Trusted by 500+ fans to find the fun in the funereal, the absurd in the macabre, and delight in the darkness. Join fiction author Morgan Delaney three times a week for genre-bending stories of cozy horror, dark fantasy and a brain with mind of its own...
The Cat That Kept Growing
 Raise your glasses to the masses! This week I smashed past a massive 100,000 words of the latest Alumière adventure, The Cat Wore Black! 100,000 words is about the length of To Kill a Mockingbird. And I’m only about 80-ish% through the book. Don’t worry, though. I’m a messy writer, and this is the first draft. Once I pull out the Red Pen and start deleting, that word count will come right back down again. I reckon the finished Cat will clock in at a respectable 75,000-80,000 like the others. Overwrite, then over-edit. That’s my motto. For example, I’m currently 18,000 words into a short story, for which I only need about 4,000… Words, it seems, are a lot like rats… They’re happier in packs. Or, to be precise, in mischiefs, which is the collective noun for rats. And there’s definitely mischief afoot in Hawkinge-By-Hythe, when rats descend upon the town to answer a dead witch’s call for revenge. Who can the townsfolk call to save them? The three Alumière sisters: Colette; Victoria, and Gertrude. By the way, the correct collective noun for Alumières is an intrepid of Alumières. Chat soon, Morgan P.S. More Morgan? Get 2 of my books free here: morgandelaney.info/newsletter |
Dark, Strange and Fantastic Fiction
Trusted by 500+ fans to find the fun in the funereal, the absurd in the macabre, and delight in the darkness. Join fiction author Morgan Delaney three times a week for genre-bending stories of cozy horror, dark fantasy and a brain with mind of its own...
We’re in what used to be East Berlin. Tip: If there are trams, you’re probably in East Berlin. East Berlin had trams. West Berlin ripped them up for being old-fashioned and stupid. They’re regretting it now and want more, but trams still mostly don’t go further west than Hauptbahnhof (Main Station). So if you’re on a tram, you’re probably in old East Berlin. Seeing the most incredible things… Taking the tram yesterday, we passed a big vet (animal doctor, not war hero), and the surgery windows...
George Orwell had blue spots or circles tattooed on each of his knuckles. Probably done while he lived in Burma before becoming a writer. Possibly the tattoos are the reason he became a writer. “Writing can hardly be more painful than getting my knucks tatted,” he thought. “Let’s have at it!” The poor fool. Here’s the thing: What makes tattoos difficult is that you get only one chance to do it right. What makes writing difficult is that you get as many chances as you like. Unless you’re under...
My two favourite things are music and books. But I recently watched mclusky on KEXP and was blown away that some people can play music and sing at the same time. I don’t have the concentration to listen to the music and the lyrics at the same time. When I listen to music, I’m only listening to the music. Of course, I like a lot of growly metal, where the vocals sound like the Cookie Monster trying to eat his way out of a quarry. Good luck with those lyrics, but still. I’ve never been...