Video Games are Real

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  • Mr. Burns reads Tina Fey and robots fall in love with literature

    Mr. Burns reads Tina Fey and robots fall in love with literature

    (part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series)

    The Simpsons are back, this time with two references in a single episode, one of classic literature and one of contemporary comedy. Or so I assume the latter is of contemporary comedy; I haven’t actually read Tina Fey’s Bossypants. But Mr. Burns has, as evidenced by this screenshot from “Them, Robot,” the seventeenth episode of season 23:

    Robots display human emotions by appreciating literature, notably the novella (though the girth in the above screenshot would imply novel-length) Death in Venice by Thomas Mann.

  • Story Seeding and Social Media, I’m teaching both at the Tallgrass Writing Workshop in June.

    Story Seeding and Social Media, I’m teaching both at the Tallgrass Writing Workshop in June.

    I am honored to have been asked to teach a couple of sessions at the 2012 Tallgrass Writers Workshop at Emporia State University in June.

    If you will be in the Emporia area, you should register. Let me manipulate your mind to reflect my morbid desires. THE POWER!!!!

    I’ll be teaching:

    PLANTING A STORY: How to Grow a Plot from a Single Seed

    Author Stephen Graham Jones has said that many of his story ideas stem from misheard conversations. This session will explore the process of building an entire story from practically nothing, with special consideration given to dismantling the sham known as writer’s block.

    SURVIVING ONLINE: Why Social Media is Not a Waste of Time for Authors

    Some writers claim that time spent engaging in social media is time wasted. But what is an author but a communicator of ideas, and what is social media but a platform for exchanging ideas (primarily by text, I might add). This session will focus on how the entrepreneurial author, even without a book yet to promote, can use social media not just for nurturing a potential readership but for nurturing story ideas as well.

    Other workshop faculty include Thomas Fox Averill, Thomas Fox Averill, Linda Apple, Max McCoy, Jim Hoy, Cheryl Unruh, and Annie Wilson

    See full details at the Tallgrass Writers Workshop website or by downloading the workshop brochure.

  • Brand new story, “Different People Entirely” in the Ice Picks anthology. Horror? Yep.

    Brand new story, “Different People Entirely” in the Ice Picks anthology. Horror? Yep.

    When anthology editor S.S Michaels approached me last year about contributing a story to the Ice Picks: Most Chilling Stories from the Ice Plaza anthology, I hesitated for a moment. I never thought of what I write as horror. Grotesque? Sure. Morbid? Sometimes. Horror? No. But the more I thought about it, the more I accepted that a stretched definition of horror (never mind that I didn’t even consider a narrow definition at all) could very well encompass my work.

    Other people have thought of my work as horror, so I broke down and thought of the solicitation as a challenge. I came up with “Different People Entirely,” a story of a breaking family that embarks on a vacation to the Ice Hotel in Scandinavia. How does the family fare? Read for yourself.

    The anthology contains stories from the following authors:

  • New review of Murmurs: “If another writer tells stories quite like this, I do know know of him”

    New review of Murmurs: “If another writer tells stories quite like this, I do know know of him”

    A beautiful few words from reader Frank Edler:

    “These are fairly short bursts of that unique domestic fiction that Ross not only has a penchant for writing but also executes to a level that could earn him the moniker of ‘Father of Domestic Fiction’. If another writer tells stories quite like this, I do know know of him or her…Once again I walk away from another of Caleb J. Ross’ work with an uneasy feeling. ..The author is brilliant at looking at a tender moment and peeling away the layers to reveal the disturbing grotesque. We connect with it because under all our facades lies a bit of that same ugliness to some degree or another.

    I must now venture forth into his longer works, STRANGER WILL and I DIDN’T MEAN TO BE KEVIN….I can not wait to have my emotions unsettled a little bit more.”

    Read the full review here.

  • I did it. I have an official author Facebook page now. Changes coming.

    I did it. I have an official author Facebook page now. Changes coming.

    I did it. I broke down and created an official Caleb J. Ross author page on Facebook. I’ve been averse to doing this for a while, primarily because I want to avoid perceived ego as much as possible (well, as much as a guy with a self-titled website can do), but also because I don’t want to bombard people with duplicate content posts. The logic being that until the official author page gains traction, I would have to post updates to both the author page and my personal page in order to curb anybody missing out on my genius (see, no ego there). Nobody needs double Caleb.

    So, here’s what I propose:

    1. If you are currently a Facebook friend via my personal page, but you ONLY WANT TO RECEIVE AUTHOR TYPE UPDATES, then un-friend my personal page and Like my author page. You can actually do this by clicking this link or you can click “like” in the sidebar box to the right.
    2. If you are currently a Facebook friend via my personal page, and you want to receive BOTH AUTHOR AND PERSONAL TYPE UPDATES, then stay friended AND Like my author page. You can actually do this by clicking this link or you can click “like” in the sidebar box to the right.*
    3. If you are not currently a Facebook friend via my personal page, and you are not currently a fan of my author page, then you are likely responsible for the Holocaust. Sorry.
    *The inevitable question: “If I am a Facebook friend on your personal page and I Like your author page, won’t I be bombarded with duplicate content?” At first, yes. However, I have started a new category on this blog called Un-Writerly. Any blog post with this tag will ONLY be posted to my personal page and WILL NOT be posted to my author page. For example, if all is set up correctly, you are able to view this very blog post ONLY on my personal page. You may still receive a few duplicate status updates, but those should be very minimal.
  • Kristin Fouquet offers some beautiful words about As a Machine and Parts: “I will continue thinking about this book for some time.”

    Kristin Fouquet offers some beautiful words about As a Machine and Parts: “I will continue thinking about this book for some time.”

    The always wonderful Kristin Fouquet offers some kind words about As a Machine and Parts over at La Salon Annex:

    Reminiscent of Metamorphosis and Flowers for Algernon, Caleb J. Ross takes us inside the mind of a man who is transforming. This man, Mitchell, experiences a slide from human to machine. This transformation coincides with the deterioration of his relationship with a much older lover, Marsha…Although I place As a Machine and Parts on the shelf alongside Charactered Pieces and Stranger Will, I will continue thinking about this book for some time.

    But perhaps my favorite line, just because I’m glad this particular referent story hit home with another writer:

    As writers, we must always wonder what is derivative and how many words we can truly call our own.

    Read the full review. Then, buy As a Machine and Parts. And while you are at it, round out that Amazon free shipping deal and grab Fouquet’s incredible, Twenty Stories and Rampart & Toulouse.

  • Does posting purchase links in social network comments lead to book sales?

    Does posting purchase links in social network comments lead to book sales?

    It’s been only two days since I started my Annoying Links test, and though I originally intended to stretch the test for a full week, I am going to cut it short. Why? A couple of reasons. One, I simply feel dirty posting links everywhere (even though I stated very explicitly up-front that the links were for study purposes only). Two, though only two days have gone by, the test isn’t looking too positive.

    The abbreviated results

    Will posting self-promotional links in social network comments lead to book sales? Maybe. But is feeling like a dirty sales person worth it? No.

    The process

    Over the course of 2 days, I posted a total of 42 comment replies on Facebook and Google+, each containing two links at the end of the post. The posts themselves were genuine responses to comments, things I would have posted even if I weren’t conducting a test.

    The two links at the end of the post were 1) a self-promotional link for my book I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin and 2) a link to the original annoying link blog post which explained why I posted annoying links in the first place. Examples below:

    The results

    44 visits to explanation blog post. During the two day test I received 44 social referral visits to the You may notice some really annoying links out there during the next week post. The most important ones to look at are those from Facebook and Google+ (which are the two networks on which I posted links).

    • 19 visits from Facebook
    • 1 visit from Google+

    10 visits to the I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin purchase page. The I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin campaign page was established strictly for the purpose of this test, so it was restricted from being indexed by search engines which would potentially disturb the test. In other words, the most likely way someone could get to this page is through one of my comment posts.

    • 6 visits from Facebook
    • 1 visit from Google+
    • 2 direct visits (meaning the URL was likely copy/pasted)

    1 click on a link to purchase a book. I tagged each one of the bookseller links on the buy page with a Google Analytics event tracking code so I would know exactly how many times each was clicked.

    • 1 click

    Was it worth it?

    Out of 44 annoying links I received 1 potential book sale. In short, no, it wasn’t worth it.

    Sure, expanding the networks in which I posted links may have helped. I could have also posted more than 20 (x2) links per day. I might even have had some success by being more strategic with my posts. Or perhaps by rejecting the desire to qualify the links with a comment about their annoyingness could have helped. But, even with those assumptions, I’m just not comfortable with the shotgun link approach.