Olivia sat waiting fifty years for her daemon lover to return. When someone, somehow, steals her way to find him, she possesses a desperate woman as a catspaw. Their revolting discoveries change reality.
Available NOW on Kindle and in paperback! The sequel to the lauded novel “The Flesh Sutra”.
Amazon.com: Saints of Flesh: The Flesh Sutra Sequel eBook : Burke, Tim: Kindle Store
An undead sorceress in San Francisco needs her daemon lover. But some fool stole her only way to find him. To find him, she possesses a cancer patient. What they find is a new hell within….
Amazon.com: Saints of Flesh: The Flesh Sutra Sequel eBook : Burke, Tim: Kindle Store
Gothic Body Horror meets Weird Fiction.
She wants him back. Someone stole her way to find him. Would *they* allow her to exist?
Amazon.com: Saints of Flesh: The Flesh Sutra Sequel eBook : Burke, Tim: Kindle Store
Two days until Saints of Flesh!
The tumors awake and will create a new age.
Will *you* still exist?
Amazon.com: Saints of Flesh: The Flesh Sutra Sequel eBook : Burke, Tim: Kindle Store
The sequel to “The Flesh Sutra” launches on September 19. This standalone novel follows Olivia Cormier Spalding on a quest for lost love and stolen keepsakes. It is a Gothic Body Horror with a frisson of The Weird. Ebooks can be pre-ordered at Amazon. Paperback available September 19.
Amazon.com: Saints of Flesh: The Flesh Sutra Sequel eBook : Burke, Tim: Kindle Store
If you need to indulge in this gruesome, beautiful world, the Stoker long-listed “The Flesh Sutra” awaits. Ebook or Paperback.
Amazon.com: The Flesh Sutra eBook : Burke, Tim W.: Kindle Store
At Amazon, Miriam declares:
There’s never a predictable move in this fever-dream of paranormal horror. The Flesh Sutra’s pair of lovers are not afraid to sacrifice their humanity on the altar of their love. Alecsi’s monstrosity is a living, suppurating embodiment of his cruel and selfish actions. Karma awaits them both in the form of vengeful demons and humans. Will they learn to renounce the dark path they’ve set out on? The story pulled me forward from twist to twist.
FIVE STARS
See for yourself FREE with Kindle Unlimited, $2.99 for Kindle, or $9.99 for paperback!
Amazon.com: The Flesh Sutra eBook : Burke, Tim W.: Kindle Store
I’m still trying to establish a work rhythm, and I’m sorry this update is late. But sales of “The Flesh Sutra” had ranked it in the 800’s in Amazon’s Horror Fiction sales. It’s back down again, but we’re establishing a small business here, and business has ebbs and flows. What else is going on?
A wonderful artist and friend Rachael Mayo is working on a yantra appropriate for Alecsi and Olivia’s mysticism. She loves making dragons, but I chose her because her eye for color is so startling and innovative. Look at this color work!
What else? I’m editing two videos; one for the reading salon Galactic Philadelphia (I’ve edited all their videos), the other is the aforementioned interview with Sally Weiner Grotta.
I use Final Cut Pro on a Macbook Pro, but lately Final Cut is proving to be a lot more than I need. I’m test driving ClipChamp off of Windows 11, and I’ll let you know how that works out.
My new job is doing very well. I work at a supermarket for more than I was making after nine years at a big box tech store. The scheduling is more flexible so the conventions I need to do will not interfere. Stocking shelves and lifting grocery bags make me buff. My coworkers are my age or younger, and their good nature and ambitions remind me the future is in good hands.
Still figuring out how to make best use of TikTok and Twitter. I’ve bought books based on posts. The trick is to come up with promotions that are both effective and comfortable.
I have had my first author interview a few days ago. My friend (and professional journalist) Sally Weiner Grotta interviewed me via Zoom about “The Flesh Sutra” and the subsequent “Saints of Flesh”, and my fantasy novel “Fazgood and the Obstreperous Moosecrab Caper”. What did I have to do? How did it go?
Usually, I work or Zoom from a Panara Bread in my neighborhood. Obviously, it was time for me to grow up a little. My apartment has the bare minimum of everything, but I’m converting a corner of my unused dining area into an office. A small bookcase went against the wall. One of my two chairs went in front of it. I sat in the chair wearing a white dress shirt (which I’ve almost outgrown at the shoulders) and a blazer. My laptop went on an heirloom dropwing table.
Preparation is key and Sally sent me her questions ahead of time. “Oh yeah, I got this,” I thought and did not look at the questions at all. As a result, I stammered through my answers, which while understandable for my first interview, was pretty rude of me. Sally was gracious and the video ended at 26 minutes.
Now I am editing the video. I’m using ClipChamp, Windows 11’s video editing software. Turns out it’s very user friendly. Haven’t exported the results yet, but the video does look good.
The interview format is itself user-friendly. Book trailers can be tricky, and to be honest I don’t look at them. Does anyone? Don’t know.
What little I know is an optimum promo video is less than eight minutes long. I took the 26 minutes and have edited out nine minutes (mainly stammering) and may be able to get out another three or four. Speed up the finished product by 1.2, and it may get down to nine minutes. We’ll see.
I’ll pin the finished interview when its done.
Would you mutilate mankind for love? That is the question of “The Flesh Sutra.” In Fin de siècle Boston, the mystic healer Alecsi Keresh lays in the passionate embrace of his lover Mrs. Olivia Spalding, when he is shot dead. Enraged, he forces his way back to life through ghastly means. He becomes an abomination. All for love. Olivia is terrified of death. Alecsandri dreads abandonment. Seeing one another as soul mates, they resolve to atone for their sins by helping humanity. But their jealousies mar their works, often with hideous results. And a spirit stalks them. One that grows more powerful at every turn. Will the lovers succeed and transform mankind? Or will their weaknesses twist humanity into abominations? Therein lies the answer to “The Flesh Sutra.”
This is to catch myself up on what I’m doing in the next couple of months:
Prepare a presentation/reading for the launch(s):
it’s tough to get a slot for an author reading, so apply early. Most conventions allow you to just request a slot; the Horror On Main convention requires the author to buy a vendor table as well for IIRC $200? It’s promotional expense so if I make more than $4K from the books this year I can write off the expense yadda yadda. So step one, get those slots requested.
Prepare the reads/presentations. Usually the author will be given 30 minutes to do a reading and/or what’s called an “anti-reading”. An anti-reading can be anything like a presentation about the novel’s world or a free-form discussion or really it has no boundaries. At present, I plan on fifteen minutes of reading and a fifteen-minute presentation about the fun stuff I discovered while researching the “Flesh” books. I may include a Powerpoint. For the Fazgood launch at World Fantasy, at present I’ll just do a reading.
Get stuff into hands and onto tables: Conventions usually give attendees a swag bag, or a bag filled with promotional materials. My publisher Noble Fusion Press is getting post cards or other materials to World Fantasy to give the launch a boost. For Horror On Main, and more so for StokerCon, I have to get on the stick and find out if they do swag bags. Tables will need signage, which I image will have to small to accommodate travel.
Yes I am nervous about all this.
Contact the relevant media: the Horror Writers Association has a newsletter, and I have to get my Horror On Main and StokerCon plans to its editors.
Supporting promo material: I’m working with a talented artist friend to come up with yantra stickers. Yantra are mystical symbols key to the “Flesh” mythos. I believe stickers are the way to go, because even if no one is interested in the book, they may like the sticker design and get interest developed that way. I’ve seen the preliminary colors and they are disturbing. Plan is to have them done by end of April.
List of people to contact: I’m shooting for podcasters, mainly. I’m funny and have a varied, colorful history. Obvioulsly, the “Flesh” books and Fazgood have two different audiences, with different persons of interest to contact.
I’ll keep you posted, obvs.