A friend just forwarded me the following trailer and I had to update this site as soon as I could.
Stranger Things, a Netflix Original homage to the supernatural thrillers of the 80s, drops July 15th. I don’t know much about this series—and kinda don’t want to yet—but the trailer has me super intrigued. And it looks like prime inspiration for Little Fears.
Hey everyone!
Just a quick note today to let you all know that I finished the first draft of The Wolf Pact yesterday. The manuscript needs a lot of love still but I’m very happy with what’s there, overall.
I’m kicking off the editing process today. I should have a draft ready for alpha readers very soon.
Once The Wolf Pact is buffed and shined, I’m going to dive into the sequel, Fairy Tale Ending. I’ve never been so jazzed about writing fiction before. It feels good to finally be in a place where I’m comfortable writing novels.
Anyway, that’s all I have for now. I’ll update again when I have more to share.
Little Fears: The Wolf Pact, my foray into bringing Little Fears into the world of Middle Grade fiction, currently sits at 32k words. I reckon I’m about 4k words from finish. I am to wrap up the first draft tomorrow.
My 8yo is super-stoked to read it which makes me very happy.
Once the first draft is done, I’m giving myself two to three weeks to revise it. Then it’ll go out to beta readers for feedback. More revision will follow. Publication should be early summer? Maybe sooner, depending on how the editing process goes.
I spent some time today tweaking the cover for the book. I’ve pasted the latest version below for your feedback. It’s coming together, folks! Woohoo!
Hello, everyone!
After a heated weekend sprint, I hit the 80% mark on the Little Fears Middle Grade novel The Wolf Pact. I can see the first draft wrapping up by the end of the week.
Doesn’t mean it’ll be good to go though. I’ll take it through multiple editing passes before releasing it in digital.
Those of you who pledged for a digital copy of the book during the Blessed are the Children Kickstarter will get your comp copies first. Then I’ll put it up for wider sale on DriveThruFiction, Amazon, etc.
The print copies will follow but I’m considering a Kickstarter to fund a wider print run and to also fund the follow-up, tentatively titled Fairy Tale Ending, which I will have written prior to the launch of the Kickstarter.
I’m just considering this though. I don’t want to hold up those who have been waiting for their print copies but it might be nice to potentially add some interior illustrations to the book (akin to Clive Barker’s The Thief of Always, if you’re familiar).
I’ll follow up once the first draft is done. Stay tuned!
The past year or so has been a good time for horror fans, from It Follows to Crimson Peak to Krampus, but I was perhaps most impressed by William Brent Bell’s The Boy.
Here’s the premise (courtesy of IMDb):
An American nanny is shocked that her new English family’s boy is actually a life-sized doll. After she violates a list of strict rules, disturbing events make her believe that the doll is really alive.
For Little Fears fans, The Boy stands on familiar ground: an old isolated house, a creepy doll, a protagonist nobody believes. In fact, if you age down the main character to 12 or so, you can lift this wholesale for your own Little Fears episode. It is so relevant to the game, that I wrote one of The Boy‘s inspirations, Robert the Doll, as a monster back in Halloweek 2012.
So, consider this one to be a top inspiration. If you get a chance to watch it, I highly recommend you do so. Or, at the very least, check out the trailer below:
I hit the 33% mark on the Little Fears novel, The Wolf Pact, last night. I am having a blast writing this book. I’ve been living with this story a long time—and even committed a version of it to novel-form before—but focusing it as a Middle Grade novel, and letting go of a lot of pressure and anxiety, has helped it immensely.
I like how this story is shaping up a whole lot, and I wanted to share a little bit with you via a picture I took with my phone last night.
I hope you enjoy it.
Woah! Nerdery uber-site Geek & Sundry did a follow-up article to their list of classic non-D&D roleplaying games, and they gave a shout-out to my own Little Fears! Despite the original being 15 years old and the Nightmare Edition heading toward the seven-year mark, the game of childhood terror was usually flown under the radar, thriving on word of mouth. It stuns me every time Little Fears pops up in the mainish-stream press (such as when the Escapist did a piece on it).
Huge thanks to Jessica Fisher and Geek & Sundry for the love!
My last post here was quite some time ago. But I haven’t forgotten about Little Fears. Far from it.
It’s been over a year since I released anything new for LFNE. The last product being Book 3: Blessed are the Children. I failed to put out even a single Campfire Tale in 2015. Yet, still, you all have been keeping Little Fears alive. With your emails and reviews (and purchases, yes), you’ve made it known that this game about kids fighting monsters is still out there, finding new fans and giving old ones good times around the table.
Thank you all so much. You’ve done a better job keeping Little Fears than I have.
I recently started the rewrite of my Little Fears novel, The Wolf Pact, and things are progressing nicely. I’m about 25% of the way through the first draft and I really like how things are going.
Which is, frankly, different my previous efforts. I finished the first draft of this back in 2007 in a flurry. I wrote the 50k word book in a week. And, trust me, it shows. It has some nice ideas but it sprawls everywhere and just has too much stuff going on. The new 30k version is shaping up to be much leaner, more focused, and—given the benefit of almost a decade more of writing experience—it reads so much better.
Once this is done, and revised and revised and revised, I’d like to maybe run a Kickstarter for it. Not to print it—it was funded by the Book 3 Kickstarter—but to generate more interest and, ideally, add some more artwork to the book. If you’ve read Clive Barker’s The Thief of Always, I’m thinking of pre-chapter images like he uses.
Those who backed the Kickstarter will get the ebook format immediately though. If I do run a Kickstarter and if it is successful then I’ll update the file. I would like to hold off on a physical print run though, so original backers (hopefully) get the illustrated version. But, as I said, if I either don’t run a Kickstarter or it doesn’t fund, I’ll print up the book as is (with Veronica Jones‘ glorious cover) and get that sent out.
After? Well, I’d like to start the second book (tentatively titled Fairy Tale Ending) and finish up Campfire Tales #8: The House that Wasn’t There.
I have no delusions that the day job will continue to be insanely busy this year but I also know that I can’t go much longer without putting out some Little Fears stuff—if for my own sake, if nothing else.
Anyway. That’s what’s currently cooking. Thank you all again for your continued support. I cannot put into words just how amazing you all have been and continue to be.
“This is the new Gremlins,” I said to my 12yo as we walked out of our viewing of Krampus.
I stand by that statement. While there’s no adorable Mogwai at the heart of this film, it is a fabulously dark Christmas fable with a lot of heart, charm, and atmosphere.
And it’s perfect Little Fears material. There are plenty of creatures besides the titular German demon to source for your own Little Fears games. I won’t go into details, because they’re best left unspoiled, but my mind was racing with ideas for new monsters.
I highly recommend catching it while it’s theaters. If you’re not familiar, check out the trailer below.
Just a quick update to let everyone know that if you’ve been waiting on an order from me that your books are on their way!
And Little Fears is back in stock for the holidays. If you’re inclined to give the gift of fear this year, get your order in and I guarantee it will go out within one business day.
