Emily and I recently took a quick weekend getaway to historic Berkeley Springs, WV. Located in the eastern panhandle, its warm mineral springs became a huge attraction as our country was started, leading to its founding in 1776 by George Washington as America’s first spa. Its original name was "Bath," meant to be a competitor of sorts to the English city of Bath in Somerset. While I’ve never been to its English counterpart (based on a quick Google, Somerset’s Bath looks much more impressive—sorry, Berkeley Springs), we did enjoy our short stay at the historic Country Inn as well as our appointment at Berkeley Springs State Park’s heated Roman Bath House. There, for a period of time you can reserve a private heated pool of natural mineral water all to yourself, or to yourselves, if a couple, like Emily and me. Emily chose to wear a swimsuit, but wanting to get the most out of the experience, I of course went in "full Roman," a phrase I came up with when we got there, which I’ll leave you to interpret for yourself.
So, for obvious reasons, there are no pictures of Emily and me in the bath. However, I do have pictures of this cool little Edgar Allan Poe figurine we found at Jules Enchanting Gifts just across the street. Check out this neat little guy!
If you like ghosts, creepy kids, houses in disrepair, and people stranded in a blizzards (you cold-hearted soul), you’ll love this haunted house novel, which in 2018 hit #1 in three different Amazon categories for Ghosts and Paranormal fiction, as well as climbing to #84 overall in the Kindle store. Since then, it’s accumulated over 130 ratings and reviews on Amazon, averaging 4.4 stars. Publishers Weekly gave it a great review, and if you can’t trust PW, really, who can you trust? Your Uncle Carl from Jersey? Yeah? Well, he likes it too, so I guess you’re out of excuses.
Hurry, though. This sale will only be around until, like next Tuesday or Wednesday or something. These discounts are always based on weird time zones that confuse me. If you’re gonna get this book, don’t put it off and trust me to know the exact day it returns to full price. Just get it now while it’s a dollar. You can’t even get a crummy gas station coffee for a buck anymore. This will last you much longer than that, and it won’t make you crap your pants while you’re on the highway. (Unless it makes you crap your pants in TERROR!!! OOooooOOoooOOooo!)
Well, sort of. The first wife-readable draft is done, which is a huge weight lifted (looks like you have some new reading material, Emily).After my initial editing pass, I discovered a pretty upsetting plot hole. But today I finally got it fixed, and I can take a break from thinking about this book. In its current version, it clocks in at 78,700 words. That will, of course, change by the time it is in its final form (the very roughest draft finished at around 81k), but it’s a respectable length, even though it won’t quite come in over 80k like I had hoped.
I don’t know what to say except that I am very relieved to have got the book to its current state. I suffered many assaulting doubts while I was writing and while I was editing. Even though it is not yet in book form, it is a great relief to have finished the hardest part of the work, and I am very proud of it so far. I look forward to sharing it with you sometime in the hopefully-not-too-distant future.
All my novelist friends: keep on writing! Work through the doubts! Trust the process! Keep on chirping!
I haven’t updated you guys on my latest writing project until now because whenever I start something intended to be a novel, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to remember how to write again, or I’ll get to the end and it won’t be long enough, or it will turn out to be an incoherent, unpublishable disaster. Well, I’ve been deep into a project I started this spring, and I’m relieved and excited to go into this weekend having crossed the 40k mark! What’s more, I think it might resemble something you may actually want to read.
A new review from HorrorAddicts.net has come out, written by Daphne Strasert, who has some very kind words to say about my strange little book:
One of the most literary horror books that I’ve picked up in the past year. Huguenin takes a subtle hand in guiding the reader through the story, letting tension build organically, before punching them in the gut with the reveal. . . . If you’re looking for creeping horror with a satisfying twist and excellent writing, pick up Unknowing, I Sink.
I’m so glad folks are enjoying this book. If you haven’t yet read it, it is the perfect size to take with you and read on the beach this summer. This chilling story will help cool you down as you lay sweating (like Mr V!) in the hot sun. It’s available in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook formats. Don’t forget to review it on Amazon and Goodreads.
Click the book cover below for more information and to purchase:
The folks at Tales to Terrify have done it again! My scifi horror short tale, "Drifting Into the Black", has been given new life in audio. Just released today, Episode 486 of the Tales to Terrify podcast is sure to meet your dark scifi/space survival horror/action/dread needs. Give it a listen on your way to work, or sitting at home alone in the dark.
Unknowing, I Sink now in audio from Beacon Audiobooks
Rest those weary eyes. My weird horror novella, Unknowing, I Sink, published in paperback and ebook last year by Independent Legions Publishing, is NOW AN AUDIOBOOK thanks to Beacon Audiobooks!
What’s better than a book festival? A book festival you can attend in your underwear! No, it’s not like that… I mean it will be online, all right? Stay home and come with me to this year’s all-virtual Canal Town Book Festival on Saturday, May 22!
Fresh feasting for your famished earholes, hot off the audio griddle. Curtis M. Lawson, host of the podcast Wyrd Transmissions, has interviewed me. Listen to us chat a little about my writing and a lot more about other stuff.
