Stories from Dead Scribes

Greetings! It’s been a minute, as the kids like to say, since my last update. In terms of writing new stories, I don’t foresee myself going back to the drawing board anytime in the future. I no longer feel the need or desire to write fiction. After twenty years of going at it with sadly very little in return in terms of book sales and a lack of interest/failure to reach a decent readership, I think it’s high time to call it a day. I haven’t written a new story in a year and have stopped trying and lost all taste for it about seven months ago. Since then, I’ve felt a creative void within me that needs to be fulfilled.

I’ve long wanted to do readings of either my stories or of authors who’ve inspired me. I’ve always procrastinated because I never felt like learning and acquiring the software to edit audio and look into how to assemble a finished, professional sound file that would be worthy of being called an audiobook or even be sold on Audible. And, you know what, I’ve decided that it would take all the fun away from doing a reading for me. That’s one of the things that I never looked forward to after being done writing a book or story: formatting the manuscript into a finished print book or ebook, then finding a way to reach the readers through ads, promotion, social media, and all that. I want to have fun with this and I want it to be something creative devoid of all the hassles that could turn this into a chore. So, I’ll be doing something I love to do: live readings, warts and all, of stories from my favourite dead writers. Not to toot my own horn, but I’m pretty good at reading through a 40-minute tale in one sitting without screwing up more than once or twice. All it takes is a little practice beforehand for the different accents and distinct voices required for a story. My goal is to read a cool tale as if an audience were gathered around a campfire hanging on my every word.

I’ll be calling this Stories from Dead Scribes and it’ll feature mostly stories in the public domain from the late 1800s to the 1980s. You’ll be able to listen to them on my YouTube channel. I plan on doing a reading on average every three weeks. Here are some of the writers whose stories I’ll be diving into: Robert E. Howard, Ian Fleming, M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft, Frank Herbert, H.G. Wells, Bram Stoker, Robert Bloch, Philip K. Dick, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Robert Louis Stevenson, Agatha Christie, and Daphne Du Maurier among many others. The genres will range from horror to sci-fi to thrillers and more. You’ll be able to find each new reading in the Stories from Dead Scribes playlist I’ve just created. I’ve recorded this little announcement to launch the series and it’s labelled “Episode 0”. You can check it out and save the playlist for future episodes right here.

And that’s it for me today! I look forward to doing my first reading very soon. It’ll be Robert E. Howard’s first Dark Agnes de Chastillon tale, “Sword Woman”. So, if you’re into Sword & Sorcery and haven’t heard of this lesser known creation of his, you’re in for a treat. This is a new era for me and I hope you’ll come along for the ride. Until next time, stay safe and keep reading!