Wednesday, July 27, 2011

UPDATE: Grotesque Mind Circus Available Soon At $0.99


Just a little update on My review of Rebecca Treadway's Grotesque Mind Circus.  My Horror Homie contacted Me to let Me know that she was lowering the price from $1.99 to $0.99.  So for all of you out there that might be kind of tightwads and don't want to spend more than a buck for good literature don't worry.  The new price should be in effect by this weekend knowing Amazon's time frame.

Be lurking for it.


Master Vyle


Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Review: Grotesque Mind Circus by Rebecca Treadway

Treadway's Grotesque Mind Circus does more than putting a little Poe in poetry!
Every once in a while a body gets in the mood for poetry.  There's nothing more soothing that a good verse or two to describe a heart bursting with the joy of love, or the beauty of a sunset over the ocean.  And sometimes there's a line or two that will make you laugh, funny little things that would almost be a song if they only had a music.

Sometimes you want to pick up a pen and write down a few lines of your own.  You open up your heart and lovely words about the ones you love easily flow across the page.  Other times you feel funny and goofy and want to put down something to share the laughter.  All those oh, so sweet nothings that raise your spirits and pour the joy in your heart out for all the world to see.

Ah.....Ummmm... Then there's Rebecca Treadway's poetry and prose collection, Grotesque Mind Circus.  Well, I don't know if it's art...

...BUT I LIKES IT!

If you're looking for cute rhymes and purple prose look elsewhere. Grotesque Mind Circus is a collection of poems that shows you what a writer can come up with when they're fed up with the world, po'ed and want to vent. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but once you take the words in the spirit they were meant you realize that you've pretty much been there too!

Treadway gives up no less than 32 short poems in this collection, so I won't go into detail on each of them, and they are all a mixed bag of angst and anger, with just a tiny bit of horror thrown in here and there.  I have to say that R.I.P. is perhaps My own favorite, as well as a sweet little jab at the average jack off on the street named, Watch This And LearnWannabe's is another great one about wannabes and idiots that I took to heart.  Finally in My four favorites is The Pedestal, which has something about it that reminds Me of Jim Morrison's spoken word works.  "I can't write romance, it's impractical, wishful thinking."  Love it!

Now I can't say I loved every single poem in the collection, but as I have mentioned before it's rare for Me to find any single anthology or collection where I feel every single piece in it is on the same level.  Everything here comes from the author's mind over a period of time and usually when she was in a bad mood.  I'm pretty sure that such poems as This Ass, Man Whore In Circulation and This Vagina will make some male readers believe that Rebecca Treadway is a card carrying member of the She-Woman Man Hater's Club, but the truth is women put up with a lot of shit from men, and you don't have to be in a club or pigeon holed with one label or another to want to vent about it.

I know I may be one of Rebecca's Horror Homies, but judging from other reviews Grotesque Mind Circus has been given on Amazon I can assure you that I'm not just giving her biased praise.  I give it a four out of five stars overall.  Some readers may be put off by the fact that it's $1.99 for a collection of short poems that can easily be read in a couple of hours, but hey, an independent writer has to eat, and believe me it's well worth it.

You can get your copy of Grotesque Mind Circus at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Grotesque-Mind-Circus-ebook/dp/B004RCLVNC

You can find out more about Rebecca Treadway by visiting her sites and blogs:
FaceBook: www.facebook.com/rebeccatreadway
Twitter: @CreepyWalker
Blogspot: www.creepywalker.blogspot.com 

Check out my Horror Homie, Rebecca Treadway.  I promise you won't be disappointed.



Master Vyle


Review: Not Just An Orgy by Sally Painter


You know whenever I see the word "orgy" the first thing that comes to mind is a room full of men and women, a mix of total strangers and good friends, all in a room or a house, and all having dirty, sweaty and raunchy ass sex.  When I see "orgy" I'm thinking of nasty scenes where there's much changing of partners, and much pulling of trains or ladies playing with each other once the guys have all tired themselves.  Hot and slamming, banging action!  Taboo encounters one on top of another!

Well, first of all let Me assure you that Not Just An Orgy by Sally Painter really doesn't have any of that.  Because Not Just An Orgy falls under that "erotic romance" category, and not only that, but it's another piece of cheese from Ellora's Cave.  You may note that it shares the same cover as the previous story I reviewed, Wynter Daniels's The After Party.  I'm guessing that Ellora's Cave uses the same cover for all their freebie stories, and considering the stories I've read from them so far I would have to say that that is a sign that the production they offer their authors is cheap and cut rate.  It's one of the reasons I'm glad to be fully independent.  For all you "erotic romance" writers out there, let Me say this: You do not need to share your profits with an eBook publisher.  It's so easy.  All you have to do is a little research on Amazon as to how to publish on Kindle, submit it, and at least you'd recoup some money because 99 cent books do just as well as free ones.

But anyway, back to Not Just An Orgy, though a more appropriate title would be Not Much Of An Orgy.  Actually what the title is actually meant to foreshadow and imply it that there is a twist at the ending, which I will get to later, but for now just let Me say it comes too much too late to really add any impact to the story and leaves the reader feeling, Well, now that was dumb.

The story follows Alexia Wrightman a, well, fledgling reporter...wannabe reporter, it's never really clear exactly what her credentials are, or if she even has a job reporting anywhere, because she's sure the scoop she's working on is going to land a prestigious job and make her a big name.  The scoop?  She's out to expose the fact that the owner of a nightclub, Hayden Tate, has a secret room in his club where orgies are held.  It seems there are a lot of rumors about this place, but so far no one else has investigated the story.

HUH?

Okay, is sounds almost as if it the theme for an Our Gang or Little Rascals short, with adult elements.  I mean like really.  It's the 21st Century.  I have a feeling that this is not the way you land a job or make a big name for yourself in journalism.

But wait, I haven't mentioned that said night club owner is a hot stud who just oozes sexuality, and our erstwhile heroine will do anything to see his secret orgy room, even if she has to have sex with him.  And oh, she's definitely willing and ready to do that, even to the point she's been dreaming and hoping and wishing very hard that it would happen.  So with the help of her partner, Ollie, an unseen video genius sidekick who has mounted a hidden camera in her hair clip, (and yes that's a real WTF, really, little plot element), she sets out to do just that.  Yes it sounds like some of the more terrible twists that went on in the declining years of 24, and I almost hate myself for having to admit that.

As a basic trash romance story Not Just An Orgy works for the most part.  It works in that fact that it's standard fare where you're presented with a strong female character who all too quickly goes weak in the knees and is ready to swoon and do anything for a hot and powerful stud.  The heroine comes off as pretty much a conniving status seeker who just turns into a blubbering little fuck toy, and is pretty much unlikable.  On the other side of the coin the club owner, who should come off as a sleazeball, comes off as a hot stud who doesn't seem like much of a bad guy at all.  Oh, I'm sure everyone who's ever written a dime romance about mail-order brides, betrothed women, and women captured by Indians that the female leads all start out hating their sleazy partners until they fall in love with them three quarters of the way into the story are shaking their heads and weeping in shame at Sally Painter's breaking of that rule and style.

Surprisingly, the word "fuck" is actually used a couple of times near the end of the story.  However, AGAIN, it is an EROTIC ROMANCE story, which means that, despite the fact there's an orgy going on all around them, the heroine and her hot stud, will be making love.  With each other for the first time.  In a situation where usually some other guy would probably "make love" to her once they're finished.  And again, EROTIC ROMANCE.  There's plenty of people having sex in the same room in this story, but it seems all the coupling couples are monogamous with their partners.  I suppose that why I didn't have to bare any mood killing condom putting on scenes as in The After Party.  But since the sex scenes were eeeeh anyhow there wasn't much of a mood to kill.

And of course the high points of Not Just An Orgy are lines that Mrs. Painter has written, thinking that they were oh, so hot, and brilliant, but are either corny, or just plain stupid.  Such as:

"The moist tip of his cock pressed against her anus and she stiffened.  She'd never had anal sex and licked her lips."

She licked her lips?  Honey, you need to stretch your neck out like Mister Fantastic and lick your own ass, or at least slob a little on that knob, because if you've never had anal sex before IT'S GONNA HURT!

"The outer rim of her channel ached with the need to feel his cock scrape past the folds of her pussy."

??????????

Is the "outer rim" her labia, or are the "folds of her pussy" the labia?  More to the point do the labia really ache with need?  I know I'm just a man but I was always under the impression that it was the clit that usually ached with need.  And sometimes the nipples.  And occasionally the anus.

"Alexia clung to him.  Sweat drenched him, making his shirt stick to his back.  She pushed the shirt over his shoulders and he quickly shed it, letting it fall to the floor."

Okay, so when you're clinging to a guy and he's holding you up against the wall "making love" to you isn't it a little hard to get his manly sweaty shirt off his shoulder?  He would have to be super human to get it off so it could fall to the floor without letting go of her or her letting go oh him.

OH, BUT WAIT!  I almost forgot the twist ending.  Here, let me give you a multiple choice and see if you can guess the right one.  Is it:

A. Alexia really is not a reporter, and Hayden Tate is not a sleazy club owner, but they are a married couple doing some role play and this reporter and sleazy club owner thing is a hot little sex game they play to spice up their marriage.

B. The police break in and Alexia is arrested because it turns out all the other women in the room are actually prostitutes and they assume she is one too seeing her engaged it some gash for cash love making when they bust in.

Or,

C. Hayden Tate and everyone else in the secret room are vampires, and he wants to turn Alexia into his undead bride.

The answer, obviously is C!

Just like Master Tang in Kung Pow! Enter The Fist it would have been better if Mrs. Painter had went with Plan A, had she though of it.  Vampires?  Really?  I mean considering the pussy assed orgy in the story I'm pretty sure those vampires are as sparkly as RuPaul's panties.

Of course not everyone apparently finds the story to be so terrible, but overall it still only managed to get a score of 2 and 1/2 stars on Amazon.  The reviews are mixed and ranged from those who loved it to those who apparently hated it worse than I did.  One common observation among Amazon's reviewers was that the story might have worked if it were longer, perhaps in a novel format, and that adding vampires in at the very end was a huge flub on Mrs. Painter's part.  It was a high school creative writing assignment mistake, and it's not the first, and unfortunately probably not the last time, I will see it from an independent writer whose stories look like cut rate YA stories with a little sex thrown in to spice them up.

I do have to say I saw one last bit of unintentional comedy in the About The Author blurb where it reveals:

"Nowadays, when not writing hot sexy gargoyles, vampires and futuristic hunks, she takes off on a new adventure with her soul mate husband, enjoys her family and hangs out with friends."

Sexy gargoyles?????????   Listen, not even Disney could make gargoyles look sexy.

I give Not Just An Orgy one star, and that's pushing it.  If you really want to see for yourself if you think it was bad you can get it free for Kindle from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Not-Just-an-Orgy-ebook/dp/B003SX124E

If you want to know more about Sally Painter and her works you can check out her bio at Ellora's Cave.


Master Vyle


Sunday, July 24, 2011

Review: The After Party by Wynter Daniels


Okay, I think that by now most people know I have a strong aversion to the term "erotic romance".  And I would have to say that The After Party by Wynter Daniels is a good example of why.  On a side note I first came across erotic romance over a year ago when I first began to explore the possibility of having a eBook published.  It just so happens that the publisher of this story, Ellora's Cave, was one of the first ones I checked in to.  Let Me tell you that Ellora's Cave is a good name from this publisher, because so far both stories I read published by them were total cheese.

On another side note the term Quickies, according to the information at the front of the story, is a registered trademark of Ellora's Cave.  Oh, yeah, I count that as being on par with some asshole company in New York making Bike Week a registered trademark.  Yes, kids, you just entered no respect from Master Vyle country.

Of course also being from their Naughty Nooners line (another registered TM),  and being offered as a free download I expected this story to be much better than it was.  I do my best to make an effort to offer stories that are going to generate sales for other stories when offering them for free.  This means that I do my best to offer superior stories.  Well, one could only hope that Ellora's Cave follows the tail end of that philosophy, because if I were paying I wouldn't want it to be for anything of lower quality.  Yes I know it sounds like I'm just out to trash The After Party, but it is this kind of story that gives independent writers the reputation of being hacks.

The plot is simple enough.  In fact there's actually nothing too original about it.  Woman meets stranger at wedding reception.  Woman has stranger take her home after wedding reception.  Woman has about four or five minutes of sex on the couch with stranger after wedding reception.

I'm supposing that Wynter didn't read between the lines when Jeff Foxworthy said, "If you go to the family reunion to meet women, you might be a redneck."  Had she it would have lead her to the conclusion that, "If you get buzzed on champagne and pick up a guy at your cousin's wedding reception, you might be a redneck."

Oh, my it leads to some non-suspense at the end that readers from the Victorian Era would have though of as an everyday occurrence.  Are we cousins or something?  A five second subplot.  It goes along with other senseless subplots such as: We both teach, we both have cats, we're both into mythology, and Oh, I babysat the guy I just did it with when he was a kid and hated him.

Did I just day "did it"?  Well yes, of course, because in an erotic romance, even if you're hooking up with a total stranger for some quick scrumpin' on the couch, it's described as "love making".

Now of course I'm all about fetishes.  Strange, strange fetishes.  However Wynter Daniels has some new ones on Me and the lady vyle.  Her heroine seems to have something for trees:

"He smelled of pine and fresh cut grass."

You mean like a gardener?

"I swooned at his piney scent."

Huh?  That has me imagining you do a lot of one handed driving whenever you change the air freshener in your car.

Yes some of the lines in this story are comic gold, but unlike Giselle Renarde's Goose Girl the comedy is not intentional.  Nope, The After Party contains such gems as:

"God, what is it about weddings that always makes me horny?"

and

"He tasted of mint and champagne. And lust."

Woah, sizzling!

"When he bit at my nipple through my bra, I thought I might incinerate right there on my floral patterned couch on Willow Lane."

Damn, Stephen King could have done that in less words.  Hell, honey, I would have been more concerned about the cushions getting wet and not burned.

"His hard cock pushed against my thigh, beckoning to me."

Hey, if he was really good he would make his cock do that from the other side of the room.  But that isn't the worst part.  The worst part is that right in the middle of what may have actually been a hot couch scrumpin' scene we get this:

" 'Wait.' Lifting me off his lap, he planted a kiss on my nose then sat me on the sofa next to him. He stripped off his boxers and reached for his pants on the floor. Then he dug in the pocket and emerged with a silver wrapped packet. He tore it open and deftly rolled a condom on to his erect shaft."

Yes, it was scenes like that which made RoboFox 2 one of the worst adult films ever made.  Which considering the fact that in the first RoboFox the titular RoboFox rubbed the semen from the money shot in all her partners' faces is pretty bad and pretty much reveals my opinion this story.  I give The After Party two stars and that's pushing it.

Of course different strokes for different folks.  The story actually has a fair deal of good reviews on Amazon.  The only person who really gave it a scathing review was The English Teacher, who is now My hero, and his was even more critical than this one.  So I suppose you will have to see for yourself and tell Me if I'm wrong or not.

The After Party is available for free from Amazon.Com:
http://www.amazon.com/The-After-Party-ebook/dp/B004NBYBOI

Wynter Daniels is the pseudonym for Florida author Dara Edmondson.  You can find out more about her and her works on her Amazon Author's Page and on her Author Bio Page at Ellora's Cave, http://www.ellorascave.com .

Master Vyle

Joining Das FaceBook-en! Why I Dit It.


Last week I finally did it.  I finally broke down and joined FaceBook, or as I call it Das FaceBook-en.  Yeah, I know I said I would never do it.  Yes I refer to its founder as Mark Dicksuckerburg and have had not one nice thing to say about him.  In fact I usually can't say enough bad things about this bratty little man child, and social networking.

So why did I do it?

You really joined FB, a lot of Twitter friends have asked.  "Dude, I thought you hated FaceBook", more than one of my everyday friends has stated.

Well of course I didn't do it without ulterior motives.  First and foremost, due to its reputation as a place to find lost friends and family members, and ex'es to stalk, I joined in the hopes of finding my best friend (Howard) Scott Smith.  I have not seen him in over 12 years and everywhere I've looked has been a dead end.  The last bit of information I found about him was that he was living in Eagle Lake, Florida, and playing with a band named No Licence Required (NLR).  Scott has been in several bands over the years and is pretty much known for not being able to play well with others, so his former band mates have pretty much ignored my request for any information about his whereabouts.

I feel pretty sure that there has to be at least one person from my past who I might run across who knows where he is.  Hell, he may even have a FB account, but there's a bazillion pages of Scott Smiths and Howard Smiths and Howard Scott Smiths, so so far no luck.  So if anyone will give me a hand in finding him or letting me know what happened to him I would greatly appreciate it.  Unfortunately and for various reasons I have no photos of him, but I am sure anyone who knows us both doesn't need one.


George Orwell's 1984
 Other than finding Scott I have to admit that I am also intending to do a little self-promotion through Das FaceBook-en. 

Why do I call it Das FaceBook-en anyway?  Well I think the main picture on this article might clue you in as to what I think of Mark Zuckerburg.  This guy has some serious issues.  He initially created FB because he couldn't get chicks and wanted to teach everyone a lesson.  Judging from his rules and views it's pretty plain to see college wasn't enough so now he wants to teach the rest of the world and make it fall in line with his ideals.  Some people will probably think that comparing Dicksuckerburg to Hitler is a little extreme, maybe a little ironic even in some ways.  Well he may never have the skills to be just like Hitler, but he definitely is on par with Syndrome from The Incredibles, and I don't think I'm too off base there as I believe that Syndrome is actually based on Dicksuckerburg.

Was Orwell was only a few decades off?

When I was a kid there was much made of the year 1984, because George Orwell's 1948 novel, 1984, predicted a totalitarian society where everyone was expected to conform.  Sound familiar?  In the past several years employers are more and more interested on what their employees are saying online and in their own time, about the companies they work for and everything else, supposedly for the sake of making sure that no one is saying anything to reflect badly on them.  Dicksuckerburg's vision of no one being able to have a separate personal and online life ("With my inventions, soon everyone will be super! And then no one will be." - Syndrome) seems to fall in line with this, and Das FaceBook-en has more and more acted as a facilitator for companies intent on spying on their workers.  Remember Back To The Future Part II and how alternate Marty McFly is fired from his job instantly after doing something his company didn't feel was in line with its guidelines or the law?  That was set in 2013 by the way and we're halfway through 2011.  Kind of funny and a little ironic.

So welcome to 1984, which was actually 2008 or so.  Welcome to a world where Mark Dicksuckerburg is Big Brother, despite the fact that he's more like that annoying little brother that all your friends hate.  And I swear when I imagine him speaking that I hear the voice of Mandark from Dexter's Laboratory coming out, but in German.

While on vacation I visited the Florida Holocaust Museum, and one of its purposes is to remind us to watch out and to make sure that history does not repeat itself.  Do I think that a some kind of  Neo-Nazi empire or socialist state could rise centered around FaceBook, social networking and cyberspace?  I'm sure that more than one person laughed at the idea of Orwell's 1984 being anything close to reality from the time it was published and right up through the 90's, but now look at how big business is exploiting social media to keep tabs on its workers.

As for Me, I think it sucks.  I felt that through the 90's the world was becoming a better place.  Then political correctness spread like wildfire, as did the growth of the "Global Village" which in turn produced a bazillion global village idiots.  I hate the fact that the world seemed like it came so far only to suddenly thrust back toward some Victorian Era ideal of what was proper.  I also have to point out that there were no Unions in the Victorian Era, so you can assume that most workers were treated less than human back then.

When I'm on my own time then I'm going to be Me, and I don't care what Mark Dicksuckerburg or big business think about it.  And believe Me I will stay that way until the day whatever passes as the Gestapo of this New World Order comes to drag Me away and put Me on trial, because if things keep going the way they are I'm seeing that it's likely to happen in My lifetime.  However as long as we're still all free, and as long as there are attorneys, I will fight any restrictive rule that anyone comes up with and tries to impose on me to prove that companies and spoiled little nerdy brats that can't get chicks have no right to dictate my personal time.

Man bites dog.

Michael C. Laney joins FaceBook.

Yes, it's ironic that I joined up at a time when figures from around the world show that people afraid of being spied on are deleting their accounts in droves.  But it's okay.  I ain't scared of Mark Zuckerburg, no more than I was scared of Amazon.  And who's peddling My wares right now?  Hummmm, thinking it begins with an A.



Master Vyle


Saturday, July 23, 2011

Review: Goose Girl by Giselle Renarde


There are some things out there that make you shake your head to yourself as you try and figure out exactly what to say about them.  When you take the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale, "Tale Number 89 (The Goose Girl)", add some lesbian eroticism with a modern twist, and throw in a dash of what the author herself admits is a heavy Robin Hood Men In Tights influence, and what you've got is Giselle Renarde's Goose Girl.  Now it does help to be familiar with the Grimm tale that the plot, characters and story are culled from, but it is not totally necessary.  But then again it helps.

I hadn't read the Grimm Fairy Tale until after reading Giselle's novella, and I have to admit it helped me get a slightly better grasp on the story's inspiration.  In Goose Girl the reader is presented with a faithful spoof of its inspiration, that at no point takes itself too seriously.  The author herself told me that she felt it was either a love it or hate it kind of story, and I have to admit I totally understood as I have a few stories of my own that are that way.

Goose Girl tells the story of a princess-to-be who is on the way to meet and marry the prince she is betrothed to, carrying a handkerchief with her mother's blood on it and riding a talking horse.  Along the way her scheming hand maid forces her to change places with her, including clothing and horses.  Once the maid has situated herself within the royal household she has the talking horse killed, and the real princess is sent to help tend the local geese with an amorous male goose keeper.  After a time the princess's true identity comes to light, and the scheming maid is punished.

Yes, the story is pretty much that same as Grimms' The Goose Girl, with the addition of lesbian sex, a voyeuristic king, a wimpy prince, and a goose lovin' goose keeper who has his little penis blown away on the wind instead of his hat.  Oh, and I forgot to mention, one hairy assed, butch, scheming maid.  I've been with a hairy chick in the past, but at least I could put a hand between her boobs and cover it.  Renarde's Rosamunda is just as hairy as Juliette in Troma's Tromeo And Juliette after she takes the potion that turns her into a human-donkey hybrid with male parts!  Add to that the fact that Renarde adds the term poultry-sexual to the English language, and you got some comic gold.

In this novella Giselle Renarde presents us with such, should be, classic dialogue as:

"Oh, my dearest, Rosamunda, riding this way has my precious cavern flowing with love nectar.  I feel I would die without immediate gratification. I beg you, dismount, and take a drink from my cup."

and:

"She rubbed faster and faster, her big breasts bouncing, until the pleasure was so vast she had to squeeze her eyes shut just to stay sane."

?????????????????

And I did close my eyes at that point to keep from going insane with laughter.

Is Goose Girl terrible?  Well that depends on your point of view.  If you have an open mind and a good sense of humor you'll love it.  If you're a stick in the mud, or hoping to be titillated to the point you have to stop reading and masturbate before going on you'll hate it.  Goose Girl is erotic comedy, but the emphasis is on comedy and not steamy sex scenes.

I give it four stars overall, and in part because I went back and read the Grimm story it is based on.  For me knowing the initial story helped put Renade's take on in into perspective.  It's not totally necessary to know the fairy tale, but it helps, especially for someone who begins reading this with the expectations it is going to be more sex than ha, ha.

Goose Girl by Giselle Renarde is available as an eBook or download
Amazon.Com:  http://www.amazon.com/Goose-Twisted-Fairy-Tales-ebook/dp/B0053DL9IQ
All Romance Books:  http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-goosegirl-550229-144.html

You can follow Giselle Renarde on Twitter @GiselleRenarde .  Or check her out on her own sites:

Blog:  http://www.donutsdesires.blogspot.com
Website: http://www.wix.com/gisellerenarde/erotica
Podcasts:  http://gisellerenarde.podbean.com/

Giselle is a very prolific writer, and it seems on almost every site I go to where she is mentioned I find there are more and more stories written by  her than on the last site I researched her on.  She writes in a number of genres and many of her stories deal with LGBT themes.  She's not afraid to take a risk and does not take herself too seriously, and that is enough to earn her a ton of respect from Me.  Be sure to check her out, because I can't wait to delve into her other works to see what they are like.


Master Vyle

Monday, July 11, 2011

Sunday, July 10, 2011

My New Novel Abagail King Released Ahead Of Schedule!


Well, what can I say?  I'm thrilled shitless to announce that A Day In The Life Of Abagail King is live now, a full three days ahead of what I have come to expect as Amazon's usual wait time.  Although it is not live in all markets yet the novel is available from Amazon US and Lulu.Com.

So for all of you who were already waiting, and you know who you are, the wait is already over!

Where the whores at?  Well the best one on the Atlantic Coast of Florida, Coast City Shore's own Abagail King, can be found in the pages of My new novel!  Quickie tricks, lesbian BDSM fourways, taking care of the regulars and an interracial gang bang are all just a part of a day in her life, A Day In The Life Of Abagail King.

Available for eReader and download:
Amazon.Com US: http://www.amazon.com/Day-Life-Abagail-King-ebook/dp/B005C1GHR2
Lulu.com:  http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/a-day-in-the-life-of-abagail-king/16229973

Available Soon From Amazon UK and Amazon Germany - Update Soon!

For only $2.99 it's a lot of pleasure for a small price!

Master Vyle

Saturday, July 9, 2011

The Kindle As An Editing Tool

When you're an independent writer, truly independent, you tend to get creative in finding ways to save time and get the most you can out of whatever you have at your disposal.  Earlier this year I bought Myself a Kindle, mainly since Amazon's Kindle was what I knew was going to be the main avenue of getting published and available to a broader audience.  Very early on I realized that it was a great reasearch tool, and from almost day one I was using is as just that, not only putting several books on it as reasearch material, but also using the Kindle's bookmarking and highlighting features.

Then, after putting the converted files for the stories I had already published on My Kindle, so I could see what they looked like without having to buy My own work from Amazon, I had another idea come to Me.  If you could highlight reference material then you could also highlight errors in works in progress.  Kindle could be more than a reading and reasearch tool, it could be an editing tool as well.

A few days ago I finished the rough draft for A Day In The Life Of Abagail King, and as soon as I had the words "The End" written down, I converted a copy of the file and put it right on My Kindle.  Then over the course of the next few days I read over it and highlighted My mistakes, finding it a lot more convienent that trying to hunt through lines of text on My computer monitor.  I don't know.  There's something about the way things show up on the Kindle screen that makes those stupid mistakes jump right out more than when trying to track them down in Word.  Plus there was the comfort factor.  I got to relax on the couch and get the feel for My work before sending it out for publication.  I even did a little editing while taking care of some business, if you know what I mean.

Yes, if you use your Kindle as an editing tool you can do you editing almost anywhere.
With the Kindle as an editing tool I knocked out My edit, easily finding my mistakes in My Word draft and correcting them all within a matter of a couple of hours.  Plus when you use you Kindle to preview your work before publishing it you get a chance to see it the way your readers are going to see it, hopefully cutting out any unpleasant surprises.  Plus I have to admit I get a little jacked when I look at all My handiwork such as special text and pictures that make My works stand out more than anyone else's.  (If only more people were taking the opportunity to purchase them.)



A sneak peek at My About The Author Picture that will be in A Day In The Life Of Abagail King.  Yes, that's the Fortune Four hand sign, and I'm dressed in a hoodie and doing it with a little attitude as an homage to A.J. Styles and Frankie Kazarian.
 Using the Kindle to edit really sped up the process with A Day In The Life Of Abagail King, and I hope it will do more of the same in the future.  In one day I edited text and pictures for the novel, filed it with the Library Of Congress, and uploaded it to Amazon.  Now Kindle didn't help Me file the copyright, but it did save Me at least a couple of weeks work, and has made Me feel a lot more confident that a majority of simple mistakes didn't slip past Me and make it to the Kindle Edition.

Give it a try, and I think you'll agree that Kindle is a device that has more uses than you may have initially imagined.



Master Vyle


Sunday, July 3, 2011

Review: Fear In Words Volume One - The Stories by Jason Darrick

Jason Darrick Ready To Put Himself On The Map With The Release Of His First Collection Fear In Words Volume One - The Stories
Ah, or should I say, "Oh".  Oh, Canada, that neighbor to the north that has given us such fine things as....  Mmmmm...Canadian Bacon...  Ahhhhhh.....Maple Syrup?  Ummmmm....Bret Hart?  Naw, definitely not Bret Hart.  Maybe some better people like his brother, the late Owen Hart, Christian Cage, Lance Storm, Chris "Jericho" Irvine, and a national treasure, Adam "Edge" Copeland.  Yeah, I guess this is sounding like a post from my long silent House Of Master Vyle Championship Wrestling blog, however it does illustrate that the most I know about Canada I learned from watching professional wrestling.

In my life I've only had a chance to get to know only two people from Canada.  Dave, I guy I used to work with about a decade ago that liked to drive his RV to work for the hell of it and to take up two parking spaces, and Jason Darrick, a budding independent author I began chatting with on twitter (ironically what we talk about a lot is professional wrestling).  Although I really like Dave this post is about Jason Darrick.

Recently Jason gathered the stories that he's written over the space of about a year, what he considers his first year of serious writing, and put them together in his first anthology, Fear In Words Volume One - The Stories.  Now having chatted to him for a while and finding we have a lot in common as far a subject matter goes, and having read many of his blog posts and bits of a little guilty pleasure he calls, Sadistic Sunday, I couldn't wait to get his collection and see what else Jason's mind had produced.

Yes, I know it was only 24 hours ago that I said that One Buck Horror Volume One was the first anthology I had ever read where ever single story was up to par and worthy of similar ratings, but after that post I finished Jason's anthology, and now can tell you there are two.  Like the One Buck Horror collection the stories are fairly short and easy to read, however the level of horror is way up and beyond.  Fear In Words is more adult oriented and definitely in not kid friendly or for the faint of heart.  Which of course means I loved it.


Here's a look at the stories:

Drip
A very short story, almost poem length.  He hears some dripping and what can it be?  Five stars for being able to have so much impact with so few words.

The Figure
A man finds himself stalked by what appears to be a living shadow.  It menaces him, forcing him to fight back with some terrible consequences.  What is the shadow of?  A disturbing question not easily answered.  A four star story that lets you know it came from someone just starting to embrace their craft.

The Forest
Trapped in the middle of nowhere and hunted by a group of hostiles, a man learns the terrible fate of his wife and many other members of his party.  A brief study of one man's emotional torment. It's kind of like Lost, with cannibalism!  Five stars!

Hanna
A husband has made his wife a part of his BDSM fantasies for years.  Now she wants her turn to be in control, and not just of his body.  A cautionary tale of what happens when people delve into a lifestyle they really know nothing about and end up pissing off the one they love.  Four and a half stars.

Mr. Vore
An overweight man visits the office Mr. Vore in the hopes of joining a study for his newest weight loss vitamin.  What he discovers, however, is that Mr. Vore has a different kind of definition for trimming the fat.  Vore was such an excellent and menacing character I found myself assigning him Christopher Lee's voice as I read his dialogue, even though he was supposed to have a slightly German accent.  A solid five star story that has me waiting for more of what Jason Darrick has to offer.


Fear In Words Volume One - The Stories by Jason Darrick is now available for Kindle and PC from Amazon, and for the right price too, just $0.99!
Amazon US:  http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Fear-Words-ebook/dp/B0057OC8KY
Amazon UK:  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stories-Fear-Words-ebook/dp/B0057OC8KY
Amazon Germany:  http://www.amazon.de/Stories-Fear-Words-ebook/dp/B0057OC8KY

Be sure to check out Jason Darrick, and see what's coming from one of the new independent voices of Horror, by visiting his blog http://jasondarrickfiw.blogspot.com/ or follow him on twitter @Fear_In_Words .  And of course be sure to pick up your copy of  Fear In Words Volume One - The Stories today!


Master Vyle


Saturday, July 2, 2011

Review: One Buck Horror Volume One from One Buck Horror


A Truly Great Read For Just One Dollar!
Story collections and anthologies.  I've been collecting them since I was in middle school.  Up until now they have all had one thing in common, and that is they are loaded with varied tales: some good, some okay, some excellent, and some downright awful.  It doesn't matter if it is a collection of stories by category like Science Fiction and Horror, or collections of stories by authors like Stephen King, Clive Barker or Poppy Z. Brite, the fact remains that not every single story in a collection is as equally good or bad.  Even if I were to put out one of my own I am sure that readers would not view each story as a masterpiece (or even as a piece).

However, this week I found one story collection that had stories that were all fantastic across the board.  A Horror anthology of five stories, from five different independent authors, presented by One Buck Horror.  One Buck Horror Volume One delivers in a way no other story collection has before in my opinion.  And of course at the price of $1.00, yes truly one buck, it is not a collection to pass over.  Just because the cover price is low does not mean that the quality within is not worth a hell of a lot more.

This is a collection that had me hooked as soon as I started to read the first story.  All five are short and sweet, but each has that style that makes it speak volumes.  Almost all of them reminded me of my own earliest short stories (when I was writing as an assignment, and before I got so long winded).  I loved the nostalgia of getting a good quality story in such a short format, and as a writer reading them helped me to remember to value my own shorter works.  I know this makes the collection itself overall short compared to others, but it's all good quality, I again assure you.  One Buck Horror Volume One is a collection you can easily finish within a few hours, and it will still leave you knowing that you will want to read these stories over, again and again.



Here's a quick look at the stories:

Jenny's House by Ada Hoffmann
This story is an excellent lead in to the collection.  A boy brings something unusual to school for show-and-tell.  It's smelly and slimy and it just may explain why Jenny is not at school.  A five star shorty story from a child's point of view that had me hooked!

A Lullaby For Caliban by Mark Onspaugh
Three boys break into a carnival side show to steal a little something from the freak show as part of an initiation into the Daredevilz.  What they find is something beyond imagination. Another five star effort that had me dying to read on the the next story.

The Last Nephew by Elizabeth Twist
"Nephew" seeks his freedom from "Uncle", a man who took him off the streets but made him do things no boy should.  "Nephew's" predecessors are going to help him escape his torment, and he is going to help them get their revenge on "Uncle".  As a molestation survivor this story really spoke to me, and it is a story that leaves you with much food for thought, and to ponder what comes next.  Again a five star story.

The Cornfield by Mike Trier
Jack hates to cross the cornfield on his way home from his friend's house every time, because he is always afraid that something is going to come out of the neighboring woods and get him.  One night something does, a horror that follows him home, and his life and death struggle leads to a shocking aftermath!  You might guess the ending before you get to it, but nonetheless it is a great story worthy of four and three quarter stars.

The Gingerman by Julie Jansen
Something is not quite right with Mom.  Dad has been really sick, and she swears she is going to make him and everything else better again with a secret dessert recipe from the strange old lady next door.  It may be the weakest story in the collection in my opinion, but it is still worth four solid stars, and I can't wait to see what Julie Jansen, and her fellow contributors to this collection will come out with next.



To learn more about One Buck Horror, and the contributors to One Buck Horror Volume One be sure to visit the One Buck Horror website: www.onebuckhorror.com .  Or you can follow One Buck Horror on twitter @OneBuckHorror .


Be Sure To Get Your Own Copy Of One Buck Horror Volume One Today For Just One Buck!
Amazon US:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00584MMG8
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Buck-Horror-ebook/dp/B00584MMG8
Amazon Germany:  http://www.amazon.de/One-Buck-Horror-ebook/dp/B00584MMG8
Barnes and Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/one-buck-horror-christopher-hawkins/1103370828?ean=2940012887566&itm=1&usri=one%2bbuck%2bhorror%2bvolume%2bone

Believe me, this collection is too good to miss.  Get your copy for eReader or PC.
Happy Reading!


Master Vyle