A couple weeks ago, I released my latest work! Hallowed Oblivion is a novelette (about 52 pages) that takes place before the events of THE WILD DARK. It’s part campfire/hiking horror, part Halloween story. This is the first time I’ve written and released a story just for the season and I may make this a continuing theme based on how great the response has been so far!
Here’s a little more about the book:
On Halloween Night, Forest Ranger Hank Feld is called out to the White Mountain National Forest to search for a group of lost hikers. Crushed at not being able to spend the evening with his daughter, Hank sets off into the cold, misty mountains alongside volunteer, Gerard Castle.
But they are not the only things in the woods that night. When they come upon a massacred camping site, they realize there’s something hunting them: a malevolent creature that hungers for the souls of the lost.
A novelette from The Wild Oblivion universe, readers follow one of THE WILD DARK’s characters into the woods for a ghastly adventure, one that might eventually alter the world as we know it…
You can download an ebook copy from my website or order a paperback here
Hello subscribers old and new! A lot has happened since last month’s newsletter. As we bustle through July, I’d love to let you know what’s been going on the last couple weeks as well as what you can look forward to the rest of this summer and beyond!
The Monstrum Chronicles RE-VAMPED editions launched last month with a lovely day long procession of vampire-themed shenanigans. Each of the three books in the series (and one short story) received new interior layouts, brand new covers, deleted scenes, music playlists, and new forewords. I have copies available for purchase on my website as well as via Amazon for paperback and ebook. Thanks to all who came out and helped celebrate!
Have you heard the news? I have a TikTok account! Well, to be fair, I’ve had one but I just wasn’t posting very often at all. Aiming to change that going forward though. If you are a fellow Tiktokker, follow me @katherinesilvaauthor .
WHAT ‘CHA BEEN READING
I’ve plowed through some extraordinary books in the last month including Samantha Kolesnik’s Waif, Hailey Piper’s The Worm and His Kings, Donnie Goodman’s The Razorblades In My Head, and Eric LaRocca’s You’ve Lost A Lot of Blood. Each one was a unique and terrifying experience in its own right and I definitely recommend them all to you!
Up on the docket next are:
Beguiled By Night by Nicole Eigener
Your Mind Is A Terrible Thing by Hailey Piper
Nightfall: Nightmareland Volume 1 by Daniel Barnett
Three Days in the Pink Tower by E.V. Knight
This one kind of came out of the blue… At the same time, this is unlike anything I’ve written before. This short story is a combination of prose and poetry and startling black and white imagery with descriptive typography. While it’s a short read (only 38 pages), I’m hoping readers will feel moved, pulled, and changed by the content inside.
The book will only be available via ebook and is only 99 cents. It is currently up for pre-order via Amazon and B&N. Links will be below along with a description of the book.
“I am losing all the little things that make me who I am…”
Brody Aritza was lost to the Wild Dark when he was killed in the line of duty. But then something happened. The thin wall between life and death parted and he found his way back, back to the woman he loved. It wasn’t right though: he was dead and she was alive and they couldn’t be together. But he found a way to fix it. He could possess others to keep her safe and maybe…maybe they could be together after all.
Orchards takes place after the shocking conclusion of THE WILD DARK. Thrust into darkness once more, Brody must sift through time and memory as he clings to what little pieces of humanity remain in his ruinous soul. This short story will leave readers hungry for THE WILD FALL: Book Two of The Wild Oblivion, coming in 2023.
If you are a book reviewer and you’d like a free digital copy of ORCHARDS (or any other book in my catalog), please email me at strangewildspress@gmail.com to request a copy!
I’m still at work on This House Will Kill Again. Because ORCHARDS turned into a random (but lovely) necessity this month, I missed time working on this one. For those of you who might not remember, this is my Archive 81/House of Leaves/Downton Abbey mashup novel that I’ve been trying to get out for a couple years.
THE WILD DARK was featured on reviewer Nisar Sufi’s website, Literary Retreat. View it here.
I recorded an episode on the Terrifying Tomes of Terror podcast with Chance Forshee. We talk about THE WILD DARK and the upcoming sequel, slated for release next year. (I recorded this before ORCHARDS was even a thing.)
We watched all kinds of horror last month including the latest season of Stranger Things and The Black Phone. We will be watching NOPE when it premiers in theaters next week as well as the new Netflix adaption of Resident Evil. I just hope it’s better than Welcome to Raccoon City…
I’m off to a joint birthday party today! Cake and sunshine are in my imminent future and that only makes me more happy.
That’s my June/1st half of July wrap-up! If you want more regular updates about me and my projects, be sure to subscribe to my Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, or whatever else you see my face on!
First of all, I’d love to thank each and every one of you who has purchased a copy of THE WILD DARK. You have instilled such a feeling of triumph in me, that I can’t express with enough love and gratitude as I’d wish. I could seriously hug each and every one of you (or shake your hand if you’re not the hugging type). If you’ve read and reviewed or rated, thank you doubly. Reviews are the lifeblood for an indie author to get their book out into the world and get noticed. Each and every review or rating that comes in, no matter how you felt about the book, is welcomed.
We have some awesome stuff in this month’s newsletter, including the opportunity to purchase a holiday 2021 book gift box early before sales officially open up, news about my books, NaNoWriMo, future releases, and more! Scroll on!
Welcome, welcome! First off, I’d like to thank all of my long time subscribers here on WordPress. You guys have been through all the iterations of this blog from The Monstrum Chronicles, to Writers’ Abditory, and finally to The Kat At Night. It’s taken some time to finally find a steady pace and rebrand into a place where I feel most comfortable.
That being said, I’m expanding my blog into a new monthly newsletter in anticipation of the fall release of “The Wild Dark”. Said newsletter is being provided through my website and SquareSpace. While I’m going to try and duplicate announcements in both places as best I can, I’d really like to make the newsletter my exclusive place to readers to find upcoming content related to “The Wild Dark” as well as info about upcoming giveaways, pre-order happiness, and sneak peeks.
For those of you who don’t know about “The Wild Dark”, I’ll post the cover below along with a brief synopsis:
Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Raleigh has lost everything in the last few months: her job as a police detective, her partner, her fiancé, and her peace of mind. After a month of solitude at a cabin in the woods, she finally feels as though she’s ready to move on.
But in one terrifying night, everything changes. An unearthly forest realm has begun to creep over the world, swallowing up every sign of human civilization. The woods are fraught with disturbing architecture and monstrous wolves hungry for human souls. In addition, ghosts of loved ones have appeared to select people including Liz’s partner, Brody, who doesn’t remember how he died.
As winter closes in and chaos erupts across New England, Liz fights desolation, resurfacing guilt, and absolute terror as she tries to survive one of the North East’s most brutal winters.
Anyone here fans of survivalism? Winter camping? Apocalypses? Spooky woods? Murder wolves? A strong female protagonist? “The Wild Dark” might be for you! The button below will take you to the website where you’ll have the option to subscribe. (Scroll to the bottom of the main page to find the entry form!) I’ll probably be more diligent with promoting the book there than here. I’d like The Kat at Night to include my writing escapades, but to also be its own entity as well. There will be exclusive content in both places.
The end of the year is almost here! Don’t know about the rest of you but I’m looking forward to ringing in the new year with some prosecco, and some hopefully good resolutions. This is chronically a time of the year where people pledge to become completely different people in the new year and rarely keep to all of the ideas they’ve put before them. I have definitely been this person before. That being said, I’m keeping my list of resolutions to three things. Before I go into detail on what these things are, I’d like to take a look back at a couple of the good things that happened in 2020.
I finally got my office renovated and set up for future use! All of that time home during the beginning months of the pandemic actually paid off by giving me time to work on this space. I painted, put up decor, redid the ceilings with PVC tiles, installed trim and painted that gold, and have used that space diligently in the months since. Granted, now that it’s winter, that is one of the colder rooms in the house. I do have a small space heater there but when it makes more sense for me to work downstairs where it’s warmer, I do that. I’m looking forward to using this space more in the coming year, adding more art, and perhaps installing a few items to also make it a potential podcast area? That is still a thought in progress.
Towards the end of the year, I was published in the Horror Writers of Maine’s inaugural journal, rife with dark and spooky tales in Maine! My story, “The Night We Met” is featured as the last story in the journal and leaves you with a bit of a lingering pall of sadness and mystery at its conclusion. I’m grateful to be featured next to some of Maine’s heavyweight of talented horror writers and look forward to seeing content for future journals.
I launched my creative writing consultation business this year. 2020 was a rough year to start a new endeavor which makes me especially grateful to those individuals who contacted me and asked me to do services for them. Looking ahead, I’m excited to see what new projects 2021 will bring. For anyone interested in the services I offer, you can find a list on my website here.
AND NOW ONTO 2021!
Those resolutions aren’t going to make themselves. A mere three resolutions, you say? You might be laughing as you jot down your checklist of 574 new experiences to try, places to go, and people to meet (once a significant number of us are vaccinated of course…). But I’m not getting carried away. These resolutions are all about bettering my selfcare and boosting business. In no particular order, here’s what my resolutions are:
Exercise. It’s that simple. This year, the worst thing that 2020 dealt me personally was a significant weight gain. I’m not pleased by how inactive I’ve become and what my daily diet looks like. Not only that, but my tension headaches have been exceptionally bad because of pulling muscles in my shoulders and back. As part of the new year, I’d like to get into a daily habit of stretches, a good stint on the elliptical or outdoor running, and more hiking than I did previously. This also comes along side calorie counting. It is amazing how many calories a person can consume in a day and not realize. I did this for a short time last year and know this is a key step in bettering my body.
Last year, I read more books than I have in many years. While I didn’t finish my Goodreads goal of 25 books, I read some phenomenal pieces and am looking forward to all the books I’ve yet to read in 2021! I’ve compiled a list of books to read next year. These will be in addition to whatever else I decide I just can’t pass up next year. You can find this list here.
The last thing in my resolutions? Blogging more! In 2020, I blogged more than the three years previous. Getting into a routine of publishing dark book and film reviews will be only one of the regular posts in store. I’d also like to give more of an insight into the upcoming publication of my new book, “The Wild Dark” scheduled for a spring/summer release. I’ll also potentially be trying to do more interviews with other Maine authors in my genre and more on writing dark things in general.
Speaking of writing more blog posts, I’d like to post my top ten songs of 2020 (songs I discovered in 2020…not necessarily recorded and released this year). If I get that up before the new year, great. If not, I’ll see you ladies and gents in 2021!
Due to an issue with my previous theme on the blog, I’ve had to revamp everything about it, including the name. We are now The Kat at Night Blog, where we’ll be discussing dark fiction and, really, lots of dark things. I’m hoping to begin book reviews on dark fiction very soon. I’ve been ordering books up the wazoo to fill time during COVID-19 and I have a TON to read! It’s been a while since I’ve been so excited about reading.
I’ve had a hard time dealing with a lot of what fall has dished out this year. In no particular order, my car went into the shop for two weeks, my roof began leaking like a mf-er, I’ve lost power twice for more than three days at a time, and I’ve taken on a butt-load of extra work at my day job. I’m struggling to get into a new work-out routine, the house is routinely a mess, and raccoons ransacked my barn and threw my trash EVERYWHERE. To say that this makes me frustrated is an understatement.
But I’m going to say it because the strung out expletives that I’d rather use are a bit too vulgar for this blog post.
I had really wanted to do that five part Halloween short story. I wanted to finish it. The losing power and tension headaches made that not happen in a timely fashion. But make no mistake…
I’m going to finish that bitch.
I have a week off staring me in the face next week. That’s right. A whole week. And I intend to use it wisely.
Not only will I be finishing Backstreet Bloodbath, I’ll be giving you a daily account of what I get done. While I’m not participating in NaNoWriMo this year, I will be finishing my novel, The Wild Dark, which has been in the works since 2013. I’ll also be running or ellipticaling every day and cleaning a room in the house. Last but not least, I’ll be doing one old fashioned Cooking Adventure (not a video cooking adventure) for you by the end of the week.
I know, I know. I have promised a lot and not delivered. Life happens. The chances of me losing power yet again are statistically very high. We’re getting our first snow on Friday and that might come with high powered winds and all that crap. I live near the wimpiest trees in the state. If you so much as whistle at them, they’ll collapse on a power line.
I just need to make it to next week. Then, a little bit of writing time, self-love, and self-pampering can go a long way.
Oh, hey there. It’s been a while. Let me just say that I haven’t been spending this time away from the blog idly; much has been going on. So much that I don’t think you guys can handle it. Are you ready for the list of awesome things that I’ve made happen for you to indulge in? Get ready. Here it comes.
I released a new book! That’s right, folks; The Collection: A Novella is now available on Kindle and in paperback. If you follow this link, it’ll take you to the website shop where you can order yourselves a copy. P.S. My other works are available there also. Speaking of which…
I’ve designed a new website! Now not only can you find information about each book and order copies, you can read about upcoming events, listen to soundtracks that inspired the books, and take a gander at my author bio. You can find all that and more at www.katherinesilvaauthor.com.
I have a ton of upcoming events scheduled in celebration of the release of “The Collection”! Book-signings and readings galore all beginning next month and going into the fall! Here’s just a few to get excited about:
Thursday June 28th at 6 PM at the Warren Public Library
Tuesday July 24th at 6 PM with authors E.J. Fechenda, Meg North, and Lynda Styles at Topsham Public Library
New England Authors Expo on July 25th at 4 PM @ Danversport Yacht Club in Danvers, MA
And there’s plenty more where those came from! Check out the list on the events page of my website for the complete line up!
So much new stuff! But what am I working on now?
To be honest, I’ve been busying myself with marketing the new book and getting psyched up to appear at all these wonderful events. As far as new writing material goes, I’m currently trying my hand at a sci-fi tale that combines the desolation of Gravity with the story-telling aspect of Elegy for a Dead World. Not sure exactly where I’m going with it yet, but I’m letting the characters take me there. I also have a speculative detective fiction series in the works that takes place in a Santa Monica-esque locale and combines wit, murder, and monsters. Beast of Burden is the working title on this project and is at the forefront of my current WIP’s.
Where can you stay up-to-date on everything that’s going on? Follow me in the places where I hang the most!
It’s been a month since we started a new year! A new year means new resolutions, new plans, new chances to start the whole writing biz over and start from scratch, which is my intention. Being that my timing hasn’t been wonderful in blogging the last couple of years, I’ve decided that to break myself back into the habit of writing here, I’m going to participate in a 30 day writing challenge. I’ve never been great at doing these in the past because I’ve found it hard to make myself write every day.
But… A new year is a new year.
So, because it is February 1st, I’ll be posting a short 1st challenge blog after this one. But first, I’d like to highlight a couple of the things I’m going to hopefully set up to accomplish this year. I’ve had a hard time with follow-through. I’ve had lots of ideas that I never really got into or finished and I’m not proud of letting those go by the way-side. So, here are a few key things you can expect to see in 2018.
Cooking Adventures Redux
Unfortunately, I’m sad to say that I can no longer do video Cooking Adventures. It takes me a day to film one of these, money for ingredients, and then, several days of technical, glitch-filled editing before a video is ready. It’s sadly become frustrating to try and make one of these. But I love Cooking Adventures and I don’t want to see them disappear completely. I had this idea; what if I revisited the recipes that didn’t quite work out the last time I did them and tried to make them again? Will things go better this time? These won’t be weekly, probably won’t be bi-weekly, but I’m going to try and fit them in when I can. I think I’ll start with recipes from my first year of doing Cooking Adventures (2012) and go from there. If you want to look back and see what some of those were, follow the link here.
Writer-Thoughts Thursday
These blogs will serve to provide little glimpses into my writing process, things I’m currently struggling with or finding helpful. I want for these to almost be stream of consciousness posts and for them to alternate in length. Hell, these might even turn into update posts as well. We’ll see. Surprises!
Music Monday
Mondays were always historically “Inspiration Through Music” Mondays. While I’d like to keep the thoughts of inspiration and music alive, these posts won’t be like their predecessors. I intend to post a song, an artist, an album when I feel a particular attachment to it. It might be for a project; it might be an image it sparks or a story I think I can glean from it. All I want to do is share the love of music and the power of story-telling through it.
30 Day Challenges
I’m only planning to do this for February (which I’m well aware only has 28 days…), but I figured if I enjoy it, I should try and do some more in the future. It’ll also come down to how much time I’ll have for them. I want to continue to provide varying content here and if it looks like it’s going to be too much, I might do them intermittently.
And that’s a rap! I think it’s better to keep things light and not pile too many different expectations onto the blog. I am going to try and reboot my career this year. It’s been a couple years since I’ve released a book, the website is in need of a serious redo and I’d like to do more shows than I have. I do have several other personal events going on this year, so my goal is to achieve a balance with the blog, and my books, and my life. Any encouragement would be well appreciated.
This time has not passed idly. While I haven’t stuck to my New Year’s resolution about blogging more consistently, I’ve done a pretty good job of keeping to everything else on it. And I’m proud of myself for those things. Life feels as though it’s on an upswing at the moment and I’m not going to complain about it (even as I suffer from a particularly debilitating head cold).
Instead of apologizing like I have many times over, I thought I’d share with you some of the things I’ve accomplished/started over the last few months or so.
The Kat At Night 