(Read all the way through for some Super-Exciting News!)
Hi everybody!
I hope your fall is falling nicely and that you’re enjoying one of my favourite months of the year, October (it’s right up there with December and the holidays for me). So, in that spirit, I have created some AI art pictures to accompany this post. October is always such a lovely month where I live. The leaves begin to change colour, the days get shorter, and the plastic tombstones and giant inflatable pumpkins begin to sprout from my neighbour’s lawns like weeds in late spring. In that spirit (pun intended), I will wish all of you a Happy Halloween just a little early this year.
I don’t know about you, but with less than a month left, I’ve vowed to read as many seasonally appropriate stories and watch as many scary movies as I can. Of course, I do that all on a regular basis anyway, but its just so much more fun in October! In the literary world, I’ve just started enjoying The Growth by Adam Hulse. He’s got some good characters that keep you turning the pages, and, honestly, you just have to like a story with an unstoppable monster set in the UK. Which is rather appropriate, since I finished Mary Shelley’s inimitable Frankenstein just before that (another reread of many over the years). At only 112 pages The Growth is not the world’s longest novel, but it seems quite gripping so far. Needless to say, I will be on to other titles very soon with a novel that brief.
Theatrically speaking, I’m in the middle of rewatching the original Poltergeist on Starz (via Prime Video). Love that film. I saw it in the theatre when it first came out and it scared the popcorn out of me back then. And now, after literally dozens of screenings over the decades, I find it remains so powerful and entertaining. I’ve seen it on BETA, VHS, Laser Disc, DVD, Blu-Ray and now streaming on Starz like I mentioned. But this is the first time I’ve seen it in 4K! That crawling steak on the counter never looked less appealing, I must say. Plus, after seeing the movie from the viewpoint of a child originally, to now seeing it as a mature adult has so changed the perspective. What scared me then (clowns) is not what scares me now (clowns with knives). But seriously, seeing now watching Poltergeist through the lens of a parent, where you can all too easily imagine losing your child to outside forces, it gives the movie a whole new perspective, and adds fresh vibrancy to the terror of it all.
And speaking of terror (and adventure, laughs and drama), CLAW Emergence, is still rolling along quite nicely, or at least crawling and slithering its way along. I will definitely let you know more about the actual date of its release as it draws closer. That said, I can tell you it will be out before Christmas, with book two out in midwinter, and the third and final novel released in the spring of next year.
In other news, I am sad to say I haven’t had any entries in the contest to win the autographed set of all four ABANDONED paperback books. Actually, that’s not completely accurate. I did have one entry that said they found 24 Easter eggs, but there are many more than that spread across the four books, let me tell you. Unfortunately, this person didn’t list what the eggs were, which was part of the contest requirements, nor did they leave me their email address when they entered so that I could contact them to ask what their answers were. Was it you? If so, and you’re reading this right now, click the link just below and send me your list! Remember, whoever has the most correctly identified eggs wins. So, in the spirit of Halloween giving, I will let it run for one more month to the end of October and see what happens. It’s still wide open, and anyone can win. So why not enter now? https://us5.list-manage.com/survey?u=65d787ae75b9bd16651afda9d&id=1fcf25a331&attribution=false
And now for the SEN (Super-Exciting News): Recently, you may have noticed that I’ve been on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/katieberrybooks, posting pictures of little bobbleheads. Like the picture to the right, I created these through AI art. The actors featured in my recent posts would, in my opinion, be great casting choices to star in a potential movie version of CLAW: A Canadian Thriller. Though these casting choices are only musings on my part at this point, and nothing is definite, there is a reason for it. What I can tell you is, as I type this, negotiations are underway to bring CLAW to a major streaming service near you, hopefully very soon! How exciting is that??? I know, I know! Just thinking about it, I am on pins and needles most of the time these days. When I can make an announcement with further details, trust me, I will let you all know immediately. So in the meantime, let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope that things come together quickly and that the stars (pun again) and planets align (which is sometimes necessary in Hollywood, as I understand it).
I so appreciate it if you’ve read this far. To make sure you don’t miss any future updates, why not become a Katie Berry Books Insider Subscriber? It’s FREE and you can WIN one of TWO COOL PRIZES each and every month (if you are a winner, I will notify you by email). WIth that in mind, I will post the list of this month’s winners of a free audiobook and autographed paperback here: https://katieberry.ca/audiobook-winners/
Well, that’s about all for now. It was a long one, but I think it worth it since there were so many exciting things to cover. In closing, I hope that you get to enjoy everything that the month of October brings and that you have a great and ghostly Halloween (and also a Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians).
Good health and great reads to you all,
-Katie Berry
P.S.- If you’d like to see the pictures I created for this post in full size, you can see them in my new AI art gallery, click here: https://katieberry.ca/katies-ai-generated-art/