Guest Post with Weston Kincade - Tales from the Box

Photo Content from Weston Kincade

Weston Kincade is a bestselling writer of supernatural mystery and horror novels that stretch the boundaries of imagination, and often genres. His current series include the A Life of Death trilogy and the Priors. Weston's short stories have been published in Alucard Press' "50 Shades of Slay," Kevin J. Kennedy's bestselling seasonal anthologies, and others. He is a member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA) and helps invest in future writers while teaching. In his spare time Weston enjoys spending time with his family and friends, fishing, and playing board and roleplaying games like D&D.

        

  

HAS READING A BOOK EVER CHANGED YOUR LIFE? WHICH ONE AND WHY?
Hello! Fantasy and horror author Weston Kincade here with a new short-story collection called Tales from the Box, Volume I. Thanks for having me.

When Jean and I spoke about doing another post, she asked whether a book ever changed my life. That is an interesting story. A few different books influenced the direction of my life, but there is one that truly shaped my writing and sent me on the path to authorship.

Considering my stories are often compared to Stephen King and M. Night Shyamalan, it might surprise you that this book is not supernatural at all, nor is it horror. It inspired other aspects of my writing.

The book I’m referring to is the classic Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. Lennie is a friend with special needs George has looked after for years, and they wind up in an impossible situation. The community’s reaction tore my heart out. When I thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did. I don’t want to say more lest I let the cat out of the bag. Even though the book’s been out since 1937, if you haven’t read it yet, I hope you will dive in for the experience. (If that’s you, don’t look up the ending. Read it. Just know that you will likely cry going in.)

When we covered Of Mice and Men in high school, I truly connected with George and Lennie. Later I became a high school English teacher, and the ending inspired great class discussions. Thankfully times have changed since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, but the story helped me understand the difficulty of being stuck between a rock and a hard place like George was and how he dealt with it. Sometimes you have to pick the lesser of two evils (or “weevils” if you are a Russell Crowe fan). I’m not saying his decision was right, but it’s also hard to judge someone from another era with different societal expectations and consequences. I just hope I never have to make a decision like that. I don’t know what I would do.

George and Lennie’s story helped me understand a variety of things that shaped my writing: the importance of crafting main characters that are like friends, how something as small as a mouse can demonstrate relationships that endear a character to readers, how characters and their decisions can affect the reader emotionally, and the impact of controversial twist endings that make your stomach plummet to the floor. These concepts are core to my writing and why my stories tend to be character driven with unusual, often twisted endings.

If you would like to explore some of them, pick up your copy of Tales from the Box, a blend of supernatural horror and fantasy short stories that are sure to appeal. If you would prefer a longer read, try my Priors sci-fi fantasy series or A Life of Death, a paranormal mystery trilogy Jean reviewed previously.

Tales from the Box, Volume I, is the first solo collection of fantasy and supernatural horror from Amazon best-selling author Weston Kincade.

The stories inside delve into secret niches that skirt reality. Tales from the Box includes witty stories from Hell, music auditions with a flair for magic, one small town’s Halloween Minute Man, an etiquette consultant confronted by an audience of identical teens, and even a man who finds himself permanently drunk, sans alcohol. From surprising mystical finds at your local garage sale to odd games played in a zombie-filled world, this twenty-story collection is written to delight.

If you enjoy Twilight Zone, Stephen King, or M. Night Shyamalan, Tales from the Box has what you need, stories of fantasy and horror hidden in shadow until now.

You can purchase Tales from the Box at the following Retailers:

        

And now, The Giveaways.

Thank you WESTON KINCADE for making this giveaway possible.

1 Winner will receive a Copy of Tales from the Box by Weston Kincade.

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