Monster Tuesday -- Eat or Be Eaten!!

Okay you crazy kids. Listen up! Pay attention. There's going to be a test at the end of this and you better not fail!

Available on eBook and AudioBook

I'm getting ready to repost an article by an author I adore, David Gerrold. It's about his impressions of Robert Heinlein and a bunch of other stuff. But before I do that, let me explain something.

Several people have said that Blaze of Glory reminds them of David Gerrold's War Against the Chtorr series. I suppose it does, although my imagination was far more limited than Mr. Gerrold's in his books. I admit that I did read them. I admit that I love them. I also admit that the medium-sized versions of the maggies have a passing resemblance to the Chtorr.

But that's it.

You want to read a faced-paced, character-driven novel that was almost made into a movie by Wesley Snipes, then read Blaze of Glory. And then read the essay at the end that explains the horrid story why, involving Reggie Bannister, a fire, a lawyer in a shark skin suit, and a naieve young soldier.

You want to read grand saga of world domination by a supposed alien invasion, then please go grab Mr. Gerrold's series. You can find them linked here at his site.

To summarize.

Blaze of Glory good.

Blaze of Glory compared to War Against the Chtorr- outstandingly good, but maybe they were smoking a little something.

Blaze of Glory for only $2.99.

Blaze of Glory on audibook. Listen to the opening chapter for free.

Cover art courtesy of professional photographer and digital artist Danielle Tunstall. Ask me about how easy it is to work with her.

Cover design by me.

And if you really want something special, try out the new novel by the author of God's and Generals and The Killer Angels, Jeff Shaara, also called Blaze of Glory, about the Battle of Shiloh. I already ordered my copy.
 

Gary Stu Reviews and Twicrap Opinions

Everyone has their own opinion. I shouldn't be surprised, especially after such a divisive American election year as 2012. Yet I still find it funny when someone hates something of mine which so many other people love. It sort of makes me want to hold a psychological board to discern what it is about them that created within them an optic so different from other people. The result could possible be that we'd discover how to make a work of art everyone would love, but that hasn't happened since the first issue of Mad Magazine, which in and of itself was lightning in a bottle.

So I get google alerts when my name is mentioned. Most of the time I don't have time to check them, but on this occasion I did. And I learned two new words. Twicrap and Gary Stu.

From Simon Branford, Evolutionary Biology Researcher at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading comes this notation:

    

Twicrap Award for Worst Book - Blaze of Glory by Weston Ochse. I decided to give a couple of the indie e-book bundles a go. It was a fairly predictable outcome – some books were OK, most rambled on for too long, and a couple were dreadful. This one was the worst – a Gary Stu monster apocalypse.

Twicrap seems easy enough to understand, but Gary Stu? I looked it up and it's interesting. I think it's a specifically English reference, because I've never heard it before, and I do get around quite considerably, but then again I might not be traveling in the right Mary Sue circles.

According to Wikipedia, Gary Stu is a variant of Mary Sue and it goes something like this:

Mary Sue stories—the adventures of the youngest and smartest ever person to graduate from the academy and ever get a commission at such a tender age. Usually characterized by unprecedented skill in everything from art to zoology, including karate and arm-wrestling. This character can also be found burrowing her way into the good graces/heart/mind of one of the Big Three [Kirk, Spock, and McCoy], if not all three at once. She saves the day by her wit and ability, and, if we are lucky, has the good grace to die at the end, being grieved by the entire ship.[4]  

 Interesting. I don't think it fits my plot at all, but interesting. My protagonist is really just a garbage man with a passion for survival. He's really not good at anything. The use of this word along with the mentioning of the authors he actually likes (noted in the link on his name) made me realize that good man Simon reads YA books. Blaze of Glory is decidedly not a YA book. Maybe that's where some of the breakdown occurs.

Take for instance Adam Cesare. He's a self-professed reader of adult horror. He reviewed Blaze of Glory and loved it.  Among many things he says -

    Blaze of Glory is a first rate literary creature feature, it’s got an eclectic and likable cast of survivors, some thoughtful allusions to the sub-genre’s past, and a host of creatures that are both creepy and original.  Oh, and it’s also got Dylan Thomas poems being recited while our protagonists douse salt-sensitive monsters with Supersoakers.

Is it as simple as a reader not knowing what he was getting into? After all, the cover even warns HERE THERE BE MONSTERS.

Probably not. And will probably never figure it out.

All of the above twicrap is nothing but sophomoric sophistry. Although I'm still left wondering what it was that made it Master Simon's Worst Book of the Year, I'm sure this is something I'll never really know. And perhaps I shouldn't. After all, there are things I don't like that a lot of people seem to really appreciate. Like Strawberry Lattes.


Liking and hating is what makes us all different. Maybe Master Simon is as I type this conducting evolutionary research on the subject. We can only cross our fingers and hope.

But Master Simon did do me a favor. He taught me the term Gary Stu. I'm going to use that. Like the word Slacks. And when I whip it out-- the word --people are going to look at me cross-eyed wondering what the hell I said. And in that moment, I will channel Master Simon and stare at them in my best interpretation of an Evolutionary Biology Researcher, and they will think me wise.

Now peel your Gary Stu asses away from my blog and do something useful, like shopping for some bell-bottom slacks.

Laters.

Halloween Horror eBook Bundle - 8 Novels

Have I got a deal for you!

I rarely do a cut-and-paste post, but I thought this one promoting Storybundle.com deserved a little blog love.

Storybundle.com is a company that launched a few months ago and offers ebook bundles based around a common theme. The bundles are offered on a Pay-What-You-Want basis (minimum $1.00) and buyers can designate where the money from the sale goes – to the creators, to Storybundle, or to the charity matched to that bundle, or any combination thereof. If readers choose to pay above the bonus level, they get two additional books added to the bundle. 

 The ebooks are provided DRM free so that they can be read on any device and are available in a variety of formats. The Halloween Horror Bundle goes live on October 18th and remains available for only 21 days, closing on November 7th. 

Included in the Halloween Horror Bundle will be:

 

Main selections:
Riverwatch by Joseph Nassise
Blaze of Glory by Weston Ochse
Vicarious by Jon F. Merz
The Drought by Patricia Fulton
The Latent Dark by Martin Kee
Taking on the Dead by Annie Walls

Bonus selections:
Coming of Age by Douglas Clegg
Resurrection, Inc. by Kevin J. Anderson

The above authors include multiple Bram Stoker Award nominees and winners, multiple International Horror Guild Award nominees and winners, New York Times bestsellers, a Nebula Award nominee, and a former president of the Horror Writers Association, the world’s largest organization of professional horror writers. In other words, quality writers with quality offerings, all at a pay-what-you-want-price!

Currently StoryBundle has their Second Degree Bundle up (ebooks in the crime and thriller genre) so it's well worth your time to head over now and make sure you check back in on the 18th for the Halloween Horror Bundle. And let just say, I've read several authors contributing to the Halloween Horror Bundle- and they are well worth the donation above a $1!

Blaze of Glory Contest Winners!

Elvis has spoken!

First a review of the contest. Here are the rules:



Here's the BLUF: The first ten people to review Blaze of Glory on Amazon or Barnes and Nobles will have the opportunity to win the signed, limited, leather-bound hardback copy, valued at $50. I'm including four runner up prizes, as well, signed copies of the Burning Effigy Press novella and Bram Stoker Award Finalist for Long Fiction, Redemption Roadshow. That gives you a 1 in 2 chance of winning. That's fifty/fifty. Better than the lottery and you know how much money you spend on the lottery with a microscopic chance of winning. Here you win when you read the book -- everything else is gravy.

Bottom line is that I need reviews. Yes! Reviews! Those strung together groups of words that talk about your feelings about the content of something you read.
Blaze of Glory is doing awesomely. It's number #1 still in African-American Horror Fiction category and in the top ten of several other categories. And all that without any reviews. But it's time to step up our game.
Buy the novel for $2.99, read it, review it, then drop me a line saying who you are and that you reviewed it.
Jack Ketchum liked it: “BLAZE OF GLORY turns the Monster-Apocalypse subgenre on its gory ear. It’s funny, suspenseful and resolutely quirky, with a great cast of characters.”

My Elvis and he's not looking so happy.
Blaze of Glory is one of his favorites and he
doesn't want to have to stare at the empty
space on the shelf.

 After a long conversation with my animatronic Elvis and a roll of my old 10 Sided Dungeons and Dragons dice, Elvis chose the five winners.  Thanks so much for taking the time to read the book and for all of your just amazing reviews. You didn't have to post all good reviews, although I am happy you did. I would have given you a prize for a bad review too.

The winners are:

1st - Zengal - Winner of the Limited Edition copy of Blaze of Glory
2nd - Troy Knutson - Winner of a signed copy of Redemption Roadshow
3rd - Kevin Starkey- Winner of a signed copy of Redemption Roadshow
4th - Dawn the Glass Bead Maker- Winner of a signed copy of Redemption Roadshow
5th - Larry Meier- Winner of a signed copy of Redemption Roadshow



Please contact me so I can arrange for shipment.

Blaze of Glory Review Contest

Blaze of Glory Review Contest

Here's the BLUF: The first ten people to review Blaze of Glory on Amazon or Barnes and Nobles will have the opportunity to win the signed, limited, leather-bound hardback copy, valued at $50. I'm including four runner up prizes, as well, signed copies of the Burning Effigy Press novella and Bram Stoker Award Finalist for Long Fiction, Redemption Roadshow. That gives you a 1 in 2 chance of winning. That's fifty/fifty. Better than the lottery and you know how much money you spend on the lottery with a microscopic chance of winning. Here you win when you read the book -- everything else is gravy.

Bottom line is that I need reviews. Yes! Reviews! Those strung together groups of words that talk about your feelings about the content of something you read.

Blaze of Glory is doing awesomely. It's number #1 still in African-American Horror Fiction category and in the top ten of several other categories. And all that without any reviews. But it's time to step up our game.

Buy the novel for $2.99, read it, review it, then drop me a line saying who you are and that you reviewed it.

Jack Ketchum liked it: “BLAZE OF GLORY turns the Monster-Apocalypse subgenre on its gory ear. It’s funny, suspenseful and resolutely quirky, with a great cast of characters.”




 Here's the book description to get you excited:

Original Interior Cover

For fans of Stephen King, David Gerrold, and Richard Matheson, picture this: the world is being eaten by monsters and there’s nothing you can do about it.

4 WEEKS A G O
Everything seemed fine.
Life was as we knew it.
Nothing was out of place.

3 WEEKS A G O
The first tiny creature, no bigger than a thumb, crawled out of the dark loamy earth of an Iowa corn field.

2 WEEK S A G O
Creatures came from the ground in every country, from the smallest maggot-sized killer, to Cadillac-sized devourers, each one eating everything in sight, their apparent desire, to cleanse the earth of any vestige of mankind.

2 D A Y S A G O
Our hero, Buckly Adamski, watched the Governor of North Carolina start to dance and go crazy on the television, it wasn’t until the very end that the television announcer blew his brains out over the impossibility of it all.

Y E S T E R D A Y
Planes crashed to the ground, the Eiffel Tower crumbled, trains stopped running, the power went out, and the entire human race (what was left of it) paused to take a breath, wondering if it would be their last.

T O N I G H T
Buckley gathered those he could save in the penthouse of an old building in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. Monsters are eating the city around them. They know they must leave. They know they have to make a run for it. But they also don’t want to die.

And there is an answer, but it will come from the craziest of places.

This novel also contains an essay called and The True Adventures of a Monster Screenplay in B-Movie Wonderland, which tells the tale of how the screenplay based on this novel was almost sold to Wesley Snipes, with many of the industry’s top horror movie stars attached to the film.

About the Author:

WESTON OCHSE was born south of Devil’s Tower in Gillette Wyoming. He attended National University in San Diego and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Ochse (oaks) is the author of seven novels and nearly a hundred short stories. He’s won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in First Novel and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for short fiction. He lives with his family in southern Arizona. His website is www.westonochse.com.

This book was previously released in ultra-limited edition by Bloodletting Press, limited to 125 copies.