|
 
I have two new ebooks available!
First off, there’s UNDERDOGS, a $2.99 collection which gathers five of my stories about ordinary people fighting extraordinary circumstances. Their situations are sometimes horrific, sometimes fantastical, but always far beyond their control. In “Those Who Can, Help” a third shift worker in a group home for the developmentally disabled begins to suspect she’s getting some otherworldly help - but what does she do when she discovers her supernatural helpers are themselves in danger? In “Turning Silver into Platinum” a budding country music star is taken captive by a huge, hulking wizard who grows uglier with each spell he casts. This story features snakes, spells and a bus chase through downtown Indianapolis. In “The Preggers” a story that’s exclusive to this collection, a young girl in 1950s Michigan, ostracized for becoming pregnant out of wedlock makes a shocking discovery. Also included in this collection is “Gifts” - which subscribers received free in the December newsletter - and “The Little Guy” a tale of corporate greed that perfect for the Occupy Wall Street era.
UNDERDOGS is currently only available at Amazon: http://bit.ly/BainUnderdogs
Also new is my SHORT FICTION OMNIBUS, VOLUME 1. This ebook combines my collections UNDERDOGS (see above) with my GRINDHOUSE QUINTUPLE FEATURE and WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS: CRIME AND GHOST STORIES FROM GREEN RIVER. Bought separately, these three ebooks would cost a total of $8.97, but bundled together - 18 stories and just over 80,000 words (about 320 pages in print) - the cost is only $4.99!
DAVID BAIN’S SHORT FICTION OMNIBUS, VOLUME 1: http://bit.ly/bainomnibus |
|
   
My collections FOUR STORIES and STREETLIGHTS FILLED WITH FLOWERS will disappear *poof!* in early January... (The latter is currently on sale for $.99 at Amazon.) |
|
Here is an excerpt from "Gifts", the third in "Dave's 12-12-12 Twenty Story Retyping Challenge".
The entire story is free in PDF or .mobi (Kindle) format exclusively to members of my newsletter, in the December edition which is archived here.
  
The previous story in the Challenge, "The Little Guy" was available totally free at this blog, and will now shortly be available for $.99 at Amazon and the Amazon Select library. These stories, along with "Those Who Can, Help" - also previusly free on this blog - will eventually appear in a collection to be called UNDERDOGS.
My current retyping project is a story called "Turning Silver into Platinum," which appeared in the now out of print AMAZING HEROES anthology series. I'll be almost totally rewriting this story, but I'll post the original version here.
UNDERDOGS and nearly all of my short fiction will be collected in NIGHT WRITING, an ebook coming out on 12-12-12.
GIFTS
by
David Bain
I’d noticed her across the crowded food court, about two hours before closing, two days before Christmas. She wasn’t hot, just pretty - it would never have worked the way it did had she been hot.
When I looked up from my cheesy fries, she was standing by my table, hesitant, words quivering on her lips.
“Hi. I was, ummm, wondering if you could maybe help me.”
I shrugged. “I’m … not from around here. Just visiting family for the holidays. My parents dragged me here tonight. I don’t know this mall or any of the streets outside it.”
“No, I mean - ” Her cheeks flushed. “I’m trying to get to Cleveland for Christmas. To my sister’s. I’m … I’m kinda broke.”
“I - ” I lost the sentence. Close up, her jeans and wet canvas tennis shoes - surely soaked from the snow outside - looked ragged, her plain blouse unintentionally faded - it certainly hadn’t been bought looking that way.
“Sure, I can help - but listen, let me buy you dinner. Whatever you want.”
Her smile was thin, nervous, but she nodded.
Her name was Kathy and she liked Chinese. She got moo goo guy pan from a booth called The Golden Buddha. She was running from a bad situation in L.A. and wouldn’t elaborate. She had a “totally ancient” Chevette that was threatening to break down any mile. She’d slept in it every night, this far, to this mall in Nebraska. Now she was almost out of cash for gas and food.
Even though I’d only bought a meal for Kathy, the girl at the counter had given us each a fortune cookie. “Let’s open these,” I said. “Maybe things are turning around for you.”
Read the rest of the story at David Bain's Newsletter... |
|
This post previously hosted an entire free story, "The Little Guy", the second in "Dave's 12-12-12 Twenty Story Retyping Challenge".
The story previously appeared in Withersin Magazine.
"The Little Guy will shortly be available for $.99 at Amazon and the Amazon Select library. It will eventually appear in a collection to be called UNDERDOGS. UNDERDOGS and nearly all of my short fiction will be collected in NIGHT WRITING, an ebook coming out on 12-12-12.
|
|
This spot formerly housed "Those Who Can, Help", the first story in "Dave's 12-12-12 Twenty Story Retyping Challenge".
The story is now available for $.99 at Amazon and for free in Amazon's Kindle Owner's Lending Library. (It will be temporarily free to all Kindle readers from Dec. 26 to 31!)
The story previously appeared in THE BOOK OF MONSTERS edited by C. Dennis Moore.
 
The story will eventually appear in a collection to be called UNDERDOGS. UNDERDOGS and nearly all of my short fiction will be collected in NIGHT WRITING, an ebook coming out on 12-12-12.
|
| » Island Ghosts is Free at Amazon |
|---|
    
As I type, my action/suspense story, "Island Ghosts", which previously appeared in an anthology of hard-boiled detective stories (even though it doesn't feature a detective) is #3 on the free horror bestseller list at Amazon. (Who ever said genre classifications aren't malleable?) It's also #73 out of ALL free ebooks at the store.
(Actually, the main character is a "slightly psychic" U.S. Marshal who becomes a paranormal detective in future stories, plus there's a hint of ghosts at the end of this tale - and more than a hint in subsequent tales - so Amazon's classification probably applies.)
There are also two more stories out there featuring "Island Ghosts'" protagonist, Will Castleton - "The Bridge" and "Samantha", with another, "Nighteyes" coming in the next week or so.
Dec. 8th, 2011 @ 11:35 am
|
| » Dave's 12-12-12 Twenty Story Retyping Challenge |
|---|
Okay, here's the deal: I have twenty older, previously published stories I'd like to get out there in ebook format within the next year. Problem is, most of them are on an ancient computer that I can't even print from anymore - forget email!
What I'm going to do is retype and polish the stories, one by one. As I finish one, I'll post it here for free (or a teaser of new or heavily rewritten stories) - but only until the next one is typed.
Then I'll remove the previous story and post it on Amazon, Smashwords, etc., for $.99.
Eventually, each individual story will be part of a five-or-so-story collection for probably $2.99. Each of these collections will feature at least one brand new, ebook original story. Most of the individual $.99 stories will be removed from Kindle, etc., as the collections materialize.
If I keep my projected pace of retyping a story every three weeks or less, this will all culminate on 12-12-12, when I'll bundle nearly all the short fiction I currently have available for ereaders into one massive collection called NIGHT WRITING.
The first story I'll be retyping is "Those Who Can, Help", which first appeared in THE BOOK OF MONSTERS, edited by C. Dennis Moore. This will eventually wind up in an ebook collection called UNDERDOGS.
Dec. 4th, 2011 @ 11:59 pm
|
| » Nice Review ... |
|---|
... at Shub-Niggurath's Blog of "A Pleasure to Burn" - one of the stories in my $1.99 ebook collection WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS: TALES FROM GREEN RIVER. Kindle Smashwords
"A Pleasure To Burn: adventures could happen to any fuckin' tabloid hunter. Even meet the ghost of her prey. Rare to read such a complete psychology description of characters in so few pages. It calls for at least a sequel, better many of them."
(Or, if you like, you can get just the story by itself for $.99 - Kindle Smashwords)
Nov. 19th, 2011 @ 07:04 pm
|
| » Columbia visit |
|---|
Had a great time visiting my alma mater, Columbia College Chicago yesterday. Saw a couple of my old profs and sat in on a reading and talk by Wayne Allen Sallee in Mort Castle's horror writing class. Photos below are of three guys in an elevator (l to r - Wayne, Mort, moi) and Wayne reading his Masques story "Rail Rider".
Nov. 16th, 2011 @ 10:00 am
|
| » Seven Free Ebooks on Writing! |
|---|
  
   
Amazon's going nuts with free Kindle ebooks on writing right now.
Nov. 8th, 2011 @ 10:52 am
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=r88.10){kind=small}
davidbain's journal