Thursday, August 8, 2013

DARKRIDGE HALL is Now Available!

My new young adult paranormal novel Darkridge Hall is now available as an eBook from Amazon or Barnes & Noble! Just click on the appropriate link below to get your copy.


You can also read an excerpt from the novel here and read about the inspiration behind it here.

Best!
Michael K. Rose

***

An evil lurks in the depths of Darkridge Hall, and Andy, a new student at Kransten Academy, is about to meet it face to face.

When threatening, shadowy figures appear outside his dorm room window, Andy decides to solve the mystery of just who or what they are. But those same shadows may be responsible for the strange deaths that have been occurring in the town of Bethlehem, Maine over the past several decades.

As Andy, his teacher Mark Harris and police chief Charles Buck struggle to put the pieces together, they soon realize that the answer may come too late for them to stop the malevolent power behind it all.




Tuesday, August 6, 2013

My Time in Stephen King's Maine

When I was writing my new novel Darkridge Hall, I had a bit of a strange thought. It's a paranormal novel set in rural Maine, and my thought was this: What if people think I'm just ripping off Stephen King? Many of his novels are set in Maine, and it's become somewhat of a trademark of his.

But I feel I have a legitimate right to set my story there. For three years during high school, I attended a small boarding school in rural Western Maine. As with many things in life, my memories of my time there are probably a bit sweeter than reality. I did go through a lot of difficult times during my teenage years, and I have not forgotten them, but while it was going on, the bad seemed so much more immediate than the good.

It was only with time and distance that I was able to truly appreciate how my years at that school shaped me and, for the most part, I feel that the overall influence was a positive one. I was introduced to and became interested in things that have stayed with me over the years. Would I have developed those same interests had I attended a different school? How different a person would I be today? How better--or worse--of a person would I be?

It's difficult to answer these kinds of questions, and in some cases, it's difficult to even ask them. We all have regrets. We all wish we had done something different. And sometimes those regrets are so deep as to cause real pain when we think about what could or should have been.

When I moved back to my home state of Arizona for college, I missed Maine. My fondness for it only grew stronger through the years, and when I attended my 10-year reunion several years ago, being back there, now as an adult, was an almost surreal experience. Many things were as I remembered them, but there were details I had completely forgotten. And the most stirring details were not visual, not something I could recreate by looking at photographs. They revolved around scents and sounds and the general atmosphere of the places I had once known so well: the way the stairs in the classroom building sounded as you walked down them; the scent of the library; the way the light filtered through hallways.

The school and the town in Darkridge Hall were modeled on that school and that town in Maine, and writing it brought back a lot of those memories for me. As I wrote the scenes between Andy and his roommate Dave, I remembered meeting my roommates for the first time. When I wrote about Andy and Dave sitting in Mark Harris's classroom, there is a very particular classroom that I saw in my mind where I had spent some of my happiest hours. And the very feel of the town, the streets that the characters walk and drive along, the trails winding through the woods, the houses... all these things came from my experiences there.

Of course, many details have been changed for the sake of the story, but this is my first major work where "write what you know" has had any real meaning. Because of this, it's also the first novel that I have a deep emotional connection to. Because my connection to that school is firmly rooted in my adolescence, I made another choice regarding Darkridge Hall: I decided that it would be a young adult novel. I wanted to write for an audience who could understand the school the way I understood it. I wanted to preserve the way I felt about it.

If you know Maine at all, Stephen King's Maine, you could probably guess that the school I attended is called Gould Academy and that the town is called Bethel. But if you don't know the school or the town, I hope that in reading Darkridge Hall, though dramatization it may be, you will find that the spirit of those places will be present. I hope my fondness for those memories will come through.

All the Best,
Michael K. Rose

***

DARKRIDGE HALL IS NOW AVAILABLE!

Purchase from:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble


An evil lurks in the depths of Darkridge Hall, and Andy, a new student at Kransten Academy, is about to meet it face to face.

When threatening, shadowy figures appear outside his dorm room window, Andy decides to solve the mystery of just who or what they are. But those same shadows may be responsible for the strange deaths that have been occurring in the town of Bethlehem, Maine over the past several decades.

As Andy, his teacher Mark Harris and police chief Charles Buck struggle to put the pieces together, they soon realize that the answer may come too late for them to stop the malevolent power behind it all.

To read an excerpt from Darkridge Hall, please click here.

Monday, August 5, 2013

A Preview of DARKRIDGE HALL

Hello, all! My young adult paranormal novel Darkridge Hall will be officially released this Friday, August 9th, but here's a sneak peek from chapter five. Enjoy!

Update: Darkridge Hall is now available for Kindle and Nook!

Purchase from:

***

ANDY STARED AT the pounded tin ceiling two feet above him. The light from the moon illuminated the room enough so that he could just see the pattern. It was a pleasant night, and he and Dave had decided to leave the window open. Below him, his roommate was snoring lightly.

Andy reached his hand up and touched the ceiling. Intricate scrollwork bordered each tile. It was rendered in the Egyptianesque motif popular during the Art Deco movement of the 1920s. Andy recognized it because after reading The Great Gatsby over the summer, he had embarked on a month-long study of the period. As was usually the case for him, the reality of the period had turned out to be more interesting than the fiction.

Inside the borders of each tile were symbols which Andy recognized as Egyptian hieroglyphs. Andy had a general understanding of Ancient Egyptian history and culture, but he didn’t know enough about it to recognize what the symbols stood for. He decided then and there that he would rectify that. He did, however, recognize the djed pillar on some of the tiles.

There was a definite Egyptian theme to the entire building, but again, it could have just been because of the popularity of Egyptian Revival architecture during the twenties, mostly spurred on by the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb and the treasures that it had held.

As Andy lay quietly pondering the ceiling, he began to get the sensation that he was being watched. He propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at Dave. He was still asleep. Andy then turned his head and looked out the window. Just at the edge of the light being cast by the streetlamp was a figure, standing very still. It looked as though it was peering up at the second story of Darkridge Hall. In fact, it looked as though it was peering up at the very window out of which Andy was looking.

Andy suppressed a shudder. In one fluid movement, he jumped down off his bunk and dashed to the window to get a better look. The figure sprinted away into the darkness before Andy could see any detail.

Behind him, he heard confused muttering. Dave had been disturbed by the thump as Andy had hit the floor. Andy glanced in Dave’s direction but saw that his roommate was only stirring and not waking.

He turned back to the window. Just as his eyes refocused on the scene outside, a flash of movement caught his eye. It had been near the same spot where he’d seen the first figure. It had retreated quickly, as soon as Andy had turned back.

A sense of dread passed over him. He felt as though whoever—whatever—it was, it was stalking him. If he turned away from the window again, would it return? Would it move closer?

Andy backed away from the window and hunched down. From his position, he could just see the spot where the figure had vanished. He hoped it couldn’t see him.

After about a minute, something crept back into Andy’s field of vision. It appeared to be the same dark figure. Andy held his breath as he watched it. The head—or what seemed to be the head; the outline of the figure was indistinct—was scanning the windows of Darkridge Hall. Andy knew it had seen him before. Its reactions had coincided precisely with Andy’s movements. But what was it doing now? If it could still see Andy, it wasn’t making any indication.

Andy realized that his lungs were beginning to protest, so he took a deep breath. Another flash of movement caught his eye. The first figure had been joined by another. No, several others. There had to be a dozen of them. Andy could see them creeping around the edge of the streetlamp. They skirted the aura of the light as though they were unable or unwilling to let it cast its full glare upon them.

Unfortunately, that glare did not extend to the edge of Darkridge Hall. They could come right up to the building without entering the light.

Andy tried to reconstruct the building in his mind. The front entrance of the dorm looked out over the main lawn and had lights on either side of the door. There was also a back entrance that was illuminated. The side opposite Andy’s window faced the road that passed by the school. But on this side of the building there were no doors and no lights, and the streetlamp that illuminated the road on the other side of the field was too far away. Immediately, Andy understood that for anything that shunned the light, this was the only approachable side of the building.

But what were they? Were they local kids—townies, the seniors had called them—trying to scare the prep school kids? It didn’t matter now. They were approaching Darkridge Hall, and even though he was on the second floor, Andy felt vulnerable. Anyone athletic enough would be able to scale the side of the building if they wanted to.

He began to panic as they moved closer. They moved too strangely to be anyone walking normally. They crept. Andy watched as they came closer and began to zero in on his window. They got close enough to disappear from Andy’s sight. He’d have to lean out the window to see them now.

Andy glanced around the room for anything he could use to protect himself. He noticed Dave’s camera sitting on his desk and snatched it up. He turned it on, blindly pointed it out the window and pushed the shutter button, hoping the flash would go off and scare them away.

It did. A second later, he saw the figures retreat into the darkness. Andy stood, pulled the window closed and latched it. With shaking hands, he fumbled with the camera, trying to figure out how to review the photos. He found the correct button, and, as he squinted at the small screen, a chill ran down his spine. Whatever the figures were, they definitely weren’t townies.

***

DARKRIDGE HALL ARRIVES AUGUST 9, 2013!

An evil lurks in the depths of Darkridge Hall, and Andy, a new student at Kransten Academy, is about to meet it face to face.

When threatening, shadowy figures appear outside his dorm room window, Andy decides to solve the mystery of just who or what they are. But those same shadows may be responsible for the strange deaths that have been occurring in the town of Bethlehem, Maine over the past several decades.

As Andy, his teacher Mark Harris and police chief Charles Buck struggle to put the pieces together, they soon realize that the answer may come too late for them to stop the malevolent power behind it all.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Coming August 9: DARKRIDGE HALL!

Update: Darkridge Hall is now available for the Kindle or Nook!

Available at:

Hello, all! I am excited to officially announce the release date for Darkridge Hall, my upcoming young adult paranormal adventure! This is my first young adult novel as well as my first major departure from the science fiction genre. Below you'll also find the reveal of the great cover designed by Alexia Purdy.

Look for Darkridge Hall this coming Friday, August 9! Click here for a preview!

DARKRIDGE HALL

An evil lurks in the depths of Darkridge Hall, and Andy, a new student at Kransten Academy, is about to meet it face to face.

When threatening, shadowy figures appear outside his dorm room window, Andy decides to solve the mystery of just who or what they are. But those same shadows may be responsible for the strange deaths that have been occurring in the town of Bethlehem, Maine over the past several decades.

As Andy, his teacher Mark Harris and police chief Charles Buck struggle to put the pieces together, they soon realize that the answer may come too late for them to stop the malevolent power behind it all.

AVAILABLE FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2013!



Thursday, August 1, 2013

101 Thoughts on Self-Publishing -- 011: Put It In Print

The eBook revolution really is a wonderful thing. It has not only made self-publishing finally viable for most people, but for readers, it has opened up an entire new world of possibilities. 

But this also means that as eReaders become more popular and affordable, people will buy fewer and fewer print books. I know a lot of people lament this fact and worry about the possible extinction of print, but I don't think that will happen.

Humans will always have a need to surround themselves with things, and for readers, those things will include books. I see eBooks and print books having a relationship similar to the current relationship between hardcovers and mass market paperbacks.

Hardcovers (or nicer, larger-sized trade paperbacks) are the books you buy to keep, the books from your favorite authors, the ones you display on your shelves. The mass market paperbacks are meant to be read then sold, traded, left on airplanes, packed away in boxes, etc. If you're at all like me, you've discovered a favorite book via mass market paperback that you then wanted to buy a nicer copy of, a copy to keep, a copy to admire on the shelf.

I think eBooks will eventually replace the cheap, mass market paperbacks, but not books altogether. Our casual and exploratory reading will happen digitally, and the books we love we will seek out in print.

This is why I think it's a good idea to put your books out in print. If your experience is similar to that of most self-published authors, the lion's share of your sales will be in eBooks. But if you use a service like Amazon's CreateSpace, you will see some sales of your print books. They may be slow, but they'll add up over time. Plus, signed print copies are great gifts for your fans and are a crowd-pleasing prize for contests. You can also sell signed copies from your website and boost profits a bit that way.

Keep in mind that formatting for print can be a bit tricky, but if you don't have the time or patience to learn how to do it yourself, there are people who will provide the service for a fee. You also have to design (or have designed) a wrap for the back cover and spine. I think the time (or money) is worth it, however. In addition to having something available for your die-hard fans, there's really no experience quite like ripping open a box and seeing your book in print. It exciting to see your eBook go live, but it simply cannot compare to holding your work in your own two hands.

Until Next Time!
Michael K. Rose

***

If you're enjoying the series so far and would like a single page to bookmark, I'll be adding each of my 101 Thoughts on Self-Publishing here. Also be sure to subscribe by email (see the box in the sidebar) to be automatically notified about my new posts.

You might also be interested in my new eBook, Building a Promotional Package: How to Prepare for Your Successful Book Launch. Details about it can be found here.