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Book: Scary Stories - A Collection of Horror - Volume 1 (Chamber of Horror Series) by Billy Wells

categories: Book, Scary Stories, Horror Collection, Short Horror Stories, Short Scary Stories, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Horror

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Billy Wells

about this book: My fourth collection of horror stories, "Scary Stories" is much different than the others. Each of my first and second books, "Black As Night" and "Shivers and Other Nightmares" had about thirty stories in a little more than 200 pages. My third and most successful book, "Don't Look Behind You" had seventeen offerings in about 175 pages while "Scary Stories" has only ten stories in the same number pages.

As I go forward, I am writing longer stories with plots that are more complex and developing my characters a lot more. Time will tell if my readers will enjoy this departure from more of a flash fiction tale to a short story you might find in a magazine. In my latest book, four of the stories exceed 5,000 words, another 7,000, and the longest almost 9,000 words. At this point, I don't see myself writing a 1,000-word story like I did when I started, but maybe I'll surprise myself.

I'd like to write the great American novel and make the big bucks like my idol Stephen KIng, but all the subplots, back stories, and additional characters it takes to write a book like 'It" or "The Stand" would be extremely difficult for me. I like to put a protagonist in peril and let him live or die without the extra complications.

Currently, instead of writing stories at my computer, I am writing them in my golf cart on a yellow pad, Afterward, I dictate the story into Dragon, email it to myself, then upload it into Word. Then, comes the painstaking task of editing it, which I really hate. Once the story is completed, I read it to a writing group that meets each Monday. The members suggest corrections. I decide, as Bob Seger said in "Against the Wind," what to leave in, what to leave out. Voila! The completed story. Not really, I have never written a story that I can read without changing something about it along the way. I hope I live long enough to finally accomplish that feat, but I doubt I ever will.

Like a pregnancy, "Scary Stories" took about nine months to write. I selected the title by following in the footsteps of one of my favorite writers, Jack Kilborn/Konrath who titled his book "Horror Stories." There is no main theme for the book, and none of the stories have any similarity to another, at least, from my perspective.

I searched all of the royalty free photo sites in search of an in your face picture that stands out from the others like my cover for "Don't Look Behind You." I think this cover is good for an eBook, but possibly, not as good for the paperback version. Having the red-faced monster glaring at you from your coffee table might be too alarming for some horror fans.

My final comment is that I think the stories in this book are some of the best stories I have written. Enjoy!