Yes another book. This one will be free on eBooks, at least for a while, and of course some of you will have read some of the stories within this book. There will also be new ones that have never before been published. I'm really proud of a certain new one called Cold Encounter. Don't be confused by it's name.
Anyway I'm hoping to have it out by the end of next week so I hope you will all check it out when it's published. Also there might be a few other stories by some other great writers so this will be a grab bag of humor, horror, and a few tears.
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The young girl sat quietly playing with something so intently she didn’t hear the man coming up behind her. She cooed to the object that had her so completely lost in her endeavors.
“Now sit up straight baby, you’re making it hard for me to dress you.” She continued to fumble with the little outfit as she was attempting to manipulate the stiff little limbs of the baby doll she was trying to dress. The man watched the child silently and was in awe of the almost quiet calm she portrayed. She had been missing for hours. He didn’t understand how she could have possibly gotten this far back into the woods by herself but she did appear to be alone. People had been searching everywhere around the area trying to find her. At least this one is turning out OK he thought. “I swear you just won’t do anything you should to help. My mommy is always saying that children are more trouble than they are worth.” The little girl appeared to slap her doll and the man winced at the force of the blow she had delivered to the doll. It made him wonder what type of home life the child had and if her actions were any indication of what she suffered at home. If so then he thought he understood why she had come up missing. It would certainly explain her disappearance. She was trying to escape from an unhappy and possibly abusive home life. “There now, isn’t that much better? See how much easier it is when you behave like a good little girl and make things easier for me?” The little girl tried to set her doll up in front of her but couldn’t quite get the doll to bend her little legs. The man hadn’t yet gotten a good look at the doll because he had stopped a short way from the child. He hadn’t wanted to startle her and the child’s back was to him. Now he proceeded to approach the child and called her by name. “Macy.” The man gently spoke her name. The little girl didn’t even flinch when she heard her name being called from behind. “Yes?” Macy turned her head to face the man who had called to her. She looked at the man and when she saw he was a policeman she smiled at him. “Are you OK honey?” The officer had slowly closed the distance between him and the young girl. “Yes, I’m just playing with my new baby doll. Do you want to see her?” Macy reach to pick up the doll in front of her to show the officer. “Sure, I would love…” The officer didn’t finish his sentence as Macy brought the doll up for him to see. His mind tried hard to keep him from screaming as it tried to process what he was seeing. The man’s brain wanted to refuse what his eyes were telling him. He knew that he hadn’t found just one of the two missing children from the same neighborhood, he had found both. The tiny newborn’s head was twisted at an odd angle and the little half opened eyes would never completely open or close on their own again. “You want to play with us?” Macy said as she struggled to stand up and lift the dead weight of the lifeless newborn infant. The officer was having trouble remaining on his feet. He had never before in his life felt more alone and afraid as he did right then staring into the eyes of this five year old child. “Mommy says children are more trouble than they’re worth but I don’t think so, do you?” The little girl giggled as she threw the tiny little corpse into the air and let it fall. You can more of my stories under Short stories at the top of this page. As you all know there were three claims made against my video Blood Lines Family Ties Excerpt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boD4YTfV_Co
Evidently YouTube is claiming that everything is cleared but if that is the case then why do I still have the claim marker on my video. Two of the claims have not been removed. Now supposedly the other companies have thirty days to verify their claim, I’m dying to see that one happen, then I basically win. I’m not sure what happens at that point but if by the eighth of next month those claims don’t get removed on that day I’m not sure what I’m going to do but I know me and I won’t let it go. I will take whatever measures are necessary to get then removed. The fact that what the claims were made against was all my original work, text from the third book in the Blood Lines Series, is what has really burned my butt. Now a simple breakdown for how this happens is that a computer runs this stuff through a filter and it matches things up and if you copied someone else’s work then they tag you. Now I was informed that out of all the videos they have only about 9000 have ever matched up and when they found out that the one that has been cleared was a mistake I was told that had only happened three times. Funny, if that has only happened three times but they managed to make that mistake with three other different accounts then they are doubling their mistakes in my one little video. I must be special. Anyway I shall keep you informed of the YouTube Saga and the overall outcome. My daughter came up with this idea and I had to run with it. The thing is the minute that Emma and Grayson heard about it they jumped all over it. They have been driving me ever since.
The idea of setting them up on facebook with their own pages became the big thing for today. So there you have it they now have a voice to talk to their fans, assuming they have any. "Hey don't do that." Sorry but Grayson got a little put out with the Assuming thing and let it be known. I guess he is going to start breaking things at my house now. Anyway you can now keep up with them on their own facebook pages. So if you feel like you would like to find out more about Emma and Grayson you can look them up on facebook. Emma https://www.facebook.com/emmacathrynrodgers/ Grayson https://www.facebook.com/Grayson-Rodgers-The-Blood-Line-Series-843803239101763/ If anyone ever tells you writing is easy they’re lying to you. It isn’t easy to write. As a matter of fact it is probably one of the hardest things you can ever do. Oh if it was just a matter of sitting down and putting words to paper, yes anyone can do that. It is when you decide to be a serious writer that things start to get hard. I’m not talking about mildly irritating, I’m talking mind numbingly, painfully, unbelievably, heartbreakingly hard.
You work to get your story together, and that alone isn’t easy whether it’s a short story or a novel although with a novel depending on the size the longer it gets the harder it gets, you have to start on all the other things involved. You’ll sit and read, reread, then read it again. Once you are somewhat happy with it you’ll pass it on to someone to proof. After that you go for the editing. Now if you trust your proofer and editor you will go from there to formatting if you’re an indie writer. Piece of advice here, don’t trust anyone. Remember this is your baby and you want to make sure that everyone has done right by it. Also remember no one is perfect any more than you are so read your work again after you get it back from all the people it has had to pass through to get back to you. Once you have that little darling back into your own two little hands and you have read it yet again and if everything is all right if you’re an indie writer you are ready for the formatting part. If you’re good at this then you’re looking at about 3 to 4 hours of mind blowing work. If you’re not good then make sure your fridge and pantry are well stocked before you jump in because it could take a few days. Sorry. Of course here you can take the easy way out and hand it over to yet another person to format and you don’t have to worry about that part but you’ll have to pay for it. OK you now have it formatted what do you do? You sit with your finger over the upload button trying to get up enough courage to hit that rectangular little box on your screen asking yourself if you’re ready for this. Anyone that hasn’t done that is one or all of the following. They are really confident, unbelievably naive, an established well know author, or they are just plain damn crazy. As for me I’m a nervous wreck through the whole process especially when it was the first book. Of course somewhere in between writing the darn thing you will hand it over to a few people to read so you can get a take on it. This isn’t a bad thing but remember not everyone is going to like what you wrote and if they are honest they are going to tell you so. For those who offer well-meaning criticism remember this. Everything is suggestive. What one person tells you may not and probably will not be the same thing you hear from another. I may love what I read and will tell you so but someone else might not or might find flaws in your work. When that happens remind yourself that you have to take it all and weigh it with how you feel about your work. Are you happy with it? Do you feel it isn’t right? You are the one who is important. This is your work. Above all, and I hate using this expression, be true to yourself. Ultimately it is your work and you have to be happy with it. Don’t feel pressured by anyone to do anything you don’t want or are not ready for. You have poured your blood, sweat, and tears into this book and in a way it is your world and you rule it. When I said tears…I meant it. Remember it is your book and in this you are the lord and master and you are in control. Hopefully. One of the companies did back away from the dispute over the copyrights but two others haven't responded to the challenge I made against their claims so there are still to copyright claim warning on my video.
When I responded to the guy who sent me the email about "Oh we're sorry but we were wrong" I got a bunch of crap back. He didn't understand why I was upset. As he put it "I said we made a mistake." Yes with one of the companies but there are still two others hanging over this video and I want to know what you are going to do about it. He has since ignored me. Oh my. Now he is evidently upset. So sorry. Wait let me think about that one a moment. Hum mm. No I'm not. Fix the crap now. Also I still haven't been allowed to see what it is that my video stepped on. One sided situation if there ever was one. Look people, we independent writers don't have a lot of things going for us when we start and even after a period of years if we haven't made a big name for ourselves it's easy for big companies to come along and have a fit or something show up somewhere, right or wrong, and the one with the biggest bankroll is the one in the lead. Indie writers have a struggle on their hands no matter what. Most of the time we pinch pennies just to get a book cover or, if you're lucky enough, to get a book trailer up on someplace like YouTube. Everything cost money and as most of us know there is no such thing as a free ride. You add to this the people who are standing in line to try and take advantage of you things get real scary. I've had several so called companies come knocking at my internet door wanting to publish my books. They give you this song and dance about I can do this and we can do that and then before you know it we'll have you published with Amazon. WHAT? Listen you moronic ass I can publish myself on Amazon so take a leap off one of those brick and mortar publishing houses that you couldn't get past the receptionist desk at. I was extremely lucky starting out because I had a very wise mentor who helped me sidestep a lot of the pitfalls but this was one she didn't even see coming. So to D. K. Mason, a very talented writer and super wise woman, thank you for being there for me. I love you and I owe you big time. Anyway for those of you who would like to see the poor little video that started this please feel free. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boD4YTfV_Co I'm a little late on the announcement but the winner of the signed proof copy of Nightmare Express is Cherri Darnell. Congratulations Cherri and I hope you enjoy the book.
Anyone wanting to a chance at this special one of a kind book had to write a three sentences synopsis of three of the stories in Journey Into Nightmares. The following is her winning entry. I have to say I'm a little concerned about posting this because she managed to give a lot away in her three sentences. I laughed my bottom off when I read them. Oh well I found them to funny not to share. Ok here goes my top 3 picks, Paybacks Hell Woman's husband buys his ultimate dream Rv gets diagnosed with cancer, wife hates rv he loves it, thinks he will get better and travel with her. He ends up in hospital, wife poisons him to speed things up, and get his money, she plans to sell rv but surprise won't run for any prospective buyers. Strange things start to happen to her miss placed stuff, lights etc. goes in rv finds the stuff then hears husbands voice from front of rv see's ghost, has heart attack now she is stuck on rv forever with rotting ghost corpse of husband. The Longest Trip two sisters traveling to pick of third sister newly divorced, find themselves seeing a black semi truck every where the stop on the way, they are spooked. Sisters are talking about sisters ex making pass at them in the past, the two are also judging themselves one smokes things she will go to hell for it but is very kind and loving, the other lives a pretty empty buisness filled life and likes it. They die in accident, their souls are guided to a waiting black semi the one who smokes is helped into front of cab and jumps right in, second hestitates and thinks something is wrong, she is right she is taken to back of truck and learns she is going to hell for not telling sister she slept with the husband during the marriage. The Getaway The characters in the story live with ghosts and one ghost stows away on the bus when the girls are going to inner tube down the river, he is old fashioned and freaks when he sees there bathing suits they read him riot act and go tubing. Ghost decides to terrorize the other tubers and picnicers, girls come back give him lecture tell him to chill out. He decides to go tubing with them on river as everyone watches two girls going down river with a third empty tube bobing behind them. OK here's an update on what is happening. As I told you before I was sent a message that one of the three companies has released any claim from my work but two are still outstanding. I then get an message from someone at YouTube that i am able to respond to , which I have. Below is the message and my response to him.
Kevin Daigle 2 days ago · Shared privately Hello Ms. Matthews, Pursuant to the copyright claim you disputed, it was indeed in error. The system on YouTube that matches these videos for copyright infringement is completely automated, and it is very, very accurate. This is only the third time I've seen a match in error in over 9,000 copyright claims (that's how many people re-upload our content). We've released the claim against your video. It appears there was some scrolling text that looked very similar to scrolling text in one of our videos, and the system mistakenly identified it as the same text (it is not). We apologize for the inconvenience, but in the future, if this happens again, all you need to do is dispute the claim and it will automatically be reviewed and we'll take care of it. My response to him, Yes but I'm still showing two claims against my work. I want this resolved in as timely a manner as possible. Also that it was assumed that I was the one to violate the copyrights of someone else without any attempt from you to find out what was the actual situation is most unsettling. We weren't talking about some little piece of video here but an excerpt from one of my books. I can assure you there was no one writing that but me. I would still like to know why I wasn't given the same consideration as you gave the other parties. Shouldn't I have been allowed to view the videos in question the same as the other agents. I hope this will cause your company to reconsider their procedures in the future. Just because someone gets something uploaded on YouTube first doesn't mean they are the rightful owners of said material. Thank you for your response and am looking forward to seeing the other two claims removed against my property. That’s one of three that have laid claim to my work has backed away and the opening title is the just of what the email from YouTube said. Well thank you so very much for releasing any claim to MY work.
What these companies are or were claiming isn’t the video itself but the actual wording from y excerpt, another words they are claiming my book Blood Lines Family Ties in part is theirs. Oh hell no to all three. First I would like to address the fact that it was assumed that I was the one who copied from them. Why? Just because someone got it on video first and uploaded to your site doesn’t mean they weren’t the ones doing the copying especially when you are talking about the written word. Second you made a point of me not pursuing the challenge to this claim at every step of the process. Really? I’m supposed to just take this and move on when someone may have copied me if they have anything out there that sets off your bells and whistles? I don’t think so. Third you inform me that you will have to send them my video for them to review but I am not given the same consideration? Where’s their work so that I might review it? I damn sure don’t think that one is fair. The fourth point is you send me something like the title on this little piece of writing as if I have been handed a bone for good behavior from you and this other company when in fact when they backed off obviously shows someone had made a mistake regarding my writing and owes me an apology. Where is it by the way? The thing that should have set off your bells and whistles is that three separate companies laid claim to three separate portions of my work. Three? Think about that one for a minute. Three separate companies tagged my video on three separate portions of what amounted to about 16 very small paragraphs, it did include dialogue, and there was no overlapping. How did I manage that one? The biggest point here is that there is no way evidently to contact anyone from YouTube. I’m really getting tired of site that tell you to go to the forum and get answers from people who use your site but have no connection other than that to your business. Why? It’s about time you put someone on a phone and computer to be available to your customers and that’s what we are. So YouTube I’m waiting for an apology from everyone concerned and am thinking about seeing an attorney on this matter. I wonder if I do a video with basically what I said here and post it on YouTube what kind of a response might I get then? Of course the title would be different. It would read more like; ‘Hey YouTube, What’s This About Copyright Infringements?’ I wonder if that would get me kicked off or would a live person from your company try to contact me. The Excerpt In Question; Emma reached for the door handle and had every intention of jumping out of the truck hoping that it would bring this nightmare to an end. She was quickly stopped when Taylor reached across and grabbed her arm and jerked her hard toward him. “I don’t think you really want to do that Emma. Do you really want to leave Taylor at my mercy? All I have to do is run this thing into something and drop him back inside his body just before this body dies. I want to thank all of you for teaching an old dog a lot of new tricks.” “Allen?” Emma barely whispered the name. “Yes ma’am.” Taylor said as he turned to face Emma. It may have Taylor's face but the eyes were no longer his. Where Taylor's beautiful kind eyes should have been there was nothing but blackness broken by the blazing infernos emanating from where the pupils should have been. “No.” Emma tried to look away but couldn’t. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and roll down her face as she stared into the eyes of a monster. “Do I scare you less with this face or would you prefer that I arrange it for you to see mine as you did earlier. Maybe even the face that so many people have seen just before I rip their insides out, the face you finally saw today.” Allen looked at her for only a moment but the fire in his eyes, in Taylor’s eyes, couldn’t be denied. “Allen please let me go!” Emma tried to pull away from the hand that held her so close to him. Emma tried to block out everything in her head. “Don’t worry I have no intention of invading your mind as you put it. I’ve had enough of knowing what you think of me. Of seeing what is in that head. The look on your face earlier spoke volumes.” Allen continued to hold tight to her. “Why?” “Why? Because of you Emma. I didn’t come looking for you, you came to me. If you had just continued walking out to me that day you wouldn’t be here and the connection between us would have ended. I wouldn’t have found out the things I have. Instead Taylor was there to rescue you and because of that the connection stayed in place and got stronger with each day. I’ve had you in my head ever since. I thought a little turnabout was far play, don’t you agree?” “So it’s been about killing me all along.” Emma now began to understand the terror he had been putting her through. Allen let out a harsh almost demonic laugh. “Is that what you think my dear? Didn’t your boyfriend tell you what was happening? No Emma, it hasn’t been about killing you in days. It’s been about you waking in me things that had died. Making me remember who I once was and what I had. You my smart little girl, figured that out already. You got the images of Nadine and her burnt corpse. You saw my children with the flesh burned from their bones. You saw what I did that helped start all this, you who have been screaming and crying and fretting over your mind being invaded all day. What the fuck do you think you did to me time and time and time again.” Allen again glanced at Emma and pulled on her arm. The fires that burned in his eyes were growing larger and brighter by every second. Emma tried to pull away from Allen and he jerked her hard nearly pulling her over the console between the seats smashing her ribs against the edge of it. “Emma don’t try that again. I’m having to pick through this bastard’s head to get how to make this machine go so the less distraction you cause me the better for you. So stop thinking that jumping out of this contraption might be a way to salvation because it’s not. I will only drop Taylor back in as this thing crashes and then I will finish what I have to do with everyone you care about. And Emma I can reach them with or without you now, again thanks to you and Taylor.” Allen tightened his grip on Emma’s arm until he heard her moan. That only served to make him laugh causing the embers in his eyes to burn even brighter resulting in a bright red glow that seemed to fill the interior of the truck. Emma tried not to make another sound as Allen continued to tighten his grip on her arm. She knew that at any moment it was in danger of breaking. When Allen looked at Emma this time he saw the evidence of the pain she was feeling and loosened his grip a little. He had plenty of time to make her hurt a little later and hurt her he would. Before this night was over she would know pain as she had never known it before. “This isn’t the first time you’ve made a trip like this in a truck is it. I like that word, truck. It makes it sound heavy and strong. It’s a good word for this thing. Anyway as I was saying this isn’t the first time for you. You took a scary ride in one last year and that almost didn’t turn out too well, did it? I promise you’re in for a treat this time. This won’t end well for you my dear or for anyone you love.” Allen felt Emma going limp and again he jerked her. “Don’t you dare faint on me! I want you conscious for this whole little joy ride my love.” Allen spit the last part out as if it were a mouth full of venom. Copyright Claim filed Against Me on Youtube ATTENTION EVERYONE, YOU NEED TO READ THIS ONE. NOT KIDDING HERE PLEASE SHARE. Do any of you remember this? Well once again another company, the fourth now, has claimed copyrights to part of my work. This time I'm not going to bother with holding back the name of the company. The company, Big Frame -Awesomenesstv has laid claim to some of my written work. They have been so kind as to allow me to continue to use my video so long as I don't make money off it while it has been insinuated that they are. This is going to result in a lawsuit. I'm filing one but they won't be the only one on the hook with this. I'm done with this shit. How can four companies claim they have copyrights to two and a half pages of one of my books? I wasn't aware I had that many people hanging over my shoulders when I wrote Blood Lines Family Ties. The following was the original and first of the blogs I did on this. On the last video I uploaded that was the excerpt from Blood Lines Family Ties I received notice from Youtube that three companies have filed a claim against my video. Not for the music, not for one of the two images I used for the video, but for the written word itself. Yes, you read that right, on the written material. Another words they are claiming that a portion of my book is theirs. Now here’s the real funny part. Each of the three companies have claimed one paragraph out of that excerpt and all three are claiming different portions. One of these companies is CrossFiTHQ, another is Toho Co. LTD, and the last is dsdvd. Now that CrossFiT is claiming a portion of that excerpt, which I wouldn’t think they would want to be linked to, from a book of horror is so far out there it boggles the mind. Shall we move on to the juicy part? The other two companies are movie production companies. Now well, well, well isn’t that too interesting. I have challenged the complaint and will fight it. Since I can drop them down in the middle of the place that inspired the story, not to mention the research history and drafts and witnesses, they would have a hard time in court over who owns the rights to any part of this story. I’m fighting mad but what makes me the maddest is that Youtube has automatically designated me as the one at fault here and catering to the whims of the large corporations. Without so much as an inquiry regarding my claim to the material they are treating me as the one at fault and even told me to keep my mouth shut basically and nothing would probably come out it. Oh hell no. This is my work period and I will not ignore someone else making money off my blood, sweat, and tears. Please help me to get the word out and share this with everyone you know. Below is the excerpt Blood Lines Family Ties that went into the video. Emma reached for the door handle and had every intention of jumping out of the truck hoping that it would bring this nightmare to an end. She was quickly stopped when Taylor reached across and grabbed her arm and jerked her hard toward him. “I don’t think you really want to do that Emma. Do you really want to leave Taylor at my mercy? All I have to do is run this thing into something and drop him back inside his body just before this body dies. I want to thank all of you for teaching an old dog a lot of new tricks.” “Allen?” Emma barely whispered the name. “Yes ma’am.” Taylor said as he turned to face Emma. It may have Taylor's face but the eyes were no longer his. Where Taylor's beautiful kind eyes should have been there was nothing but blackness broken by the blazing infernos emanating from where the pupils should have been. “No.” Emma tried to look away but couldn’t. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and roll down her face as she stared into the eyes of a monster. “Do I scare you less with this face or would you prefer that I arrange it for you to see mine as you did earlier. Maybe even the face that so many people have seen just before I rip their insides out, the face you finally saw today.” Allen looked at her for only a moment but the fire in his eyes, in Taylor’s eyes, couldn’t be denied. “Allen please let me go!” Emma tried to pull away from the hand that held her so close to him. Emma tried to block out everything in her head. “Don’t worry I have no intention of invading your mind as you put it. I’ve had enough of knowing what you think of me. Of seeing what is in that head. The look on your face earlier spoke volumes.” Allen continued to hold tight to her. “Why?” “Why? Because of you Emma. I didn’t come looking for you, you came to me. If you had just continued walking out to me that day you wouldn’t be here and the connection between us would have ended. I wouldn’t have found out the things I have. Instead Taylor was there to rescue you and because of that the connection stayed in place and got stronger with each day. I’ve had you in my head ever since. I thought a little turnabout was far play, don’t you agree?” “So it’s been about killing me all along.” Emma now began to understand the terror he had been putting her through. Allen let out a harsh almost demonic laugh. “Is that what you think my dear? Didn’t your boyfriend tell you what was happening? No Emma, it hasn’t been about killing you in days. It’s been about you waking in me things that had died. Making me remember who I once was and what I had. You my smart little girl, figured that out already. You got the images of Nadine and her burnt corpse. You saw my children with the flesh burned from their bones. You saw what I did that helped start all this, you who have been screaming and crying and fretting over your mind being invaded all day. What the fuck do you think you did to me time and time and time again.” Allen again glanced at Emma and pulled on her arm. The fires that burned in his eyes were growing larger and brighter by every second. Emma tried to pull away from Allen and he jerked her hard nearly pulling her over the console between the seats smashing her ribs against the edge of it. “Emma don’t try that again. I’m having to pick through this bastard’s head to get how to make this machine go so the less distraction you cause me the better for you. So stop thinking that jumping out of this contraption might be a way to salvation because it’s not. I will only drop Taylor back in as this thing crashes and then I will finish what I have to do with everyone you care about. And Emma I can reach them with or without you now, again thanks to you and Taylor.” Allen tightened his grip on Emma’s arm until he heard her moan. That only served to make him laugh causing the embers in his eyes to burn even brighter resulting in a bright red glow that seemed to fill the interior of the truck. Emma tried not to make another sound as Allen continued to tighten his grip on her arm. She knew that at any moment it was in danger of breaking. When Allen looked at Emma this time he saw the evidence of the pain she was feeling and loosened his grip a little. He had plenty of time to make her hurt a little later and hurt her he would. Before this night was over she would know pain as she had never known it before. “This isn’t the first time you’ve made a trip like this in a truck is it. I like that word, truck. It makes it sound heavy and strong. It’s a good word for this thing. Anyway as I was saying this isn’t the first time for you. You took a scary ride in one last year and that almost didn’t turn out too well, did it? I promise you’re in for a treat this time. This won’t end well for you my dear or for anyone you love.” Allen felt Emma going limp and again he jerked her. “Don’t you dare faint on me! I want you conscious for this whole little joy ride my love.” Allen spit the last part out as if it were a mouth full of venom. |
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