Sunday, October 31, 2010

Bloody Marcy - Halloween Flash Fiction

Here's one I carved last year.

This isn't polished, but I really wanted to post something for Halloween.

I'm off to carve some pumpkins. I hope you enjoy this short and that everyone has a terrifyingly delightful Halloween!



Bloody Marcy
"That's soo stupid," I tell them.

"No, it'll be totally funny 'cause Marcy's such a chicken," says Amber.

"Shelby'll do it. She's cool." Hanna smiles at me.

"Yeah, I'm cool." I say, knowing this might be my only shot to get in with the popular crowd.

"Good, here's you're blood." Amber discreetly hands me a small tube of fake blood. She turns and yells, "Who's up for a game of Bloody Mary?" Amber's the most popular girl in Jr. High. She's blonde, gorgeous, and rich. Her parents just built this brand new, three-story house with this huge game room on the top floor.

"Awe, that game's stupid." Marcy glances over to the bathroom.

"You aren't chicken are you?" Amber asks.

"No, I've played it before. It's stupid. I've never seen anything."

"Well, then you won't mind playing it again, will you?" says Hanna.

Marcy looks down and doesn't say anything.

"Who's first?" Amber asks, holding up a flashlight.

"I am," Tiffany says, throwing her long curly brown hair back. "I just don't remember how it goes."

"Okay, here's how you do it." Amber rubs her hands together. I think she's overly excited at the prospect of her practical joke. "Go into the bathroom and close the door. Turn the light off and say, 'Bloody Mary, I killed your baby' thirteen times. Then shine the flashlight into the mirror and you'll see Bloody Mary!"

Tiffany takes the flashlight and heads into the bathroom. Through the crack under the door, we can see the light go out. A minute later, there's a little scream and she jumps out. "I saw her--at least I think I did. It was so fast, I'm not sure."

One by one, each of the girls take a turn; Hanna and Amber both scream at the top of their lungs when it's their turn--they swear they saw her bloody face staring back at them.

Finally, only me and Marcy are left. "I'll go first," I say. Not sure if I'm dreading my turn or Marcy's more.

I go into the bathroom and look at the mirror. It's oval and has a gold-tone frame, like the evil mirror from Snow White or something. A little spooked, I click off the light off. It's really not that dark. There's a big window on the far wall; light from the streetlight streams right in through the blinds.

Under my breathe, I say the stupid chant once and then wait a minute before turning on the flashlight. It reflects off the glass and into my eyes. I'm blinded for a second and can't really see anything.

I open the door, half expecting them to have pulled the gag on me. But the girls look normal, except some of them are giggling--probably because they know it's finally Marcy's turn.

"Well?" Amber asks.

I blink my eyes a couple of times trying to make the spots disappear. "Umm, I might have saw her,"

Amber and Hanna have already moved on. "Your turn Marcy," they crow in unison.

"All right, this is dumb though." Marcy grabs the flashlight out of my hand and storms into the bathroom.

All the girls get out their tubes of fake blood. Amber motions to everyone to wait. "Marcy, I can see the light on."

A second later, the bathroom light clicks off and all the girls start smearing fake blood on their faces. I can't believe how ridiculous they all look. It looks more like fruit punch than blood.

Hanna nudges me and looks down at the tube, still unopened in my hand. I flash her a fake smile and start dabbing it on my face.

A second later, I see the beam of the flashlight peeking out of the crack under the door. All the girls are trying not to laugh and the bathroom door slowly starts to open.

By the time Marcy's opens the door, Amber's turned off the lights in the room.

All we can see of Marcy is her flashlight, shinning in our faces. Everyone starts busting up laughing, then there's a loud, continuous scream and everyone stops.

I see the beam of the flashlight moving backwards, like the headlights of a car, except speeding away. There's a loud crash of breaking glass. The flashlight drops, disappearing through the window. The screaming stops.

In the window, the blinds are ripped away. The streetlight pours into the bathroom. Shards of glass covered in oozing blood are all that remains in the window.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Bargain eBooks Lists Monster Mashup

It's been a good week for my little short story collection. Bargain eBooks has also picked up the listing. It's a brand new site that only lists eBooks under $5. Though it's new it looks like Holly Hook, the site owner is really ramping it up fast. She's a YA author, so I'd expect to see lots of YA and maybe more MG than most eBook sites list.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Spalding's Racket: Monster Mash Up Listing

My eBook Monster Mashup is listed on Spalding's Racket today. It's a collection of Spooky Short stories. If you have a eReader this is a great site for finding Indie authors. I've found some really enjoyable Indie books lately, most under $3 bucks. If you have a Kindle, Indie eBooks are great if you are interested in Fantasy or Horror. But I've read everything from great YA romance series to quirky comedies.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Zombiepalooza Giveaway Reminder

Just a reminder. Tomorrow, will be my guest post over at Zombiepalooza. I'm posting a story story from my newest novel, Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb (SZJMB) and a free copy of House of the Dead III. Stop by to check it out and enter.

Speaking of SZJMB. I'm (finally) just about ready to start sending out query letters. I'll post my query sometime next week. Also, I'm planning on posting a special short story just before Halloween from my new shorts collection Monster Mashup. It's a collection of 9 spooky short stories, just right for Halloween.

BTW: The contest link is active now!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Amazon's Staggering Market Share & Free eBook Promotion Ends

My free eBook roller-coaster ride finally ended yesterday. My short story is now back to 99 cents (but still selling fairly well).  The most interesting part of this whole adventure was the numbers. I've been giving away my short stories on my website, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords.com, Sony, and the Apple eBookstore. I would have given them away on Amazon as well, but they require a minimum price of 99 cents.

Over the last two months I sold about forty 99 cent copies on Amazon. But I had over 1,400 downloads between Smashwords, and Barnes and Noble (Apple hasn't reported and Sony has been about 4 copies). Not bad I thought. That was until Amazon lowered the price to free. In 5 days I had over 5,500 downloads. 

That's 1,400 in two months on all the other e-book sites combined and 5,500 on Amazon in 5 days--talk about market power! 

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Wow, I Guess I'm a Bestselling Author!

A few months ago I started posting shorts on my website. I figured why not put them up on Smashwords and Amazon for free with links back to my webpage. I thought it might be a good way to build a platform.
Only problem Amazon made me put a 99 cent minimum price. Over two months I sold almost 50 on Amazon, but I'm approaching the 2,000 download mark between all the sites I posted it. Not bad.

Yesterday (Saturday) Amazon picked some titles to offer for free. Luckily, mine was one of them. Of course my sales skyrocketed. Blogs and forums picked it up and the next thing I knew I was on Amazon's list of 100 free ebook bestsellers. Today, I broke the top 50 peeking at #48. I'm outselling War and Peace. Wow, I couldn't be happier. And while these aren't technically sales, since the book is free (though I should get paid commission on them), it's a great opportunity to get my name out there.

So while I don't know how long it will last, I can officially say, I'm an Amazon Top 50 BestSelling Kindle Author!

Now if I can just find an agent, sign with a publisher, and get my book in hand, I'll feel like one!