Ennui - The Collection » The Book

Another Review is in - Readers are Wonderful Things…

David Niall Wilson — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:50:52 +0000

It’s not an official review, per se. This reader bought the book, and then shared his thoughts. I wanted to pass on the link, which is to a thread on the bulletin board “The Cellar” over at Horror World - a nice, quiet place to discuss horror fiction, among other things…much calmer than some other places I could name.

“I don’t think I’ve ever read a book of stories that are as intelligently written as these. Dave’s work is extremely passionate, deep, and effecting…sometimes to the point of not being very accessible. But other times he can write a story that is that is a just such a joy to read you just sit back and marvel at his talent.

Ennui was a mixed bag for me. Most short story books usually are though, it’s not often you pick one up where you enjoy every entry, you just hope there are more to your liking than not, or that are one or two that stand out that make the reading worth while.

Dave’s stories in this book are not what I would call traditional horror. They are extremely atmospheric and usually address the subjects of pain and loss. Dave does have some stories with conventional creepies here and there, but for the most part, they address horror’s that define the emptiness of the soul…”

READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW!

For These Things I Am Truly Thankful - Backstory / Excerpt - E-book

David Niall Wilson — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:32:46 +0000

Okay, I chose this story next because it is one that turned up in an Google search this morning. I have learned that the Sony ebookstore is now offering many of the stories from anthologies edited by Marty Greenberg and his associates at Tekno Books. I signed contracts a while back for several stories, and today noticed that some of them have actually come into existence as SONY Ebookstore titles at $0.99 a download. I downloaded the reader, and it’s pretty cool. There are three of my stories available so far.

Anyway -for backstory on For These Things I Am Truly Thankful and an excerpt…

For the three titles available through the Sony Ebookstore - this one, plus BURNING BRIDGES and THE NEXT LEVEL - both of which are fairly obscure.

Here’s a look at the reader … and the image is linked to the Sony e-book store.

There is more on this today over at Macabre Ink.

-DNW

The Whirling Man - Backstory and Excerpt

David Niall Wilson — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:35:00 +0000

Sometimes the inspiration for a story doesn’t come from a what-if, or an old magazine, or any of the normal sources (at least the normal ones for me) Sometimes it’s just a single image, or an object, that I can’t clear out of my mind…when that happens, I write stories like The Whirling Man.

I wrote this story for an anthology about art and horror. I have no idea why it didn’t end up in that book. There was another book like that - HWA’s DARK ARTS - and I was in that, but it was a different story. This one popped into my head pretty much full blown, and it’s strange. A lot of my stories tend to take a sort of literary high-road into the surreal. I’ve found that these are the stories that leave an impression on readers the longest, but also the stories that people either hate, or love - no in between.

There’s a short bit of backstory here: THE WHIRLING MAN - as well as a short EXCERPT.

Enjoy!

-DNW

The Preacher’s Marsh - New Novella - Excerpt / Backstory

David Niall Wilson — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:17:01 +0000

One thing about this new collection of mine is that it’s a bargain. That’s right. Even the $50 limited edition or the $150 lettered edition. The reason, to me, is simple. The cost of your average limited edition novella - a very short book - is currently running around $45-$60 from most independent publishers.

Ennui & Other States of Madness is a 360 plus page book - and one of the things included within those pages is a 35,000 word novella - previously unpublished - titled The Preacher’s Marsh. I find it odd that (given the history of my books and the market) I could sell that novella by itself, signed, for $45-50 and sell out, but the collection, which offers so much more on top of that novella, is not sold out yet.

Anyway - if you go here: THE PREACHER’S MARSH you can find an excerpt from the novella, and some of the backstory behind it.

Then you should go HERE and order the book - at least the signed trade paperback, a REAL bargain at $19.95…

-DNW

The Fall of the House of Escher - Excerpt & Backstory

David Niall Wilson — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:39:04 +0000

The Fall of the House of Escher was born in the middle of a party at a convention. Lawrence Watt-Evans, another former president of the Horror Writer’s Association, was there with me, and we were talking about titles. For some reason – this one popped out. It is ANOTHER Lovecraftian tale, and was the title piece of my Macabre Inc collection The Fall of the House of Escher & Other Illusions, published so long ago I hardly remember it. I really like this one, and hope one day both to do a screenplay and to extend it to novel or novella length…

ENNUI - Jack the Ripper - Walter Sickert - Excerpt

David Niall Wilson — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 22:42:09 +0000

I’m going to do a series of posts to call atention to the various story pages and excerpts I’ve made available on the site. The title story is first. Ennui is one of my favorites. It involves the artist Walter Sickert and his painting, ENNUI:

You can read more about the story here…

You can read an excerprt from ENNUI here…

Thanks for stopping by. Don’t forget to preorder the limited edition - the contest ends soon.

-DWN

The Contest is Nearly Ended - The Book is at the Printer

David Niall Wilson — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:15:50 +0000

I’ve been e-mailing some with Joe Morey, over at Dark Regions Press, and I have a pretty good handle on things now, I think. As any of you reading here already know, the trade paperback edition of the book is already available. You can pick it up from the publisher - or you can buy it BY CLICKING HERE AND SAVING MONEY.

The printed interiors of the book have been shipped from the printer to the binder. They will arrive soon. Once they do, the book has to be bound, the publisher has to check it out for quality - and the dust jacket has to be sized to fit the final product. That’s the limited. The lettered will be a bit more delayed, still, because slip-covers have to be built. It’s all a waiting game, as you know.

Still, the time between now and the release of the hardcover, signed limited edition is not far in the future. There are a lot of pre-orders already in, and there will only ever be 100 of the limited edition. On top of that, there will only be one winner of the contest - and the only way to enter it is to pre-order the limited or lettered edition of the book, so time is in the mythical hourglass, so to speak.

I’ve already linked pictures of the prize - a hand-bound (sewn page signatures, leather boards) copy of the collection that I made by hand and personalized, packed in a hand-made tray-case (salvaged from a fancy candy box) with a hand-scribed replica of a Jack the Ripper note on the top of the box. Also included is an antique bullseye lantern, and I can affirm I paid nearly a hundred dollars for it when I needed it for research on the story ENNUI.

All of that can be yours, but if you don’t play, you can’t win, as they say…order today!

MORE INFO ON THE CONTEST HERE:

Review Copies Have Flown, and Some Landed

David Niall Wilson — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:49:52 +0000

Okay, this is the part of any book that drives me the most crazy. The book has been published. I have a couple of copies…and the publisher has mailed out a good number of review copies. He sent them to all the places I recommended…Publishers Weekly will get a copy, as will all the major review venues. Count Gore’s Vault will have it, and reviewers for websites across the net are involved. It’s exciting, but it’s also infuriating, because until they actually have a chance to read the books, I have no idea what they think.

I’m counting on at least a few of these being useful in marketing the limited edition. The publisher took a big chance. He believes in getting his books out there and letting them run, so when the trade paperback came in first, he released it. Most publishers would have held off, trying to get as many limited editions out as possible first, but Joe Morey - the man behind Dark Regions Press - has enough faith in me, and in my book - that he believes the collectors will still buy their copies, but the readers should get them as soon as they are available.

I intend to do all that I can to prove him right. So…if you are a reviewer, and you just got my book…I hope you love it, and I’ll be waiting (as patiently as possible) to find out what you think, and to help share your review with the world at large.

As I’m so fond of saying…. ONWARD!

-DNW

Ennui & Other States of Madness Reviewed

David Niall Wilson — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:04:31 +0000

The review copies are just going out, but I found this early review already up and thought I’d share it with you. As other reviews pop in, I’ll post links to them, and I’ll also include them as links under the category OTHER VOICES along with Brian Hodge’s Introduction to the book…

“Ennui and Other States of Madness

Earlier this year, I had an opportunity to read some work by one of my favorite authors, David Niall Wilson, before publication. Now that pre-sales are available for two of the three, I can go ahead and talk about them. The first is Ennui and Other States of Madness.

Due to be published in August from Dark Regions Press, Ennui and Other States of Madness is Wilson’s first collection of short stories since his Stoker-nominated Defining Moments. It is a mixture of previously-published work and some pieces that are new to the volume.

One of the things I like most about Wilson’s work is his ability to shift gears and change focus dramatically from story to story, as opposed to some authors who find one vein and doggedly mine it long after they’ve said everything they can about it. The seventeen stories featured here illustrate this very well.”

==>>Read the Entire Review at Dead in the South

All of the Story Descriptions and Excerpts are Live!

David Niall Wilson — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:49:29 +0000

Okay, I started out to create a site that was - basically - built to convince people to buy my collection, ENNUI & OTHER STATES OF MADNESS. There is a page for each and every story in the book to explain why and sometimes when the stories were written. There are notes about influences, those who published them first, and there are excerpts of all but a few stories to show you what you are getting in to.

I hope if you’ve found your way here, you’ll browse through it and get some entertainment / enjoyment from the process. I also hope you’ll buy the book, of course.

The Trade paperback is less than $20 - 360 pages of fiction - signed by myself and available now.

The Limited Edition is somewhere in the binding / production process. The Contest is still open until those books arrive and start to ship, so you can still win the hand-bound edition of the book and the antique Bullseye lantern.

I hope you’re enjoying the site.

David Niall Wilson