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Weekly Ramble #34

Lee Hall 6 Comments

I’m done with book bloggers. I know that statement may tarnish a hell of a lot of people with one brush including myself but I will say it again with more context; I’m done with asking book bloggers to review my books. Now there are many awesome book bloggers out there and particularly the one’s I follow including the few that have done good to me and support this blog, you guys will always rock and of course I do not mean I’m done with you, and please don’t think this is just an angry response post to someone who gave out a 1 star review, I’m past doing responses, but this is a serious conclusion I have come to.

Why? Because near enough every dealing I have had with book bloggers has resulted in a negative review. But negative reviews is also not the reason because I don’t expect everyone to like my stuff. There is a caliber of reviewer out there that very recently reviewed my first book Open Evening; it came out in 2016, it’s not perfect, I gave it an edit a few weeks back, but overall it isn’t terrible. There’s even a sequel if writers want some further reading. You can read the review here

This review has entirely killed my desire to reach out to book reviewers and even consider them a target market. I am still completely baffled by the pretentiousness of it, I mean there’s a star rating in there somewhere I think? And this caliber of reviewer has done an unnecessary amount of dismantling of my work while comparing to other books unnecessarily (that word again) ,and again that’s not what I’m mad about? But what the fuck can I take from this review to use as a learning curve to improve? Absolutely nothing because the guy, clearly knowing in books and stuff has spent too much time writing a review that just tries to be over intelligent and almost upstages the author in a smarmy want to be clever way. And this guy to me just comes across as a wanna be author who never published a damn thing in his life – like much of the book blogger community you just don’t know what its like… so how can he give any critical advice, he cant…

Authors live and die by reviews, indie authors even more so, and these people have no clue what it’s like. They just take someone’s book and seem to just set out to find reason’s not to like it! I’m not saying this as a high a mighty author, because I am not, I’ve reviewed nearly 20 indie books this year, I haven’t bashed a single one and I’ve given critical usable advice where needed, not in a smarmy wanna be author way, but in a way that helps writers. Isn’t that what reviews from book people are supposed to be?

My target market has always been everyone outside the writing community, the everydayers who enjoy a good story and will take it for what it is and enjoy it, not compare it to Mary Fucking Shelly. Then they will put that book on the shelf and not sell it on ebay a year later – not that I have sent many physical copies out there, maybe that’s the reason for these reviews…

Either way, I’m not mad, and I appreciate all the support I get from book bloggers, but there are some out there who just don’t have any real respect for story telling and they don’t have any appreciation for the journey we go on as authors.

Indie Book Sequels: Are they worth it?

Lee Hall Leave a comment

The title of this post presents itself as a question I have tried to find an answer to from experience. There are still many pros and cons to it floating around in my head; so in my divine wisdom I have decided to explore this question via a blog post and because my experience from releasing an indie book sequel wasn’t the best…

Background

When I write a story my mind is forever in expansion mode. I am always looking for an opportunity to tell a back story or plant something for later on; this even goes as far as planting stuff for books later on in a series. This may sound visionary and I suppose it is BUT it’s also a curse because while I’m standing over in book three, people haven’t even picked up book one yet! – that’s not a unique problem in indie publishing, our biggest challenge is product distribution…

I very much enjoy the thinking ‘fourth dimensionally’ writing style in fact there isn’t a better satisfaction in writing than seeing a long term plan pull together and that’s what I like to do. But to evolve or even edit the title of this post let me ask this:

Are indies just better off writing stand alone stories? 

Beginners luck

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I present the question above with an intention to answer it with logic as opposed to experience because if we look at it on simple terms, and this doesn’t just extend to indies but books in general, who is going to buy book 3 of a series if nobody really read or knows about 1 and 2…

My writing faced that answer very early on and in 2016 I was set to release my first book ‘Open Evening’ which is now part of the wider ‘Order of the Following’ series (this is the first time I have named that series publicly, consider it an exclusive, thank me in the comments). Due to my writing style the latter stages of Open Evening was set up and left open (no pun intended) so that a sequel could be explored some time in the near future.

The expectation I had in selling this book wasn’t particularly high but it did relatively well and shifted a bunch of paperbacks, did the rounds on social media and in all left me felling pretty darn good. There wasn’t any profits but I had made my official arrival as an author known.

Move on to the next one

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After finishing a book; the best thing an author can do, if they really are an author is to move on and write something else. Enter my vampire caper ‘Darke Blood’ which before Open Evening found it’s final edit became linked to this book by way of some (clever) back story.

So to put this into context, these books are separate but sit in the same universe; so it’s Iron Man and Captain America. If you read both you will see where they are linked, it’s fairly obvious.

Listen to the heart

Unfortunately this is where my thinking fourth dimensionally curse struck. I really wanted to do an Open Evening sequel, there was more story to tell and explain, there was even opportunity to link back to Darke Blood. So I did it, and ‘Cemetery House’ was born.

I knew from the offset that my readership would in fact be very limited, but I did that thing where the urge to tell a story took over everything else, and now I still don’t regret that decision.

It kicked my ass

By the time I had finally got ‘Cemetery House’ released in late October of last year (2018) I was facing being ‘done’ with writing, possibly forever. It hit me that hard. Not the writing process, not the editing process, or even Amazon being fail because their stupid KDP software didn’t like the format of the book for ages so didn’t accept it. All of it hit me hard, to a point where I pretty much faced a level of depression I have never seen or experienced ever.

This sequel ended up being a bad day that just got worse. And so then came the icing of the three tiered cake of shit; pretty much nobody bought the damn thing…

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Facing reality

There are a huge amount of factors as to why ‘Cemetery House’ went the way it did. Mostly because I put my expectation on a pedestal and didn’t accept reality where Open Evening had only been out 2 years when the sequel arrived. My following was nowhere near the amount I have now. The promotional efforts, well they were okay actually but without the following, well there’s the problem.

It hurt. Big time, and I probably did it to myself more than anything. 2018 was a huge year for me. I released The Teleporter half a year previous to ‘CH’ and only now is it getting any type of traction.

This stuff takes time. It takes thought and above all it takes a suit of armour to protect yourself sometimes from yourself. Most of this stuff is on your head. I have always said as an author success is in the eye of the beholder.

But the beauty of this is simple, I can happily talk about it and accept it for what it is. I have 4 books published. I did that in 2 years. Cemetery House has 0 reviews and not a lot of sales but it stands shoulder to shoulder with 3 other books that make up the 4. And they are mine

The drive home

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There was an album I listened to religiously while creating ‘Cemetery House’. In fact its by one of my favorite bands. For near enough half a year after publication of that book I couldn’t face listening to any of those great songs. That was until last night, when I took in the whole album at level 18 volume.

The conclusion I have is simple. If you have more story to tell and your heart is telling you to write it, then write it. We do this because above all it makes us feel something in this rather cold world. We’ve all had bad reviews and good reviews. Sales and no sales. Just do what you wanna do to feel happy in writing and fu** everything else.

Thanks for reading my story about my stories and a little insight to how I got here. It means a bunch to have your support, have you got any sequel gripes? Let me know in the comments. 

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I am not the Lee Hall who wrote ‘Billy Elliot’

Lee Hall Leave a comment

Hello everyone. Important message here, well all of my blog posts are. I feel somewhat inclined to reach out to everyone in general just to say I am not the Lee Hall who wrote Billy Elliot. Quite recently I have received messages from people assuming that I am that same Lee Hall. I am not. But my name is Lee Hall.

And yes this blog post is totally dedicated to me not being the guy who wrote Billy Elliot!

It isn’t particularly difficult to work out that I am an Indie Author of 4 books and 2 plays. None of which is Billy Elliot. I mean that in the most sincere way but use your fu**ing eyes! I’m sorry for swearing but all you really have to do is read probably the first few lines of my profile on all social media outlets to grasp that. I’m not angry either (that’s not allowed either these days).

However, speaking of me, here are the four of my books that are competitively priced on amazon, you should buy one and leave a review….

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5 Reasons why you should read Darke Blood

Lee Hall 1 Comment

I’ve come to believe that anyone can write a book. I mean that in the singular sense. Most of us have enough inside us to create one book’s worth of content and tell a story worth reading. Although having one book out there is indeed a phenomenal achievement a real writer only finds themselves after that first journey. What I’m saying is indeed subjective and from experience but I truly believe that I became a writer only after I managed to finish drafting Darke Blood and so here are five reasons why you should check out my story of true darkness… 

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1: This was the most difficult project I’ve ever drafted… and arguably the most ‘book like’ book I have out there… it’s probably the most rewarding too…

I almost sent ‘DB’ into the recycling bin around a third of the way into drafting. It made me angry that I just couldn’t get the book to work or fit with any type of story. My writing style isn’t to have much of a particular plan, in fact for this book I had 3 or 4 ideas and no real idea for a finish. Without boring you all to death with vague details let’s just say I persevered and found myself as a writer, pulled everything together during an angry session at the gym one day and created a story I am damn proud of.

The real truth is; and this is further to my point above, I gave myself 4 ideas and then said ‘let’s go write a book’. Being able to write a story on the spot with just a handful of concepts is the definition of a real writer. They will find a way to link everything together via characters, plot and setting no matter what.

Most of my books read like a film, but ‘DB’ reads in a more stationary manner making it deeper and immersive and overall more book like.

2: Yes it’s a vampire story, but that’s just a side genre…

Creatures of the night have been done and done again we all know that and I knew that going in. But Vampires have never been seen in the way I delivered them (sophisticated and logical, no offence or slander towards others though) and as much as people think they have been done; there’s still a huge array of vamp stories out there. This story is Vampires grown up. Above all DB is about identity and finding yourself even if you can only see pure darkness eventually you can find your own light to shine a way.

During the difficult draft I decided the world of Darke Blood was in fact linked to another world created in my debut novel, which brings us to numero 3…

3: Darke Blood is set in the same universe as Open Evening!

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I had a great deal of fun building bridges between Open Evening and Darke Blood. Without dropping a bunch of spoilers I will say it just makes sense for these stories to be in the same ‘time’ and world. If you have read ‘OE’ and if you are looking closely you’ll see a few hints towards the ‘DB’ universe. This becomes a little more obvious in ‘DB’ and those who know the two universes will collide eventually.

4: The characters

Quite simply Darke Blood is a character driven novel, for much of the writing I let them lead the charge and you’ll find arguably the greatest cast I have ever assembled on the page. One of the biggest motivators to write this novel for me personally was to tribute Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a subtle sense as well as carving my own path. Those who are one with the Whedon will know his work is driven and centered by diverse three dimensional characters and Darke Blood tributes that. There is a character for everyone waiting in Darke Blood

5: There’s going to be a sequel!

I have already drafted the sequel to DB and at the far end of this year I shall delve into the editing phase. In terms of release date, we’re looking at 2020. ‘Darke Awakening’ will see the world of Open Evening and Cemetery House collide with Darke Blood in the ultimate culmination and cross over.

Bonus Reason 6:

Turns out cross overs are hard and long (that’s not a porno honest…) so ‘Darke Awakening’ is part 1 of 2 Darke Blood sequels. ‘Darke Apocalypse’ will close the story and crown the ‘Darke Trilogy’ along with carry on the story of Open Evening and Cemetery House. This will be later as opposed to sooner so you have got all the time in the world to read Open Evening, Darke Blood and Cemetery House.

Bonus Bonus Reason 7:

Okay I’m pushing it now and I don’t want to go hard sell but Darke Blood is relatively undiscovered. The truth is it needs a bunch more reviews and reads before I will even think about launching the sequel. My big plan and aspiration this year is to get DB read and reviewed more. You could be responsible for the success of what is a deeply immersive character driven story. Anybody who does wish to read it, I will happily send an e-copy for free in exchange for a review so get in contact for more info…

Or you can just wait until this friday when it will be free to download for one day only celebrating 3 years since release!

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Weekly Ramble #21

Lee Hall Leave a comment

There goes another decade, well nearly. Time flies when you’re writing books I guess and this year just sort of crept up from the shadows. The past few weeks have all kinda merged but things are trying to settle down…

Lets talk goals for 2019; because A new year feels like a fresh start, this is my year and it may even be the crowning piece of one hell of a decade.

  • I’m handwriting the first draft for my next book, a paranormal romance in the form of a diary. Yes I said romance, my whole deal in writing is to nail as many genres as I possibly can. If you can tell a story, genres are just the variable. We’re looking at a festive season 2019 release and I may fully self publish this one, I will still need an epic cover though!
  • Book Code named ‘Project X43’… or the real title ‘Jack Thorn’ – ‘In the future there will be robots… and this book is my writing destiny’. This year I’m finishing the rebooted draft and I’m going to find an agent and get it published (yep easier said than done). Those who have followed me from the start will recognize the ‘Thorn’ name and yes this book is massively linked to it.

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  • Darke Blood Sequel: ‘Darke Awakening’ has already been drafted and for those who have been keeping up this one serves as not only a sequel to ‘DB’ but it’s the continuation of Open Evening and Cemetery House. This year I will hopefully edit and set a release date for the Awakening. It will probably see the ‘light’ in 2020.

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So that’s all of my writing goals for 2019, let me just take this opportunity to say, keep it real, be safe and may the force be with you! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Twister’ meets ‘The Teleporter’: the ultimate ‘what if’ crossover scenario…

Lee Hall Leave a comment

Just what would happen if a man called ‘Twister’ met ‘The Teleporter’? This is a crossover nobody asked for, but you’re getting it anyway because writer Lee Hall needed content and because it’s nearly Christmas he should have probably thought of something special to give back to his handful of loyal, well cultured, possibly well endowed readers, yes this is a comedy, but aren’t they all…  sit back and enjoy what is a meeting of literary juggernauts of the ‘lhallverse’….

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(Imagine a bar in low light, there aren’t many people, in fact there are only two. One is half perched at a stool in a long rain coat. His hair is mid length and unkempt. There’s stubble on his face and scars on both hands; one of which is cradling a tumbler of whisky. His name is Twister and he looks in no particular direction when the other guy approaches, The Teleporter; dressed in a turquoise hood and purple skinny jeans, a purple bandanna covers his face along with shades.)

The Teleporter: Hey cowboy, is this seat taken?

Twister: I don’t see any other folks around to claim it.

The Teleporter: Rugged and brooding, how original.

Twister: Excuse me? (he looks to the Teleporter with a raised eyebrow) 

The Teleporter: Let me guess your genre. Wait a second I got this…

Twister: What are you possibly talking about? and what’s  the deal with the outfit? That denim looks a tad feminine.

The Teleporter: Yep but let’s focus on you cowboy. You got those scars, that unshaven look and the whole frown towards life going on. Let’s not mention the whisky your nursing, I’m gonna say horror, or even thriller.

Twister: Still not with ya pal. But looking at those colors and the tight denim I’m gonna say your some kind of fa…

The Teleporter: Whoah! ease back class of 2002, you can’t just go throwing out that kind of language these days, in fact you probably shouldn’t back in ’02 either.

Twister: ’91

The Teleporter: Who in the what now?

Twister:  Class of ’91. Never graduated though, that’s a long story.

The Teleporter: Whatever you say gramps, but you can’t go around throwing out accusations and stuff about what people wear these days.

Twister: These days? Where do you think we are?

The Teleporter: Hoping to god this isn’t my sequel. But you seriously don’t understand this gig?

Twister: It sounds like English but I’m not following. What’s your deal? Maybe should start with names.

The Teleporter: They call me the Teleporter. My deal, is mainly booze and sometimes yoga. Perhaps an occasional blog post.

Twister: They call me Twister.

The Teleporter: Well Twister, how many books did you get?

Twister: Books?

The Teleporter: Cut the crap. The fourth wall is literally right there dude.

Twister: Three..

The Teleporter: Jesus, three books, seriously… (exasperated)

Twister: Well two actually, one was a sequel/prequel and the other is kind of a cameo deal.

The Teleporter: Cameos and sequels? What are you Clark Thorn in disguise?  What the skittles man? I’m got one that’s not even full length.

Twister: Well I aint one for telling bedtime stories… (he finishes the whisky) 

The Teleporter: Is that supposed to be your catchphrase? (he reaches over the bar and grabs a bottle of beer) 

Twister: Says the guy dressed like a damn clown. So what does the mighty ‘Teleporter’ do then apart from kill the mood with sarcasm and empty humor? (he grabs the beer from the teleporter)

The Teleporter: That burns. I take down the assholes in this world who abuse their power. (he grabs another bottle)

Twister: Sounds like a noble cause. Even with the shitty humor attempts.

The Teleporter: Well this is a world where nothing is original. And so what does ‘Twister’ do with his time? and don’t say it’s complicated or it’s a long story, this isn’t a shitty facebook relationship status update. Let me guess, you’re a vegan blogger?

Twister: I survive.

The Teleporter: Deep and reflective. That’s a great title for a porn flick. But it doesn’t give much away, even after three books that’s all your giving me?

Twister: Says the guy hiding under a hood…

The Teleporter: So what does Twister stand for?

Twister: Real name’s Randy.  I don’t stand for much other than my own survival. The line of work I’m in, we’ll call it extermination. (he pulls out a curved sabre type blade and places it heavily on the bar)

The Teleporter: That’s some impressive hardware. What are we exterminating?

Twister: Various kinds of vermin. Is the ‘Teleporter’ just a solo deal or is there some kind of sidekick?

The Teleporter: You’re gonna have to read my story to find out… (pulls out a thin book and slaps it down on the bar) What about you stretch? are you running around exterminating alone or is there some kind of crew you run with?

Twister: I’ve ran with my fare share back in the day but the line of work I’m in, let’s just say nobody sticks around for long.

The Teleporter: Again with the deep mystery, it’s like you don’t want to give too much away to entice reader folks to pick up your tales.

Twister: Isn’t that why we are here? (looks to camera with the Teleporter) 

The Teleporter: There’s the fourth wall break I was waiting for, feels good right?

Twister: Whatever you say pal… (knocks back the beer and gets up) Well, the road is calling me (grabs sabre)

The Teleporter: We should do this again and then maybe I’ll get the sequel I deserve.

Twister: Hang in there, the reviews of this ain’t bad (looks to the front cover of the Teleporter’s book). 

The Teleporter: Thanks for the inspiration.

Twister: Is that a sarcastic thank you or…

The Teleporter: I don’t know man, I mean, now your leaving but taking your time and what do we do, shake hands, man hug, or even nod defiantly.

Twister: You’re the one who made this awkward. I’m goin now.

The Teleporter: Well, I hate goodbyes.

Twister: We literally just met.

The Teleporter: But I feel like we genuinely bonded.

Twister: We didn’t. I’m gone.

The Teleporter: I can still see you…

You can catch Twister in Open Evening and Cemetery House, of course they are also linked and in the same universe as Darke Blood!

The Teleporter is out now! Rock and roll man!

Happy Holidays folks!

Cemetery House Blurb Reveal!

Lee Hall Leave a comment

With Halloween on the not too distant horizon, this year comes the long awaited sequel to Open Evening; Cemetery House. Those who survived are back to continue what has already been started.

I began production of ‘CH’ quite literally after Open Evening, well sort of. The first portion of the book serves as a prequel/origins story of a man named Twister, I wrote that very early on. The rest of the story is a continuation of Open Evening making the whole deal rather unique. I’ve tried to take all the good stuff from sequels I like and put those concepts into this book along with being conscious of what makes a bad sequel also (I didn’t to put that stuff in). There will be answers this time around, especially from the many questions Open Evening asked. What this has resulted in is a story in which I am so damn proud of, these characters who carried the last story were given another opportunity to prove how wonderful they are, and for me they wrote this one.

Those that do know, this story is indeed linked to Darke Blood and their universe is shared. There will be more nods towards that in this book, so look out. 

I have just finished my final OCD edit, and reading through Cemetery House has actually pulled me out of a rather rough time I have been having as of late. August was a pretty hard month personally but I am over myself now and this book has helped leaps and bounds.

So there’s only one thing left for me to say, here’s the blurb of Cemetery House….

The survivors from Open Evening are back for their next chapter and together they must face life after high school. Led by a man named Twister, they learn of his origins and where he came from; a place that suffered a similar fate to their hometown. Accompanied by his newly formed crew; Twister must return home to face the demons of his past, only now the town has been converted into a horror themed amusement park.

With a ‘purge’ imminent in the park, those who survived High School must look for answers as they take on their next challenge. The world of work can be filled with horror hiding just beneath the surface which has returned yet again for the roller coaster ride that is Cemetery House.

So get ready to run, think, fight and live, because ‘survival was just the beginning…’

 

The Weekly Ramble #2

Lee Hall Leave a comment

I want to talk about cliché, a word every blogger and writer clashes with every time they put finger to key board, and in this place it’s okay to talk about it…

Is it cliché to come across as artsy and reflective when talking about being a writer? As much as I like the image of wearing a dark roller neck jumper, cradling a whisky tumbler, staring through thick rimmed glasses and reclining in a popular chat show sofa; that image totally isn’t me.

I find myself dancing around the inevitable question when somebody tells me they’ve read my work, it’s almost as if they are waiting for me to ask ‘what did you think?’. Instead I’ll weave around their words and seem disinterested, yet another typical behavior artists have towards their work.

But cliché seems to evolve around everything successful in story telling today, you see it in similar looking book covers, titles and everyone has to have at least two reviews on that cover. As much as we strife to stay away from cliché, we need it for our stories to thrive.

In my writing I like to suggest something typical is about to happen or a certain person has traits that are seemingly familiar only for the reader to discover there is something much deeper within and that is the inner message of all my work. I call back to my latest novel The Teleporter, and the main character Kurt Wiseman. On the surface of this story the whole deal reeks of comic book style cliché with a dusting of comedy, something I meticulously toiled over and decided would probably sell the book, something now I was very wrong about. I wanted people to come for the super hero bit, but stay for what the story is really about (read it and you will find out). In essence I failed to capture the right level of cliché in a super hero comedy, a niche which would seem failure proof.

Unfortunately cliché moments in the book are what sometimes define them, readers want to see the good versus evil battle, the damsel in distress get rescued, the rugged semi handsome guy put in the save, an older paternal/maternal type perhaps die on their valiant sword for their efforts, the guy gets the girl, the nerd is actually a warrior, the monsters came from space, the bad guy is bad for a reason, the dead parents… the list ultimately goes on.

What if all of the above is justification to say there are no more original stories?

Something which I half agree with, but what if you can get over that statement by being different, perhaps delivering the story in a different way that distracts the reader enough not to think this was the same old stuff. If can call back to another one of my works; Open Evening, the not so typical high school horror with so much more waiting underneath the surface. Yes you’ve got the typicality of such a story, but the way it is delivered, the struggle, the uncertainty, the ultimate resolve all have a different and a cliché busting way of providing the story which is totally different to those in it’s genre. Just read the reviews, not one bad word goes against the actual story.

If I’m going to plug my books it is not complete without Darke Blood; a not so ‘vampirey’ type vampire story… again the whole deal begins with your typical horror affair but what comes out the other end is a bunch of things done before, but not like they have been done in Darke Blood.

All of my work is example enough to say cliché can be embraced and avoided. There are ways as writers and bloggers that we can deliver our products and words differently. Then again if we are all going to be different, then aren’t we actually the same? I guess that’s cliché to say…

5 Reasons why YOU should read Open Evening

Lee Hall Leave a comment

Shameless self promotion alert and as an indie author most of the time if I’m not shouting about my books, nobody else is apart from a very selective well read and cultured few. So here’s some top reasons why you should invest your money, imagination and hopes into the literature I have brought into this world, we’re gonna start where it all began…. Open Evening

1. This book is different…

Okay, you’re probably thinking everyone says that about their stuff but stay with me here. Open Evening initially reads like a typical high school horror but spends most of the book being anti-genre and even turns certain horror cliches back on itself. Our nerdy sometimes socially struggling narrator has to overcome so much more than a lack of confidence to survive what becomes a night of running and trying to live.

For those who have read it, their initial feedback has described ‘OE’ to read more like a film than a book with a bunch of clever and fun twists along the way…

2. It represents the struggles all of us have been through as a teen, even though it’s based in the early 2000’s..

Everyone who has ever been a teenager will know what I mean by the struggle of what high school is, and that is one of the main themes captured in Open Evening. I took the idea of this book from a bunch of notes I wrote when I was at school and could easily tell this theme ran throughout so I had to translate that to Open Evening.

Whether you’re the bully, the jock, class clown or anything in between, there is something everyone can relate to in the whole psyche of high school and that is present in Open Evening. There are elements of ‘breakfast club’ and who doesn’t like 80’s films or nostalgia?

Sometimes it feels the teachers are against you and sometimes it feels like the world is against you and in Open Evening there is something else was lurking underneath it all….

I will even admit there are some elements which are taken from my own personal experiences, so you could say it’s semi autobiographical. In all of my works you’ll probably learn more about me than in anything else I do.

3. It’s extremely action packed…

This book goes! Yes there’s running and screaming, but there is also a lot of sequences that involve fighting and even explosions (yes there was budget for pyro…).

If Open Evening could be compared to a film it would sit somewhere between Alien, Aliens, Blade and Jurassic Park. The short punchy chapters are designed to keep pages being turned and there is never a dull moment, and if it goes quiet, be scared, be very scared…

4. Open Evening is practically free to read..

So here’s the deal, outside of writing I have a job which pays my bills and I love it therefore I do not need to make money from selling books which means I care more about producing something worthwhile that will enrich a reader. 

Technically if you have kindle unlimited you can download the e-book for free but if not the price is well below most books and if you’re like me and prefer holding a book in your own hands then you can find it via amazon for £6.99 or some dollars…

5. Open Evening is part of a wider franchise….

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Open Evening is indeed just the beginning of a wider franchise which looks deeper into the occult world. By the time you have finished Open Evening there will be a bunch of head spinning questions in which the wider franchise will answer for you. This includes my second novel Darke Blood which is set in the same world as Open Evening!

You can check out 5 reasons why you should read Darke Blood right here…

Just last year Cemetery House was released, the direct sequel to Open Evening. The story will then move towards the world of Darke Blood in a cross over story planned for the near future. So there will be a plethora of books and stories to invest your imagination in, which all started with Open Evening….

6. Special bonus reason… Cemetery House (the sequel is out now)

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Cemetery House Release Date confirmed

Lee Hall Leave a comment

Yep, you read that title right. CEMETERY HOUSE, the sequel to Open Evening has an official release date! There’s a teaster trailer currently making the rounds of the Facebooks so if you see it, remember to give an indie author a hand by liking, sharing and commenting…. 

Seeing as I haven’t blogged in quite a while here’s a rundown of all the recent news from the universe of Lee Hall, procrastination extraordinaire and sometimes word smith…

trailer

Click on me to view the trailer, you know you want to…

September Anniversary Freebie Bonanza!

yeah

Yeah!

A few weeks back I celebrated the 1 year anniversary of becoming a published author via the arrival of Open Evening. For a few days the E-book of both Open Evening and Darke Blood were available for free (I only intended the first book to be free, so a cock up on my behalf). But either way the reaction was massive, and already I have received new reviews from new readers. And I have to say the numbers of downloads were record breaking for me. A new personal best came on the 23rd of last month with over 600 e-books being downloaded. Of course if you were watching, Open Evening shot up the Occult charts on amazon all the way to Number 1! Awesome right?

Drafting finishes for the Teleporter!

My next book will be a novella/shorter story called the Teleporter, and it is predominantly a super hero comedy with elements that break the fourth wall and has some politically loaded messages. Last month I managed to finish the first draft and will hopefully be looking at a release in the fist half of 2018. You can like the Teleporter’s page right here. 

Editing begins on CHc house

Seeing as I have already decided upon a release date for Cemetery House you can probably guess editing is going spectacularly well. The story is shaping up and will be somewhat of a departure from the first one as much as a continuation. Of course I plan on developing characters and giving answers to the readers along with linking this all in with the Darke Blood universe in which a crossover will follow. If you liked the first one, you will love this one, trust me.

 

All I can really say now is thank you for the continued support, reviews, likes and shares. This whole indie author thing only works if awesome people like you who use their right and left turn indicators help me!!