We're all going to the zoo tomorrow - well, we went last week anyway!

It’s been a strange week book wise, but nothing that I can talk about at the moment. All I can say is that there’s good news and bad news.

One thing that I can announce is that the trade paperback version of the new edition of Voyeurs of Death from Dark Regions Press is now available, and the first 100 copies are signed: http://www.darkregions.com/products/Voyeurs-of-Death-by-Shaun-Jeffrey.html

Aside from writing, we had a trip to the zoo last weekend. My feelings towards zoos are torn. On one hand, I don’t like seeing animals in cages, but on the other I know that some of these animals would now be extinct if they weren’t kept this way. Anyway, here are a few photos:

The essence of horror?

I was reading this review of my novella, Dead Man’s Eye (http://bookaholicdoesblogging.blogspot.com/2011/02/review-dead-mans-eyes.html) and it started me thinking about what the essence of horror is. Obviously this reviewer was turned off by the fact that people died, and she felt awful for the protagonist being in such dire circumstances. Now it’s not a bad review at all, just not that reader’s cup of tea for the reasons mentioned, but what is horror supposed to do? According to Wikepedia: “Horror fiction is a genre of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror.”

So I guess in that respect the piece has achieved what horror is supposed to do as said reviewer obviously felt something for the protanonist to feel depressed by what happened to her. If the reviewer hadn’t felt anything for the main character, then the story wouldn’t have carried any weight, so in that respect the story has succeeded. But what do you as a reader think of horror fiction? Should stories have happy, upbeat endings? Do you mind seeing characters die?

Help needed from readers.

As a writer it’s hard to know what does or doesn’t work where trying to promote books is concerned, and so I would really appreciate it if anyone who has bought one of my books could let me know where they heard about it and what made them decide to purchase a copy. If you don’t want to post on a blog, please email me as I’m really interested in knowing what works and what doesn’t where promotion is concerned. Thanks in advance.

thekult_4(at)hotmail.com

Taekwondo, Dead Man's Eye, concentration and a guest blog

Well my son and I took our latest Taekwondo grading yesterday, for our red stripe belt. Won't know how we did until next Friday, but I think it went well, apart from the aches and sprains I have this morning. I was sweating buckets during the sparring, but as I was the oldest person grading, I have an excuse.















It's great to see that people have been purchasing a copy of my novella, Dead Man's Eye via Amazon. On Amazon.co.uk it even managed to give me a nose bleed when it reached number 10 in the Kindle horror charts, so thanks to everyone who bought a copy. I really appreciate it. By the way, the price on Amazon.com is now only $0.99 (£0.70 on Amazon.co.uk):

Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com

On the writing front I've been making progress with my latest novel, even though there are a few sticky patches (and no, that's not a sexual innuendo). One problem I have is concentration, as I'm easily distracted by wanting to surf the net, check emails etc, so something that's helped in this respect is a free app called Focus Booster, which is basically just a countdown clock that you have to work to: http://www.focusboosterapp.com/

And lastly, for anyone interested I have a guest post up at the following blog. Hope you check it out: http://darlynandbooks.blogspot.com/2011/02/guest-post-author-shaun-jeffrey.html

New Dead Man's Eye cover. Please help me choose

As I didn't like the Dead Man's Eye cover, I've been playing around with some new ones and would like to hear which one people prefer (if any), and more importantly, which one would make you purchase a copy of the book if you saw it. The basis of the story is that after receiving a corneal transplant, a young woman starts seeing strange shadows around people who have been possessed by demons.

This is the original one:




















And the following are the new ones: