Tag: Phil Slattery

Marketing Test

Phil Slattery, 2015

Starting today and probably for at least the next couple weeks, I will be testing advertising my works at different frequencies to see how that will affect book sales.  Today, you will see the same announcements for Diabolical and Alien Embrace at least four times (every six hours) each to see if that not only affects sales in the US, but around the globe as well. My followers in other countries occasionally purchase a work, but I have to ask myself if this is because of the difference in time zones and because I have been making announcements only once per day. For example, if I announce a book is available at 8:00 eastern standard time (EST) in the US, which is an optimal time to advertise in the US, that announcement reaches people in India around 5:30 pm, which may or may not be a time when the announcement will reach the most viewers. What gave me this ideas is noticing that since I have started advertising my works once per day at 8:00 EST, my readership in India has picked up. Therefore, I am experimenting to determine the optimal times to reach a worldwide audience.

Unfortunately, this will clutter this website with the same repeated ads, so I will run these multiple ads only sporadically.  I will not be doing this every day.

You will also start seeing the occasional article in another language as part of the effort to reach a global audience.  This articles will be most likely be in German, French, or Spanish, all of which I can speak or read to some degree.  A translation may or may not be provided.

“Diabolical” Free on Amazon Kindle Today, Monday, April 29 (Reviews Wanted)

Please go to amazon.com/author/philslattery or Goodreads or any other social media to leave a review

Diabolical: Three Tales of Jack Thurston and Revenge will be free today on Amazon Kindle.

You can get your copy by going to my Amazon author’s page.

Jack Thurston is a retired professor of medieval literature and history. He is also a widower and father and a retired sorcerer who has returned to the black arts to exact horrifying revenge for the death of his wife, daughter, and brother. Jack has an intriguing position in the universe at a focal point of life, the afterlife, logic and reason, anger and hatred, the ancient and the modern worlds, grief and his attempts to escape grief through self-destruction. Though he wants to have the peace he once found with his wife, Agatha, he is pulled in many directions by circumstance and by his powerful negative emotions.

Currently, Jack has a Twitter account (@jthurston666), where he has attracted a small following and where it has only recently been revealed that he is fictional. Jack has his own blog at jackthurstonblog.wordpress.com (a work in progress) and his own e-mail at jackthurston666@gmail.com. Information on more social media accounts and other characters (as they are developed) can be found at: philslattery.wordpress.com. Please interact with him at any of his social media accounts as you would with a real person.

Check back frequently.  More giveaways are coming in the near future.

Don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

If you enjoy horror, check out my collection of horror short stories A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror: Stories of wizards, werewolves, serial killers, alien worlds, and the damned.

My Poetry Collection “Nocturne” is Free on Sunday, April 28

Today, I am giving away copies of the e-version of my only poetry collection Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover.

Nocturne is a collection of my poetry written from the mid-80’s to mid-90s, a turbulent, fluid time in my life in many ways, but especially romantically. I have taken many of the poems written during those years and compiled them into a dark narrative capturing the emotional turmoil of a narrator who descends from romantic love for a woman into a lonely world of alcohol and night clubs, where his only love is the night that envelopes him psychologically, emotionally, and physically.  It is about 110 print pages in length and lavishly illustrated with photos I found in the public domain (no, those are not photos of me or my former paramours).

You can find it and my other works at my Amazon author’s page:  Amazon.com/author/philslattery.

I have tried to make this a wonderful experience for the reader, exploring the bliss of love to the depths of despair and then to resignation to one’s fate in an existential crisis.

Don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads!

While there, you might want to check out my other work on relationships: The Scent and Other Stories.  In this collection of short stories, I explore the dark, sometimes violent, sometimes twisted, sometimes touching side of love, the side kept not only from public view, but sometimes from our mates. Set in the modern era, these stories range from regretting losing a lover to forbidden interracial love in the hills of 1970’s Kentucky to a mother’s deathbed confession in present-day New Mexico to debating pursuing a hateful man’s wife to the callous manipulation of a lover in Texas.

Check back frequently for updates.

If you are a fan of love stories, check out my short story collection The Scent and Other Stories.

Update: April 28, 2019 10:03 pm

It has been a busy weekend. Yesterday morning I spent much of the morning to maybe early afternoon making plans to complete several short stories and either add them to my existing anthologies on Amazon or to create new anthologies. I spent much of yesterday afternoon and evening writing in various coffee shops and restaurants in Farmington.  I intended to work on my sci-fi novel, whose working title is Jacob’s Ladder. Instead, I worked on a sci-fi/horror short story, on which I had a brainstorm for most of the day.  It’s title is “The Charade”.  It’s about the interrogation of an alien commander after his invasion armada has been defeated over Denver.  For a short story, it will have a lot of intricacy and subtext. That’s all I will say about it for now.

The city of Aztec turned off the electric to most of the city, or at least our neighborhood, from 10 pm last night to about 7:00 this morning. Therefore, after I had spent most of the day in Farmington, I came home for a short while to feed the dog and type most of “The Charade”. Then I went back into Farmington for dinner at Olive Garden, then over to Lucky Breaks to shoot pool for about an hour before proceeding to Denny’s to write more on Jacob’s Ladder.  If you saw last night’s posts, you know that I wasn’t too successful at that, because I was tired and couldn’t focus on writing.  I couldn’t get a good “flow” going.  Therefore, I spent most of my time on my social media related to writing. I had enough energy to do that.

I became very tired around 3:00 a.m. and headed home. Before I went home, I took a detour to Main Street to check out the hours for the Chile Pod, a very good New Mexican restaurant.  I was planning to go there today for breakfast, but it was closed. I took the attached photo of Main Street looking east from the Chile Pod at 3:28 a.m. just because I had never seen the street so empty.  There also seems to be a sort of desolate beauty about the street.  When I used to do black and white photography in the 80’s-90’s, I used to take a lot of dramatic night shots of Alexandria Virginia and Washington, DC for the same reason.

I arrived home at about 4:00, and the electricity was out as announced. I had put some candles and a lighter near the door before I had left at 9:30 p.m.  I lit them, sat up for a few minutes, and then lay down on the sofa to sleep, but never fell asleep.

When dawn came, the dog wanted out.  I let her out. I lay back down, but couldn’t fall asleep for whatever reason.  I felt very fatigued, but still had too much energy to sleep.  Therefore, I surfed the Net for a while, including reading a few articles on using keywords and how to market books on Amazon.  Then I worked on fine-tuning the administrative and marketing stuff for both my paperback and e-books on Amazon. I also worked some on finishing the paperback version of Nocturne. While doing that, I had a couple of ideas.

The first idea was to write and publish on Amazon a children’s book, for which I had the initial idea probably more than ten years ago while living in Corpus Christi. The original draft is on an old hard drive that I haven’t been able to access for about ten years. It is about a young brown pelican who is afraid to dive into the water for fish from about five stories up, which is what brown pelicans do. His father then has to teach him to overcome his fear.  The young pelican also learns about trusting his father.

The second idea I had was to put together a collection of classic short horror stories and poetry from the ones I published on my website a few years ago in a recurring article called “The Saturday Night Special”, because I published them on Saturday nights. They seemed to be fairly popular.  Most were stories from the nineteenth century, though a few were from 1900-1920, before copyright laws were established.  Thus, all are in the public domain. I chose works from classic horror authors: Poe, M.R. James, Algernon Blackwood, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, etc. I started on that and had the first three stories in it, when, about 5:00 p.m., I decided to clean up and go have something to eat at a local Chinese restaurant. I took a notebook with me to write the first draft of the children’s book. See the previous article for photos of me and the notebook at the Wonderful House restaurant tonight.

I had hot and sour soup and pot stickers. While eating I read the news on my iPhone. Then I went to work on my book and didn’t put the pen down, with the exception of receiving a few calls from my wife (she is in Texas), until I had finished, which I did at 8:45 (the restaurant closes at 9:00).  I then posted on this blog that I had completed the first draft and I came home.

Once home I started the laundry and started this post while watching a program on YouTube about the “Iceman”, Richard Kuklinski, famed mafia hit-man. It ended just now.  Still no sleep. This happens occasionally and is not at all unusual for me.

I never managed to do the household chores I needed to do this weekend: financial planning, mowing the yard, cleaning the house, etc. Still, I got a lot done for my writing career.

This is the way it has been for me for a few weeks.  I have had this drive to write, which grows increasingly strong with each day. I can hardly tear myself away from the keyboard.

It’s 11:24 p.m..  Still no sleep. Laundry is in the dryer.  Going to bed soon.

Good night.

 

My Poetry Collection “Nocturne” is Free on Sunday, April 28

Today, I am giving away copies of the e-version of my only poetry collection Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover.

Nocturne is a collection of my poetry written from the mid-80’s to mid-90s, a turbulent, fluid time in my life in many ways, but especially romantically. I have taken many of the poems written during those years and compiled them into a dark narrative capturing the emotional turmoil of a narrator who descends from romantic love for a woman into a lonely world of alcohol and night clubs, where his only love is the night that envelopes him psychologically, emotionally, and physically.  It is about 110 print pages in length and lavishly illustrated with photos I found in the public domain (no, those are not photos of me or my former paramours).

You can find it and my other works at my Amazon author’s page:  Amazon.com/author/philslattery.

I have tried to make this a wonderful experience for the reader, exploring the bliss of love to the depths of despair and then to resignation to one’s fate in an existential crisis.

Don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads!

While there, you might want to check out my other work on relationships: The Scent and Other Stories.  In this collection of short stories, I explore the dark, sometimes violent, sometimes twisted, sometimes touching side of love, the side kept not only from public view, but sometimes from our mates. Set in the modern era, these stories range from regretting losing a lover to forbidden interracial love in the hills of 1970’s Kentucky to a mother’s deathbed confession in present-day New Mexico to debating pursuing a hateful man’s wife to the callous manipulation of a lover in Texas.

Check back frequently for updates.

If you are a fan of love stories, check out my short story collection The Scent and Other Stories.

My Poetry Collection “Nocturne” is Free on Sunday, April 28

Today, I am giving away copies of the e-version of my only poetry collection Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover.

Nocturne is a collection of my poetry written from the mid-80’s to mid-90s, a turbulent, fluid time in my life in many ways, but especially romantically. I have taken many of the poems written during those years and compiled them into a dark narrative capturing the emotional turmoil of a narrator who descends from romantic love for a woman into a lonely world of alcohol and night clubs, where his only love is the night that envelopes him psychologically, emotionally, and physically.  It is about 110 print pages in length and lavishly illustrated with photos I found in the public domain (no, those are not photos of me or my former paramours).

You can find it and my other works at my Amazon author’s page:  Amazon.com/author/philslattery.

I have tried to make this a wonderful experience for the reader, exploring the bliss of love to the depths of despair and then to resignation to one’s fate in an existential crisis.

Don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads!

While there, you might want to check out my other work on relationships: The Scent and Other Stories.  In this collection of short stories, I explore the dark, sometimes violent, sometimes twisted, sometimes touching side of love, the side kept not only from public view, but sometimes from our mates. Set in the modern era, these stories range from regretting losing a lover to forbidden interracial love in the hills of 1970’s Kentucky to a mother’s deathbed confession in present-day New Mexico to debating pursuing a hateful man’s wife to the callous manipulation of a lover in Texas.

Check back frequently for updates.

If you are a fan of love stories, check out my short story collection The Scent and Other Stories.

Phil Slattery’s Sci-Fi Novelette “Alien Embrace” is Available on Amazon Kindle and in Print

Logan Rickover, owner of a hardware store in a small town in Kentucky, has lucid dreams of life as an astronaut that intrude upon his life at any moment. Which of his lives is real? The quiet paradise of Danville or the terrifying jungle world of Stheno D?

This novelette is a terrific read for those who have only a quick break to take a breather and escape to another reality.  In this sci-fi thriller, I endeavor to blur the boundaries between alien-induced hallucinations, the brutal reality of the present, and memories of an idyllic past.

Ron Baker calls it “Nightmare Planet”, gives it five stars, and comments: “This short has exactly what I like in science fiction: planet exploration and bizarre otherworldly aliens, in this case insectoid. The horrendous purpose the aliens have for the hapless astronauts who make planetfall to find the numerous previous missing exploration teams is grisly. I love the mystery of the planet and the authors device of alternating from the aliens bizarre perspective then switching to the astronauts point of view.”

Don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or other social media.

Check back frequently for updates.

My Poetry Collection “Nocturne” is Free on Sunday, April 28

Today, I am giving away copies of the e-version of my only poetry collection Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover.

Nocturne is a collection of my poetry written from the mid-80’s to mid-90s, a turbulent, fluid time in my life in many ways, but especially romantically. I have taken many of the poems written during those years and compiled them into a dark narrative capturing the emotional turmoil of a narrator who descends from romantic love for a woman into a lonely world of alcohol and night clubs, where his only love is the night that envelopes him psychologically, emotionally, and physically.  It is about 110 print pages in length and lavishly illustrated with photos I found in the public domain (no, those are not photos of me or my former paramours).

You can find it and my other works at my Amazon author’s page:  Amazon.com/author/philslattery.

I have tried to make this a wonderful experience for the reader, exploring the bliss of love to the depths of despair and then to resignation to one’s fate in an existential crisis.

Don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads!

While there, you might want to check out my other work on relationships: The Scent and Other Stories.  In this collection of short stories, I explore the dark, sometimes violent, sometimes twisted, sometimes touching side of love, the side kept not only from public view, but sometimes from our mates. Set in the modern era, these stories range from regretting losing a lover to forbidden interracial love in the hills of 1970’s Kentucky to a mother’s deathbed confession in present-day New Mexico to debating pursuing a hateful man’s wife to the callous manipulation of a lover in Texas.

Check back frequently for updates.

If you are a fan of love stories, check out my short story collection The Scent and Other Stories.

“The Scent and Other Stories: the Dark Side of Love” is Free on Saturday, April 27

Cover of the Kindle edition
(500 pixels wide)

In this collection of short stories, I explore the dark, sometimes violent, sometimes twisted, sometimes touching side of love, the side kept not only from public view, but sometimes from our mates. Set in the modern era, these stories range from regretting losing a lover to forbidden interracial love in the hills of 1970’s Kentucky to a mother’s deathbed confession in present-day New Mexico to debating pursuing a hateful man’s wife to the callous manipulation of a lover in Texas.

To order yours and to view my other works as well, visit my Amazon author’s page at: www.amazon.com/author/philslattery.

Praise for Stories Contained in “The Scent and Other Stories”:

The Scent

“This story has a lovely dreamy quality whilst being unsettling too. It lingers on half processed emotional experiences and leaves the reader asking ‘what if’ and ‘if only’ – feelings that are familiar for so many people.”

“You wrote about something we can all relate to – how, out of the blue, the scent of something evokes a memory of something long past; and the emotions we felt at the time! A clever story …”

“This descriptive piece about remembrance, the thought of what might have been, is a common sad thread that will resonate with those have experienced the pain of that one love lost. Slattery’s use of scent was exquisite as we feel Quinn’s pain and hope that he finds his peace, at last.”

Decision

“Fantastic writing – I held my breath for most of the story. The descriptions of the countryside and the people were beautiful and the tension compelling. This could possibly be the start of a novel or a suite of stories. Thank you very much and good luck with your writing in the future”

“Suspenseful and engaging. The dialogue and descriptions kept pace with the action. Well done.”

A Good Man

“Lots of detail examining an old question of how do you judge a person’s life. It left me wondering.”

“Great job capturing the social climate of the sixties. Good choice for how to present the story – deathbed “confession” by the mother. I enjoyed it.”

The Slightest of Indiscretions

“Excellent writing brings this poignant story to life and makes the reader work to understand more of what might be. Very many thanks for a satisfying, emotionally intelligent read…”

If you enjoy poems about love, check out my poetry collection Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover.

 

“Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night…” is Available on Amazon Kindle

Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover is a collection of my poetry written from the mid-80’s to mid-90s, a turbulent, fluid time in my life in many ways, but especially romantically. I have taken many of the poems written during those years and compiled them into a dark narrative capturing the emotional turmoil of a narrator who descends from romantic love for a woman into a lonely world of alcohol and night clubs, where his only love is the night that envelopes him psychologically, emotionally, and physically.  It is about 110 print pages in length and lavishly illustrated with photos I found in the public domain (no, those are not photos of me or of my former paramours).

You can find it and my other works at my Amazon author’s page:  Amazon.com/author/philslattery.

I have tried to make this a wonderful experience for the reader, exploring the bliss of love to the depths of despair and then to resignation to one’s fate in an existential crisis.

Don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads or other social media!

While there, you might want to check out my other work on relationships: The Scent and Other Stories.  In this collection of short stories, I explore the dark, sometimes violent, sometimes twisted, sometimes touching side of love, the side kept not only from public view, but sometimes from our mates. Set in the modern era, these stories range from regretting losing a lover to forbidden interracial love in the hills of 1970’s Kentucky to a mother’s deathbed confession in present-day New Mexico to debating pursuing a hateful man’s wife to the callous manipulation of a lover in Texas.

Two reviews have warm praise for Nocturne…:

J. Muckley calls it “Beautiful, Sad, Authentic and Vulnerable Look at Love and Loss” and gives it five stars, saying:

Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover by Phil Slattery is a deep and raw “picture” of experiencing love and lovers of varying type, capturing the moments of ecstasy and pain in a most beautiful way.

Slattery speaks with one voice as his words and pictures depict the full range of human love and loss that both tempts the soul to engage and urges the heart to resist. His opening quote by Augustine of Hippo captures this work perfectly: “I was not yet in love, yet I loved to love…I sought what I might love, in love with loving.”  –Augustine of Hippo

The poems are mostly untitled and written in free verse form. The reader meanders through the past relationships as they ebb and flow through varying stages. The introduction poem tells of the types of poem you will soon encounter:
nights of love
full of life and laughter
as empty as an empty
bottle

The poem closes:
Bring me to that ultimate pleasure
in your all-consuming eyes.
Let us become one
and share the horrors of this
world

All in all, Nocturne, is a beautiful but sad read that speaks to the reality of love and holds nothing back. It engages the mind and the heart longing for lasting, meaningful love that always seems just outside of its reach.

P.S. Winn calls it “Great Poems with Pictures”, gives it four stars, and says:

I like this author’s poems which have a great feel to them. The book is about love but a lot more is included inside the pages. I like the photos the author included to enhance the poetry. A few of the poems held descriptive words about nature and I enjoyed the way the picture author paints in the readers mind is also displayed in the photographs that correspond with the words.

Check back frequently for updates.

“The Scent and Other Stories: the Dark Side of Love” is Available on Amazon Kindle

In this collection of short stories, I explore the dark, sometimes violent, sometimes twisted, sometimes touching side of love, the side kept not only from public view, but sometimes from our mates. Set in the modern era, these stories range from regretting losing a lover to forbidden interracial love in the hills of 1970’s Kentucky to a mother’s deathbed confession in present-day New Mexico to debating pursuing a hateful man’s wife to the callous manipulation of a lover in Texas.

To order yours and to view my other works as well, visit my Amazon author’s page at: www.amazon.com/author/philslattery.

Praise for Stories Contained in “The Scent and Other Stories”:

The Scent

“This story has a lovely dreamy quality whilst being unsettling too. It lingers on half processed emotional experiences and leaves the reader asking ‘what if’ and ‘if only’ – feelings that are familiar for so many people.”

“You wrote about something we can all relate to – how, out of the blue, the scent of something evokes a memory of something long past; and the emotions we felt at the time! A clever story …”

“This descriptive piece about remembrance, the thought of what might have been, is a common sad thread that will resonate with those have experienced the pain of that one love lost. Slattery’s use of scent was exquisite as we feel Quinn’s pain and hope that he finds his peace, at last.”

Decision

“Fantastic writing – I held my breath for most of the story. The descriptions of the countryside and the people were beautiful and the tension compelling. This could possibly be the start of a novel or a suite of stories. Thank you very much and good luck with your writing in the future”

“Suspenseful and engaging. The dialogue and descriptions kept pace with the action. Well done.”

A Good Man

“Lots of detail examining an old question of how do you judge a person’s life. It left me wondering.”

“Great job capturing the social climate of the sixties. Good choice for how to present the story – deathbed “confession” by the mother. I enjoyed it.”

The Slightest of Indiscretions

“Excellent writing brings this poignant story to life and makes the reader work to understand more of what might be. Very many thanks for a satisfying, emotionally intelligent read…”

If you enjoy poems about love, check out my poetry collection Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover.

 

Thoughts on the Value of Short Stories to the Author

Phil Slattery, 2015

Reprinted from Farmington Writers Circle, April 25, 2019.

I have seen several comments on television shows that no one has made money on publishing short stories since probably the days of Hemingway.  I don’t know how true this is, but I know that, except for the most professional and most competitive, very few markets pay very much for a short story.  You can find this out by researching pay in the Writers Market or using Duotrope. One would have to write short stories constantly and have them published constantly in order to make a living from them.

However, for me the value of a short story is not in the money it brings.  The value is in the publicity and “face time” (an old Navy expression about the time one has in the boss’s full view or with his attention focused on you) in front of the public.  “Face time” equals exposure to people critical to you career.

If then, face time is the primary reward one has from a short story, then it would behoove an author to have as many of his stories in front of public (i.e. published) as possible.  But creating a short story is time and labor intensive.  As in most endeavors, it is important to reap as many rewards for as few products in as short a time as possible.  This is simply being efficient and the more efficient, the better in any endeavor.  The next question then is how to do this with a short story?

Once you have a story published, many, if not most, magazines will not touch it because they want first rights.  There are many that will publish it, but by far the majority will not pay or will pay only a fraction of what they pay for first rights. However, you still have face time with its publication.

Therefore, the trick with a short story is to have it continually reprinted while keeping as many stories in front of the public as possible, whether they are traditional short stories, flash fiction, micro-fiction, or whatever.  One advantage of the web is that usually the publishing website will let you link your byline or bio to your website, drawing more traffic to you and to your works.  Once that story is on the Internet, it is often up there forever.  So why not have as many links as possible to your website for all eternity?

The submission process is usually fairly simple and straightforward, if you have some experience with submissions, but may be challenging if you don’t.  There are some key points to remember about reprinting a short story:

  1. If possible check the circulation or readership of the magazine where you will be submitting your work.  As with stories being printed for the first time, the best approach is to publish with a publisher that has the largest circulation possible.  It’s better to have your work published on a website that has 20,000 visitors/month versus 1,000/month.  This is more face time with less effort.  For that matter, depending on your viewpoint, it may be more worthwhile to have a story published for no pay in front of a readership of 20,000 versus being paid $10 to have it published to a readership of 1,000. With reprinting, it is possible to do both.
  2. Keep a history of where and when your work has been published. Some publishers will want to know where and when it has been previously published. Use any method you want, but I suggest using Excel or a submissions engine like Duotrope to keep things organized. Duotrope has a lot of advantages. It is worth the $5/month charge to take a lot of administrative tasks off you shoulders.
  3. Read the submissions guidelines and restrictions on post-publication as well, whenever you submit a story to a publisher.  Adhere to them. Some publishers will return the rights to you as soon as the work is published.  With some, you may have to wait several months before resubmitting elsewhere.  Some publishers won’t reprint your story without knowing that you have full rights to reprint the story. Be ethical; follow their guidance.  It may save you some heartache later.  All a publisher can do it to blacklist you, but why be blacklisted anywhere?
  4. Study literary rights.  Know the difference between first rights, reprint rights, and any other rights out there.  Don’t get yourself blacklisted or in bigger trouble. This is simply being professional.

Take care, and I wish you much success with your writing.

Phil Slattery’s Sci-Fi Novelette “Alien Embrace” is Available on Amazon Kindle and in Print

Logan Rickover, owner of a hardware store in a small town in Kentucky, has lucid dreams of life as an astronaut that intrude upon his life at any moment. Which of his lives is real? The quiet paradise of Danville or the terrifying jungle world of Stheno D?

This novelette is a terrific read for those who have only a quick break to take a breather and escape to another reality.  In this sci-fi thriller, I endeavor to blur the boundaries between alien-induced hallucinations, the brutal reality of the present, and memories of an idyllic past.

Ron Baker calls it “Nightmare Planet”, gives it five stars, and comments: “This short has exactly what I like in science fiction: planet exploration and bizarre otherworldly aliens, in this case insectoid. The horrendous purpose the aliens have for the hapless astronauts who make planetfall to find the numerous previous missing exploration teams is grisly. I love the mystery of the planet and the authors device of alternating from the aliens bizarre perspective then switching to the astronauts point of view.”

Don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or other social media.

Check back frequently for updates.

“Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night…” is Available on Amazon Kindle

Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover is a collection of my poetry written from the mid-80’s to mid-90s, a turbulent, fluid time in my life in many ways, but especially romantically. I have taken many of the poems written during those years and compiled them into a dark narrative capturing the emotional turmoil of a narrator who descends from romantic love for a woman into a lonely world of alcohol and night clubs, where his only love is the night that envelopes him psychologically, emotionally, and physically.  It is about 110 print pages in length and lavishly illustrated with photos I found in the public domain (no, those are not photos of me or of my former paramours).

You can find it and my other works at my Amazon author’s page:  Amazon.com/author/philslattery.

I have tried to make this a wonderful experience for the reader, exploring the bliss of love to the depths of despair and then to resignation to one’s fate in an existential crisis.

Don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads or other social media!

While there, you might want to check out my other work on relationships: The Scent and Other Stories.  In this collection of short stories, I explore the dark, sometimes violent, sometimes twisted, sometimes touching side of love, the side kept not only from public view, but sometimes from our mates. Set in the modern era, these stories range from regretting losing a lover to forbidden interracial love in the hills of 1970’s Kentucky to a mother’s deathbed confession in present-day New Mexico to debating pursuing a hateful man’s wife to the callous manipulation of a lover in Texas.

Two reviews have warm praise for Nocturne…:

J. Muckley calls it “Beautiful, Sad, Authentic and Vulnerable Look at Love and Loss” and gives it five stars, saying:

Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover by Phil Slattery is a deep and raw “picture” of experiencing love and lovers of varying type, capturing the moments of ecstasy and pain in a most beautiful way.

Slattery speaks with one voice as his words and pictures depict the full range of human love and loss that both tempts the soul to engage and urges the heart to resist. His opening quote by Augustine of Hippo captures this work perfectly: “I was not yet in love, yet I loved to love…I sought what I might love, in love with loving.”  –Augustine of Hippo

The poems are mostly untitled and written in free verse form. The reader meanders through the past relationships as they ebb and flow through varying stages. The introduction poem tells of the types of poem you will soon encounter:
nights of love
full of life and laughter
as empty as an empty
bottle

The poem closes:
Bring me to that ultimate pleasure
in your all-consuming eyes.
Let us become one
and share the horrors of this
world

All in all, Nocturne, is a beautiful but sad read that speaks to the reality of love and holds nothing back. It engages the mind and the heart longing for lasting, meaningful love that always seems just outside of its reach.

P.S. Winn calls it “Great Poems with Pictures”, gives it four stars, and says:

I like this author’s poems which have a great feel to them. The book is about love but a lot more is included inside the pages. I like the photos the author included to enhance the poetry. A few of the poems held descriptive words about nature and I enjoyed the way the picture author paints in the readers mind is also displayed in the photographs that correspond with the words.

Check back frequently for updates.

“The Scent and Other Stories: the Dark Side of Love” is Available on Amazon Kindle

In this collection of short stories, I explore the dark, sometimes violent, sometimes twisted, sometimes touching side of love, the side kept not only from public view, but sometimes from our mates. Set in the modern era, these stories range from regretting losing a lover to forbidden interracial love in the hills of 1970’s Kentucky to a mother’s deathbed confession in present-day New Mexico to debating pursuing a hateful man’s wife to the callous manipulation of a lover in Texas.

To order yours and to view my other works as well, visit my Amazon author’s page at: www.amazon.com/author/philslattery.

Praise for Stories Contained in “The Scent and Other Stories”:

The Scent

“This story has a lovely dreamy quality whilst being unsettling too. It lingers on half processed emotional experiences and leaves the reader asking ‘what if’ and ‘if only’ – feelings that are familiar for so many people.”

“You wrote about something we can all relate to – how, out of the blue, the scent of something evokes a memory of something long past; and the emotions we felt at the time! A clever story …”

“This descriptive piece about remembrance, the thought of what might have been, is a common sad thread that will resonate with those have experienced the pain of that one love lost. Slattery’s use of scent was exquisite as we feel Quinn’s pain and hope that he finds his peace, at last.”

Decision

“Fantastic writing – I held my breath for most of the story. The descriptions of the countryside and the people were beautiful and the tension compelling. This could possibly be the start of a novel or a suite of stories. Thank you very much and good luck with your writing in the future”

“Suspenseful and engaging. The dialogue and descriptions kept pace with the action. Well done.”

A Good Man

“Lots of detail examining an old question of how do you judge a person’s life. It left me wondering.”

“Great job capturing the social climate of the sixties. Good choice for how to present the story – deathbed “confession” by the mother. I enjoyed it.”

The Slightest of Indiscretions

“Excellent writing brings this poignant story to life and makes the reader work to understand more of what might be. Very many thanks for a satisfying, emotionally intelligent read…”

If you enjoy poems about love, check out my poetry collection Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover.