DUNCAN RALSTON
@userbits
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Author of the indie cult hit WOOM & the GHOSTLAND books. LOST superfan. See pinned tweet for books. For FREE ebooks, Woom merch, etc:
Toronto
Joined June 2011
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Pinned Tweet
Those of you just joining me might think all I do is write jokes on Twitter but I also write HORROR and THRILLERS. My debut GRISTLE & BONE was called "intelligent, character-driven horror tales" by Jack Ketchum, author of THE GIRL NEXT DOOR.
/thread
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Just saw someone say Stephen King's IT is "not horror" and apparently some people's definition of horror is so narrow it doesn't even encompass literal horror novels about alien shapeshifters who eat children.
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When I saw JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR the other week, the understudies were playing Jesus and Judas because Jesus had Covid and Judas was arrested for storming the Capitol building.
You *could* make that up but nobody would believe it.
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Kindle out TODAY!!
The unexpurgated, uncut, unabridged, larger than life omnibus version of the Ghostland Trilogy, including TONS of interior art, "deleted scenes," new post-epilogue, bonus Ghost Hunter's Guide entries. Cover by Sadist Art Designs.
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I fuckin love prologues. I love epilogues. I love chapter titles and long chapters. I love metaphor and backstory and foreshadowing and adjectives all the other tricks writers have in their toolboxes. Don't let "market" dictate how you write and read what you read.
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Turns out I've sold well over 20k copies of WOOM. There are almost 8000 paperbacks out there in the wild. 👀 Mind = blown 💥
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Great news for indie authors and small press! Amazon made a deal with the Authors Guild and are changing their return policy so that ebooks cannot be returned after 10% of the book has been read!
Please share and spread the joy! 😁
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Officially, I've sold over 10,000 print copies of Woom. Never would have imagined this weird little novella would come close to reaching that. My 2nd-highest selling print book is Ghostland at a little under one-tenth of Woom's numbers. I'm flabbergasted, frankly.
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Lol those lists of "These People Might be the Next Stephen King" never fail to make me laugh. Like, yeah, some great writers on there but I'm sorry, NOBODY will be the next Stephen King. There will never be another Stephen King.
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People drag King for "weak endings" but even if all the rest are bad (very few are) the ending of PET SEMETARY is one of the best in horror.
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All you buckaroos need to read this excellent book from
@ChuckTingle
when it comes out and help prove love is real.
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I'm in the mood for some WEREWOLF HORROR. Indie and small press, tweet me your werewolf books!
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Opinion: cover reveals should always mention the artist/designer.
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Your Cover Sucks & 50 Other Reasons Your Books Aren't Selling
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I'm no longer going to use the term "self-published."
I haven't for a while but I think I should make it official.
You wouldn't call an indie musician/filmmaker "self-produced."
"Self-published" is meant to be insulting. It's intended to belittle.
I'm an Indie author/writer.
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I'm not an indie author. I write hand-crafted artisanal horror.
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WOOM reach 10,000 ratings on Goodreads today. Never in my life did I think this little book would do so well. Grateful to anyone who's ever read one of my books, and of course the inimitable
@The_Matt_Shaw
for taking a chance on it in the first place.
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You know... since we're all writers and readers... why don't we connect on Goodreads instead of these weird apps no one ever heard of until last week? Just a thought.
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If you think a character saying/thinking something means the writer necessarily believes it, then you have no business consuming media.
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First copies showing up in the wild before my own proof copies show up. Thanks for that, IngramSpark lol
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Can we PLEASE stop talking about people passing out at horror movies? This isn't the '70s. Nobody believes that shit anymore. Like ever.
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Okay but like, what happens if more than one person calls Candyman at a time? Can he be two places at once or does he put one of them on hold?
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Just signed with
@WickedHousePub
for my new novel PUZZLE HOUSE, which I've been pitching as Escape Room meets The Evil Dead, though it's probably more in line with Ghostland meets The Method. Will share more when I can!
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It's true. I got over 80 rejections for GHOSTLAND and since I chose to self publish, the series has sold over 20k copies. If the story/concept is solid, the right readers will find you eventually.
Writers don’t sell yourself short. Didn’t have a publisher for The Warrior Retreat. I self published it in November of last year. I’ve sold just over 400 copies since publishing. I did that off the strength of myself and word of mouth from readers and reviewers. Not bad for a
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@danacarvey
My wife says the chopping broccoli part all the time but this was one sketch I'd never seen before. I just showed it to her and she sang along and now it all makes sense.
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Cover reveal for my brand-new non-Woom non-Ghostland novel, PUZZLE HOUSE, from
@WickedHousePub
! Escape Room meets Saw as six strangers solve complex puzzles to get their share of a deceased puzzle master's $150M dollar estate.
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I wish there was a nicer way to say "I didn't love your first effort but the writing is good, shows a lot of potential, and I'll definitely check out your future work."
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Readers these days complain about typos in indie horror books.
They say, "How can ya stand it?"
And I say, "'Cause I've read 1980s trade paperback horror. I can take anything."
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I don't get the "Stephen King writes poor endings" critique. Dude's got 60+ books, some of them aren't gonna end the way you want them to.
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AUTHORS: anyone know any artists who do black-and-white interior illustrations, along the lines of the Bernie Wrightson stuff in The Stand?
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Another day and Twitter is still here. This is starting to remind me of those doomsday cults who just keep changing the date when the apocalypse doesn't show up.
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Zac Efron looks like if Lord Farquaad was an '80s fitness coach.
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Hey, look at this! WOOM is in a library under General Fiction! The barcode is unfortunately placed... but still pretty cool!
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A reminder that not commenting on a certain situation on social media doesn't mean you don't care about a situation, especially situations that are too complex and nuanced to talk about on social media.
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If horror fiction was only defined as "horror" if it scares you (which is by definition subjective), there would only be one or two legitimate horror books in existence for those hardened to terror/dread, violence, gore, monsters, etc.
Horror (n): an intense feeling of fear,
Just saw someone say Stephen King's IT is "not horror" and apparently some people's definition of horror is so narrow it doesn't even encompass literal horror novels about alien shapeshifters who eat children.
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Well it looks like a lot of people are experiencing this same "where did everybody go?" feeling. It's Twitter-wide. I thought I was shadow-banned for some reason lol
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If you're making less than $1000 off your writing in a year, you're not an outlier, you're the norm. Even among traditionally published authors. Also noteworthy: how narrow the gap is between trad-pubbed and indie.
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What's your favorite horror movie of 2022 that isn't Barbarian or Smile?
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I don't trash talk other indies in public, but these are shit. He is shit. And Amazon and other booksellers need to put an end to his shenanigans.
If my name was John Kipling Rowling, I'm not gonna call myself JK Rowling and write about boy wizards and use the Harry Potter font.
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The word WOOM is now banned in an extremely large Facebook group. I'm waffling between the "So I've got that going for me, which is nice" and the "But you have heard of me" gifs.
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I think people should be allowed to criticize an author's work (not their character) without getting called names and dogpiled, but what do I know?
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Hey, it's
#IndieApril
! I didn't know that was a thing, but now I do. Please recommend some great indie authors,
#WritingCommunity
!
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Recent publishing events are one of the main reasons I'm comfortable remaining indie. My writing is more successful than it's ever been and I can express myself relatively freely, whether or not the people whispering loudly in the ears of small press agree with me or not.
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The funny thing about the Rob Zombie/THE MUNSTERS thing is, I don't recall anyone making a big deal about Eli Roth doing THE HOUSE WITH THE CLOCK IN ITS WALLS. Which was a lot of fun, actually, with little to no genital torture.
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If I ever make a boatload of money I'm going to rent every room in this motel and replace all of the bibles with copies of Woom.
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I'm pretty okay with the fact that I'll likely never make in-roads with "cool" and "popular" writers. Readers have always been more important to me than being part of a clique or winning awards.
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Afuckinnother writer about to get a major book deal from crying on Twitter about an empty book signing.
Folks, signings are bound to be empty if you have few to no readers. If you book one and cry about it afterwards, you are delusional and shouldn't be afforded a career.
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"It wasn't even scary" is the most aggravating criticism of anything horror.
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Happy Halloween, everyone! Here it is, as promised! Okay, so maybe you were ready and it was me who wasn't. Anyway, HERE is the book I've been teasing FOREVER now. Art by the amazing Jorge Iracheta. This is a slightly satirical but also very dark vampire novel. Vamptirical? (Mmm,
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My goal with everything I write is to leave readers with an image as indelible as the ending of Barker's "In the Hills, the Cities," or a striking final line like King's Pet Semetery. It may not often work out but it's what keeps me writing: striving for that.
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RIP Lance Reddick. He had a helluva career, that's for sure. Saw him first on OZ, which was a great role. Loved him in FRINGE. But my favorite has to be when he played Matthew Abbadon on LOST, even though it was a smaller role it was a joy to see him show up.
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Lol apparently people are saying Michael Myers is homophobic in HALLOWEEN KILLS because he brutally kills a gay couple among the 34 people he brutally kills. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be more homophobic to *exempt* them from murder?
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Unpopular opinion(?): The Goodreads Reading Challenge makes readers less likely to take chances on longer books and encourages impatient reading habits, eg. the "When does this get good?" posts we see in reading groups multiple times each day.
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There's so much to love about
@flanaganfilm
's THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, but on rewatch after a few years not having seen it, the first episode is like a perfect incomplete puzzle and the rest of the series puts it together stunningly. It really is special.
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I'm boycotting Penguin Random House and HarperCollins for continuing down this slippery slope of bowlderizing classic fiction, claiming it's done in the name of "sensitivity," when it's clearly to make an extra buck. Only buying indie and small and midsized press from now on.
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Do yourself a favor and watch THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW on
@Shudder
. Thanks to
@JudithSonnet
for the rec. Final performance of the late, great Robert Forster.
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How cool is this? A reader in the Books of Horror group made a cross-stitch for WOOM!
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"Only writers read" is an interesting take from people who clearly have no audience outside of their own circle jerk.
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I love how we're supposed to know everything that's going on at all times in the horror "community" otherwise we need to be "watched" for being "silent" about it. I'm sure I'll get blasted in DMs or even in the replies but goddamn I'm sick of people exploiting other people's
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Cover reveal/99cent preorder link for GHOSTLAND: INFINITE, the third and final book in the Ghostland Trilogy! Cover art by the inimitable Ascending Storm!
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FINALLY got this big boy in my hands and it looks great! It's huge though, as you can see side by side with my ginormous melon. Definitely have to read this one in your lap. And the Augmented Reality cover is super cool!
#Ghostland
☠️
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I cannot fathom having a story under review for over a year and still have to face one to two years before publication if you get a deal. These large and mid-sized traditional presses need to hire more readers.
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I suggested IT as Stephen King's scariest book, and someone told me it's sci-fi. Sure, there's sort of an alien but what planet are you from consider IT sci-fi?
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Literally every person on my timeline right now is someone I don't follow, and it's not even like they're bluechecks or people are responding to their tweets. It's just a bunch of randos I'm seeing for no apparent reason other than Twitter is apparently broken.
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Writer is the only career where people are commonly told to work every day. It's just a job. Imagine someone saying you can't be a plumber or a surgeon or a teacher if you don't do it every day? Don't feel guilty for taking a break. Spend time with family and friends. LIVE.
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Preorder is live for GROSS OUT, my new extreme horror/transgressive/splatterpunk/whatever tf you wanna call it novel. Cover art by Anton Rosovsky.
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Started out as a novella, now it's a short collection of about 100 pages. Cover art and links coming soon. :)
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FRAILTY. Underrated psychological horror/coming of age flick. Didn't realize Bill Paxton also directed it!
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I don't want my books to "fit comfortably on a shelf." I want them to stand out. Irregular size and irregular content. I'm all about being difficult. 🤣
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Has it ever occurred to you that some people *might* just lie on social media all the time and expect you to react to their lies as if they're truths?
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I really wish people would stop getting suckered by Stephen R. King's books, and/or Amazon would force him to use a different font for his name.
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As an indie who's probably got more 1-star reviews than most traditionally published authors, believe me when I say, you need to have a thick skin to be in this business.
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Amazed by the wonderfully macabre artwork Francois Vaillancourt (
@FVaillancourt1
) created for my latest horror novel THE MIDWIVES.
Click the link for full details and the full prologue.
#coverreveal
#horror
#indieauthors
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Hello and good Friday to you all. My new book is up for preorder. Releases next Monday. It's gross, as you can probably tell from the cover. A novella and three short stories coming in at 150 pages for 99 freakin cents.
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It's astonishing to me that there are writers actually arguing that the Dahl changes are a good thing "to preserve his work." Shows a lack of integrity IMO.
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Instead of giving my books one-star ratings you can just come over to my house and slap me in the face.
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This meme is getting TONS of people banned on Facebook, so let's flood Twitter with it. :D
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Harper Collins hired grifters I mean "sensitivity readers" to go through Agatha Christie novels.
Books that are so cozy a kid could read them and come out fine.
It's time to stop this nonsense.
The trad pub industry is full of crybabies and scam artists.
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Jesus. I've never in my life seen so many writers eager to shit on reading the classics. Yes, not all classics are for everyone, but should we burn it all down like the Sacred Jedi Texts simply because they're old or dense? Doesn't the history of genre fiction have any relevance?
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If you think being a reviewer or a writer is a competition then you're probably not in it for the right reasons.
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