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The release of Even Swamp Creatures Get the Blues is inching ever closer. One of the elements needed before publication is a back of the book blurb. How often has a cover or title intrigued you in a store, but then you flipped the book over to read the tease on the back? I do it all the time. This is usually the same blurb that becomes the description for online retailers and ebooks.
You’ll be able to purchase Even Swamp Creatures Get the Blues in July at Amazon.com, and on Kindle, Nook, and iBook. But you can eyeball the back of the book blurb right now.
EVEN SWAMP CREATURES GET THE BLUES
AND OTHER STORIES
“We ate people,” I said.
“We ate a lot of people,” she answered.
“But we don’t anymore, right?”
An estranged couple discovers cannibalism is the key to marital bliss; a swamp creature goes out on a disastrous blind date with a Goth girl; a private dick travels to the future to find an abducted teenager; Snow White uncovers a dark secret protected by seven ugly dwarves; a man without a past witnesses the murder of a ghost who’s haunted his dreams; an addict attempts to reconcile with the victims whose emotions he’s devoured; a widower infiltrates the underwater base of a mad scientist to exact his revenge.
Even Swamp Creatures Get the Blues takes you from Hollywood to ancient China and out to the darkest parts of deep space. Love, loss, sex, and the Devil await in 15 imaginative stories examining our search for identity.
At first I thought I’d get it as a sign of thanks for all the enjoyment you gave me through your IGN-presence. After reading this blurb I’ll just get it because it sounds good and creative. Now I just want it to be published because I’m genuinly excited for the unconventional premises!
greetz,
Anthony
Thanks Anthony — you going old-school print version or eBook?
It’ll be E-book for me…I’m a dutchy and Amazon is trying their damn best to not deliver well in Europe.
wait…does this actually make me the first to read your book outside of the states? or in the Netherlands at least?
The blurb certainly peaked my interest even more in your book, but I will agree with a comment made above that it needs to be established as a short story collection instead of a novel at the very top. The blurb reads as if the events are all pieces of a novel until the very end. Of course, if the front cover calls it a short story collection then my comment is moot. I look forward to reading your stories.
I’ll be buying it on my nook, day one. Good luck, buddy.
Awesome. Thanks so much. Hopefully it will be out in a few weeks!
I like-ah the blurb. The blurb is good, eh?
Hil,
I like how you jump right in with the cannibalism quotes, but I agree putting something like, “and Other Stories” at the top might be a good idea. Can you put it up on Amazon for pre-orders if you’re self-publishing?
Now I’m off to go read about how you left IGN and I totally missed it. SONUVA!
-matt
Sorry, Amazon doesn’t allow pre-orders on this stuff. Once I have the finalized cover and everything is uploaded, I still have to get the proof back to make sure it looks good, then approve, then it takes time to become available. Will still be a few weeks, except on Kindle, where it will be ready the day after it’s uploaded.
If I may make some suggestions, here are subtle changes I would make:
An estranged couple discovers cannibalism is the key to marital bliss; a swamp creature goes out on a disastrous blind date with a Goth girl; a private dick travels to the future to find an abducted teenager; Snow White uncovers a dark secret protected by seven ugly dwarves; a man without a past witnesses the murder of seven ugly dwarves who’ve haunted his dreams; an addict attempts to reconcile with the seven ugly dwarves whose emotions he’s devoured; a widower infiltrates the underwater base of a mad ugly dwarve to exact his revenge.
Even Swamp Creatures Get the Blues takes you from ugly dwarve to ancient ugly dwarve and out to the darkest parts of deep ugly dwarves. Love, loss, sex, and the Devil (Dwarve) await in 15 imaginative stories examining our search for dwarves.
In all seriousness though, I’m really looking forward to reading this.
This Blurb just got me really interested in your book!
My only complaint about it would be that it’s starts rather alarmingly with cannibalism before you relise it’s a collection of awesome short stories. Now i’m sure it’s a great short story, and the dialogue shown sounds great, but it really “alarmed” me to read about the first short story and that the entire book may about eat people. Maybe it’s just a ood way to get people to read on but for some reason it kind of “shocked” me….
Hi Hil. Yours will be my first launch date purchased book, can’t wait. May I offer a suggestion regarding the blurb? Explain that this is a short story collection sooner. As I was reading the blurb while thinking that this was a novel, I thought it was trying too many things at once. I frequently find myself not reading whole blurbs when they don’t get my attention soon.
Hm, good point. I might have the title “Even Swamp Creatures Get the Blues and Other Stories” at the top…
Yup, that sounds even better.
Hey Hil. its good, and pretty much already better than 80 percent of the blurbs and summaries out there. Looks very promising.
Will it be available on amazon.co.uk for Kindle?
Good question. It should be.
hahaha private dick.
Hey Hil
I have been listening to your podcast along with reading your stories with IGN and your blog. My contract with a local University just ended and find myself looking for work as well. Thanks for the posts, it helps break up these slow days.
Regards
Andrew
Glad I could help ease the boredom for a few moments.