Yesterday on Amazon + Extended Freebie Period

Good morning! Well, yesterday was an incredible day on both sides of the Atlantic. Just look at these terrific reviews for Hall of Mirrors: Tales of Horror and the Grotesque, Volume One ...

Mike Bennett is a genius who rivals both the horror, comedy and story telling greats in the literature world. Mrs. M.C. Edwards "Manderloo"
Simply brilliant! Deborah Kaufman
Gruesome horror with a comic twist. Lori Y

A superb appetizer for his novel length works. Mary Laura
Engrossing Storyteller. Jeana L Smith

Simply The Creepiest Horror Since Stephen King! Douglas Lawson
Great compilation of creepy short stories. Jason Stubbs

Great Horror Fiction. C Griffin

Genuis. Scary and funny as hell. Horrorman
He writes the best kind of horror Wintermute670
Mike Bennett is a wonderful author, this is a great well written collection. t
Genius, Roxy J

Fantastic! Huge thanks to all the above for taking the time to leave a review. The value of these on Amazon simpply cannot be understated! And also, my thanks to everyone around the world who went to Amazon yesterday to download their FREE copy of Hall of Mirrors Vol 1. How did it fare in the charts? Very well! Here's what I woke up to this morning. I thought that after a night's sleep, the book would have slid somewhat, but no! This was the chartscape an hour ago ...

As you can see, I'm rubbing shoulders with some very exalted company, here. I'm under Bram!

And below is the US Short Story chart:

Look at all those Christmas-themed titles! There's loads of them. This is clearly a very good time to release a Christmasy romance. One Among the Sleepless is going to fit in here like a meat pie on a shelf of quiche - and the Christmas market seems to be ravenous for quiche! But hey, that doesn't mean that people don't want meat pie; it's just that quiche is the dish of the season. So, writers take note: Christmas sees a big rise in titles that at other times of the year wouldn't be an obstacle.

Anyway, moving on. In the UK, Hall of Mirrors: Volume One has been holding its own as well, reaching 11 in Horror:


Look at James Herbert there in the paid chart! Obviously the current TV adaptation of The Secret of Crickley Hall is doing wonders for Mr Herbert's sales (it's number one, unsurprisingly). I read Haunted, the first book in the Ash series, years ago, and loved it. And as a kid in the seventies, I devoured James Herbert's books like no one else's. Did you ever read, The Rats trilogy? Every kid in my school read The Rats. Dog-eared copies were passed around from chum to chum with frenzied interest. I enjoyed the first sequel, Lair, but for me, the masterpiece was the third book, Domain. Giant rats preying on the survivors of a post-nuclear holocaust London? What's not to like? I read it once, then read it again. In fact, I should read it a third time. You can never get enough of giant rats, especially at Christmas.

Sorry, I digress. 

In UK Short Stories, HoM1 reached No 5:


Again, here we can see a couple of Christmas-themed titles above me in the freebies. And there to my left, my opposite in the paid charts, we see the perennial literary love affair with books about abused children continuing with the cannily-titled (and jacketed) Abused - a Daughter's Story. That wouldn't be my cup of tea, but I remember when I was working in a bookshop in the late nineties, books like this were HUGE. Remember, A Child Called, "It" and it's sequels? Apparently, the trade term for the genre is Misery Lit. Nothing like a book full of misery, especially at Christmas.

Sorry, slipping off on another digression there. 

The main thing is, what's going to happen with Hall of Mirrors: Tales of Horror and the Grotesque - Volume One next?

Well, the period of its FREE status (can't write that word big enough) runs for today - AND - into tomorrow. Yes, I've extended it a day. I figure, why not? If there's a buzz, why kill it? So if you haven't yet got your FREE copy of Hall of Mirrors Vol 1, get it NOW! And tell a friend at work today so they can get it TOMORROW. The push is far from over, and I would LOVE the book to get into the Amazon free top 100 (obviously). 

Can you help it get there? 

The psychological effect of this on me - let's be honest - is wonderful! It inspires me. It tells me that you support me. It makes me want to write - and what I'm writing, when I can - is Underwood and Flinch 2. So, it follows that if you support me in this, you encourage me to write Underwood and Flinch 2. So come on, inspire me! Download Hall of Mirrors Volume 1 now! It's FREE! And the long-term results will be Fang-Tastic!!


Hall of Mirrors: Tales of Horror and the Grotesque - Volume One at Amazon.com
Hall of Mirrors: Tales of Horror and the Grotesque - Volume One  at Amazon.co.uk

Hall of Mirrors: Volume One, FREE today and tomorrow at

Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004SHNX0A

Amazon.co.uk:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004SHNX0A

and other Amazon stores worldwide.

Follow me at Twitter:

http://twitter.com/#%21/TheMikeBennett

Twitter hashtag for this campaign: #HOMfree

Grab your copy now! Anyone who leaves five stars and good review is ACE!

Hall of Mirrors Ebooks Now on Sale

After a seemingly endless process of editing and formatting (just thinking about it makes my head spin), the Hall of Mirrors books are now available to buy from Amazon for Kindle, and Smashwords.com for all other e-reader devices.

There are four mini-volumes, each containing three stories (except Volume Four, which contains an extra story "Dessert") and a fifth, "Complete Edition", that contains all the stories in one book! Check the "Books" tab at the top of this blog for details and links.

Not only are the books full of tales of horror and the grotesque, but the covers also are delight of horror and the grotesque, thanks to M.J.Hahn, who has designed a beautiful range of horrifying images, as suggested by stories in each volume.

The individual mini volumes are on sale for $0.99 each, or you can save a dollar and grab the Complete Edition for just $2.99!!

So whizz over to your ebook store now and grab your copy or copies of Hall of Mirrors: Tales of Horror and the Grotesque!

U&F Campaign Live Till August!

It's been a while since I blogged anything; like most people, I tend to think there's not enough going on in my life to merit writing about. But then this morning, I realised I actually do have quite a lot of stuff going on at the moment. Most notable of these things is the Indiegogo fundraiser set up to raise funds to get Underwood and Flinch into print. The great news is, the campaign reached its target in under a week! So massive thanks to everyone who contributed to that achievement, but a further plea to anyone else who would like to contribute but may be thinking it's now too late: it's not too late - the campaign is live till August 17th. 

So if you'd like to be part of it, check out the campaign here or by clicking the widget at the top of the panel on the right. You'll see lots of reward perks in the right hand column - some affordable, others wildly expensive (this is normal practice, so I joined in). So far no one has taken me up on my $1,000 perk, but maybe some millionaire philanthropist might stumble upon it yet. Anyway, the really nice thing is, if you donate as little as $10 (about £6.50 UK) you can get your name in the book of U&F as a patron! Think about it, when U&F becomes the global sensation that it will / might / should be, you can say to your friends, "I helped make that happen, and here's the proof," [points to patrons page in book and makes friends gasp in awe]. Now if that isn't kudos to you, I don't know what is.

U&F 40 Progress

Getting down to work on U&F 40. I've done the first draft, but have been distracted from working on the second draft by work and social stuff. However, today is mine, and so I'm at it once again. As always,  Draft 1 is a bit woolly around the edges, but it's shaping up nicely in Draft 2. I'll keep you updated.