for his magazine, STARSHORE, way back in the day. He and I attended a writer’s group in Virginia Beach, VA – a group that another collaborator on this list, John B. Rosenman, was also an integral part. Rich was famous for beginning his critiques with the line: “Keep in mind, all criticism is subjective.” It was a dreaded line.
Anyway, he had a story he wanted to write, and since it was a big ghostly and spooky, and that was what I did exclusively at the time, he asked if I’d like to work on it with him. Rich is a very precise writer. Every word is precious, and we worked this over for quite some time. Eventually we submitted it to a contest at the Chiaroscuro website, and placed. We were published at chizine.com and got some money. Now I want to share that again. Strangely, perhaps, another collaborator here is Brett Alexander Savory, who is the founder and managing editor at Chizine.
In “Moon, Like a Gambler’s Face,” a man contracts cancer. He had a pair of old uncles, long dead at the time of the story, that come to mind when he gets the bad news from his doctor. Through very odd circumstances, our protagonist is drawn into a graveyard and comes face to face with death. There is to be a horse race, and that horse race is against Death himself. This story is littered with memorable characters and (I think) has the spirit of the horse race embedded firmly. It stands as one of my favorites of the stories I’ve been involved with. Thanks Rich.
*La Belle Dame, Sans Merci And *La Belle Dame, Sans Regret – by Brian A. Hopkins & David Niall Wilson
I’m going to describe these two together. The first was also my first collaboration with Brian A. Hopkins. We wrote it for a super hero anthology that it was never printed in (there’s a pattern here). When I published my own magazine, The Tome, I printed a story titled “A Darker Kind,” by Brian. In fact, I illustrated that story myself…though that’s another story entirely. That story is also a winding collaboration involving others in the book. The initial story had been submitted to Rich at Starshore. He thought it was more a horror story, and so, he sent it to me. He also thought it was missing something. I read the story, and made some suggestions to Brian, which he took. What resulted was the story of a lycanthrope – a woman who turns into a huge black panther and kills people when her hunger grows too great. In “Of a Darker Kind,” she is trying to kill herself by drowning (she fears water) and fails. Then she finds herself face to face with a killer. A serial killer. When she takes his life, she realizes that if she can’t end her life – maybe she can put her ability/curse to a higher purpose.
Brian and I took that character and wrote “La Belle Dame, Sans Merci,” starring Brian’s creation – Martin Zolotow, a detective with a cross-wired brain that allows him insights other investigators miss…but also causes him trouble. He has to recite poetry at times to unscramble his brain. He is on the trail of a serial killer who likes to use a nail gun to pin his victims to the wall. So is “Kat.”
Throughout “La Belle Dame, Sans Merci,” he closes in on her…in the sequel, “La Belle Dame, Sans Regret,” he has gone on an extended hiatus from the force to track her. I’m not going to go into details, but these are two wonderful stories. I loved every bit of working on them. The first was published in Ken Abner’s “Terminal Frights” anthology, and the second was published by (you guessed it, someone else on the contributor’s list) Mark Rainey when he was still publishing Deathrealm. This is the first time the two stories have seen print together.
*Ribbons of Darkness Over Me – by Brett Alexander Savory & David Niall Wilson
Brett Savory and I have collaborated so often that we have our own book of stories – the novella “My Eyes are Nailed But I Still See,” which has been favorably compared to Donnie Darko – and which is available for digital download now over at The Horror Mall. If you like e-books, you should check out the selections in their DARKSIDE DIGITAL section. If you just like books -and horror – they have you covered.
This story, though, “Ribbons of Darkness Over Me,” (title from a Gordon Lightfoot song) is unique here. I wrote a story long ago. I kind of liked it, but knew it was juvenile and not ready for prime time. I wanted to rewrite it, but thought some fresh eyes might help. What I did was to send it to Brett and ask if he’d like to help me rewrite it. He did.
This is the story of a man who invents a thing called a “Balancer” – a device that can measure the electrical impulses of one creature and balance it with those from another. For instance, a healthy animal, and a sick animal. An aggressive animal, and a happy, friendly animal. They both reach a “harmonic balance.” There is a secret involved, though, a secret that just might cost the inventor his life…or his mind…
*Death Did Not Become Him – by Patricia Lee Macomber & David Niall Wilson
Again, Trish and I wrote this for a themed anthology. This time, however, that is exactly where it was published. The them was H. P. Lovecraft Meets Sherlock Holmes. In our twisted little tale, Watson gets a pair of visitors in the night. One is a solicitor, the other his client – a man Watson pronounced dead only about a week prior. Confronted by the impossible, Watson becomes the client and takes the mystery to Holmes…what follows is Sherlock Holmes meets Reanimator – an ancient abandoned asylum – and mystery.
*Within an Image, Dancing – by John B. Rosenman & David Niall Wilson
I’m not really sure why John and I haven’t collaborated more than we have. We’ve known one another almost from the beginning of my writing career. John teaches English at Norfolk State University, and he writes horror, science fiction, and fantasy. A lot of it. He may be the most prolific author I’ve ever met.
We wrote this story in the 1990s. For whatever reason, we set it aside. It was never published. Recently I pulled it out and gave it a quick polish, but it’s presented here very close to the way it was written those long years ago…and for the first time. It’s a sort of romantic science fiction story. I hope you’ll enjoy it.
*That Extra Mile – by Brian A. Hopkins & David Niall Wilson
The only form of exercise I truly enjoy is running. When I first started, I learned about the sensation endorphins can provide when they kick in, and I started thinking about how that might work into a story. Enter Brian. Brian has something I do not – the research gene. When we started writing this story, he brought in some information he’d learned about “smart drugs” and “brain food,” and it all clicked.
Our protagonist is a runner. He’s just started to push himself, and the endorphins have him in their thrall. Then something odd happens. He sees a murder taking place. Then, the scene disappears. The story is built around flashes of different time lines he reaches through uses of psychotropic drugs and endorphins, and is one of the more interesting collaborations I’ve been involved in…
*Virtue’s Mask – by Brian A. Hopkins & David Niall Wilson
Imagine a world where sexually transmitted disease is so rampant and dangerous that actual human contact is forbidden except under extremely controlled conditions. Imagine a place where you paid to have “sex” and could only touch through a plastic shield? We imagined that. Then Brian brough in more of his research. He found a species of vole that is genetically mongamous, and envisioned a government plan to spread that genetic code to mankind before disease and promiscuity wipes us from the planet. That is “Virtue’s Mask,” a romance, tragedy, and thriller all in one. This was first published in “Symphonie’s Gift,” and then (basically) dropped out of site. Here’s your chance to catch one you almost certainly missed.
*Sing a Song of Sixth Sense by Patricia Lee Macomber & David Niall Wilson
Trish plays piano. She is very good. She likes ragtime, and (TMI, I know) I call her kitten. Anyway…this was the first short story we wrote together. It’s about a piano player in a bar, a puppet, a curse, and an abusive childhood. It’s also about the song “Kitten on the Keys.” This was published in an electronic anthology called “The Harrow.” This is it’s first reprinting.
*Deliver Us From Meeble by Brian Keene & David Niall Wilson
Possibly the strangest story in the book, and at the same time the strangest collaborative experience, “Deliver Us From Meeble” concludes this book. There used to be a site where the editor found two authors he thought would be compatible. You did not know who the other author was. I was paired (without knowing it) with author Brian Keene, who has gone on to make quite a career and publish a number of very cool books.
We were not in communication with one another or aware of identities during the writing. The editor took what one wrote and passed it to the other, back and forth, until the story was done. In some ways, this is easier, because you aren’t worried about hurting a friend’s feelings if you change something – but it was harder, as well, like taking over someone’s chess game without fully understanding their strategy.
In the end, the story is unique, bizarre, and I was happy to see that Meeble made a return appearance in Brian’s book : “Tequila’s Sunrise,” still available.
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So, in a nutshell, what this book contains is a number of obscure stories you have probably never seen. They are formatted to the best of my current e-book creating ability – and the whole collection is only $7.50 – a bit below the average cost of an e-book of this length. Considering the lineup – it’s a bargain. I hope you’ll give it a shot and download it. The Mobipocket books are readable on Kindle, PC, Blackberry, Iphone, and a number of other platforms. If you read it, please come back and comment. I’m trying to figure this digital thing out, and working now on some audio presentations as well.
Go! ORDER IT NOW!
Okay, the dust has cleared. Vintage Soul has been released. All of those who pre-ordered the novel have had their copies shipped … and now the real fun begins. How do I build a fandom for this new character? How do I entice all of you take a chance on this book, lay down your money, and give me a few hours of your time? I’m gratified that all reader reactions so far have been very positive. I’m also happy to see that the sales rank of the book at Amazon jumped up from 4,000,000 plus into the 147k range. I want to see more. I want to see this gain popularity, which will help me sell it (and book II) into mass market and reach a much larger audience.
