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Hey, this is William, and something’s been bugging me. You
know how everybody says that self-published ebooks are junk? Well, here’s some
news. Remember Hugh Howey’s Wool, the self-published Kindle book I talked about
last time? It turns out that 20th Century Fox is now turning Wool
into a movie, with both Ridley Scott and Steve Zaillian, the guy who won an
Academy for his Schindler’s List screenplay, attached to the project. So for
all those who think that short fiction ebooks are crap, think again. If you
keep your ears and eyes open, you’ll find loads of awesome fiction out there –
no big publisher required.
Case in point, check out this 27-year-old guy from Darwin,
Australia named David Adams. He’s a software programmer by day who’s been
writing Star Trek fan fiction for years – just for the hell of it. Last year,
he started cranking out a story series called Lacuna. Check it
out at lacunaverse.com. Long story short, you’ve got aliens blowing away 50
million people because humans developed a technology they’re not supposed to
have, and this is the story of humanity fighting back. Now, I haven’t read the
two Lacuna novels that Adams has out, because I’m ridiculously busy. But I did
buy the two 99-cent short stories, and this is my point. His short stories told
me two things: Adams can spin a good tale, and this Lacuna universe is a place
I want to explore. I now have his books on my wish list because I was impressed with his short stories, which functioned as
sort of a teaser. This is something you rarely saw in the old world of print.
You don’t have to risk 5 or 10 bucks on a paperback blurb anymore. Put a dollar
on the table. Take a chance. You might just discover a new voice and a new
world filled with adventure, moral dilemmas, great science, and badass aliens.
Now, out of the thousands of new ebook authors out there,
where else do you start? Usually word of mouth, just like me to you, right
here. But I also keep up on several ebook-related blogs and forums. Through one
of these, I found Blake Crouch and the short story "Serial," which
he co-wrote with Joe Konrath. In a nutshell, we know that hitchhiking can be
dangerous. The guy who picks you up could be a serial killer. But so could the
hitchhiker, right? This story asks: What happens when the driver and hitcher
are both serial killers? For five
bucks you can get Serial and nine other short stories in Crouch’s insanely good
collection, Fully Loaded. [Edit: It's four bucks. What is it with me and ebook prices?] You might call this suspense or thriller fiction
rather than horror, but I would argue that monsters come in all shapes and
sizes. To me, the unsuspected monsters strolling right next to you on the
sidewalk can be more terrifying than anything covered in slime. Horror can
happen wherever you find cracks in reality.
So... Sci-fi. Suspense. Horror. Self-published and totally
awesome. Go get it. Again, this is William Van Winkle, and thanks for checking
out my Short Shorts.
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