Hey folks! How did January 2022 treat you? I’m a big believer in the idea that the way you start the year sets the tone for the next 12 months, so I always try to be hyper focused and get some early wins to make the year a good one.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t!

But I put it out there every January anyway – both in my personal life and my writing career… (but that working out resolution never sticks for me!) Because of that, this newsletter almost didn’t make it out to you this month … I’ve been heads down working on a lot of stuff!

But whew, I made it and I listened to this guy almost every day because he keep me in the zone:

He brings good music and a great personality – seriously, you should check him out.

So, what have I been doing? Well, let’s see…

I started writing the third novel of a series that will be coming out in FEBRUARY! YES – next month! And, oh my gosh, I am so excited about this story. It is a little different from what I have done in the past – it is a psychological horror and science fiction mash up with romance elements and I can’t wait for you to see it! Speaking of seeing it… check out this GORGEOUS cover!

You can check out the website and read the back cover copy, watch the book trailer, and YES, you can preorder too! I mean, ok, I have to show you the book trailer here, though. It is… just wait… you’ll see:

The academy is up and in full swing! We keep releasing classes that are excellent for both new and seasoned writers. I was actually inspired by a class that talks about horror poetry. It is part of the series we call The Conversation . If you ever thought about writing horror poetry of your own, this class offers a great insider’s glimpse. I created a subgenres of horror class that was so much fun to do. I got to read some of the foremost work in the genre and so will students – the course has reading selections from people like Lee Murray, R.J. Joseph, Terry Maggert, Nicole Givens Kurtz, Gwendolyn Kiste, John Edward Lawson, and many more! I’m telling you, we’re having a blast over at the Speculative Fiction Academy!

I have also been working on some cool marketing projects to promote that novel and the other things coming out this year. I will definitely let you know about it all soon, but if you are interested in seeing what’s coming up in one place, check this page out. I have some things coming out that I have to sit on my hands a little bit longer about and ooh, that’s driving me nuts! But soon… very soon! I’ll have some covers to share and links to provide… soon…

I have a few film festivals coming up that I am in nail-biting mode about. I am enjoying this ride very much. The first day of the year I came in second at Lit Scares out of the UK – talk about kicking off the year right! Since then I’ve been lucky enough to get into six film festivals – I am just so honored.

And this – this one is a biggie – I was asked to be the Guest Author at the In Your Write Mind Conference! Blew my mind! I am amazed, honored, proud, giddy, and so very EXCITED!

I did a little academic writing, wrote a short story, gave a little thought to the novel that will come after this one – it will be a stand alone horror, and am kicking around an idea for another screenplay. And I’m loving all of this. I also watched a few amazing movies and tv shows this month, What ever happened to Baby Jane, Videodrome, and Archive 81 among them. I also had Rocky and Scream marathons show up in there. Got any recommendations for me?

I hope you are enjoying the beginning of the year in a way that suits you. Let’s start this year off right… together!

Until next time,

L. Marie Wood

As this year draws to a close, I find myself getting into conversations with people while shopping in the supermarket or pumping gas the way I used to in the before times. They ask, “How are you?” and I say, “I’m fine, and you?” but there’s something different about this exchange now. Before it was by rote – call and response, really. But now, it’s so much more meaningful.

We are here.

We’ve made it so far and we are here.

For all the struggles we might have dealt with – the challenges, the fear, the losses – we are still here eating, drinking, breathing the air.

That’s saying something.

That’s saying something BIG.

I encourage you to think about that for a moment and then go one step further… think about what’s next for you.

What will YOU do in celebration of still being here?

Maybe you’ll take an art class – learn how to pour acrylic paints and make amazingly colorful masterpieces…

Maybe you’ll take singing lessons and record a track to put out on Spotify…

Maybe you’ll learn your favorite group’s dance routine and perform it with friends before diving into the eggnog waiting for you in the refrigerator (or do this AFTER you’ve had the spiked variety)…

Maybe you’ll enroll in the Speculative Fiction Academy and learn all the stuff you ever wanted to know about sprites and merpeople and vampires and faes… OK, I couldn’t resist that one, but hey, you never know!

Maybe, maybe…

The sky is the limit – really. There’s nothing keeping you from living your best life.

That’s really all I wanted to say to you today – I felt this message in my soul, so here it is.

Until next time…

L. Marie Wood

Oh, and you know… if you want to check out a few books to start the new year off right with, I may have something for you… 🙂

Seriously… BRRRR!

The end of October was so mild and November started off pretty mild but now that cold wind cuts to the bone and all I want is to get inside, put on some sweatpants and warm socks, and drink some hot chocolate. LOL! How are you feeling these days?

So, let’s see… what cool stuff has been going on here? Well:

• I just got four Official Selections for three of my screenplays (Inexorable, Elevator, and Don’t Answer Your Phone!). All of you who are wishing me good vibes in the movie world, keep putting that out in the universe, please, because you are making good things happen!
• I’ve been writing! I’ve finished three short stories and a poem since we last spoke and I’m kind of excited about that! I’m about to start writing the next novel. It’s about… hahaha! You thought I might slip, didn’t you? But NOPE!
• I saw the cover for The Tryst and, oh my gosh, it is AMAZING! I can’t wait for you to see it! The Tryst is book #1 of my experimental series that is coming out in February 2022. Here’s a snippet from the webpage:

The Tryst is the beginning of an experimental series that will challenge the way you think about love, life, connection, and purpose, The Tryst will catch you in its whirlwind and never let you go.  Each book in the Affinity series will combine of mixture of mystery, thriller, psychological horror, action, suspense, science fiction elements in differing measures, always with romance as an undercurrent.

Love always finds a way.

But sometimes that way is paved with bones.

Learn more on the website!

What else?

And lastly…

Well, I think that is everything for now!

Until next time…

L. Marie Wood

Remember when I told you about the Speculative Fiction Academy? Well, we are going live on Halloween! Boy, oh boy, do we have LOTS of amazing classes for you!

Come check out what SFA has to offer today. And there’s more coming. So much more!

Get ready!

What else is going on? Everything! All the stuff. I’ve watched 28 horror movies this month (my annual 31 horror movies in October activity). Lots of new ones too, but I did have to make sure that I saw my season faves like the original Fright Night, Christine, and of course I will watch Halloween on Halloween.

Book 2 of The Realm series released this month and I am so incredibly pumped about that!

And MultiverseCon was an entire mood.

So, yeah… not much! 🙂

Celebrate with me on Sunday! SFA has been a labor of love and I am so excited to release it into the world. I’ll be dancing in my seat – you bust a move in your space too, ok?

Until next time,

L. Marie

Cacophony is fully released!!

Let’s have the strangest staggered launch ever, shall we? Book 2 of The Realm is out NOW on Kindle!

It’s called Cacophony and if you loved Patrick in book 1 and want to know what happens to Gabby, check it out. If you want to know who Patrick and Gabby are, check out Cacophony and the first book (The Realm) out! If you like action and horror and edge of your seat, page-turning fun, check it out! Just check it out – you won’t be disappointed.

The paperback is coming soon! https://www.amazon.com/Cacoph…/dp/B09JPG1TH5/ref=sr_1_1…

Until next time…

L. Marie

I hinted around it earlier in the year and then outright told you what was on the horizon last month.

Well…

Here it is… again! This time with its own book trailer!

Cacophony is the exciting follow up to The Realm and the story keeps you on your toes. It will be released on October 13th but you can preorder now!

Until next time,

L. Marie Wood

Yes… yes I did quote Tony from West Side Story. Because it is so apropos (and a fantastic play too!). I mean, this news… I can barely contain myself because, well, watch… you’ll see:

!!!

See what I mean? I am over the moon about Cacophony! Seriously excited to share the next book in this action-packed existential, psychological, cosmic horror saga. The Realm series makes you think about so many things at once:

• To what lengths would you go to save your family?
• What happens after death?
• Can you change your fate?

And those are just a few of the questions that will bounce around in your mind as you join Patrick, Doug, and Gabby on their rollercoaster ride.

Wanna see some back cover copy?

Lemme show you some back cover copy!

Toddlers and playdates and white picket fences. Afternoons in the park, steak on the grill – all in the perfect neighborhood. Gabby was living a life that many people could only wish for and she was over it. It wasn’t that she disliked her world – it wasn’t that at all…she loved her family and the life that she and her husband had made. She just wanted more – more action, more stimulation, more excitement. Gabby was bored. But while she spent her days washing sand out of hair and making PB&J sandwiches, a battle was going on in The Realm, a cosmic tug of war over the most inimitable of prizes: Gabby’s very soul.

Cacophony will be released on October 13, 2021 but it is available for preorder now!

If you are wondering who Patrick, Doug, and Gabby are you can catch up by checking out The Realm. The crisis that they are going through is expressed pretty well here:

You thought you were dead.

Waking up and looking all around you, you realize all you learned about The Afterlife was a fantasy. You don’t know where you are, but you do know it’s not a pleasant or suitable place. You need to run. Hard and fast.

Eventually, you meet others doomed to live in this terrifying Realm with you. Here are gathered the newly dead from all over the universe. A formidable race of giant beasts hunts them. The likes of which have never been seen by those in the living world. This place is like nothing you ever learned about in life—neither Heaven nor Hell, neither Purgatory nor Sheol.

You encounter clusters of people huddled together for safety. You’re a lone wolf—they don’t trust you, nor you them. Perhaps with good reason.

Patrick is key to the future of The Realm. He must right old wrongs and fight against all the terrors it has in store. He must fight to save his family and, most importantly, all of his descendants. His revelations will impact the living world, as well as what comes next.

Patrick is the future of humanity.

Can he succeed?

(Ha! I just got you to read some more back cover copy! LOL!)

Let’s see… what else…? The Speculative Fiction Academy – that’s what else!

What have you been watching?

Since the last newsletter I have gone to see the new Candyman and loved it (get it, Mr. Peele!) and started and finished Midnight Mass and loved that (go Hamish Linklater!). Such good stuff out there right now. I am getting ready to start Squid Game – having flashbacks of The Running Man, which is a good thing!

What are you reading?

I finished Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland (book two of the Dread Nation series) and loved it – definitely worth the read for you zombie fans out there. I’m reading The Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill now and enjoying it.

No new music for me these days – been listening to my faves and I having mini personal parties in preparation for all the festivities coming in October. On my playlist today? Much Kehlani. Check this one out – I jammed to it twice today:

Ok, well, I think that’s it. It was a lot. So, I guess that’s enough.

🙂

Until next time.

L. Marie Wood

I’m talking about summer.

And yes, I know that summer isn’t technically over until almost the end of September, but still. August 31st is tomorrow. I never grew out of this one thing from my youth: the end of August is the end of summer.

I didn’t go to the pool (!).

I didn’t roast marshmallows (seriously, what in the world?).

I didn’t make a fire and sit outside until it burned down in the wee hours of the night… oh, wait… I did do that!

I also listened to my two favorite sounds: waves crashing onto a beach and the wind blowing the leaves of trees.

I drove a convertible.

I cooked out and ate outside.

I played in the rain and watched a rainbow emerge from the gloom.

I stared at the stars (through a telescope that I never figured out – and I mean not after 5 years of half you-know-whating it. That I gave up and stared at them with the naked eye more than once has absolutely no bearing on this story – lol).

I grew my hair out, then cut it off, only to wonder if maybe I want to grow it out again after all (don’t judge me!).

I learned a new paint pouring technique. Indeed I am planning my next paint pouring (throwing… it’s more like throwing for me, if I’m being honest) session soon – this time on a BIIIGGGG canvas.

Hmmm. Maybe I didn’t have such a short summer after all, if I was able to fit all of that in!

Ooh! I finished writing a novel too! A novel I can’t talk about yet because… well, ’cause! So far my editor is smiling and that is always a good thing, let me tell you!

I messed around with the website a little – made a Coming Soon section that I am pumped about .

And…

And this is BIG…

I experienced a dream come true… well, almost. I mean kinda sorta, but not entirely yet. Cryptic? Perhaps. Let me explain. I realized a while ago (like 20 years ago) that I enjoy teaching – like, really enjoy it. I’ve been doing it on and off, sometimes in workshop form, but often in the classroom, for a pretty long time now. I had the chance, years ago, to create a college course called Introduction to Horror Writing and had the time of my life teaching it. And now, friends, I’m at it again.

BUT BIGGER!

So much BIGGER!!

I brought some people who are amazing at what they do in to help me put together the dream come true I talked about before… the Speculative Fiction Academy!

We aren’t open yet, but soon… so very soon! You can sign up for the SFA newsletter and peruse the classes we have so far, and check out the amazing instructors that are part of this groundbreaking academy. We are adding more classes in the next few months to provide a robust curriculum at launch because this academy isn’t just for horror writers or genre writers… it’s for podcasters, screenwriters, fantasy writers, sci-fi writers, non fiction writers, aspiring writers, business-focused folks (and writers), and more – holy cow! Check us out – tell your friends. I’ll keep you posted on our launch date, for sure.

I watched some fantastic movies this month, Free Guy among them. Kingdom: Ashin of the North was everything, but perhaps the stand out for this month was The Paper Tigers:

If you are of a certain age you will be laughing so hard you won’t be able to catch your breath. Like me… I’m of that age. I literally thought I wouldn’t make it through without holding my sides and wiping my eyes. There are so many head-nodding moments in there. Good stuff.

Oh, and I now can confirm that I love this song:

I only know maybe 7 words of it but I sing them enthusiastically and I’m ok with that. The people around me are invariably not, but YOLO, right?

How was your summer? Tell me about it! Come back and visit sometimes – you never know when I will add something new to the site. Tell your friends too – all are welcome (can you name the movie the last part of that sentence is from? I dare you to say it in the voice it was first uttered in out loud!).

Until next time…

L. Marie Wood

Thank you to Silk Sonic for giving me that title. I use it a lot now because it is exactly what I want to ask people most of the time. ‘Whatchoo doin’? Where you at? Oh, you got plans…?’ Do you know what I’m talking about? No? Yaassss? Well, let me introduce or remind you of this beautifulness right here because everybody could use a little Bruno in their lives:

But I digress.

🙂

Can you believe that July is almost over? Ok, maybe not almost but the last time I looked it was the 1st, so it is flying by at a pretty quick clip to me. If you were to ask me what I’m doin’ and where I’m at I’d tell you that I’ve been an editing fool for the past few weeks, trying to get a piece ready for your consumption at some point down the road. Once this is done I will start the next piece, a &^%#@ about (*&%! – lol! That’s right, I’m not gonna spill the beans just yet.

What I will talk about is all the goodness coming up soon – very soon. The Promise Keeper will re-re-release (lol) with style (ch-ch-changes!) and right around the same time the novel that started it all, Crescendo, will come back out into the world! I am so excited about both of these. And wait until you see the covers!

Ooh – this is big! Telecommuting is ON SALE! If you haven’t picked it up yet, this is the perfect time to dive into this fast-paced novella because it is only .99 until the 18th!

I had the honor of speaking a few times at the In Your Write Mind conference last weekend and it was a complete blast. I gave a talk called Breaking the Rules – The Path to Authentic Writing, participated on a couple of panels, and interacted on others with people I respect the heck out of. Great way to spend a few days.

I’ve done a few cool things this month too – spoke at Mocha Memoirs’ 10th birthday celebration on Facebook and did a Destination Research segment on ConTinual. You should check out the fun – I covered the beautiful Sint Maarten in my segment.

What are you reading? I am listening to Dread Nation by Justina Ireland and reading Silenced by Nicole Givens Kurtz. Just started them both and am loving them in equal measure.

Movies?

Where am I (at)? Underneath all of the papers I’m editing with red ink smudges on my hands. But in a few months I will be at some cool places, specifically Multiverse! They even made me a card, see? WOOT! Maybe I’ll see you there!

And I think that might be it! Shoot me some book and movie recs – I never get tired of those. I would tell you to leave the door open like Silk Sonic does but that might be irresponsible considering what I write. Soooo I will go with lock your doors and block entry with something heavy, burn sage and walk it around the interior, and hunker down.

LOL!

Until next time…

L. Marie Wood