Smashwords July Summer/Winter Sale

As part of the Smashwords July Summer/Winter Sale, the following ebooks in a wide variety of formats are available with significant discounts from 7/1 through 7/31.

A Few Short Stories Omnibus Volume 1 - $0.99 (Code SSW50)

A Leap of Faith - FREE (Code SSWSF) - New!

Marigolds For A Vampire - $0.99 (Code SSW50)

Paying Taxes, American Style - FREE (Code SSWSF)

Silent Observers - FREE (Code SSWSF) - New!

The Cabbage Patch Fight: A Christmas Shopping Tale - FREE (Code SSWSF)

The Giggling Mongoose: Kitchen Elementals - FREE (Code SSWSF)

Two new short story ebooks will be available soon and given away for FREE as part of this promotion. Please come back later to check out the new ebooks.

Website Redesign 2011

Upgraded the website to Joomla! CMS 1.7 and the Purity II template from JoomlaArt. Here are some of the big new features:

• Since short stories in anthologies and ebooks are my bread and butter, the current anthologies and ebooks are now featured front and center at top.
• All articles were updated to better organized to and more accessible from the menus and in the search results.
• Added a forum to discuss the articles. This is an EXPERIMENTAL feature. If it becomes a PITA to maintain, I'll remove it. I'm hoping to develop a community for my writings.

Still need to some tweaking around the edges. If you see any problems, send an email to webmaster at cdreimer.com to let me know.

Now available on Goodreads

After seeing so many different writers mention Goodreads in their Twitter posts for several years, I had finally found my way over there. You can check out my author profile, add the anthologies and ebooks that my short story appears in to your reading shelves, and give them steller reviews.

Unlike the unfreindly Facebook, I got plenty of writing friends from Twitter who are also on Goodreads.

I'm looking into offering my short story ebooks directly on Goodreads, which means learning how to format the source file to create the epub file for submission (i.e., Microsoft Word > HTML > ePub). Formatting has never been an issue for me since fiction doesn't require much and the conversion process at Amazon and Smashwords hides all the saugage-making details. I think most writers get stuck on the HTML part because they are not familiar with HTML. Unless Microsoft Word 2010 is spewing out bad HTML like it did ten years ago, it shouldn't be a problem for me. I been using HTML for 13 years.

One nice feature I'll be using at Goodreads is having book give away promotions. Next month I'm planning to give away three autographed copies of The Big Book of New Short Horror anthology from Pill Hill Press that has my short story, "The Lunch Box."  If that promotion goes well, I may have another one. I got 11 short stories in five anthologies coming out by the end of the year.

The Big Book of New Short Horror Anthology Is Now Available

The "Big Book of New Short Horror" anthology (Pill Hill Press / September 2011) is now available in multiple formats from Amazon, featuring my short story "The Lunch Box."

After her father opens the wooden lunch box despite her dead grandfather's note and tosses out the rusted block of nails from within, he is called away to to leave Little Suzy and her dog, Spot, trapped inside the garage during a fierce thunderstorm with an unspeakable horror that haunted her family.

I will be giving away three autographed trade paperbacks on Goodreads next month. More details will be announced later after I receive my shipment from the printers.

Goodreads Book Giveaway - Fall 2011

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Big Book of New Short Horror

by Jessy Marie Roberts

Giveaway ends November 11, 2011.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Daily Flash 2012 Anthology Is Now Available

The "Daily Flash 2012" anthology (Pill Hill Press / November 2011) is now available, featuring four of my flash stories.

"Double Dipping"— After Eddie took out insurance policies on the other bar owners in town and used the proceeds from their deaths to shut down the competition, the assassin he hired to move things along also took out an insurance policy on him.

"Feasts of The Cockroaches" — An older cockroach explains to a younger cockroach how the pestilence known as humanity became extinct when they refused to adapt to an increasingly hostile environment.

"Golem Got The Birdies" — After his first computerized golem failed with a blue screen of death, optimistic Benesh tries again using demonology and skeptical Jacob watches the results of this experiment fall out of the sky.

"Humbug Knockers" — Nick was a busy man during the twelve days of Christmas, going to bed early to get a full night sleep before standing on his feet all day. But, like the ghosts who visited miserable Ebenezer Stooge, four knockers came a-knocking to his apartment door.

Daily Frights 2012 Anthology Is Now Available

The "Daily Frights 2012" anthology (Pill Hill Press / December 2011) is now available, featuring six of my flash stories.

"As The Tequila Flies" — Pedro, drunk from drinking bottles of tequila after shooting his wife dead in the living room, keeps killing the same old fly that wanders into the kitchen to torment him over and over again.

"Fair Trade" — When Nathan breaks into the funeral home to retrieve the video game console to be buried with his little brother Petey, he ends up trading with the dead and gets more than he bargains for.

"Recycable Women" — While two women are recycling the brass sprinkler heads off the irrigation pipes, they are spooked by the crucified scarecrow in the middle of the cornfield that seems to be moving closer to them.

"RV Coffin" — After the old man leaves his RV unattended in the Walmart parking lot, two boys climbs up the back to check out the purple coffin strapped down on top and finds something that kills their curiosity.

"Tagging This Side Of Hell" — As Atanacio tries to deface the mural of condemned souls being sent to hell under the watchful eyes of the devil, his sister Malia discovers why the mural remains unblemished by taggers.

"Vampires of The Freight Elevator" — A pair of Indian vampires feast on the Latino janitors from inside the freight elevator of a Silicon Valley technology company when one of them develops threshold issues and refuses to leave.

Holiday Specials & Price Changes

My bestselling essay ebook, "The Cabbage Patch Fight: A Christmas Shopping Tale," is FREE at Smashwords (use coupon code VZ44V) until the New Year.

My short story omnibus ebooks, "A Few Short Stories Omnibus Volume 1" and "A Few Short Stories Omnibus Volume 2," are now available for $1.99 USD each. Save $13 by buying both omnibus ebooks instead of 17 individual ebooks for 32 literary and speculative flash and short stories.

Read An eBook Week (March 4-10, 2012)

In honor of "Read An eBook Week" for this year, the following ebook titles at Smashwords are available at 50% off or FREE!

• A Few Short Stories Omnibus Volume 1 - Now $0.99 (use coupon code REW50)
• A Few Short Stories Omnibus Volume 2 - Now $0.99 (use coupon code REW50)
• Essays From Silicon Valley Omnibus Volume 1 - Now $0.99 (use coupon code REW50)
• KGO Radio Jumps The Shark: More News, Less Talk - Now FREE (use coupon code RE100)
• The Devil's Advocates - Now FREE (use coupon code RE100)
• The Semper Fi Engagement - Now FREE (use coupon code RE100)

If you enjoy reading any of my ebooks, please leave a kind review on Smashwords.

Three Anthologies Available For Ordering

As circumstances would have it, three anthologies with three short stories are available for ordering.

"Behind Closed Doors" anthology (Wicked East Press / March 2012), featuring "Scarlet Hearts (The Giggling Mongoose)."

When an old attorney and his three young harlots refused to leave a tip on a big bill, Charles Goodwin, the cannibalistic owner of The Giggling Mongoose, becomes frustrated that he can't teach the old goat a lesson in restaurant manners. When the scorned wife makes him an offer he can't refuse, he serves up a special Valetine's Day dinner that leaves their hearts bleeding for more.

"Short Sips" anthology (Wicked East Press / March 2012), featuring "The Kitterun Five Tourist Trap."

Although Humans and Kitteruns—a feline-humanoid species—are the most physically compatible of all the sentient species, Mr. Vayne is horrified to learn from the hotel manager, Ms. Pussey Galore, that seeing the long tail of a sexually aroused female Kitterun could cost him his life. With his vacation ruined and the travel fees non-refundable, he discovers something else about the Kitteruns that makes this planet an inhospitable place to visit.

"Roboterotica" anthology (DFE Quarterly Press / April 2012), featuring "Sunday In The Park With Dawei."

When straitlaced Sasha responds to the personal ad on Andyslist and finds free-spirited Dawei sunbathing topless in Golden Gate Park, they tangle hot and heavy on a park bench to learn why androids are considered to be sexually deviant in the future.