Friday!  We made it!  Just barely right?

Hope you’re all doing well.  We’re under a snow fall warning today in Edmonton.  Received 5 cms of snow over night and supposed to get another 5-6 this morning.  At least its warmed up to -10 Celsius!

So, I got a couple things to run through today quickly!  The first is – it’s only been a week since The Girl Who Hid in the Trees came out!!?? Only a week!  What the heck.  I thought it was about a month ago already haha!  The response has been so awesome!

If you were one of the kind folks who read it for review before the release date, I’d really love it if you could take a few minutes and post your reviews on Amazon/Bookbub etc!!

If you haven’t snagged it yet;

 

Secondly – I actually have a NEW paperback out!  Surprising right haha!  It’s nothing I’ve announced or anything, it’s more to help my friend Rob Derman out once again.

Dim the Sun, which was an ebook only release initially, is now available in physical form!

 

As you may have heard, the Calgary sliding track appears to be closing forever.  For more info, click the link;

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/winsport-luge-track-closure-1.5041238

This is where Rob has relocated to train and with it closing he has some tough decisions to make.  Move to Whistler?  Move to Park City, Utah or to Lake Placid to slide and train.  Train in Calgary and commute to Whistler to slide?  Lots of very tough choices.

Dim the Sun was released as a way to raise some funds for him – and it’s done OK.  I think part of that is it’s a poetry collection, which doesn’t interest everyone, and partly because it was only digital.  So I’ve now made it a physical release, so here’s hoping it gets some love!

Keep watching this space as we’re figuring out a time to get together and sign some releases.  We’ll have 5 only with both of our signatures and will then be offered up to raise funds for Rob.

What I’m Reading;

Train Thoughts – Jay Sigler.  Really digging this one so far.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39723498-train-thoughts

Then It Fell Apart – Moby.  Love his music, hearing the backstories from when Play was released has been awesome.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41826893-then-it-fell-apart

The Dark Game – Jonathan Janz.  Feel like I’ve been reading this forever, but not in a bad way.  Stunning.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42762686-the-dark-game

Reviews;

Normally this is where I’d give you some links to what I’ve recently reviewed.  Switching it up a bit.  Recently I’ve been contacted by a few folks about reviewing their work and it was mentioned I don’t have a “review policy” section on here.  So now I do!

https://stevestredauthor.wordpress.com/review-requests/

What I’m Jamming;

I think most people know that this week Keith Flint, one of the members of The Prodigy tragically took his own life.  The Prodigy has been one of my fav bands since I first discovered them back when Fat of the Land came out.  So naturally I’ve been jamming them a bunch.  While their song ‘Wild Frontier’ is my fav The Prodigy song, I wanted to share two others.  The first, is of course, the song that arguably turned them and Flint into mega-stars.

Firestarter;

 

The second, I’d call my second fav The Prodigy song.

Omen;

 

I’ve been jamming a few other bands a bunch lately as well.

Lamb of God – Blacken the Cursed Son.

I think I’ve seen LoG 5 or 6 times now, and had the pleasure of working crowd-control for them at an in-store signing back in the day at Scrape Records in Vancouver.  ‘Ashes of the Wake’ came out 15 years ago and I’ve been crushing that album almost daily.  But I’ve been listening to the follow-up ‘Sacrament’ just as much.  This is my fav song on that album, and watching it performed live is an experience.

 

Amon Amarth – Runes to My Memory

Another fantastic band that I’ve been listening to a bunch lately has been Amon Amarth, and more specifically their ‘With Oden on My Side’ album.  I met Johan the singer at a meet and greet, also at Scrape and showed him my Runes to My Memory tattoo.  He couldn’t believe it and I was very humbled with his gratitude.  I’ve only seen them live I think three times, but I need to see them a bunch more!

 

In Closing;

Normally I’d also talk about what I’m working on and what’s up in life, but nothings really changed there!  I have about four projects I’m working on, as well as I’ve just started gathering bits and pieces towards another poetry collection.

Life has been hectic with a growing toddler.  Can’t wait for Spring and getting outside more!  Maybe by then I’ll have finally kicked this lingering cold or whatever I’m constantly battling.

I’ll be doing a few contests coming up as well, so keep your ears to the ground for that, and soon my first column of Tunes From the Crypt will be unleashed on Kendall Reviews!

PS:

I would be a total self-adsorbed douche if I didn’t mention that it was International Women’s Day!  On top of this, yesterday was also World Book Day.  So go buy some books from your fav Women Authors and support some fabulous artists!

Steve

Happy March 1st, 2019!

Now that 60 days of January are over we get on with our best year ever right!??

Yesterday was such a fantastic day.

Why?

Because The Girl Who Hid in the Trees officially came out!

When I first announced the release and then had it up for pre-release sooo far in advance, I had specific marketing intentions.  I think they worked out pleasantly, but along the way some other things occurred and frankly it made me thankful that I had a buffer built in.

To everyone who pre-ordered it, snagged a copy yesterday, liked, shared, retweeted or messaged – THANK YOU!!!

If you haven’t snagged it yet… well here’s the Amazon US link! 🙂

As I had stated early on – after my friend Justin M. Woodward revealed his mom was battling cancer – that all pre-order proceeds would go directly to their Go Fund Me.  I have already donated an initial amount, but will take a look tomorrow and top up anything above and beyond!

If you’re interested in reading about the Go Fund Me or simply want to donate directly, please click the link!

https://www.gofundme.com/help-tonya-beat-stage-4-cancer

As part of the promo for The Girl Who Hid in the Trees I stopped by Kendall Reviews and talked about Why I Write Horror!

The Girl Who Hid In The Trees Author Steve Stred – Why Do You Write Horror?

Gavin from Kendall Reviews (who also did the stunning foreword for the release) also kindly interviewed me on all things going on!

Take a look here;

The Girl Who Hid In The Trees Author Steve Stred chews the fat with Kendall Reviews.

And lastly!!! on the Kendall Reviews train, you can still go snag my FREE PDF of Four Dark Tales!

To celebrate the upcoming release of The Girl Who Hid In The Trees, Author Steve Stred has ‘Four Dark Tales’ for you to EXCLUSIVELY download for FREE!

Now – let’s take a look at my usual blog stuff shall we!

What I’m working on;

The Stranger – I’ve received my copy-edits back from David Sodergren.  I’m awaiting feedback from my sensitive/indigenous reader to ensure the story line/bigotry aspect was done tastefully and I’m awaiting cover art!

In the mean time, Sodergren (author of The Forgotten Island; https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Island-Horror-Novel/dp/1718173466) is currently up in the Scottish Highlands, and sent along this pic – which really grabs the feeling of The Stranger.

Thanks for letting me share, mate!

Ritual – I just received the cover art for this and seriously, Mason McDonald absolutely killed it again.  We have this amazing connection where he knows exactly what I’m looking for!  This is a planned October release but I’ll probably be sharing the cover long before then!

Lastly, March will feature my first guest column for Tunes from the Crypt.  So keep your eyes wide open for that!

What I’m Reading;

Currently I’m about 50% through The Dark Game by Jonathan Janz

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42762686-the-dark-game

I’m about to start Train Thoughts by Jay Sigler

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39723498-train-thoughts?ac=1&from_search=true

And starting the short story collection Little Black Spots by John F.D. Taff

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41100259-little-black-spots?ac=1&from_search=true

What I’ve Reviewed;

I just finished both A God in the Shed and Crow Shine – so these reviews will be released soonish!

Otherwise here are my two most recent reviews over on Kendall Reviews!

A House At The Bottom Of A Lake: Josh Malerman (Kendall Review)

Occasional Beasts: John Claude Smith (Kendall Review)

As always – all of my featured reviews can be found under the menu tab – Kendall Reviews

What Music I’m Playing;

This has been a short week for me, which I’ll chat about in the next section.  But for music this week, it’s been hard and heavy.

Misery Index – New Salem

I’m a big Misery Index fan, and this new tune crushes.  The last few albums had a few production sound issues, but the new one so far sounds like they’ve returned to the massive wall of noise that they’re know for!

 

Faith No More – Pristina

I saw author Chad Lutzke talking about his love of Faith No More the other day, so I revisited them a bit this week.  I’m a decent fan but there’s a number of songs I can take or leave and at times Patton’s vocals become an annoying nasal sound that just makes me cringe.  But when they’re on – unbelievable band.  Pristina, the last track on their album ‘Album of the Year’ is my fav FNM track.

 

Dissection – Starless Aeon

Working on the bleak, dark tale of Ritual, I’ve been listening to a lot of Dissection lately.  This band is notorious for a number of reasons (just google them) but a Coles Notes breakdown; formed by Jon Nodtveldt in 1989 in Sweden.  Jon had extreme views.  Killed a guy, went to jail, released from jail.  Along the way formed Dissection which released a few classic black metal albums.  After being released from jail he reformed Dissection in 2004, but then in 2006 killed himself at the age of 31.  Say what you will about some of his views and his beliefs (I warned you – extreme), the music has lived on and frankly Dissection is one of the few bands whose music and sound legitimately creep me out.

 

Kampfar – Gloria Ablaze

Kampfar is a Norwegian black metal band and boy are they ragers.  Love their Profan album and this is the first song from it.  I always love when a black metal band is able to be so musical and really drive the emotions within the song.

 

Architects – Hereafter

This isn’t a song I’d ever believe I would enjoy.  I saw Architects twice on tour randomly, when they were opening for bands and wasn’t a big fan of their metalcore.  This new song though I find pretty catchy and enjoyable.  Sometimes with metal, I just need simple and this filled that nicely.

 

In closing, What’s Up?;

Welp, here we are at the end of the weekly blog and this is where I usually discuss what’s up in life.  This week wasn’t a fun one.  Last weekend we went to my wife’s cousin’s daughters first birthday party.  Auryn had fun and it was nice seeing my wife’s Grandma and Uncle.  Then on Sunday, Auryn had his last indoor soccer session.  We’ve re-enrolled him into outdoor soccer starting in May so that’ll be fun.  He’s been hit or miss at these soccer sessions.  They’re designed to help little kids start to learn to follow tasks and develop skills.  Over the previous 5 sessions, Auryn would do some stuff and then not do other things.  This class was different.  He was engaged and following the teachers instructions and having fun.  Then about half way through the session he started to lay down a lot and began to get me to carry him.  By the very end of the session he was just done.

Then the puking began.  Poor guy was sick all of Sunday night.  By Monday morning he’d rebounded and was good to go.

Not mom and dad though.  I woke up Tuesday morning at about four in the morning and didn’t feel right.  I went to work and was there for a half hour and called it a day.

Then mom and dad dealt with having the flu while Auryn ran around with his normal energy.  Was a fun time haha!

So I missed two days of work this week and was pretty much phoning it in yesterday, having no energy and not able to really function.

Today though!  Night and day difference.  I feel fantastic!

So back at the start of the week, thanks for everyone’s kind words!

So there you have it. Another week, another blog and once again, thanks for all of your support!

Steve

Happy Friday friends!

Today’s blog is brought to you by the one week countdown until The Girl Who Hid in the Trees unleashes!!!  (Technically it drops next Thursday but… oh well!)

This week has been a fantastic showing of love for the book, which I wasn’t expecting at all!  Even though I’m a member of the Kendall Review team and consider Gavin a good friend, I had no idea that not one but TWO reviews of TGWHitT was going to be featured!

Interview #1 by Miranda!

The Girl Who Hid In The Trees: Steve Stred (Kendall Review)

Interview #2 by D.K!

The Girl Who Hid In The Trees: Steve Stred (Kendall Review)

Blown away!

Recently Becca also featured TGWHitT as well!

https://beccaleighanne.com/the-girl-who-hid-in-the-trees-arc-review/

How amazing is that!  They all gave some great feedback!

I tweeted about what I was going to be featuring here this week, so I’m going to stick to the script!

How are pre-orders going?

A-MAHHHH-ZING!  I’m shocked!  We in the indie horror game typically don’t talk/discuss/reveal numbers of sales.  But I like to be up front with you all and keep you abreast!  I have the book listed for $2.99, which is where I like to price all my Novellas.  I find it’s a very nice, non-aggressive number!  Less than a cup of coffee some say!

Anyways, from that $2.99 I get $2.07 from each sale.  If you recall, all proceeds from this release are going to my good friend and fellow author Justin M. Woodward mom and her battle against cancer.  This morning we hit 40 pre sales!!!!  I’m so excited!  Truthfully, even if you ordered my book simply to support them, that’s so greatly appreciated!!!

If you haven’t here is the US Amazon link!

As for paperbacks – they’ve been formatted, and will officially be out for the release date, but if you’re a keen shopper/book type person, you may be able to find them already… hint hint.

I also dropped by Kendall Reviews for another follow up interview!

The Girl Who Hid In The Trees Author Steve Stred chews the fat with Kendall Reviews.

What I’m working on;

No real updates here.

The Stranger – copy edits happening now, out with a sensitive reader for beta-reading

Ritual – 75% done rewrites

What I’m reading;

Reading four books right now!

• The Dark Game – Jonathan Janz.  So, so good!
• A God in the Shed – J-F Dubeau.  Simply stunning!
• Crow Shine – Alan Baxter.  This is a short story collection and each story so far has been so good!
• Beyond the Black Gate – Joseph Sale.  I’m beta-reading this for an April release and I’m actually doing my second read through.  Sale is amazing!

Tactful review responses;

I just wanted to share a quick story here about reviews.  Every single review is a gift.  Someone has read your work and either loved it, hated it or was disinterested.  Every response is OK.  Last year I gave an author a two star review and a no star review (same author of both.)  They messaged me and thanked me for the constructive criticism.

When I released Left Hand Path, I was proud of it.  I loved the stories.  Unfortunately the editing SUCKED!  A few 1 and 2 star reviews brought this too my attention.  I thanked the people, unpublished it, had someone re-edit it and re-released it.

That is how 1 and 2 star reviews can help authors become better!

I always thank people for their reviews.  As many people say – “reviews are for readers not authors,” but in some cases they can help us be better!

New Kendall Reviews Monthly Column;

As you all know, I’m a member of the Kendall Reviews review team.  I submit probably 95% of my reviews there for featuring.  After chatting with Gavin, we’ve come up with an idea for me to do a monthly column that’s essentially a music playlist from what I’ve been listening too during my writing sessions.  I feature stuff here each week, but that will be completely separate and don’t expect crossover.  I’ll do my best to keep things fresh!

Tentative column title – “Tunes From the Crypt.”

Which brings me to what I’m currently listening too!

This last few weeks have seen me focusing on a few projects, and as you know, I like my releases bleak and sad.  So that’s typically reflected in what I’m jamming with.

First up is a band that I’ve had the pleasure of seeing and meeting!

Gojira.  They recently released a professional, full length concert performance and it crushes!

I have another live video for you as well!

God Seed – Sign of an Open Eye/Awake

God Seed rose from the ashes of the Gorgoroth name dispute to release an amazing studio album as well as a live album.  This performance always makes me want to live in a cave and drink from a skull.

 

Type O Negative – In Praise of Bacchus

Now if you’re thinking about sad, depressing but phenomenal music, Type O Negative is usually at the top of the list.  In Praise of Bacchus is probably my favourite TON song.

 

Solstafir – Fjara

I’m new to the Solstafir world, but these guys are just haunting.  Hailing from Iceland, they started as a black metal outfit before morphing into this post-rock atmospheric sorrow band.  Stunning.  Love it.

 

Lastly;

What’s up in life!?

Things are super busy, as it always is for all of us.  Auryn has been enjoying his soccer sessions and over the last few days he’s started to count to five on his own and identify so many colors and vehicles.  Its so awesome to see!

We also have a dog that we love dearly, OJ and we’re both probably guilty of us not sharing his photos enough!

OJ is turning 9 in October.  He’s an American Bulldog who we adopted and we love him too pieces.  He suffered a spinal stroke about 6 years ago.  He jumped off our bed and ruptured his spine losing the ability to use his back legs.  We did extensive rehab with him to get him walking again!  His only real side effect that he has is the loss of the ability to jump high and a constant shake if he stands for any period of time!  His resilience during his recovery was so inspiring and his trips to aqua therapy and his time in the pool became a thing of legend!

 Sorry for the blurry photo but he was licking me like crazy!

That’s it for this week!

Thanks as always for checking this blog out!

Steve

Hey friends!  Apologies, I had an extended long weekend, so I didn’t do a blog post on Friday!

So – if you missed the announcement, click through to download your FREE pdf of Four Dark Tales!

 

https://stevestredauthor.wordpress.com/2019/02/19/book-review-the-red-labyrinth/