No updates till january

The blog might not have too many visitors at the moment but if anyone has stumbled upon it and wants to read how Mortaevum continues: I'll have to dissapoint you for the moment. I haven't stopped working on it but I'm going on vacation tomorrow and won't be back till the third or fourth of january, so I won't have the time to upload new chapters or even write them as I won't be taking my laptop with me.

So I'll wish you a happy new year and would be grateful for anyone who spreads the word about Don't Play With Slenderman.

A Decaying World - Chapter 1: Echoes of the future

This version is horribly outdated.

Revision 2 is in progress.

 

Chapter 1: Echoes of the future

I had been drifting through the darkness for an eternity and would continue to do so until the end of time. All of creation had perished, leaving me as the sole survivor. There weren't even any sounds left apart from my beating heart.

I had long since given up hope when they found me at last. Turns out they had been searching for me since the moment I doomed the universe. Some hated me for what I'd done, others defended my decision. Ultimately it doesn't matter as they offered me a deal and I took it.

All I can remember is that my entire body was engulfed by a blinding flash of light.

Perhaps this time...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Decaying World - Prologue

This version is horribly outdated.

Revision 2 is in progress.

 

A Decaying World

Book 1 of the Mortaevum Series

Meceruun

This story begins on a planet called Meceruun. Aeons ago it was called Hope by the Seraphim, a race that came from the stars after their own planet had been destroyed under mysterious circumstances. An eternity has passed since then and there isn't much left to hope for in this world.

1000 years ago a grueling war swept across the world, decimating its populations and destroying entire landmasses. It would be impossible to mention everything that was lost so I'll focus on the few places that will be important in the story you're about to hear.

The great human city of Pagan, which encompassed four vast districts and a beautiful park, has been reduced to a mere shadow of it's former self. Only the castle remained unscathed, which stands in stark contrast to the poorly rebuilt city where everything looks the same.

The dwarves would have been able to rebuilt Pagan according to its original design but they've suffered fatal losses and have retreated into the deepest depths of the mountains, collapsing every path leading to their cities to safe themselves from extinction.

But all this seems pointless as even the tree of life is slowly but surely withering away. It would have perished a millennium ago if the elves hadn't sacrificed their entire homeland to delay the inevitable. Unless they find a way to restore it Meceruun will become nothing but a wasteland...and the everything will cease to be...

However, even in these darkest of times, there's still a single ray of hope left.

Don't Play With Slenderman - Release!

After countless hours of editing, which have taught me to use functions I've never even cared about, I've finally published my first story! It hasn't reached all platforms yet but that's only a matter of time. I'll set up a page with all purchase options after I'm done writing this article. Of course it wouldn't make sense to post none yet so here you go!

Amazon.com - Amazon.de - Barnes & Noble - Kobo - Payhip - Smashwords and well, bascially every other Amazon store you can find. Don't know when it will hit the remaining stores but I would prefer it if you'd buy from Payhip as they only take a 5% cut. It's entirely up to you though. I'll begin writing my next story in the coming days but I've done barely anything else lately but edit so I'll take a short "vacation"!

Before I go: here's a book trailer I created for Don't Play With Slenderman! Yes, I had nothing better to do!

Don't Play With Slenderman Cover

After experimenting a bit I think the cover for my eBook is about done. At first I tried to edit myself into Slenderman which was okay but couldn't really be used for a cover. So I had to take a single photo where you won't notice the edits to my height.

Of course it could be more professional but there's no point in paying for a cover for a short story. I might search for a designer for my real novel but this will have to do for now.

I still have to write the epilogue, edit the story and also write a section where I talk about my experiences in writing the story. So it could still take a few days.

Don't Play with Slenderman - Ending finished

Just a short update: I've written the ending of Don't Play With Slenderman now so there's only the epilogue as well as editing left. That means I will not publish the rest of the story on this blog because what would be the point of buying it if you could read the nearly finalized version for free?

I still have to create a cover later on but it shouldn't be too hard as I have a little bit of experience after having worked with graphic programs for years while working on my rpg-maker games.

So yeah, that means the next time I post will be when I've uploaded the finished story. After that I'll begin to upload the first drafts of my real novel which is based ony my games and has a much deeper story. I hope you're looking forward to it...although seeing as the blog is very new there aren't that many visitors but that takes time.

Don't play with Slenderman! - Chapter 2 - Nowhere

I was a bit busy in the last few days and today I've been watching the Doctor Who anniversary and will rewatch it later on so I didn't manage to write that much new content. But here's the second chapter and I'll have to see how much more of the short story I'actually post as it's much more than a first draft already.
Maybe it'll change a bit more when I'm actually done.

Chapter 2: Nowhere

I don't know how much time had passed but eventually my consciousness returned once more. Contrary to last time I couldn't hear anything at all and it looked like I was surrounded by total darkness.

Since my flashlight seemed to be missing I pulled out my smartphone to use it as a light source. As soon as I turned it on my eyes were glued to the screen.

October 32^st, 25:83h

“What the...? Is it broken?”

Under normal circumstanced it should have been...but how could I call it normal when people had been spirited away right in front of my eyes...well, close to me at least. Trying to ignore the impossible date I turned the phone away from me and looked at my surroundings. I was sitting in a small room made of stone...although it didn't actually feel like stone...more like...flesh? I quickly withdrew my hand.

My flashlight was lying just out of arms reach but apart from that the room seemed to be completely empty while the doorway was blocked by something I couldn't really make out in the dim light my phone provided, so I picked up my flashlight and stood up.

Strangely enough my body had completely recovered but as I felt neither hungry nor thirsty it couldn't have been that long since I crashed into the tree.

Now how do I get out of here?

I shone my flashlight at the exit but all I could see was an impenetrable wall of darkness. Kinda like fog, just much thicker. There didn't seem to be any other way out so I took a few steps forward. My heart began to race as I reached out tentatively, imagining every possible horror scenario I could think of. It might have engulfed my whole body, devouring me very slowly while keeping me alive throughout the whole process.

But nothing of the sort happened. It simply turned to dust and disappeared.

Huh...that was way too easy...

I stepped outside and found myself standing inside a corridor that seemed to stretch endlessly in two directions. Opposite to my room was another wall of darkness and although it might have been stupid I also touched it to see what lay behind it but this one didn't even budge.

Hm...now which way do I go?

I checked out both directions but they didn't seem to have any distinguishing features. Just endless hallways lined by even more rooms. I tried to open another one but apparently only the occupant could actually open it. Why would anyone build cells that can only be opened from inside? Maybe to lull the prisoners into a false sense of security before the real horror starts...who knows?

“Hello, is anybody in there?” I pressed my ear to the wall so I didn't miss anything but nobody answered. That's when I noticed a strange sensation, as if the walls were shaking. It reminded me of a movie I'd seen once.

I kneeled down and looked at the ground. It was barely visible but it seemed to be shaking. I closed my eyes and listened very intently....bam bam...bam bam...it sounded like...footsteps. Opening my eyes I panicked and spun around in a circle, trying to make out where this creature was coming from. But this isn't what I was made for so ultimately I had to decide on a whim and ran like hell.

The corridor went on and on and on and the further I went the more unstable it seemed to become. The walls shimmered in and out of existence as if something was trying to replace them and once in a while parts of the floor simply turned into sand, only to harden seconds later, nearly severing my foot a couple of times. My flashlight wouldn't stop flickering but I still noticed that it's light disappeared in the distance as if it was hitting another wall of darkness. I couldn't see any obstacles though.

Maybe I should have stopped but out of the corner of my eyes I could see something looking at me, as if the walls themselves were alive. I certainly had no interest in finding out if they actually were. Only a few more steps and...

It felt like someone had rammed his fist into my stomach. The air was forced out of my lungs while something slid down my throat even though there didn't seem to be anything in front of me. I chocked, unable to breath and dropped my flashlight to reach for whatever was trying to enter my body. My hands touched something slimy but were unable to get a grip on it, especially because it just got bigger and bigger. My body felt like it was going to explode any minute now as more and more of this thing forced itself into my body with no end in sight. I fell to my knees and was about to faint when it simply ended. 

Don't play with Slenderman! - Chapter 1 - The Woods

Okay, everything seems to be working now. Could have gone a bit faster if copying one of my other blogs had actually allowed me to save time but ultimately I still had to redo nearly everything...

Anyway, here's the first chapter of my short story, which is the second story I've ever published anywhere. I've written a couple of stupid fanfics years ago, a short story set in my universe for a contest as well as some kind of after-story for my series but I couldn't really show that to anyone without actually finishing the games...

As the title implies this is a story about Slenderman, although it doesn't solely focus on this entity. I don't know if the story is actually scary as I hardly show any reaction to horror games or movies but should anyone stumble upon this story before I publish it I might be able to make it scarier if it isn't already.

Anyway, here I go! Not quite sure if this will be the final title and I'm not quite content with the narration at the beginning.

Don't play with Slenderman

Whoever reads this: Please don't think of it as just another scary story! Everything that's written in here is the truth! I've lived through a nightmare and unless you heed my warning you might share the same fate one day...but you might not be lucky enough to survive!

There are unseen forces in our world, malevolent forces! They can't harm us as long as we don't acknowledge their existence...but the thing is: You don't have to actually believe that they are real! Have you ever played a game based on a myth? That knowledge alone could lead you down a path where you might encounter one such entity. That's how my story began...

“David Bartlett”

Welcome to my eBook Blog

Hello and welcome to my new blog!

Here I'll post drafts of my short stories and novels to get feedback while working on them.

I haven't really written that much as I spend most of my time developing games where I didn't have to care about things like narration or descriptions. Most of the games I created were part of the same universe which grew bigger and bigger and would have led to a final showdown in the third game of my main series but it ultimately grew too big for me alone.
Maybe I could have found someone to help me but the third demo took more then 6 years to make and I really didn't like the beginning after having learned so much. So I needed to redo a whole chapter while still missing more then half of the game...which led to my decision to turn it into a book as this would enable me to create a good story from start to finish as no one wants to read a book with a mediocre beginning.

I don't know if I'll suceed as I can't just copy the game and add a bit of narration but it's worth a try, right? So I'll publish my first drafts on this blog to hopefully create something worth reading.

The first one won't have anything to do with my universe as I wanted to see if I'd be able to sell a short story before I work on a full-fledged novel. The story is nearly finished so I might not publish everything.

As soon as I'm done setting everything up I'll post the first part of the story. In the meantime you can have a look at one of the trailers I made for my game back in the day.