Calling all online fiction writers

I am looking for contributors for the *.fiction anthology volume 1. The anthology will provide a printed showcase for the emerging community of online fiction writers who publish their work on the internet for free. The plan is for the anthology to contain samples from 10-15 writers to allow them to promote their work in an accessible and cost-effective format.

All online fiction writers are invited to submit their work for inclusion in the first volume of the *.fiction anthology. This will be a community-focused publication and should be considered as a starting point in building awareness of online fiction. It will be made available for purchase at cost price and all contributors are encouraged to promote this work along with their own.

If there are more submissions than the number required for the first volume, additional work will be carried over to subsequent volumes. Please contact me at s.a.mckenzie@gmail.com for more information and submission guidelines.

The closing date for submissions for volume 1 is September 30th 2008.

The Rising Has Begun

Chapter 1 of The Rising is now available at *.fiction:

http://stardotfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/rising-chapter-1-bad-feeling.html

A new chapter will be published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

The Rising Begins on July 2nd

The Rising, the sequel to the award-winning Rebirth, will be available online from July 2^nd 2008, with a new chapter published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Detective Tom Ryder and his new band of allies go deeper into the vampire underworld and discover that the plot to establish vampires as the dominant species is almost upon them. Can they thwart the plans of both the vampires and The Brotherhood before it's too late?

The Rising will be published at www.stardotfiction.com, a new blog I have set up to host this novel and future writing, so please visit the site, bookmark it and subscribe to be notified whenever a new chapter is published.

www.stardotfiction.com/therising

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

At last - some news about the sequel to Rebirth

I'm very pleased to report that I can finally announce some details about the imminent sequel to Rebirth. It will be titled The Rising and the print edition will come with this incredible artwork designed by Gabe Powers...


The Rising will be published in blog form. Stay tuned for more information about when and where to find it...

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

Merry Christmas and...

Merry Christmas to everyone!

and...

The review option is now available at Triggerestreet.com so if you enjoyed reading Rebirth, I'd really appreciate it if you could post a review...

http://posting.triggerstreet.com/gyrobase/Submission?oid=oid%3A1246302

Have a great holiday and I'll see you in the new year with the next episode.

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

Download and review Rebirth at Triggerstreet.com

Good news for those of you who were looking for a downloadable version of Rebirth!

I've made a PDF version of Rebirth available for download at Triggerstreet.com. If you want to download the whole thing, head over there and get your hands on it and don't forget to write a review. Even if you've already read it, please follow this link and write a review. Every review will help your favourite online novel rise up the charts...

http://posting.triggerstreet.com/gyrobase/Submission?oid=oid%3A1246302

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

Let the proof-reading begin!

That's right, I've finally got the sequel to Rebirth in a state that I'm happy for my proof-readers to take a look at. At the moment, it's an 80,000-word 119-chapter novel, although that may grow, shrink, or be consigned to the dustbin depending on the feedback!

Thanks to everyone who has contacted me and those of you who continue to visit the blog during this quiet period. I'm happy to see that people are still visiting and reading Rebirth from beginning to end. I'll be back when there's more news...

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

Update

Just checking in and letting all of you who have read Rebirth know that the sequel is well on the way. The first draft is done and I'm going to have it ready for my wonderful proof readers before long. I'm also having the cover done by a friend who is a graphic designer and I have to say the drafts I've seen so far are very cool! All this is hopefully going to add up to a bigger and better novel that's going to be published on a brand new site I'm setting up.

Until then, make sure you check out DVDActive and take a look at my most recent reviews...
Thank You For Smoking
Death Proof
28 Weeks Later

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

Rebirth featured at Blooking Central

Rebirth is the subject of an article on the definition of 'blooking' at Blooking Central, including an interview with yours truly...

http://blooking.blogspot.com/2007/09/rebirth-that-was-close.html

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

Free eBooks for US readers

Publishers of thriller novels by some POD authors Breakneck Books are giving away eBooks of some of their top titles. All you need to do is follow the link below. Unfortunately the website is just open for US users at the moment...

http://www.wowio.com/users/searchresults.asp?txtSearch=%22breakneck%20books%22

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

The End... for now

Tom Ryder will return.

I’d like to say thank you very much to everyone who has followed Rebirth as I have been publishing it. It started off as an experiment and I’ve made lots of good friends over the course of the last seven months. I’d love to hear from the rest of you who have followed my story but haven’t yet contacted me. My email address is s.a.mckenzie@gmail.com.

I am currently working on the sequel, which is going to be bigger and better than Rebirth but with the same horror/thriller mix. I’m about 50,000 words into the first draft and making quick progress. I will keep posting semi-regular updates and I’ve got a new online fiction site in the works so please subscribe using the links in the left-hand column to be notified of the latest news, including the publication date for the sequel.

If you enjoyed reading Rebirth, I’d like to ask a favour… I would be very grateful if you could post a short review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Lulu. You can find the links dotted around this page.

You can also nominate this blog in the creative writing category for the Manchester Blog Awards 2007. All you need to do is send the link to this page to mancblogawards@googlemail.com.

Thanks again

Until next time…

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

Beginning, Middle and End

I've just done my first guest blog post for a very cool site called Novelr. They focus on blog publishing of novels and have a lot of good tips for aspiring writers.

I've thrown in my two cents about the need for everyone who is publishing novels in a blog to make sure they keep going to the end. Just follow the link below...
http://www.novelr.com/archives/beginning-middle-and-end

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

Rebirth wins Book Of The Year award

I am very pleased to report that Rebirth has been awarded the Unpublished Book Of The Year award by Spinetinglers.

"I am delighted to announce that the winner is Rebirth by Scott McKenzie. Rebirth is an excellent book, the type which draws you in from the very beginning and holds you until the very end. In fact if you manage to put it down at all you will be doing something which our reviewers couldn't do."

"Congratulations Scott on writing Rebirth and we'd like you to hurry up and write another book, so that we have another excellent book to read."

Don't worry, the sequel is well underway...

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

Man beats "vampire" peacock to death

No joke...

"Police say they've collared the man they believe administered a fatal beating to a peacock because he thought it was a vampire."

http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/118337765847290.xml&coll=1

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

Rebirth gets another great review - that's four in a row!

Rebirth has received another positive review, this time from Horror World...

"With smooth writing that flows at break-neck speed from the first page, REBIRTH is a highly enjoyable horror adventure of epic proportions that demands to be read in one sitting. I highly recommend REBIRTH by Scott McKenzie for anyone looking for a great summer read that spotlights a rising newcomer to the horror genre."

To read the whole review, visit the following link and scroll down to the bottom of the page:
http://www.horrorworld.org/reviews.htm

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

Competition winners

The competition is now closed and congratulations go to Becky Clarkson and Jodi Carr, who will have characters named after them in the sequel to Rebirth. The good news for Becky and Jodi is that neither of their names sound evil enough to have vampires named after them so they're going to be good guys!

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

Competition ending soon...

There's only two chapters to go until the competition closes so if you want to have a character in the sequel to Rebirth named after you, make sure you do one or more of the following in the next few days:

1. Every verified email subscription to this blog will be entered - see the subscription box down the left-hand side of this page for details of how to sign up.
2. Tell a friend about the blog - just cc or bcc s.a.mckenzie@gmail.com into the email you send to them and I'll enter you into the draw.
3. Everyone who buys a copy of the novel will be entered as well. Just forward your order confirmation on to s.a.mckenzie@gmail.com and I'll add you into the draw.

Good luck!

Rebirth is available from the following online retailers:

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

Rebirth now available at Amazon

I'm pleased to report that I've got an ISBN for Rebirth and it's now available to buy from Amazon and Barnes & Noble online. The links below will take you directly to the pages where Rebirth is on sale on the UK and US sites. The paperback is also available at other Amazon sites aroudn the world, just visit your local site and search for my name and the title.

The good news is that now you can get your hands on a copy of Rebirth without having to pay Lulu.com's high postage prices. If you're planning to pick up something else from Amazon, add a copy of Rebirth to your order and you'll get it delivered for free if you use the Super Saver delivery option.

Amazon UK - £7.99
Amazon US - $16.95
Barnes and Noble - $15.25

Rebirth gets another good review: 8/10

In keeping with the trend of great reviews for Rebirth, it has received another positive review at POD People, getting a rating of 8/10.

"Rebirth is an energizing story that remains long after reading it."

To read the whole review, click the link below:
http://podpeep.blogspot.com/2007/05/rebirth-by-scott-mckenzie.html

Ghosts, Vampires and Zombies: Cinema Fiction vs Physics Reality

The link below takes you to a paper by Costas J. Efthimiou and Sohang Gandhi that describes why various monsters don't exist, based on scientific reasoning. It's very tongue-in-cheek and makes for interesting reading.

http://www.arxiv.org/abs/physics/0608059
Direct link to PDF: http://www.arxiv.org/PS_cache/physics/pdf/0608/0608059v1.pdf

Anyone who has seen John Carpenter’s “Vampires” or the movie “Blade” or any of the host of other vampire films is already quite familiar with how the legend goes. The vampires need to feed on human blood. After one has stuck his fangs into your neck and sucked you dry, you turn into a Vampire yourself and carry on the blood sucking legacy. The fact of the matter is, if vampires truly feed with even a tiny fraction of the frequency that they are depicted to in the movies and folklore, then the human race would have been wiped out quite quickly after the first vampire appeared.

I have recently spoken to Costas and I'm very pleased to announce that he's given permission for me to use this paper in the follow-up to Rebirth...