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Amanda M. Blake

~ Of fairy tales and tentacles

Amanda M. Blake

Tag Archives: horror novel

A new window, a new view: Friday Update

28 Friday Aug 2026

Posted by amandamblake in A Few Thoughts, Writing, Novels, Short Stories, Essays/Creative Non-Fiction

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Tags

crystal lake shallow waters flash fiction, essay, horror novel, pick a card, poem, short story, we follow you in the dark, Writing

Photo by Huu1ef3nh u0110u1ea1t on Pexels.com

News:

“Pick a Card” was posted at Crystal Lake’s Patreon for the Shallow Waters theme Mad Magic. (For $5/month tiers and up)

Works in Progress:

I’m pet- and house-sitting for a while, so we’ll see how the new environment affects my productivity. The company, of course, is adorable.

I finished my essay on The Others and The Awakening, 4770 words total, which means three essays done and dusted. I have a few more I want to do this year, but with the new venue, I want to work on something that doesn’t have required viewing, so I’m going to at least start on my rewrite of We Follow You in the Dark to make it more sellable. I’m not sure how this is going to go, especially since the original was good, but I think it’s worth a try while I’m waiting for edits to come in.

It reminds me of Nocturne, in that what will change is almost solely on the character side. There will be whole swaths of the novel that stays the same, which will hopefully help me get through this in less than a month. I’d love to finish it during the house-sitting, but I’m terrible at gauging how long things will take and I’d rather not get my hopes up that I’ll finish it up that quickly, even with extra days off work. As I’ve resolved to continue, I plan to be gentle with myself rather than push toward word goals or a conclusion. I won’t return to word goals until I start The Twelfth Wife later this year, and they’ll be less demanding than in the past.

Books I’m Reading:

The Jackal Man by Russell C. Connor
Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

Things I’m Listening To:

Fourth of July playlist
Let’s Hear It for the Girls playlist
Eurielle

Things I’m Watching:

Buddy
The Closer series
America’s Got Talent series
Hawaii Five-O series
The Rookie series
The Following series
Private Practice series
All Creatures Great and Small series (finished)

Poem of the Week:

from shadows,
light strikes angles, curves,
gleaming mouths, slavering ivory.
freeze like rabbit in the way of a hare,
little nose quivering against ordure
and offal dragging along the floor.
it shuffles, searching blind through
your shuddering beam,
then beyond.
brief relief.

Goblin fruit: Friday Update

23 Friday Feb 2024

Posted by amandamblake in A Few Thoughts, Poetry, Short Stories, Writing

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Tags

books of horror, crystal lake entertainment, goodreads, group read, horror aficionados, horror novel, indie book brawl, interview, out of curiosity and hunger, question not my salt, rankings

Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Pexels.com

News:

My interview with Crystal Lake Entertainment host A.F. Stewart is up on YouTube, where I talk about my inspiration for Question Not My Salt.

Question Not My Salt is also a March 2024 group read at the Goodreads discussion board Horror Aficionados. The Group Read thread hasn’t been created yet, but if you want to read along next month, feel free to join us!

I’m not too attached to rankings, but it’s been interesting watching QNMS’s since its release. It’s consistently higher than I’m used to my books being (in the hundreds rather than the hundred thousands), which means I’m getting modest but steady purchases. Out of Curiosity and Hunger ain’t doing too badly either (for me), since I’m a contender for the Indie Book Brawl at Books of Horror at Facebook, and people are starting to find it.

Works in Progress:

I’ve started applying for jobs and have no idea what my future holds or when, but as far as I’m concerned, my writing sabbatical is over, and that means allowing myself a little mental rest. This also means a certain amount of disorganized chaos. I intend to start editing in March, but there’s still a week till then.

I wrote a short story for a themed contest, and I have one more short story I’d like to write for a themed call. On a whim, I created a poetry chapbook that I’m not sure whether I’m sending in or saving for later, and I’m stitching it together today. Contemplating whether I have enough available short stories for a themed short collection. Having an existential crisis. Sad that our False Spring seems to have been the start of Actual Spring (although we’ve been known to have odd cold snaps in March-May). You know, the usual.

Books I’m Reading:

IT by Stephen King
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Ending in Ashes by Rebecca Jones-Howe

Things I’m Listening To:

Lily Kershaw
Delain
Abyss/Ascent playlist
YouTube playlists

Things I’m Watching:

Hostel: Part II
Hostel: Part III
Mandy

Frozen (horror)
Devil’s Pass
Bite

Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (watchalong)
Angel series (watchalong)
CSI series
The Mentalist series
The Irrational series (finished)
Helix series (finished)
Queer Eye series
Abbott Elementary series
All Creatures Great and Small series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

for four hundred years
i abstain
chalice dry
length of long tongue
desiccated

so that when some
young thing
bleeds
for me

i am compelled to
devour

Katie Cruel: Friday Update

01 Friday Sep 2023

Posted by amandamblake in A Few Thoughts, Novels, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bad romance, editing, horror novel, lyrics, marriage is hell, poem, we follow you in the dark, Writing

Photo by Selim u00c7etin on Pexels.com

News:

No writing news this week, actually. We’re kind of between calls, and most of what’s coming out later this year has been announced.

Works in Progress:

It’s a new month, so August calls are done and September calls have begun. I just sent a small slate of pieces where appropriate, and there are a few more calls opening in the next few days I’ll send out, too.

Mostly, I’ve been working on We Follow You in the Dark. I finished the first round of edits and cut about 9K words from the story, so now it’s around 55K, which might be too short to try to sub to agents as a novel, like Question Not My Salt, but I guess we’ll see once I’m finished with second-round edits, which should be today or tomorrow. I was worried I’d have more to do on this second round because of how demanding the first round was, but nope, it’s still just polishing. I’m not complaining.

We Follow is resurrecting all kinds of nineties nostalgia for a shopping mall now dead and gone that meant a lot to me as a kid. It inspired some poetry in the editing process. In addition, my daily Quill & Crow Crow Calls have been inspiring some horror lyrics. They’ll probably get turned into poetry, but I like song structure.

After We Follow, I have a novel under my other name to edit. Then I have a few small-long projects I’m thinking about just buckling down and tackling through some intensive writing months. There’s not much short story writing on my docket except for flash contests, unless a call really inspires me, but we’re heading into spooky season, which tends to bring out more calls.

Books I’m Reading:

IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
Cruel Summer by Wesley Southard
The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss

Music I’m Listening To:

Ruelle
Tina Guo
Lindsey Sterling
Agnes Obel
Buffy the Vampire Slayer score
Neverworld’s End by Xandria
The Heart of Everything by Within Temptation
Mirrorball by Sarah McLachlan
Modern Alchemy by Zayde Wolf
Moulin Rouge albums
No Moment but Now by Wendy Colonna

Things I’m Watching:

America’s Got Talent series
Dr. Pimple Popper series
CSI series
CSI:Miami series
Murder, She Wrote series
White Collar series
The Great British Baking Show: The Professionals series (finished)
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt series
Locke & Key series

Poem of the Week:

these two hands
joined perfect union
tie the satin ribbon
white and pure
around their wrists
bind together
loyalty and love
tighter smooth
insidious dents
burst capillaries
knot again between
clasped fingers
dye the fabric
a deep red
tighter

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