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Weekly Ramble #59

Lee Hall 2 Comments

I am fully immersed into book editing mode. Delving back into the pages and words I laid down nearly two years ago has lifted me. It’s surprising how well polished I left what I thought to be a first draft of ‘Darke Awakening’. Over the books and years my style of drafting has evolved into an edit and go process which pays off when you return to a project. 

This book will have it’s challenges but the most difficult part of the writing process has already been figured out. It’s a masterpiece, an intricate complicated shitstorm of fun intertwined with several story arcs combined to tell one great mess of a book which I personally adore. It may well be a tad ambitious but what I have edited so far has restored my faith in a story told over three books; Open Evening, Cemetery House and Darke Blood – three books readers must take on to enjoy this next one and hence the real challenge in all of this; marketing the whole thing.

Personally and it might sound indulgent and egotistical but I’ve said this before; I actually don’t care if people don’t like what I write, I do it for the story telling and not the reaction of mass audiences.

Yeah we get bruised as creators when someone gives us a scathing review but that isn’t why we are in this game. We do this because we want to create and to contribute towards art and literature. We do this because it fulfills us and shines a light into this dark void of life. Opinions and audiences are variable, the story we tell is the constant.

To reach the summit of those two sacred words ‘the end’ is to truly live as a writer. And to create something from the imagination entirely from scratch is to be free. All of us live to be free. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vogue Parody: 73 Questions with Lee Hall

Lee Hall 4 Comments

A huge tip of the cap to Jaycee Lynch of Thinking Moon for tagging me in what I hope will be a fun Q and A…

Here goes…

1. What’s your usual Starbucks drink?

Black americano

2. What does your work station look like?

My desk at home is currently being used to store folded laundry… I consider anywhere to be my workstation as long as I have my laptop I’m good to go…

3. All-time favourite food?

Pizza most probably.

4. Favourite author?

Michael Crichton

Image result for michael crichton books

5. What do you think of open relationships?

Not my kind of deal.

6. What’s your favourite video game?

Half Life

7. What’s your guilty pleasure treat?

Booze

8. Your favourite movie?

Back to the Future.

Image result for back to the future

9. Favourite book?

Too many to single one out… top 3

‘The Lost World’ – Arthur Conan Doyle

‘Pet Semetary’ by Stephen King

‘Prey’ by  Michael Crichton

10. Best advice you’ve ever received?

It’s always them and not you.

11. Twitter or Instagram?

Twitter

12. Are you a desktop or a laptop person?

Laptop

13. What projects are you working on right now?

I have just finished editing my 4th stage play – an adaptation of Rapunzel and right now I am editing ‘Darke Awakening’ my 6th novel due for release this year…

14. What’s your favourite colour?

Dark red.

15. Did you get good grades in school?

Not really. I didn’t try particularly hard but then again I didn’t know what trying hard really was, I was 15 so who knows what anything is at that age? I only got ‘good’ grades in 3 subjects: English, Electronics and Business studies.

16. Dream job?

Screenwriter that gets paid well!

17. Played any sports?

Loads as a kid. I played quite a lot of soccer , I was a naturally left footed which is rare apparently. I also played a stack of cricket during the summers.

18. Do you have a degree?

Nope.

19. Nationality?

British – specifically English, God save the Queen and all…

20. What’s your favourite type of blog post to write?

I do love a book review. Writers like a book review and so do readers. Everyone wins.

21. What do you like to collect?

Movie soundtrack CD’s although CD’s are kinda old fashioned now. I also collect different Monopoly games.

22. Describe yourself in 3 words?

Creative, loyal and humorous…

23. If you were a rapper, what would your rapper name be?

J-Lee…

24. Who was the last person you DM’d?

Probably my other half but I also have a few ‘spicy’ message groups.

25. What’s on top of your wish list right now?

Without sounding cheesy things are quite good for me right now. I mean a million bucks would be appreciated…

26. Sorting House?

Ravenclaw – I have a scarf!

27. How many tattoos do you have?

None.

28. What are you most grateful for this year?

It’s a bit early but I very much appreciate the good folks who follow this here blog, you rock!

29. What’s the best thing that’s happened to you this month?

Let’s talk about January because this month is less than a week old.

January was awesome and a little bitter sweet. I performed in my final show for the drama club I have been a part of for ten years! We put on a show I wrote and over 600 people came to see it.

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That’s me sitting on my throne…

30. What’s the best thing that’s happened to you today?

I ate pizza

31. What’s the best thing ever?

A sunny winters day.

32. Favourite season?

Spring. Not to hot or too cold. I sweat the least in Spring therefore it is my favourite.

33. Favourite holiday?

I work quite a lot of holidays so any holiday I happen to be off work is my favourite.

34. What fictional character do you relate to the most?

Abraham Simpson: ( on modern music/fashion/trends)

Image result for abraham simpson it'll happen to you

35. Do you like surprises?

Honestly, no. They make me a little anxious.

36. What’s the biggest surprise you’ve ever had?

My 25th birthday was a surprise party – that was cool

37. What surprise made you cry?

I can’t think of one..

38. What’s the best surprise you’ve ever given someone?

I proposed to my other half before Christmas. I felt like a lemon on one knee but then she said yes and our social media proceeded to break… it was great! We drank 3 and half bottles of champagne that night…

39. Do you like muffins?

Chocolate chip works for me.

40. Do you cook often?

Most of the meals I eat are cooked from scratch, it’s probably why I am in ‘ok’ shape…

41. What’s your favourite dessert?

A chocolate fudge brownie sundae.

42. Is there a dessert you dislike?

No, dessert is life.

43. Cake or pie?

Both.

44. What’s your least favourite food?

Cucumber. WTF is with that taste? Cat’s are triggered by them also so that’s clearly a sign…

45. What’s your favourite condiment?

Ketchup with BBQ sauce being a strong second.

46. It’s 4am on a Saturday night, what would you eat?

That’s a real bad time to eat trust me I work a lot of nights… I’ll just take a coffee…

47. If you could teach a college class, what would it be called?

Story telling for beginners.

48. Best animated film?

Toy Story

49. What has a guy done or said to impress you?

I’ve got a lot of compliments for my writing by quite a few awesome guys!

50. The best thing to do on a first date?

Talk, have a few drinks and get to know one another. For god’s sake make them laugh!

51. The worst thing to do on a first date?

Eat a big meal. It’s awkward and clunky…

52. What’s the funniest pick-up line a guy could use on a girl?

I wouldn’t know. I never have or had any type of ‘game’.

53. Best comic book character?

Deadpool

Image result for deadpool gif

54. What are three things that are always in your purse?

I don’t own a purse but I will always without fail carry a pen, wallet and phone with me at all times.

55. Favourite drink?

Tea, always.

56. If you could play a historical figure in a movie who would it be?

I could probably nail Jim Morrison of Kurt Cobain, hair permitting…

Image result for jim morrison

57. Kittens or puppies?

Puppies.

58. Tell me your favourite sushi roll?

I’ve never tried sushi…

59. What kind of lipstick do you use?

A chapstick…

60. What kind of foundation do you use?

You should proably ask the nice young lady who applied it last time I was in a show…

#thankyourmakeupartist

61. Blow-dry or air dry?

Air dry.

62. Who is your fashion icon?

Dave Grohl

Image result for dave grohl

63. Favourite Disney Character?

Woody. Especially after Toy Story 4

Image result for woody

64. What are you doing tomorrow?

Working a night shift so I’m probably asleep if you’re reading this!

65. A movie you laughed the hardest through?

‘Dumb and Dumber’ always gets me laughing and ‘There’s something about Mary’

66. A movie that made you cry?

So many. I’m an emotional guy and when I get into a story anything can set me off… I found the new Aladdin film to be quite moving at the end…

67. If you could sing a duet with someone, who would it be?

Probably my brother- in a manly type of sense…

68. If your life was a song, what would the title be?

Chancer

69. What’s your favourite animal?

I’m partial to a Giraffe

70. Favourite illustrator?

Quentin Blake did some great work with Roald Dahl’s children’s books…

Image result for quentin blake illustrations

71. A person you want to have coffee with?

Rock ‘The Dwayne’ Johnson

Image result for the rock

72. What country do you wish to visit?

I would love to visit Canada.

73. Best way to decompress?

Playing a video game or watching an immersive film or tv show.

Nominations: For anyone who made it all the way to the bottom if this here post I salute you and congrats you’ve been nominated! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Ramble #56

Lee Hall Leave a comment

Lots of things to do. Lot’s of writing things to do. 2020 is here and it’s going to be a busy one! Welcome back to my Hall of Information blog, things went a little quiet over the festive season – people were busy and  I got engaged but now I am back to my regularly irregularly scheduled blogging efforts!

I say irregular because as a blogger I’m not particularly organised, there are many bloggers who have more planned posts than appendages, I do not. I am quite simply an in the moment person and when inspiration strikes up so does my writing and the same goes for how I write books and plays. Unless I have a real rigid source material I tend to make things up as I go along for most of the part. In most projects I have a few outlining moments and probably a finish, the rest I just create. Some people call this being a ‘pantser’, personally I’ve never liked that definition, in story telling my style could be defined as being a ‘chancer’ much like many of the characters that are within. This style has indeed worked quite well for me so far, the stats for last year were through the damn roof – thanks for reading!

And what big plans do I have this year? Well it’s cliche to say it could be a big one, if not the biggest yet. My main writing endeavours are split 50/50 this year. Half of my time I will be spending putting together what will be my 6th independently published book! Those who do tune in to my social media efforts will know I announced ‘Darke Awakening’ quite close to Christmas day. Those who were really paying attention will know that I decided to green light this project earlier last year after 3000 plus people downloaded ‘Darke Blood’. You can check out my basic teaser here. 

The other 50% will be spent shaping and editing my dream project (the one that got me into writing) ‘Jack Thorn and the Maverick Prophecy’ a science fiction legacy story about robots in the future – think real world Star Wars in the future with hints of The Terminator, Buffy and Transformers… If all goes well I will be querying literary agents with Jack Thorn later in the year! You can read some here…

Of course in less than a month my third on stage play will premiere and I have already drafted the fourth one so look out for more stage stuff! For people who live locally to me you can buy tickets to see that show here.

Most probably my most important efforts I shall share with you last. Indie book reviews! Yes I am back and ready to review indie books. Last year I did 40 and this year I hope to do 41 – a moderate aspiration but realistic. Again if you tuned in I cast out my indie book bait and hook into the twittersphere last week and got an amazing response of book rec’s from some awesome authors. Watch out for reviews soon!

2019 tweet.PNG

So what have you got planned this year? Answers via the comments section but if you are shy, GOOD LUCK! and thanks for reading… 

Peace out. Happy New Year!  

Book Promo Results September 2019

Lee Hall 5 Comments

At the Hall of Information we believe that sharing is caring. Especially when it comes to book promotion methods and results. We don’t keep secrets from fellow authors in fact we promote helping the efforts of others in every possible way. We’re all crawling through the shit storm of life together so we might as well help each other right?

Here are the official results of my latest book promotion that ran last week and more importantly how I got them…

Brief interlude… 

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For 2019 one of my top objectives was to get more exposure for my vampire novel ‘Darke Blood’. The plan always was to make the e-version free to download in September and so I did that – (beginners you can make any title free for a brief time via Kindle Direct Publishing as long as it is enrolled in KDP select (ask the google for more info) )

Like my usual book promo runs, I set ‘Darke Blood’ to be free from Wednesday to Friday – how you arrange days may have some effect on sales. Weekend dates can be good sometimes, Sundays have worked well previously but I normally adopt the weekday method.

The last time I had made ‘DB’ free was back in February of 2018, so it’s been a while, the results back then were north of 1000 downloads. So taking into account it had been a while and the fact my readership has grown since then along with the accumulation of a few more reviews I had some optimism that ‘DB’ would do quite well.

Side note: Vampire stories are no way dead (no pun intended), even after the monstrosity that was Twilight, they are still a pretty popular niche, trust me. And I salute anyone who enjoys stories of this genre along with those who write them! 

Results

During the promotional run ‘Darke Blood’ was downloaded 3,402 times!

All previous free promotional records were broken on the Wednesday. (Day 1)

With reference to the below screen grabs you can see things jumped up a notch in the space of an hour on day 1.

 

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This is without mentioning the chart placement it got over on Amazon US.

Not once or twice but THRICE charts… This is a big tip for those looking to get more eyes on your books. There are plenty of charts out there that aren’t as ‘busy’ or populated making it easier climb and get number 1 or even ‘best seller’ status…

Screenshot_2019-09-25-22-25-47

 

By the close of Day 1 ‘Darke Blood’ came near to 3000 downloads but I had to settle for 2,933 – an impressive feat.

Day’s two and three were less impressive but still commendable with 369 and 97 respectively pushing the total past 3000 in total but on day 3 it wasn’t the only book of mine up for grabs!

tp numbers

I sneakily set my super hero comedy novella ‘The Teleporter’ for free on Day 3. And the booziest hero of them all stole the day with a total of 88 units downloaded.

This is impressive because I hardly promoted ‘The Teleporter’ apart from a cheeky Facebook ad and other social media shout outs.

So overall in 3 days my books were downloaded 3,402 times!

How I got these results and factors which governed them… 

Every book is different, and the success of a free promotional run is governed by a ton of factors such as:

Amount of reviews good or bad – having all good reviews for a title isn’t necessary a good thing, in fact ‘Darke Blood’ is one of my most subjective books, it’s rating isn’t exactly the highest which may have helped.

Recent reviews – If your title has some recent reviews, people know it’s recently been read, I’ve had the luck of getting some higher profile reviews this year for ‘DB’ from awesome bloggers Thinking Moon  Mullen Crafts and Feed the Crime – this helped big time!

Current Events – Only days before putting ‘DB’ up for free I pondered via a blog post about whether or not the sequel will ever see the light of day. This post unintentionally stirred up some interest. And yes the sequel will be happening in 2020.

Timing – The transition from Summer to Autumn brings the promise of Halloween, folks love a spiced latte and a good spooky book to read; ‘Darke Blood’ is just that and another top tip for anyone writing horror, thriller or occult – I have made the most sales of these genres in September! People love the build up to Halloween!

Following – As opposed to last year my following is way bigger, people won’t buy your book if they don’t know about it, this may be the greatest lament and struggle of all authors everywhere. This blog has been nominated for 4 awards this year and we now have 400 plus followers. My Tweet machine following is in the high 2000’s – way more than last year.

Investment – If you want a book to sell, for free or at a price, you have to invest money in doing so…

So how exactly did I get 3000 plus downloads? With the above combined factors and my big secret… Book promotion websites – this isn’t really a secret.

How do book promo sites work? Essentially you pay them to tell people about your promo –  they all boast to have access to several thousand followers via email and social media so you are simply paying to use this mode of distribution and the truth is, it works! There are even some sites who take on submissions for free.

My tip when dealing with such sites is to always pay via paypal.

The whole concept with using promo sites is to ‘stack’ the promotion by using multiple sites over the days…

The big secret – Book Promo websites  (paid and unpaid)

I invested around $100 for this promo – probably the most I have ever spent. It sounds like a lot but the results were awesome and worth it.

Here’s a list of sites I used.

Paid:

https://www.freebooksy.com/for-the-authors/   – Promoted on Wednesday

https://pretty-hot.com/submit-your-book/       – Promoted on Thursday

https://awesomegang.com/submit-your-book/    – Promoted on Thursday

Free Sites:

https://discountbookman.com/book-promotion/   – Promoted on Wednesday

http://www.free99books.com/author/add – Promoted on Friday

https://www.bookzio.com/promote-your-book-2/ – Promoted on all 3 days

http://bookangel.co.uk/  – Promoted on all 3 days

http://www.ebooklister.net/submit.php – Promoted on all 3 days

https://ebookshabit.com/ – Promoted on all 3 days

http://bookbongo.com/submit/  – Promoted on all 3 days

Other methods of promo – Facebook 

There are other ways to spread the word about a promotion. Amazon offer their own ad service which I didn’t find much success with previous and even though Facebook aren’t the most reputable bunch they do have access to a lot of people if you place an ad with them.

I boosted two of my posts from my main author page and as you can see ‘DB’ did quite well. The ad set up in FB is pretty complex and detailed but if you can figure it out you can target the right folks.

It’s especially effective for free promotions, convincing people to vote Brexit and getting Trump into power… I deleted my FB app last year for a while, it did me the world of good, even now I don’t look at FB that much. But all satire and opinions aside, the ‘DB’ promo did quite well.

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Outlook…

The hope is that some folks now read Darke Blood and then leave a review. The KENP page read tracker is already showing numbers and I have since sold more books.

For those looking to take on more of my work both ‘Open Evening’ and ‘Cemetery House’ will be available for free sometime in the next month or a little after.

If you missed the free run of Darke Blood or The Teleporter get in touch and I shall send the e version out to you for free in exchange for a review!

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And so that wraps up my latest book promotional efforts. Let me take this opportunity to thank everyone for sharing the links, leaving reviews and helping the efforts of your friendly independently published author! 

Remember to leave a review!

 

The measure of success…

Lee Hall 2 Comments

Exams aren’t the only way to measure success,

I should know because I’ve faced that stress.

 

It isn’t about where you are now,

More like what’s next and how.

 

Find your passion from politics to art,

All that matters is that you start.

 

So what if you didn’t make the grade,

Over time the bad feelings fade.

 

What happens next and what to do,

Now that is something which is up to you,

I survived that tale and made it through,

So if I could do it, so can you…

 

 

Shout out to those receiving exam results today. No matter the result I always thought it was bullshit to have the apparent weight of the world on your shoulders especially as a mid-teen thinking those results would shape the rest of our lives. As scary as they made it sound, those results didn’t shape my life, everything else that happened afterwards did. Everyone finds their own success in the end… 

 

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The Weekly Ramble #1

Lee Hall Leave a comment

I’ve been inclined to start a weekly article called the ‘ramble’,  a place to take my writing and more importantly opinions of stuff that 3 novels and counting just couldn’t contain…

Everyday I find myself scrolling through social media, playing the proverbial game of bingo spotting the usual bullshit that fills up our timelines and stories, yeah I’m in that crowd, but normally I share stuff because it might enrich someone or at least make them aware of my efforts as a writer, it could even make someone happy.

el director

Us human beings have and always will be on the hunt for instant gratification, hell I’m sure that’s what the ‘gram’ is named after, a basic extension of life invader or Facebook as you all know it. An opportunity to create blatantly planned and set up moments… back to that game of bingo, I see a full plate of food with a pair of sunglasses and maybe a book. The only thing missing is the phone which should be face down, just eat the damn meal and read the book instead, nobody really cares about your average life. People emptily like the picture probably because it’s better than the one below it, of that person telling you how good and full his life is when really deep down that post is aimed at an ex and so again I stamp my bingo card.

You can define the social media user by two crowds, the constant posters and the ones who hide but are always watching. The watchers will say they’ve had enough of Facebook and will probably deactivate their account when they get round to it, or in fact they have just returned from a three month stint of that blank profile picture, you’re not fooling me, you are just the same in nature to the constant posters, you need it, for the gratification and because it’s still there you return.

I mean I am no saint when it comes to social media, of course I probably over use it, I am human after all, and my weird journey as an author wouldn’t be what it is without that. Success as a writer and on social media echo each other in the same bipolar way. Take my latest novel, The Teleporter, a super hero type comedy with a hell of a lot of relation to this modern world, it’s anti Trump, and sometimes pro booze. There are so many things in that book that make it unique, despite that and all my marketing efforts, it sold less that 20 copies. Bipolar right? Or maybe bad timing or maybe nobody is interested unless it’s Marvel or DC, or so many other theories, I think maybe the cover has something to do with it, not that it’s bad, I think it’s wonderful, but is there some kind of primitive dislike for a certain colour or font? Because whenever I put that cover up anywhere on social media, the likes and attention are seriously reduced. Is it the title? Weird huh? and you should see for yourself, it’s probably the most interesting outcome I have had for a book, it has simply been rejected.

Now rejection is something we all need to embrace if we want to use social media, people wont always be there to like your stuff, and people that do without fail, are they liking the content or the person? Rejection may as well be my middle name when I began this journey into the words, I still have the rejection emails in the hundreds via the inbox of a time not so long ago.

I continue to process why the Teleporter has seemingly failed, and I say that in the least dramatic sense, I know some have read it, but not a lot, and it is still very early to really gauge the success of it. How I process this stuff is simple, retreat into writing, keep churning out content across genres, I’m holding hundreds of darts and the target is somewhere ahead. As long as I keep throwing, some day the I’ll make something stick….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Teleporter: World Exclusive Blurb Reveal

Lee Hall Leave a comment

teleporter logo

What if there was a power like no other? What if one drunken slouch stumbled where nobody stumbled before and discovered the ability to teleport!

And just when you thought there were enough super hero stories in this world, we made another one…

Kurt Wiseman spends his days underachieving and his nights quenching a thirst for drink. He doesn’t fit the standard bill of someone looking to battle injustice and certainly has no aspiration for abs. That is until destiny calls upon him to face an all too familiar sounding mega-rich powerful businessman who represents everything wrong with society today.

Wiseman accidentally acquires the power to teleport and realizes he must fight a politically loaded story arc as well as enduring a journey of self-reflection by overcoming his greatest weakness, booze. Even if the path is filled with comic book cliché, inappropriate one liners and genre busting fourth wall action. Kurt must earn the trust of his friends and save the day.  

Not all heroes in this world are the same and with great power comes the possibility to go viral! This is a story that will unite humanity.

 Kurt Wiseman is… The Teleporter!

Out now on amazon in paperback and e-book formats! What are you waiting for? Go…click here… 

 

 

 

Big Book Update 2018

Lee Hall Leave a comment

2018 is closing in on the horizon and I find myself asking where did that year go? Time flies when your kicking ass and writing books. But these days blog posts are rare for me due to my procrastination efforts and my philosophy of no news equals no blog.

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Of course I could find something to vent about, like the deteriorating political situation in ‘insert nation here’ or how ‘insert maniacal world leader here’ will get us all into a nuclear war. It’s safe to say I prefer not to debate and voice opinions of such things, I find most news tiresome, especially when most of it is bad, I’m not ignorant, just selective. All bad news aside, I must say 2017 has been incredibly diverse for me in terms of success and writing efforts.

Earlier in the first half of this year we saw the release of my second novel Darke Blood in which sales are still trickling by and even some fresh reviews have made their way in. The feedback overall has been good and my efforts to publish this book have been very much worthwhile.

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Open Evening had further success by reaching Number 1 in its Occult category on amazon and sold over 600 copies in a day (it was free to download at the time!).

Soon after DB’s publication and before I got to work drafting my next next book. I say next next because 2018 is a huge year for me.

 

2018 will see two books of mine grace publication. My back catalogue this time next year will increase to 100%! (that’s just maths…) 

So what are they? Well scrolling down past this post you will see my announcement post for CEMETERY HOUSE; the sequel to Open Evening and also linked to the Darke Blood universe! Exciting huh? Click on the picture below to view the teaser. We are looking at a Halloween release for CH.

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So what’s the other book?

Soon after finishing the inital draft of CH I needed a much needed light hearted break away from horror/thrillers and so I got to work on a comedy novella called, wait for it….

THE TELEPORTER; a super hero comedy type story. I am looking at an early April release date and more importantly over the last week I have been in contact with my awesome book publication team and I can confirm…..

both Satin Publishing and Design for Writers will be on board to publish/edit and create an awesome cover not just for the Teleporter but for Cemetery House also!

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My next step will be to let my loyal readers know official release dates which will turn up sooner than you think! Hashtag creepy wink!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introducing my next book; The Teleporter

Lee Hall Leave a comment

Just when you thought there were enough super hero stories in this world, we made another one…

My next book’ The Teleporter is officially out now in both paperback and e-book formats. 

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What’s it about?

Some of you will have seen the official announcement via my FB page and you can see a snippet of it below.

This book is predominately a comedy with fourth wall breaking elements and a genre aware story telling style very much seen in Open Evening. But is also a departure from horror and moves my work into a more lighthearted area of reading. Having written comedy only once before for a live action play I am already having a lot fun putting together the pieces that will make up a promising project.

Why ‘super heroes’ ? 

The main character of the Teleporter will tell you very early on that ‘super’ and ‘hero’ are both dirty words in his story and to me they are also. Even though they describe the genre to an extent this book wont be the standard guy trying to save the world. Cinema and television are inundated with comic book hero types and there seems to be no signs of that slowing down anytime soon. Both Marvel and DC are juggernauts in producing these stories which seemed to be unlimited, taking that into account and the success of more comedic swaying stories I have decided to make my own.

The Teleporter is a character I have explored before and it didn’t really get very far. After producing other books I have found some more material and background for this story of a guy who can teleport and that’s about all. Back when I devised this character I did it because there doesn’t seem to be someone who can just teleport, it is a pretty useless super power which will just add to the comedy.

The influences are many in the Teleporter; Deadpool and Hancock come to mind along with Kick Ass and even the Hangover. This is an internet age hero who finds himself no choice but to fight for what is right in a situation.  That is even if he has a slight drinking problem.

You can catch the Teleporter on Facebook and even like his page for support, so check it out.

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Author Self Interview: Lee Hall pt2

Lee Hall Leave a comment

Hello and welcome to the second part of my author self interview series. Today we cover book reviews, the ten year anniversary of the Christ Benoit murder suicide tragedy and a whole host of indie author questions…

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How important do you think book reviews are for an indie author?

Reviews are a doubled edged sword when it comes to books. They are very unique to any other product available on amazon simply because most of the reviews critique or praise the writers efforts. Clothes, electronics or even medications are reviewed for whether they fit or even work. Books really are unique to review as a product.

So do you think people have read a review of Open Evening and then decided to buy it? 

I would like to think so, even though a very small percentage of the people who did buy my first book left a review. So even though I am thankful for the praise and kind words I don’t take reviews massively seriously.

What are you currently reading? and is it important that a writer must also find time to read? 

Dragon Teeth by Michael Critchton and god yes! If you ever want to get better at every element of story telling you must read and then read some more. Our minds are constantly growing and books feed that growth. With reading you take something in as opposed to writing which works the opposite way!

How are you marketing yourself as a writer currently? 

I like to stay relatively active on social media and do try not to just talk about my books. When possible and if I have some material I like to blog. If I have watched a new film or TV show I may review it or maybe even whatever political situation is going on in the world right now. The first rule of selling books is not talking about selling books…

Being an indie writer means that I probably doesn’t pay the bills. So what do you do for a living? 

I work at the very forefront of cutting edge experimental science. My job involves working in the control room of a particle accelerator in Oxfordshire for the STFC. It’s a pretty cool place and there’s always something interesting happening or another challenge arising from science. I started out as an electrician and then moved into engineering which now nods towards physics, pretty cool right?

Feature Question: Lastly this week has seen the 10 year anniversary of the suicide murder case involving WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, what are your thoughts?

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Benoit (right) with his signature flying headbutt

Well where do I start? Back then I was a huge huge WWE fan! I was still a stupid 17 year old kid but even back then wrestling was everything to me. Chris Benoit was and still is to me the pinnacle of what a successful wrestler should be. He worked his way up for years and only really got rewarded later on in his career. I related to the guy because like me he was only 5’8 but he was tougher than anyone in that ring. Seeing him win in the main event of wrestlemania 20 was pretty special then some years later all of that went away.

Back then I used to record the WWE shows on a small vhs combo TV I used to plonk down next to our actual TV. So I had already watched and recorded the Sunday event where Benoit was scheduled to show up and face CM Punk in a championship match. Of course this never happened and obviously the events that unfolded at Benoit’s residence were tragic and horrific. He took his wife and son’s life before committing suicide himself.

The news broke initially with WWE officials not really sure what to do as the truth was still unfolding. So I put in the tape of Monday night Raw to see an empty arena and even stranger a tearful Vince McMahon. The context is previously McMahon died on screen in a story line which due to the events just got dropped. He spoke about what had happened with Chris but not to any detail. At that moment my heart sunk and everything felt distant for some time,  I was even numb perhaps. I knew back then wrestler deaths were common but a top guy like Benoit was a deep wound to the industry.

The three hour show that night displayed Chris Benoit’s best moments and it even contained some interviews of current WWE talent. Some of which were cagey and may could have actually known the circumstances, I remember both John Cena and William Regal holding their cards close to their chests. Little did anyone know this would be the last mention of Chris Benoit on WWE TV ever! They literally deleted him from the history of their company but for good reason.

It’s scary how quick time can go and I cant believe it has been ten years since the Chris Benoit tragedy. WWE changed that day. The investigation revealed Benoit used a lot of steroids, had some bad brain damage and had domestic issues with his wife Nancy. I guess we will never really know what happened over that weekend but my guess is the combination of lots of things caused this.

Soon after in WWE a new drug wellness policy got phased in. The next year they went PG and never looked back, they look after their talent a little more now but that doesn’t ever change what happened 10 years ago.