Author – Screenwriter – Educator
Hiya!
This is a short one – I just wanted to let you know that I just made it easier for you to binge me!
🙂
Check out my 50% off sale (through 9/7) – use this code to unlock: Binge
Pick up The Realm and Cacophony at 50% off before the final book in the trilogy, Accursed, comes out this October!
Until next time…
L. Marie
Hey guys!
This year has been an awesome publishing year for me and I am so honored to sit back and take stock of what has happened. To that end, I’d like to share all of my work that is available for awards this year in the hopes that, if you are so inclined, you will consider throwing the titles into the ring. So far, here’s what’s available:
“Hypnopompia”. Something Scary Podcast (February 2022)
When you wake up to a nightmare…
“Once a Month”. Conjuring Worlds: Afrofuturist Textbook for Middle and High School Students. (March 2022)
Coming of age when things are not what they seem.
“A Warm Fall Day”. Picnic in the Graveyard. (April 2022)
Perspective… it’s a thing.
“It’s the Little Things”. The Outlet, Bloom Where You Are Planted, published in April 2022 by Blue Ridge Community and Technical College
Home alone… Home. Alone…
“The Room”. Campfire Macabre, Vol. 2 published in October 2022 by Cemetery Gates Media
Some doors shouldn’t be opened.
African American Horror Authors and Their Craft: The Evolution of Horror Fiction from African Folklore. Conjuring Worlds: An Afrofuturist Textbook for Middle and High School Students. (March 2022)
The Horror of Hair. Nightmare Magazine, Issue 118. (June 2022) Hair. Ornament. Source of power. Source of beauty. Whether decoration or burden, hair is at the forefront of many cultures and has been a part of the body consciousness of women since the dawn of time. Some cultures consider it a most prized possession, one that should be donated to the gods in thanks for favor. Others consider it a defining characteristic, one that speaks of a person’s background, upbringing, and worth.
About Horror: The Study and Craft. Mocha Memoirs Books (April 2022) This text is a comprehensive deep dive into the study of horror fiction. With importance placed on knowing the history of the genre and how integral to storytelling research is, this textbook will serve as a reference guide for anyone interested in writing in the horror genre. This work, which is accessible and detailed at the same time, offers practical scenarios and industry secrets alongside subgenre review and creative writing instruction.
The Black Hole. Mocha Memoirs Books (March 2022)
A group of friends head out to enjoy a much-deserved night out and paintballing is on the menu. But the team they are playing against has something entirely different in mind.
The friends find themselves in a battle for their lives in unfamiliar terrain against well-equipped opponents whose motivations are both irrational and lethal. Considered, “… a true trip into the darkest depths of what mankind is capable of at its worst,” by Midwest Book Review, this story is a classic tale of prey combined with slasher film “edge-of-your seat” vibes with a little modern-day relevance to keep you unsettled.
Told two ways in this ground-breaking screenplay/novella combo, The Black Hole will keep you guessing, engaged, and very, very scared.
The Tryst: Affinity Series, Book 1. Cedar Grove Publishing (May 2022)
A moment in time… insignificant and fleeting for most, but for Nicole, Mark, and Eric, it is life-altering. Three strangers meet in a town they don’t know in a place they hadn’t expected to end up only to find that they are exactly where they were supposed to be… again.
Love always finds a way.
Through space and time, past and future, through lifetimes and storylines they were destined to find each other, love each other, lose each other – coordinates and weapons, scenarios and demographics be damned. A malfunction, to be sure. But when Ryan tries to tinker with his project, a weapon the likes of which has never been seen in all of the Galactic Collaborative, he finds out just how inexorable their link is… and how insidious.
Accursed: Book 3 of The Realm Trilogy. Cedar Grove Publishing (December 2022)
She walks alone in the darkness feeling the coolness of the air on her skin when she shouldn’t – not anymore. She is unfamiliar with the place, the tall trees that were suddenly there, manifesting as the world she knew, the one filled with other things, other people, another life only moments before, began to melt away – but she is not afraid. Because Gabby is where she was destined to be.
Gabby has come home.
Her family greets her with sadness in their eyes, the pain of loss evident on their faces and she strides into a house made from memories. They had fought so hard to save her from The Realm, the place that had stolen the ever after of their ancestors for centuries. But they had failed and even as they welcomed one of their own – the daughter whose hair Doug had smoothed when she was little – they were in danger of losing two more to that wretched nothingness. They were in danger of losing everything.
Accursed, the final book in The Realm series, puts Patrick, his son Doug, and his granddaughter Gabby together in a fight against an evil that is hungry for the souls of all the people he loves – of every soul that would descend from his line. Surrounded by seen and unseen foes, Patrick and his family must try to save the only two people left who could turn the tide: Gabby’s children.
But Chris…
He’s falling from the sky before their very eyes…
“Beautiful”. Under Her Skin. (April 2022)
Dark horror, but the title says it all.
Whew! I’ve been busy! 🙂
There are a few awards that these works can be considered for – the ones that come to mind for me are:
If you think of others and want to nominate something of mine, I would be beyond grateful. If you have not yet read the above works, please let me know what you are interested in and I will send it/them to you (you can ABSOLUTELY request more than one!).
Thanks for for considering!
Until next time…
L. Marie
Some of you caught the title immediately – you heard the song in your head and sang along with DeBarge right away. Others of you are waiting for me to explain what I mean when I say, “Ooh, and I like it”. Don’t worry… I will.
Because that phrase means a lot of things to me right now. There have been a lot of reasons for me to say it recently and I am so, so amazed by each of them… including the couple I can’t talk about just yet. (LOL!)
I’m being unnecessarily cryptic now, so I’ll just spill.
And this cover **bites knuckles a la Sonny in The Godfather**
I’m in love. So… in honor of this beauty, I’m offering something pretty cool. If you preorder this book from my personal sales site… you know the one you didn’t know existed because I hardly ever use it (that one!), I will sign it for you and send it out when it releases (looking like mid August of this year, friends!) and…
AND THIS IS AWESOME…
When you preorder this little beauty, I will give you a 30% off discount on any other L. Marie Wood title you like, while supply lasts!
So, get some vampire or ghosts goodies, some realistic horror, or learn how to write horror fiction yourself. Try some dark romance with a side of mystery. Have some Sci-Fi Horror in your coffee. Get some more L. Marie Wood in your life! 🙂
2. I had the honor of being the Guest Author at the In Your Write Mind Convention this month! It was an amazing experience. I was able to share my experience and be among writers in a space that encouraged creativity. I taught workshops, participated on panels, gave the keynote speech (OMG!), lectured, and signed a few books too!
They took me on a ghost tour on Seton Hill University’s campus, a place that really does look and feel like Hogwarts. It is full of tunnels and passageways that turned me upside down and messed with my sense of direction. Oh, and the stories they told about the nuns were… wow.
They let me prattle on about the stuff that matters to me – finding your own voice, letting yourself write the way you write, making your own way through publishing. They let me talk about my little academy and all the fun things we’re doing there. I certainly hope I gave as good as I got. This was an author/educator’s dream and I am so thankful to have experienced it.
3. I got a magical phone call asking me an important question that I almost didn’t hear because of the excitement bouncing around my head. I was asked if I would accept a nomination for the MICO Award. Ummm, of course! Like I could say no to THAT! This award acknowledges innovation, courage, and excellence in the Film Arts and is named after the founder of the NOVA Fest and Capital Film Market, Fernando Mico. Only six people a year are nominated worldwide. It is an honor to be seen and chosen.
There are two other amazing things I really can’t talk about, but OMG you guys, wait until I can! Here is a little something about one of them…
The Dynamic Duo right here. The Dream Team. This picture was years in the making. And I am-… oops… I’d better leave it right there.
The other thing? I can’t say anything about that… yet. BUT YOWZA!
Ok, that really has to be it (at least about that!). 🙂
What else is going on?
Something cool from me and Something Scary! If you’re up for a little neat and free scare, check out my story, “$5.99” on Something Scary!
If you’d rather read something short than listen to it, my short story “A Warm Fall Day” is in this new, creepy-themed anthology.
Me and a couple of friends (oh, just some amazing authors, screenwriters, and publishers from DWASF ) will be at BlerdCon on July 9th talking about filmmaking and writing speculative fiction. If you’re planning on going to the con, come say hi! I’ll also be on ConTinual in July and August talking about cross genre, Japanese horror movies, and scary bad guys (though not all at the same time) and at MultiverseCon in October, reprising my role as Horror Track Director for the 4th year (time flies!)! Check me out if you are around.
My TBR list is growing exponentially. It’s really getting to be out of hand. I just added The Murder of Tutankhamen by Bob Brier, Ph.D. and I still have The Lying Game by Ruth Ware waiting for me to get serious about reading. I don’t know which one I want to read first. It’s a great problem to have. What are you reading? Reply back… enable me some more!
I finished The Silent Sea on Netflix and loved it. It was nice to see Bae Doona again and I now have a new actor that I want to see in more stuff: Lee Joon. Sci-Fi and super dark – loved it!
“Ooh, and I like it.”
I really do… Just like DeBarge said. DeBarge, that group from the 1980s led by El? This was one of my favorites by them. Here’s a blast from the past because yeah, I like it.
I like it all.
Until next time…
L. Marie
As I sometimes do, let’s start with a song:
Blast from the past, right? But it absolutely applies to the situation I find myself in. Don’t worry, this is a good thing – let me say that at the start… this is an AWESOME problem to have, but it is definitely a different situation than I expected to be in.
Because who could have imagined the past two years we’ve all had? I don’t need to remind you about the details of the pandemic (then and now) because we all lived and are living it, but the impacts felt in the publishing world were not anticipated… at least not by me. I didn’t see the paper problems that publishers experienced coming, nor the shipping problems. I didn’t think about how illness (personal and familial) would impact editors and typesetters and all the people who make a book come together. I didn’t think about the eventual worker shortage and how that would impact books getting from point A to point B. Nor did I anticipate the mental strain that would impact people at all levels of the process. We’ve lived through a rough time, folks. And I have learned a lot of things about patience, priorities, and compassion because of it.
I write a lot. I have a lot in the hopper. It was staggered so beautifully, just enough every year – a little L. Marie Wood goes a long way. But alas, best laid plans…
So now instead of the trickle, here’s the deluge! 🙂 I have 9 individual titles coming out this year (yes… yep). Two have seen the light of day already!
The Black Hole is my experimental project with Mocha Memoirs Press that showcases the premise as a short story (it’s long for me, though!) and a screenplay. Lots of fun! Scared some people out of the woods, this one.
About Horror is my textbook (woohoo! I am BEAMING!). I have been writing horror fiction forever and I have learned a few things that I wanted to share about genre, writing, and voice, so I decided to combine my passions (writing and teaching) in this textbook. If you’re a writer (aspiring or seasoned) this book is for you!
My first foray into dark romance has hopped around with release dates but it will greet the world in early May.
And seriously, I can’t wait! This book was a blast to write – I can’t wait for you to meet these characters.
The preorder is available for you on Amazon, Target, and Bookshop!
Telecommuting came out in May of 2021 in print and ebook and now I am proud to announce the release of the audiobook version! It sounds amazing and is worth the read… listen? Check it out!
I have an amazing mystery coming (my first pure mystery ever!).
I have a really cool traditional horror project coming in the summer.
And, and, and… there’s more – check out the Coming Soon page to see just how much more (there are stories in anthologies too and speaking engagements and.. wow).
It’ll be a busy, busy year.
Things bumped and it was out of anyone’s control… so now I say…
🙂
If you like conferences and listening to panels and learning more about the industry, you might enjoy Writing in the Dark (April 28-May 1). I’ll get to talk with friends about horror and writing and all sorts of things.
So remember, life is what you make it. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. Roll with the punches. And finally, my favorite, it’ll all get done.
Until next time!
L. Marie
Can’t you?
The warm weather is almost here! It keeps trying to push through, to give us a glimpse of what we can look forward to and I, for one, am here for it. There’s something about feeling the warm air that just makes me happy. But, as I look out at the sun, then to my clock, then back at the sun and shake my head, I am reminded of how much I procrastinate during warm weather. And then I’ve been listening to this guy’s mixes recently, losing more minutes than I will ever admit to dancing along with him at my desk, and I just… I might be in for it, come to think of it.
Sigh.
I will have to have a conversation with myself, the part that just wants to go play. ‘These words won’t write themselves,’ I’ll tell myself soon… after this mix is over:
Speaking of words, I have a few new ones for you! Check THIS out!
A group of friends head out to enjoy a much-deserved night out and paintballing is on the menu. But the team they are playing against has something entirely different in mind.
The friends find themselves in a battle for their lives in unfamiliar terrain against well-equipped opponents whose motivations are both irrational and lethal. Considered, “… a true trip into the darkest depths of what mankind is capable of at its worst,” by Midwest Book Review, this story is a classic tale of prey combined with slasher film “edge-of-your seat” vibes with a little modern-day relevance to keep you unsettled.
Told two ways in this ground-breaking screenplay/novella combo, The Black Hole will keep you guessing, engaged, and very, very scared.
Steven Van Patten, author of The Brookwater Curse series, said a little more than this about it, but I thought this was particularly cool, “You may never go into the woods again.”
And check out this cover – omgosh, right? I was floored when I saw it. Who do you think the guy up front looks like? Reply and let me know!
This fun novella will be released on March 15, 2022 but you don’t have wait until then to snatch one up. You can preorder your copy today! And while you’re there, Telecommuting is another Mocha Memoirs novella, if you wanted a little more L. Marie Wood in your life! 🙂
In a strange twist of fate (ooh, nice segue, if I do say so myself…and also, now I can’t get that Olivia Newton John song out of my head!), my first foray into a story with a heavy helping of romance comes out right on the heels of The Black Hole. And ooh, I can’t wait for you to check this one out!
A moment in time… insignificant and fleeting for most, but for Nicole, Mark, and Eric, it is life-altering. Three strangers meet in a town they don’t know in a place they hadn’t expected to end up only to find that they are exactly where they were supposed to be… again.
Love always finds a way.
Through space and time, past and future, through lifetimes and storylines they were destined to find each other, love each other, lose each other – coordinates and weapons, scenarios and demographics be damned. A malfunction, to be sure. But when Ryan tries to tinker with his project, a weapon the likes of which has never been seen in all of the Galactic Collaborative, he finds out just how inexorable their link is… and how insidious.
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.
This books comes out on March 25, 2022, but heck, why wait? Preorder your copy today!
If you would like to listen to something scary while you fool around on social media, work on a puzzle, wait in the car to pick someone up from somewhere, or whenever you let your mind relax, check this out! My short story, “Hypnopompia”, (say that five times fast…say that just one time at regular cadence…lol!) is brought to life by the folks at The Something Scary Podcast! I get to share space with a good friend of mine too (which makes this whole experience that much better!) so be sure to hang out for R.J. Joseph’s story too – it’s right after mine.
If you like poetry, this collection is sure to provide some interesting, thought-provoking perspectives. And yeah, I’m in it! LOL! I don’t write a lot of poetry and I just can’t tell you how cool it is to be included alongside some real giants in the medium.
I have similar feelings about the Conjuring Worlds textbook. I have a short story in there as well as a critical piece and I am simply ecstatic to be part of a project geared toward educating youths about speculative fiction and how they can navigate the web work. These are due out in late March and early April respectively.
Yeah, I have some words coming your way for sure – and we haven’t even talked about what’s coming the rest of this year! I have some words over on the Horror Writer’s Association that are pretty interesting too. If you were ever curious about my thoughts on horror, check out this interview.
Ok, maybe I should get back to those words, you know, the ones that won’t write themselves.
🙂
Until next time,
L. Marie Wood
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:
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.
What else?
Crescendo came out… again! My first novel has been re-released by Cedar Grove Publishing and it is flipping gorgeous. Crescendo is a novel about fate and the lengths we will travel to avoid the inevitable. Set in tranquil Rockland County, New York, this tale of suspense and horror will take listeners on an emotional roller coaster of anger, anxiety, compassion, and indelible fear.
Welcome back, sweetheart. I LOVE your new dress!
And lastly…
SFA is OPEN! We are adding classes every week and having a blast doing it! Do you know someone with a passion for writing? This is a FANTASTIC holiday gift for the writer in your life… even if that writer is YOU!
Sign up for the annual membership (best value – a month FREE!) or take an individual class. Buy a gift card for someone. Do something amazing for yourself.
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
L. Marie Wood