Sunday, September 27, 2015


Four Fools Press is very pleased to announce the publication of Dark Roots, Volume 1 in The Reese Legacy, a series that is near and dear to author, R.R. Hunsinger's heart. Here's the scoop on this exciting new series:
For centuries, members of the Reese family, using faith, magic, and steel, have railed against the gate of Hell and all the evils that surpass human understanding. Each generation chronicles its secrets, trials, defeats, and victories for the next. For mankind, history is a battle between good and evil. For a Reese, it is their legacy.

Welcome to Dark Roots, three branches of horror and heroics from the Reese Family Tree:
 

The Hunters - England 1611. James Joshua Reese returns from the last of the Crusades only to begin another as he seeks the end of a demon’s twenty year killing spree.

The Fox and Hound - Carolinas 1777. While running powder for Washington’s beleaguered army, Elias Kirby, a sorcerous privateer, runs afoul of another, more powerful magic-user, a vicious Lieutenant in the pay of King George.


The Snare of the Hunted - Massachusetts 1925. Eric Reese, an adventurer and mercenary, has his evening’s rest destroyed by the terror an old friend brings to his door.
One volume, three awesome tales, each with some amazing illustrations to boot! So, if some supernatural, historical-fiction awesomeness is what you've been craving, then you need to pick up Dark Roots today!
Dark Roots becomes our 15th Four Fools Product
10:54 AM

Dark Roots becomes our 15th Four Fools Product

Tuesday, September 22, 2015


Want to know what's coming down the pipe next in terms of the Short of the Week? Here's a little preview! Oh, and check out the basis for the story, below:

The year: 2018. From out of space comes a runaway meteor, slamming into the Earth, unleashing cosmic destruction! Hundreds of thousands of fiery meteorites rain down through the planet’s shattered skies, each one its own megaton bomb of radioactive and mutagenic hell. Earth is reborn: a dark reflection of its former glory: now filled with war, savagery, madness, disease, and bizarre new energies and creatures. The very fabric of reality and life itself is twisted and warped by the presence of this extraterrestrial substance, which is the new Major Power on Earth: Freekrok!

I think some of you are really going to enjoy this one! 

Cover Reveal: Hive Mind (Our Next Short of the Week)
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Cover Reveal: Hive Mind (Our Next Short of the Week)

Sunday, September 20, 2015


Four Fools Press is very pleased to announce that our latest release, Nod, by is now available on Amazon.com and for a short time starting tomorrow, it will be FREE! Check out our 14th release, a spine-tingling adventure from best-selling author, Brannon Hollingsworth:

A man desperate to save his dying wife defies all conventional wisdom as he squares off against the supernatural in a battle of will, faith, and knowledge. Will his world be able to survive the encounter - or its shocking consequences?



This is also the second in Brannon's Short of the Week series, so pick it up now, please share with your friends and neighbors, and be sure and leave a review!
Four Fools Press Releases its 14th Product: Nod
11:01 AM

Four Fools Press Releases its 14th Product: Nod

Tuesday, September 15, 2015


Brannon here. So, I have no doubt that everyone is wondering, "O.k., so what's up with this whole Short of the Week thing?" Well, all I have to say is, it's all Nod's fault. Let me 'splain...no there is too much...let me sum up. (First person that does not know me personally to post below what movie that comes from gets a free copy of one of my books--NO JOKE.)

Nod was supposed to have been written, edited, and released in the first week of September. It was mostly written that week, but I have a terrible personal issue that revolves around the days of the month, days of the week, and the hours of the day. The issue is - I don't pay much attention to those kind of things. Not to say, I'm not good at estimating how long something is going to take, at that, I'm very good. But, when it comes to things that other folks think are important, like holidays, or birthdays, or anniversaries, or stuff like that?

You might as well tell a rock.

Those sorts of things just don't stick in my mind.

So, Nod was almost done, but then my family went away for a long weekend in the country, attended a family reunion, and generally had a great time visiting with family and friends. This was all well and good. However, it totally destroyed Nod.

I didn't even realize it until we were driving home (about a two hour drive), but as we rode along those rolling country roads, a thought began to grow in my mind: what if this story, Nod, which at that point was about a girl who'd grown up in the South, but was now living in New York, was told from an entirely different perspective. What if it was told at a different point in her life. Or what if the events of the story that I wanted to tell had interrupted her journey to New York?

My brain almost caught on fire. I loved the idea. I HAD to write it.

So, as soon as I got home, I started Nod over. Now, looking over it, I'm very glad I did -- and I think you will be, too. It's much longer, it's much more real, much more solid and it's totally different than anything I've ever written before. (That's one of my pet peeves, BTW, and a possible blog post for the future--take a note, Ima--that I love, love, love writing new things and stretching my wings as an author. I've NEVER wanted to be one of those authors who just churns out one more of the same old thing as last time.)

Long story short, I think you'll really enjoy this short story turned long story, Nod. Coming very soon to an e-reader near you.

Sorry for the delay, but I think you'll find that it was worth the wait...
Process Post: Short of the Week (Nod): Obeying Your Muse
8:35 AM

Process Post: Short of the Week (Nod): Obeying Your Muse

Monday, September 14, 2015




Sometimes as a writer I get consumed in the details that I forget to answer a major question. Or, as a mentor likes to say, “All ideas are good until the first hard question gets asked.” Thankfully, we at Four Fools have plenty of kind hearted people who are willing to pull out a red pen or a private email to ask us hard questions. In regards to Rivet, I had one of our friends send me some insightful queries which the updated epilogue will hopefully answer.

Often the issue at hand is the delicate balance between exposure and temptation. We want to draw our audiences into our stories without fully revealing everything in one go. However, in the artful process of show-and-don’t-tell, we as the authors can forget what an outsider actually perceives. Within the halls of Four Fools, we felt that Rivet had plenty of revealing allusions and statements that would register with our slowly appearing world. In this case, we were wrong, and so we had to reassess what needed to be added to provide worthwhile content so that we can continue offering our reader’s crazy, good stories.

We hope that the additions will broaden your horizons, tickle your fancy, and keep you begging for more. If not, simply drop us a line and we will do our best to improve our works to satisfy a very important person in our storytelling process--you!

###

Ima's Note. Please note that the above post was from Rivet's author, Corey Blankenship. The changes to Rivet are now live and, depending on what sort of Kindle you own, if you already own a copy you can get the changes by following these instructions. If you don't have a copy, head over and get one now - we've added nearly 1,000 new words and the price has not changed!

We are working with Amazon now to have the changes pushed to everyone's devices.
Rivet Revision
5:21 PM

Rivet Revision

Tuesday, September 8, 2015



Four Fools Press's Short of the Week #3 is in play! I'm running a little behind due to the long holiday weekend, but never fear - shorts are coming! This week (which will be for the 3rd week in September) I was thinking something along the lines of Elemental Warrior might be in order. Let me know which one you like the best!

Here's the Poll for the 3rd week of September, 2015.

If you cannot see the whole image below, click this link: https://plus.google.com/u/0/116230050632137216206/posts/gicyrwPomsr?pid=6192323250818491426&oid=116230050632137216206

As always, here are the Rules from Brannon:
1. I post three evocative images in a Google+ poll.
2. YOU vote for your favorite image.
3. YOU suggest character ideas/names, genres, titles, plot lines, etc.
4. The most votes WINS.
5. I write a short based on the image.
6. Everyone who VOTES/SHARES/PARTICIPATES gets a free copy.
7. The new short is added as a Four Fools Product.

VOTE, SHARE, AND JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
Short of the Week: 3rd Week of September, 2015
9:06 AM

Short of the Week: 3rd Week of September, 2015

Friday, September 4, 2015



So here's a peek at the cover of our next Short of the Week, Nod, from Amazon Best-selling author Brannon Hollingsworth! Due to the holiday weekend (and folks taking a well-earned break), it won't be out until next week, but it's on its way! Looks like you'll get TWO Shorts of the Week next week!

Let us know what you think of the cover - we'd love to know!
Cover Reveal: Nod (Our Next Short of the Week)
7:25 AM

Cover Reveal: Nod (Our Next Short of the Week)

Wednesday, September 2, 2015


Brannon here. I've got lots of folks asking me about this Short of the Week thing (Ima calls it an Initiative --I'm not sure if I would be that formal with it, but you know Ima...), so I thought I would take a moment and explain it a bit more. Not that the concept itself is that hard to understand: write, edit, and publish one new short story a week, complete with a swanky cover and rocking blurb.

Not that hard to understand, but really, really hard to do.

That's at the root of why I'm doing it, I think. You see, over the past several weeks I've been doing a lot of soul searching, prayer, and deep thought about what I should be doing in terms of my writing. Where I need to be going, and what I need to be focusing on. The long and short of the answer I came up with was pretty simple and terrifyingly pointed.

I needed to be doing more.

I've known, deep down, for some time now that I need to be producing many more words per day than I am. I've known, deep down, for some time now that I've been finding other things to fill my "free time". I've known, deep down, for some time now that I really need to focus on building my back list, as well as continuing to produce quality stuff within the series and swim-lanes that I've already begun. I've also known, for a LONG TIME, that if I am not accountable to anyone, then my work WILL languish.

That's one of the reasons why Four Fools is so good for me. I know that EVERY MONTH, there are lots of other awesome writers who are waiting on me to do my part so a new work can be produced. Granted, my part might be small -- it might some marketing text needed to promote a new book; or maybe some proofreading that needs doing -- or, it could be major like a cover, or a complete low-level edit of a maunscript. Regardless, I am beholden to my friends and fellow writers to produce.

So, I thought, what if I took this to the next level? What if I made myself beholden to my direct customers? Dare I say, "Fans"? No, I don't think I have any of those just yet. Regardless, what if I set something up so that if I fail and I don't do what I'm going to say I'm going to do, then it will be a most critical Crash and Burn scenario.

Crazy?

You betcha.

Hard.

You have no idea.

So, that's what I'm doing. Each week, I'm going to post a Google+ poll and I'm going to let the folks who participate decide my direction. I'm signing up now to produce a short story a week. I can only pray hard and work my buns off to make sure I do it. I can already tell you that it's much, much harder than I'd ever envisioned...

But, I'm loving it.

I welcome you to join me each week and to tell others about what I'm doing. Everyone that joins in on the polls gets that short for free, so there's a built in carrot. ;) Here are the first two weeks' posts, so you can kinda know what to expect.

http://www.fourfoolspress.com/2015/08/short-of-week-1st-week-of-september-2015.html
http://www.fourfoolspress.com/2015/08/short-of-week-2nd-week-of-september-2015.html

Who knows? Maybe this will spur some of you on as well. Maybe you've been passing the buck on something that you know, deep down, that you need to be doing. My prayer is that this will inspire, entertain, and involve a whole bunch of you.

Oh, and some of you have mentioned that you hope this will not detract from my series and the development of the worlds within those series. You won't have to worry...just wait and see. I've got something very special lined up for that particular concern.

I think you'll like it... 
(Technically, I've already started this little part of my plan here.)

See you soon,
Brannon
Shedding some light on "Short of the Week"
3:53 PM

Shedding some light on "Short of the Week"

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Ya liked that pic, huh? Well, you should see the rest of it! That's actually one of the reasons why I thoroughly enjoy being an Art Director for Four Fools Press. I actually volunteered for the position, believe it or not. That's right...AND it wasn't the private yacht, or the fourteen months of paid vacation that I get every year that made me make the tough call.

It was the fact that I get to be the SECOND person in the world to see awesome images like that pic up there for the very first time. The FIRST person is obviously, the artist, in the case, the awesome-as-can-be artistic genius by the name of Mike Munson. Regardless if you're the second, third, or fiftieth person who gets to see this that kinda awesomeness, however, if you ask me -- that's the sort of stuff that makes me want to get out of bed in the morning.

What can I say? There's just something about seeing words transformed into images that just cranks my tractor.

Another of the things that I love, love, love about being an Art Director is when you find an artist who is fun to work with, someone who does not take themselves or their craft TOO seriously, but just seriously enough. Mike is definitely one of those guys. Right now, we're working on several projects for a whole series of books for Year Two of Four Fools Press and we're really pulling out the stops.

The awesome demon piece at the top of the page, as well as the ones below are all for an Illustrated version of a new series from Amazon Best-selling Author (yes he makes me write that, and he's bigger than me, so....) R. R. Hunsinger.

I cannot say more about it just yet, but suffice it to say its about monsters, and demons, and creatures of the night -- and the things that hunt them. One of the things that hunts them is a guy named Eric Reese and Mike was busy doing his thing, pounding out some sketches and character concepts for Eric so we could figure out what he looked like. Things were really starting out pretty good.


But then, we run into this one scene and we were having a very tough time trying to sort out this one particular pose wherein Eric is trying to summon something nasty from Beyond....

 

While it was good, it just was not doing it for me, or for the esteemed Mr. Hunsinger. Try as hard as we might, we just could not get it right.

Then, Mike drops this into my Inbox:


And that, boys and girls, is a visual depiction of why I LOVE being an Art Director!

There endth the lesson.

If you want to know more about what's going on for Year Two for us here at Four Fools Press, be sure and join the mailing list - big update coming soon!
Why I LOVE being an Art Director
4:39 PM

Why I LOVE being an Art Director