I’m sure most of you have seen this book on my blog a few times.
I’ve featured it in several memes.
Now, I’m finally ready to tell you about it.
And the author has written a fun guest post about the cover art. I feel you’ll enjoy it as many of you commented on the cover before.
And there’s a giveaway too, so don’t forget to enter!
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Here’s Author William Hage and his guest post about the covers for Porcelain.
Take it away William!
When my brother first showed me the original cover for Porcelain, I loved it. The one thing I knew it needed was a creepy doll on the cover and he delivered with that. I had no intention of changing the cover so I published the book on Amazon and Goodreads, and I was perfectly happy with the result. Maybe it was nepotism.
A few days later I had contacted an Amazon top 100 horror author for another reason and sent him a copy (I’ll keep him nameless, because I don’t want him bombarded with messages). I was amazed that he actually read it. He had two criticisms. One was the editing, which wasn’t that huge of an issue to him. The cover, on the other hand, was. He said the cover looked unprofessional and, more importantly, it didn’t do the story justice. He said the story was ‘ultra creepy’ (super creepy, ultra creepy and uber creepy have all been used to describe the story) and the cover just didn’t deliver. The author suggested that I take a look at the top 100 books in the horror category on Amazon.
So I spent about an hour sifting through covers trying to get past the dozens of Stephen King books. What did I find? He was right. The cover really didn’t stand up comparatively. First, I noticed was that the title was really low on the visibility scale and I noticed that a lot of the covers on Amazon didn’t bother with fancy fonts. Some did, but many went with something much more basic. So the first change had to be making the text on the cover easier to read. Also, while I loved the doll image, I felt there was something missing then. When looking at the other covers, it felt like it was just taking up too much space on the cover. I still couldn’t afford a professional cover design, so I had to go back to brother with all of the criticisms and see if he would make some changes.
He loaded up Photoshop and tried some different things with the text, but unfortunately nothing really worked, then he tried making some changes to the doll and none of those really worked either. So we decided to just go back to the original image. It was then that we discovered that he forgot to save all of the original layers and alteration and the order they were done in. Basically, we couldn’t recreate it exactly.
At this time I saw the original picture of the doll and told him I though it looked pretty damn creepy on its own. We still had the problem of needing something else on the cover. I suggested somehow adding trees since the story starts and ends in the Pine Barrens. With that little information he went back to his computer. About half an hour later he said he was done. I really didn’t know what to expect, but I can honestly say I was not expecting what he showed me. I loved it. It looked professionally done and, now more so than ever, it really looked creepy. We were both pleased when we shared the cover with others and everyone thought it was great, and thought that it was really quite creepy. So that’s basically how we decided to change the cover and we can both agree that it was a really good decision. So I owe a debt to that nameless author who told me in not so many words that the cover sucked.
I’m also working on a new book which I plan to release in the next few months. It will probably be about 5 or 6 short stories. Then I have plans to release another short story collection that will have a wraparound story that sort of brings everything in the collection together. The wraparound will take place at the Whateley Bed & Breakfast featured in Porcelain.
Thanks so much for sharing William.
You can count me in when your stories are ready!
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My Review
As a little girl, I wasn’t crazy about dolls. Sure, I had my barbies, but those bigger dolls, the ones that were almost actual size, with those creepy eyes, nope. I didn’t like them. It always felt they were watching me, their eyes following me. Now, all grown up, I still don’t like them.
I love horror, whether reading it or watching it. There are lots of movies about dolls. Let’s see. There’s all those Puppet Masters movies. How about Chuckie? Now, that’s one messed up doll. I would never have bought that for my kid. And now we have Annabelle. Have you seen The Conjuring? That doll was scary evil and wasn’t even the main plot in the movie.
I can go back much further. Ventriloquists. Their dolls come to life. Seen a few different takes on that idea.
So yes, the whole doll taking on a life of its own has been done before. It’s the author’s ability to take that and hone it to their own tale that reveals their talent and creativity. William didn’t disappoint me.
A weary traveler stops at a bed & breakfast for the night. It’s a rather lovely place with lots of collectibles on display.
The older woman who owns the place explains that each item has a history, it’s own story.
When the woman is pulled away from the conversation by a phone call and the guest kills time looking over the many objects, one in particular catches his eye.
A porcelain doll, quite lovely. His daughter would love it.
When the guest checks out in the morning, the doll travels with him to his condo. There it will wait until he visits his daughter.
But the doll won’t wait for long. It has quite a history and is ready to make a new one.
Once the doll began it’s rampage, I asked myself what I would do. Would I take it back where I got it from? I had a feeling either the old woman or the place wouldn’t be there anymore. Or, the doll would just return to get me so why bother. I’d just have to figure out how to deal with it.
I thought I saw the end coming. I was so wrong about that. Once the author revealed the dolls history, it went every which way but the way I thought it would.
The suspense was nail biting. If this were a movie, I’d be peeking through my fingers.
Scary good stuff.
5 Stars
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Synopsis
Out near the Pine Barrens in New Jersey sits the Whateley Bed & Breakfast, home of a wide collection of knick-knacks and antiques for its guests to view, including a beautifully ornate porcelain doll. However, after the Whateley’s latest guest purchases the doll as a gift, a horrifying series of nightmarish events begins to unfold.
Porcelain is a 8000 word novelette.
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I also read this short story by William Hage.
Here’s a little something special from William.
With Halloween right around the corner, my short story “Welcome Home” will be free from Oct 30st – Nov 1st, so go ahead and pick up a free copy for something to read this weekend.
Use these links to get yours.
Welcome Home
A Short Story
My Review
I like it when I go into a book thinking I’m getting one thing, and I get something totally different. This happened when I began reading Welcome Home. I thought it was going to be a haunted house story.
The story is haunting but there are no actual ghosts. What’s there is something shadowing John Lester. It’s like when you see something out of the corner of your eye and when you turn to look, nothing is there. But this isn’t visual so much as it’s memories. They haunt his sleep, staying just out of reach of recall.
While this didn’t really scare me, it did surprise me and that’s always a good thing.
A good story for a rainy day.
3 Stars
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Synopsis
John Lester is returning to a place he never really considered home to begin with, a place that he has not seen in years. But what he does not realize is that what went on in this house was much less homely than he thought as he unearths something dark about his family.
“Welcome Home” is a short story approximately 6600 words.
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Author William Hage
William has recently self-published two stories on Amazon. Welcome Home: A Short Story & Porcelain: A Novelette. He also has 3 stories published in the magazine Sanitarium.
When he isn’t writing, William has a deep love for technology and bides his time researching the latest things and has spent years working with computers.
William also appeared in a few bands writing songs and playing guitar, having recorded two albums with his former band ESM.
Author Links
Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ Website ~ Twitter
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I have three eBook copies of Porcelain to giveaway, courtesy of the author.
To enter, please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win and answer this question:
“If a doll were coming after you, which one would scare you the most?”
Giveaway ends November 3rd
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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!
To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!
