04/05/2024 • 8:30 AM 1

Betrayed

I checked in on my Amazon dashboard and got a shock. This post will serve as your reminder that you cannot set it and forget it. I guess you really can’t set and forget anything.

Changes I had made previously apparently were not saved or didn’t stick, or something. I don’t know what happened. My main problem was that I was eligible for three categories but only two were on record. Thus began my odyssey. I need to add categories for all versions, hardcover, paperback, and ebook. When more than three categories are appropriate, this is actually a marketing opportunity since you can use the different media to add more categories and widen your net.

So maybe it’s a good thing this happened

I (eventually) decided to look upon this as an opportunity to revise descriptions and revamp keywords and prices. If you haven’t checked into your Amazon dashboard for a long while, there’s also a yes or no question about whether you used AI in the production of your work.

I have so many books that this task is very time-consuming. However, revisiting old descriptions and pumping them up with the benefit of more experience and a fresh perspective will be worth it. If you do nothing else, I would suggest you check your dashboard to make sure everything is as you want it.

Of all the variables authors are least likely to change, pricing is probably where we feel least flexible. However, if you haven’t given yourself a dollar raise since 2011, consider why your self-esteem is so low while you examine the pricing pages of all your hard work.

I know this last suggestion can be hard, but you can do hard things. You already accomplished the hardest part. You wrote a book.

Filed under: Amazon, publishing, Amazon dashboard, books, pricing books, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, writing

03/18/2024 • 11:29 AM 3

Imagine you are a book marketing guru

Recently, I saw a personal trainer talk about how nice people are scammed into questionable (and expensive) nutritional courses. Then I made the connection to publishing, and I’m sad now.

So here’s how you do it. (Hint: Don’t do this)

Let’s play the bad guy for a minute. You were an author first, but now you make much more money selling shovels and pickaxes than you ever would panning for gold. Writing books is for suckers. Marketing courses to aspiring authors is where the money is.

You claim to have all the answers to getting books flying off digital shelves, right? Your first strategy is to suck in the rubes and noobs. You go all over social media to promote your courses. You’re on every podcast when you make the big push. You pat yourself on the back so hard, you’re in serious danger of injuring your shoulder. Hundreds of desperate authors, maybe thousands over time, sign up to learn how to finally make Facebook, Google, TikTok, X, or Amazon ads work for them. They’re all just one click away from living at a resort in Fiji, or so you say.

Authors: When the pitch to boost your book income homes in on your inability to buy expensive Christmas presents and go on exotic vacations, watch out! They’re using cheap tactics to push your pain points to make the sale.

But here comes the bigger con:

Of all those new students the guru hauls up in his net, a few outliers will get positive results. Those few outliers will promote the next course and sing all the praises. Rinse and repeat, and each course gets bigger and more expensive. Huzzah! You’re a marketing genius! You’re the captain everyone looks to in hopes you can steer their ship past the rocks.

Except, uh-oh! For most authors, it won’t work. Don’t just focus on the outliers claiming staggering results.

This phenomenon is not unique to book marketing. Forbes will ballyhoo the latest investment guru on their cover each year because that’s how math works. One hedge fund manager will make the most each year, sure. But will you ever see that person on the top of the pile again? There is only one Warren Buffet per thousands of pretenders to his throne.

Some, but not all, reasons for book marketing failures:

Put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. Great marketing for the wrong book can, at best, spread the word fast that a lousy book is lousy.
The cover art is wrong for its genre.
The cover art is plain bad.
Your blurb sucks.
Your blurb doesn’t hit the expected tropes for its genre.
Your book is fine, but its niche is too small, and you have too few reviews.
Your book could sell well, but it can take an immense amount of experimentation to make the marketing stars align. In this case, the guru didn’t necessarily fail. You didn’t do the thing, or didn’t do it enough, or didn’t listen in class.
You don’t have the budget to move that needle.
Your chosen genre is cold, or just not hot enough to move the needle to justify the ad cost.
What worked for ads in the past isn’t working now.
Some successes don’t look so good on further examination. An outlier may proudly proclaim the gross, but never hint what the appearance of success cost them. Folks with huge ad spends can look great on social media, but a spreadsheet would tell the true tale: The ad spend was so heavy, their net is far, far less than their gross.
Your book marketing guru is full of shit and uses the tactics noted above to build his Empire of Shit.

Solutions?

Honestly assess your book’s marketability (or consult other authors with experience about its marketability).
Save up for that ad budget.
Focus on one ad platform at a time.
Invest the time to learn from free resources (YouTube, TikTok, or near-free from books). That’ll save some cash and allow you to better judge the offerings from potential gurus in the future. (Not all book marketers are bad.)
Be social with other authors and get recommendations for further guidance from trusted sources.
Stalk your guru to see if his values align with yours. If he sounds like a dick, don’t sign up!
Listen carefully to their answers for obfuscation. I asked a guru a test question. His answer was, “That’s a good question! (Condescending tone) That’s where you have to get creative. Next question…” Um…what? Thanks for the non-answer, douche canoe.*
Check to see if your guru sells a lot of his or her own books.
Be skeptical. If it sounds too good to be true, punch ’em in the spleen. Y’know…metaphorically.

*That’s douchebag in Canadian.

Filed under: book marketing, publishing, books, Marketing, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, selling books, writer, writing

03/03/2024 • 5:16 PM 5

What To Do When Your Dad Dies

My dad died this week. Naturally, my thoughts have turned to longevity and morbidity. Due to the sedentary and solitary nature of writing, as a group, writers can be especially vulnerable to the wages of Time. I have some thoughts about getting healthier, happier, and staying that way. This is a smorgasbord. Take what you tastes right for you.

Get up from your desk at least once an hour, preferably twice. Move more. Walk more, even if you, like me, would prefer nature to be paved. Despite all the gross bugs, the tree huggers and grass touchers are on to something.
Wear sunscreen, even if it’s cloudy. If traveling by plane, follow the example of your flight attendants and wear more sunscreen. Radiation is higher up there.
Cook at home more. The dirty dishes are worth the trouble. I’ve recently become obsessed with the Mediterranean diet. It’s not just about calorie deficits, looking good, or losing weight. It’s good for your brain, too. Consider the MIND diet and the Dash diets. Healthy food doesn’t have to taste like shit.
For your muscles and your bones, lift weights.
Work on your balance. Falls kill.
Strengthen your core because that helps immensely with #5.
Work on your VO2 Max because breathing is good. Google kettlebell ladders and VO2 Max and you’ll get the details.
Eat fewer processed foods and cut down on sugar. In the past, we focused too much on low-fat, high carb diets. That didn’t work. Managing insulin and glucose blood levels is key.
Get regular medical checkups. Be your most charming with your doctors so they put the care in healthcare.
Join a community or build one. Could be a book club. Could be all about collecting something or other. Doesn’t matter as long as you interact with others. We are social animals. (This one is the most difficult for me, especially since the pandemic.)
Ask for help. Allow others to help you instead of being embarrassed. You’re frustrating your helpers.
Offer help. It feels good.
Take the risk of loving someone and being loved. I have often turned away from love because it meant trusting another person. That gives them power, sure, but it’s worth the risk.
Don’t live so damn small! Live bigger in any way you can. Take that hike in the woods. Enjoy that nap. Feel the dawn’s sunlight on your face. Take in the view. Kiss. Do cool shit. Make fun memories.
Stay in the moment, and savor the good ones. I’d tell you to forgive and forget, too, but I don’t know how to do that.
Hope, even when it’s stupid.
Be kinder to yourself, especially in the ways you talk to yourself.
Don’t waste your time and breath on those determined to be shitty to you. It’s not your job to fix anybody else. That’s their responsibility.
Have somewhere to be that’s good and safe. Humans need nests, too.
Unclutter your life and space. Free yourself of the things that own you.
Value experiences over stuff you have to dust.
Keep learning cool things. Don’t focus on things you’re not good at. Bad at math? Who cares? You would have been a miserable accountant or astrophysicist, anyway.
Don’t be too attached to your ideas. That should keep you out of cults.
Consider advice, but your experience is your own. Heeding advice is up to you.
You will need more than second chances. That is expected. It’s okay. We all need more chances.
Hate those who deserve it, but don’t make hating someone your entire personality.
If you’re going to be mean, be funny. It’s more effective.
Laugh more. It’s going to help you get through a lot, even the worst things.
Stop trying so fucking hard to be perfect. Settle for attempting excellence.
Take breaks. Keeping your accelerator to the floor all the time makes your engine explode.
Indulge your curiosity. Dare to have conversations with interesting people.
Take deep abdominal breaths to remind your nervous system you are (probably) not running from a bear. You’re just sitting at a red light freaking out.
Leave earlier and you won’t have road rage. Stop rushing to the scene of your next accident.
You’re worried about the wrong things, so you may as well stop that shit now, right?
Take the prescribed medication. Stop trying to heal your crippling anxiety with kale and vibes alone.
There are things you are going to have to accept. Accept that. May as well.
Cry as necessary. It’s a pressure release valve. No shame in that, and releasing that pressure might save your life (or your enemy’s life).
Complain less to the public.
Have at least one confidant to whom you can complain as much as you need.
Time is much more important than money.
Givers and people pleasers beware: Don’t set yourself on fire so some asshole can feel warm.
Stop apologizing for existing. You’re alive, so take up space.
Choose the lesser of two evils. It’s literally the moral imperative.
Protect your peace.
Don’t shame yourself for treating yourself. What’s being alive for if you can’t enjoy it?
Be open to the possibility of fun. (I have a hard time with this, but I know it’s a good idea.)
Dance.
Listen for nuance.
Watch videos of babies laughing. It will lift your spirits and help you remember what you were like before you worried about paying taxes.
Sex. (This should have been much higher in this list.)

TLDR: I titled this “What To Do When Your Dad Dies” but obviously no one should wait for such a nasty wake-up call. Live as if your actions and inactions have consequences. You matter, goddamn it!

BONUS:

Purpose. Have one.

My father wrote a book. It gave him focus. When he was done, his days devolved. I won’t say aimlessness killed him. Cancer of the everything did that. However, I think being without purpose contributed to his spiral of depression.

Even then, jokes helped. (See #28.) He became hard to understand on the phone, but shortly before they took him out behind the barn, with sudden articulation, he told me emphatically, “I want to die!”

I calmly replied, “Shall I dispatch my assassins?”

That was the last time I made my father laugh.

~ My author website is AllThatChazz.com. I’d appreciate it if you bought my books, and you’d get a lot out of it, too.

Set in NYC at the end of the world, Endemic is a compelling story about how we change and how we don’t. This novel won the Literary Titan Award, first place in science fiction at the Hollywood and New York Book Festivals, and first place in genre from the prestigious North Street Book Prize. You’re going to love Ovid Fairweather as she rises from a lowly book nerd to become a queen in the apocalypse.

Filed under: Do Cool Shit, getting it done, robert chazz chute, Blog, coping, death, grieving, life, Love, mental health, Robert Chazz Chute, writing

11/29/2023 • 6:33 PM 1

What I Learned from The Practice

While recovering from hip surgery, I have had the opportunity to unearth a gem I missed when it aired: The Practice. David E. Kelley’s work for television is genius.

Steve Bochco dominated TV in the ’80s, but I had no idea how prolific Kelley was. Until recently, the only TV writer who sprang to my mind was Aaron Sorkin. However, Kelley has been steadily writing and producing for a very long time.

Consider David E. Kelley’s TV history:

Ally McBeal, The Practice, Boston Legal (my favorite), The Lincoln Lawyer, Big Little Lies, Picket Fences, Boston Public, Goliath, Chicago Hope, Mr. Mercedes, among many others. All these, plus multiple film credits? The man is a powerhouse of productivity. And he’s married to Michelle Pfieffer. Winner.

I’d seen James Spader in plenty of movies, but his performance in The Practice and Boston Legal made me a fan. He is uniquely talented, capable of delivering deep monologues with utter eloquence and passion. His character is a self-destructive good guy who often acts like a bad guy.

From Boston Legal: What kind of lawyer are you, anyway?”

“The damaged, but fun kind.”

I was never a fan of Ally McBeal, but I appreciated the bold tangents into surreality. Watching the evolution of The Practice has been edifying to me as a writer. Bobby Donnel, played by Dylan McDermott, too often hit one-note. The hub of the show’s wheel, his character lacked depth. That was, I’m sure, by design. I didn’t care for that tac, but the stories carried me through. The ensemble cast usually compensated for the bang of Bobby Donnel’s triangle with a symphony of compassion, pain, and earnestly trying to do the right thing in a broken judicial system. Actor Steve Harris was especially compelling and convincing as a criminal attorney. I don’t know why we haven’t seen more of him on TV and in films.

Bingeing The Practice all at once, I found the show’s too-frequent forays into “why do we get murderers off?” a bit tiring. Watching week to week, few viewers probably noticed. There were missteps. Besides Bobby Donnel trying to death stare judges into submission, I found the writers relied on the same reactions too often. The tics of “What?” and “Excuse me?” were particularly frequent. There was also a lot of unnecessary yelling over each other. Are these lawyers or stevedores on meth? I kind of wish I was the guy in charge of making the courtroom extras mumble and rabble-rabble in shock as each verdict was announced. Or did they just record it once and leave it to sound editing?

By the time we get to the spin-off of Boston Legal, most of the kinks are ironed out, and the writing rises to its zenith. The interplay between Spader and William Shatner was charming. Even when the characters were creeps, usually a human layer underneath shone through beaming good intentions. Alan Shore’s closing arguments were unfailing erudite. That’s what really sold me.

Takeaways for Writers

Craft develops over time. Be patient.

Watch out for your writing tics.

You will likely be remembered for one work more than others, but some writers build worlds and empires from their collected creations. It’s a great ambition.

Do the work as consistently as you can.

Research, not to beat the reader over the head with facts, but to create verisimilitude.

Vary your tone. If two characters sound too much alike, you probably don’t need both.

Jokes have a place, even in serious scenes. I preferred the dramedy of Boston Legal to the relentlessness of The Practice. Perhaps that’s why I missed The Practice the first time.

Recovering from hip surgery has been made a little easier with David E. Kelley supplying the entertainment.

For more on this, head over to my author site, AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: writing, writing tips, Boston Legal, David E. Kelley, James Spader, Robert Chazz Chute, The Practice, TV writing, writing, writing dramedy, writing tics

11/09/2023 • 12:09 PM 2

For Your Writing Journey

Writing, when it’s going well, is a lot of fun. It can even have psychological benefits for the creator. Seeking out readers and getting found is often difficult, though. Our profession faces new challenges with emerging technologies. Marketing books can be an expensive exercise compounded by futility.

So, let’s have some good news.

My friend, author Andrew Butters, has a blog called Potato Chip Math. I recommend it. Andrew is a dynamo who combines energy, ideas, and resolve.

In this post, Andrew has figured out his measure of success. Perhaps most important to you as a writer in need of information and inspiration, he goes into the steps he took to get where he is now. See more details of his journey as a writer in Connections.

Or, how about this post about getting dropped by his publisher and why that happenstance was no great misfortune? Too many fledgeling writers assume a publishing contract is the answer. It might be their answer, but beyond the terms of the contract there are plenty of variables to consider.

I expect to be more active and will publish my new novel early in the new year. I am currently recovering from receiving my second bionic implant, so go hang out with Andrew and enjoy his archives.

~ I am Robert Chazz Chute. From my blanket fort in Other London, I write apocalyptic epics with heart and killer crime thrillers with muscle. You’ll find all my books on my author site, AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: publishing, Andrew Butters, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, writing, writing life

10/15/2023 • 1:22 PM 3

Sites for Readers and Writers

Have you ever considered reading an unfamiliar author, but you’re not sure where to start? You may wonder about the order of their series or which books stand alone, for instance. Thanks to TikTok, I found a website that helps with that. Go to the site, look up an author, and bam! Questions answered.

The site is fantasticfiction.com. There is no fee. Though I had only heard of it recently, my books were already listed, no uploading necessary. Each author page also shows the names of other writers whom readers have followed. It’s interesting to see all the pub dates listed in one place, rather than having to look things up individually. After you publish enough books, those details get blurry, so it was a fun bit of nostalgia to have a look at my backlist.

Another Destination for Readers to Find Books

Another spot for authors to let readers know they exist is relatively new. I found out about MyIndieBookshelf.com on TikTok, as well. Here’s what an author page looks like. This listing is also free. Authors don’t sell from the site. The link takes you to your usual sales platforms. Inputting your author information takes a few minutes, but you only have to upload that bit once.

The Cheapest Place to Find Audiobooks (besides your library)

I’ve become a big fan of Chirp. Audiobooks can be very expensive, but beyond the regular prices, you’ll find lots of deals on Chirp. You won’t have the plethora choices offered by Amazon, but you’ll surely find something to your liking.

Enjoy!

~ I am Robert Chazz Chute. I write apocalyptic epics with heart and killer crime thrillers with muscle. Find all my fiction on my author site, AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: publishing

06/05/2023 • 10:24 AM 2

Call it a Comeback

I am currently on two painkillers, an anti-inflammatory, and a plethora of other herbs and potions to keep me mobile. Insomnia and pain have plagued me. The hip replacement surgery was a success, but now the opposite hip is worse. Another surgery is coming, but in the meantime, here’s what I’ve learned about keeping up the habit of writing.

1. At first? Don’t. Pain can be so distracting that writing is too much of a chore. It’s good to know when to rest. Resting doesn’t mean you’re giving up. You may feel useless for a while. I sure have felt like I’m done and it’s all over, but I’m working my way past that.

2. Pain management requires time and patience. I am not patient, but I know the process. Ask for help. Follow instructions. Ignore the rise-and-grind culture that insists you’re lazy if you don’t push, push, push. That doesn’t apply to you right now (and probably better if it never applies). You are a healing person, not a broken machine.

3. My writing career has taken a hit, but fighters take hits all the time and keep going. Harness the power of positive expectation. Things will get better and/or more manageable.

4. Have a support network. Visits from my son just to watch TV together have cheered me immensely. A phone call, texts, or an email from a friend provide me occasions to rise to. I will complain, but I’ll do so in an entertaining fashion. As per Patton Oswalt: Horror plus time equals comedy.

5. Find distractions and joy where you can, when you can. I’ve been watching The Man from Atlantis, and my God, the bar was way too low for TV writers in the ’70s! The scripts are awful, but Patrick Duffy is blameless, the score is stirring, and the credits are solid. (That’s right. The show is so bad that I have to find worth in the font and color of the credits).

6. Once you’re through the first part of your recovery, explore whatever will prod you back to the keyboard. For me, it’s treating myself to a coffee in the morning. One rule: Can’t have that coffee without working at the keyboard. When I follow that rule, I get writing done.

7. If you can do #6, you’re ready to set a writing schedule again.

8. BIG BUT: It’s a schedule, not a shackle. Maybe you slept poorly, or you’re going through an inflammatory phase. Whatever the variable, be gentle with yourself now. You’re still recovering, so if the pain comes and you can’t concentrate, return to points #1 and #2.

9. Engage with the world beyond disease. Initially, recovery and its troubles were all I could think about. The other day I was writing, and I realized later that I hadn’t thought about my health for almost an hour straight. Last week, the longest I could go was probably twenty minutes. Osteoarthritis is not my entire personality anymore. I can talk about other things. Pain and worry aren’t taking up all my cerebral real estate.

10. Writing is one way I engage with the world. Despite the pain, I’m at Stage 9 today. I went for a limp (not a walk) in the sunshine this morning. I took my meds and bribed myself to get back to my writing desk. My favorite coffee is steaming beside me, and I’m about to disappear into my work in progress.

Good luck with your process, too, whether you’re wrestling with your WIP, your hip, or whatever other ills the flesh is heir to.

~ Rob’s writing again. His current WIP is a tale of vengeance that turns into a lifelong campaign. Read his many books from the links on his author site, AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: publishing, writing, writing advice, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, writing

05/22/2023 • 10:11 AM 4

Hang Out With Me

I’m on a podcast! This is an instructive listen, but it was also a lot of plain old fun. Sadly, they cut out a bunch of jokes wherein I threatened the hosts. Tell somebody you wish their mother such great health that she outlives her children, and suddenly, I’m the bad guy! Come to think of it, I’m not sure Joe understood I was just joshin’. Alas.

Re-creative has an interesting premise. The hosts speak to artists of all sorts and discuss their influences. Of course, we have so many influences. I’ve got Stephen King for plotting and tone, Blake Crouch for pacing, and my ninth and tenth-grade English teachers who underestimated my dazzling powers. Darn their souls to heck and I hope their socks and shoes never fit quite right! Yes, spite counts as an influence, too.

My go-to guy for writing wisdom is William Goldman. I learned more about writing from Bill Goldman than I ever gleaned from a writing class. Allow me to explain here:

Episode 8: The Color of Light

What are your artistic influences?

~ For more Robert Chazz Chute, check out my author site, AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: writing, writing advice, writing tips, artistic influences, Re-Creative Podcast, Robert Chazz Chute, The Color of Light, William Goldman, writing community

04/23/2023 • 7:17 PM 5

Waiting for Dawn on the Comeback Trail

The first twenty minutes of coming back from the dead are the worst. After forty-four staples on a ten-inch wound, I’m working on my comeback.

Minor detail: I wasn’t coming back from the dead. I was returning to consciousness after major surgery. I thought I was dying, though. The last thing I remember was a surgical team member lowering a mask over my face and telling me to breathe deeply. I disappeared into nothingness, but in an instant, I was swimming back, wide awake and drowning. The pain was searing, and I was unprepared for the burn. I found out later the surgery had been difficult, but successful.

Pain. Four letters, one syllable. It’s really not a big enough word.

I’d been in the void for just over two hours, and that retreat was okay. Death doesn’t scare me. It’s the dying part that kills you. Why me? I thought. This should be happening to my many, many enemies.

“The morphine will kick in soon, but I can’t give you too much at once, or you’ll stop breathing. My job is to keep you breathing.” That was Laura, my post-op nurse and shepherd back to the land of the living. As the pain subsided, my sense of humor returned. Laura was great. I was going to be great. It was going to work out. But it’s been harder than I’d hoped.

I anticipated most post-op issues. My main problem is sleep. I can’t get enough of it, and I must sleep on my back for six weeks. The sedatives help a bit. At least I’m not watching reruns of Kung Fu at 3 a.m. anymore. I’m bingeing Justified and Fresh Off the Boat, but that’s a daytime distraction while I perform my remedial exercises. I’m off the narcotics, but I must admit arthritis really fucked me up. I’m feeling old and useless. You don’t fight a disease like this. That’s the wrong metaphor. Instead, I’m hobbling away from it. Using a walker and a cane, I’m putting distance from Decrepit Me. I’m nostalgic for the days when I could kick opponents in the jaw, but eventually I’ll walk normally. Surgery makes a pretty X-ray. Activity makes it a moving picture. I’m looking forward to returning to boxing.

Rehab is a full-time job.

My surgeon performed the vivisection and engineering expertly. I am a cyborg, renewed by titanium, cobalt, and polyethylene. My physiotherapist is endlessly encouraging. She sees a stationary bike in my near future. Though my progress is incremental, I’m retraining my body and improving daily. We set up a recovery room with assistive devices at home. My wife, She Who Must Be Obeyed, is a doctor. However, through this ordeal, she’s been doing double duty as my nurse. She’s also proved herself a saint.

That first twenty minutes haunts me, though.

I dwell on my mortality too much. My sense of time is still messed up. I’m morbid and more emotional than usual. I didn’t have claustrophobia before. Getting tangled in the sheets triggers me now. A week after surgery, I felt panic mount as it took me too long to find the neck hole in a hoodie. Even as I dismissed the problem as ridiculous, my lizard brain was fired up and ready to flail. Sometimes it feels like there isn’t enough oxygen in the room.

There are many milestones on the Comeback Trail, and I am not a patient patient. Anxiety and depression are common after major surgery, and I had those issues even before I went under the buzz saw. Last week I wrote my first work email, details on a book doctoring job. Typing up a few paragraphs of instructions wiped me out for the day.

I hope to get back to writing my next novel soon, but I had my first shower since the surgery only yesterday. I still want to record my audiobooks, but that’s a little further down the Comeback Trail just now. I must stop for the night. Darkness comes for us all, and I am waiting for the dawn. My surgery date was March 31. This post is the most I’ve written since March 30.

~ I am the cyborg writer of award-winning science fiction and killer crime thrillers. Find all books by Robert Chazz Chute on my author site, AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: publishing, writing, arthritis, books, hip replacement, hip replacement surgery, osteoarthritis, publishing, recovery from hip replacement, Robert Chazz Chute, writer, writing

02/28/2023 • 1:57 PM 0

The Communion of Shadows by Gordon Bonnet

**My friend Gordon Bonnet’s The Communion of Shadows is available now!**

Ghosts of the bayou don’t suffer fools…

It’s August of 1850, deep in the bayou country of southern Louisiana. Four good friends are working in the fields harvesting the crops when a sudden thunderstorm drives them all indoors. There’s kind, warm-hearted J. P. Ayo; eager, earnest young T-Joe Lirette; wry, hard-bitten Clovis Dantin; and gentle, easy-going Leandre Naquin.

“Hell of a night,” Leandre remarks, as they share a drink and wait for the storm to pass. “The kind of night when the ghosts walk.”

This seemingly offhand comment is the impetus to the four men sharing their own ghost story. The tale each man tells–by turns tragic, funny, frightening, and heartbreaking–gives them a window into their friends’ souls. When one of them confesses that his own personal ghost story isn’t over, that he’s still trapped in the middle of it, the events that follow will test the depth of their loyalty and friendship in ways that none of them could ever have dreamed.

What is certain is that after that night, none of the four will ever be the same.

If you enjoy ghostly tales, this link is for you. Alongside his work are plenty more eerie choices to add to your e-reader.

https://books.bookfunnel.com/ghoststories/syeb5yw28m

(Book funnel is a very useful tool to get your books into the hands of readers, complete with buy links to multiple stores and a sample of the text.)