Archive for the ‘ Collections ’ Category

FREE eBOOKS

Michael Bailey 4.4 was released upon the world yesterday. Today (and most of next week), you can grab the entire Michael Bailey collection for free on Kindle.

In the near future, expect: AGATHA’S BARN (novella, in print), SEEN IN DISTANT STARS (novel), HANGTOWN (novel), SEVEN MINUTES (memoir), THE SPEED OF HEALING (collection), and MADNESS AND WRITERS: THE UNTOLD TRUTH. MAYBE? (creative documentary series).

But for now, you can download the entire Written Backwards backlog of Michael Bailey books for free:

Psychotropic Dragon - Cover (full spread)

PSYCHOTROPIC DRAGON is the third composite novel (technically a fiction collection) by Michael Bailey. Part short novel, part novella, part novelette, with a few short stories and fables in between, Psychotropic Dragon is a mind-bending composite narrative about Julie Stipes and her experience with the street drug Drakein-5. The psychotropic eye drops blur reality, sending her through a horrific journey of self-discovery and recovery. Each act in this ensemble is further brought to life with illustrations by Daniele Serra, Glenn Chadbourne, L.A. Spooner, and Ty Scheuerman.

TIWOL - Cover

THE IMPOSSIBLE WEIGHT OF LIFE, an autobiographical collection of speculative fiction and poetry by Michael Bailey. contains Bram Stoker Award-nominated short stories such as “I Will Be the Reflection Until the End” and “Time Is a Face on the Water,” but also never-before-published mind-benders created during his “highly-medicated” state of recovery, including a story about memory loss called “Fragments of Br_an,” (composed on a typewriter that no longer exists, now ash), “Emergence of the Colorless,” a statement about the beginning of the end of prejudice, and the far future “Oll Korrect,” in which artificial intelligence is used to explore humankind. As for poetry, there are favorites such as “Loosed Earth” and “Shades of Red,” but many new poems to help with balance, including “Hurt People Hurt People,” “Night Rainbows,” and “Paper Earth.”

Oversight - Cover.jpg

OVERSIGHT, a themed collection of two novelettes and a short story by Michael Bailey. Includes “Darkroom” and “SAD Face” (novelettes), and “Fade to Black” (short story).

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000026_00094]

OUR CHILDREN, OUR TEACHERS, a standalone novelette by Michael Bailey, nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction. Children are often our greatest teachers, but what happens if the lesson is too heavy to hold? A high school in rural Brenden, Washington is taken hostage by a gathering of unlikely students trying to teach the world a new lesson … a foreshadowing, perhaps, to darker times ahead for the American education system, if gun control is not addressed properly.

INKBLOTS AND BLOOD SPOTS, a painfully beautiful collection of short stories and poetry by Michael Bailey that reaches deep into the imagination, breaking hearts and boundaries along the way. Features an introduction by Douglas E. Winter, and illustrations and cover artwork by Daniele Serra. Stories include the Bram Stoker nominated “Fireman / Primal Tongue,” which also received an Honorable Mention for Year’s Best Horror; “Dandelion Clocks,” a haunting, melodic tribute to the tragedy of 9/11; “I Wanted Black,” where a young boy’s birthday is anything but cause to celebrate; “Mum,” a tale of two sisters unfolding like the bandages on their mother’s badly burned body.

PR - Cover.jpg

PHOENIX ROSE, a composite novel. Michael Bailey returns to the strange town of Brenden, Washington to expand the events of Palindrome Hannah. A family is torn apart after a horse foaling goes terribly wrong; a sickly man recounts getting mauled by his neighbor’s dog; an undead priest is reborn into the world a hundred-fifty years after his untimely death; two brothers run for their lives through a dead field of wheat. Holding all of this together is a young boy named Todd, whose survival pivots on the balance of life and death, and a deranged mental patient with a burnt rose tattoo, whose reality is paradoxical. Cover artwork by Michael Ian Bateson.

SCALES AND PETALS, the debut fiction and poetry collection by Michael Bailey. Between writing the novels Palindrome Hannah and Phoenix Rose, Michael penned and published a number of these dark short fiction and poetry pieces, some of which can be found in literary magazines and anthologies around the world (Australia, Sweden, and South Africa). A few of these fallen dragon scales and flower petals are reprinted here, while others are original to the collection, hand selected and arranged by the author. Once you crack the spine, there’s no going back. Cover artwork by John Hornor Jacobs. Also includes a bonus graphic adaptation of the story “Plasty,” in collaboration with artist L.A. Spooner, as well as three previously unpublished flash fiction pieces.

PH - Cover.jpg

PALINDROME HANNAH, a composite novel by Michael Bailey. Enter a cruel palindrome world: a symmetric place where disturbing situations displace the common; where good acts transmute to evil ones; where windows and mirrors are interchangeable. Within, characters influence each other through macabre arrangements of involuntary happenstance, and learn the inevitabilities of coincidence. A segmented story of a mother and daughter intertwines the others. This hidden sixth story, assembled from the five separate narratives, uncovers the sad life of a child who carries a palindrome name, and her struggling teenage mother. With five stories heading one direction, and Hannah traveling the opposite, the story unfolds like a palindrome. A puzzle within a puzzle.

SIFTING THE ASHES – BRAM STOKER AWARDS ® PRELIMINARY BALLOT

The Horror Writers Association released their 2022 Bram Stoker Awards ® Preliminary Ballot, and Marge Simon and I are pleased to announce that Sifting the Ashes (released by Crystal Lake Publishing) made the list for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection. This does not mean the book is nominated, but it is still an honor to be considered. We put everything we had into this book.

Over a hundred individual and collaborative poems explore what it takes to survive after all is suddenly taken. Combined life experiences of love, loss, and personal tragedy sift what’s salvageable from the aftermath of fire, searching through the layers of ash for lessons about death, cremation, and the various stages of grief. What might be found in the remains after all is lost?

Horror Writers Association voting members may request a free PDF by emailing written@nettirw.com.


Purchasing options . . .

AmazoneBook | trade paperback 

Barnes & NobleeBook | trade paperback

Books-A-Million (BAM!)trade paperback

PSYCHOTROPIC DRAGON, THE IMPOSSIBLE WEIGHT OF LIFE, and OVERSIGHT – FREE!

To celebrate the Shirley Jackson Award nomination for A Rose / Arose from Psychotropic Dragon, Written Backwards is offering a sampling of writing by Michael Bailey for free from October 19th thru the 23rd. All we ask is to leave a review on Amazon.com and/or Goodreads. Click the covers below. Have you read these collections already? We’d love a review!



Psychotropic Dragon - Cover (full spread)

PSYCHOTROPIC DRAGON is the third composite novel (technically a fiction collection) by Michael Bailey. Part short novel, part novella, part novelette, with a few short stories and fables in between, Psychotropic Dragon is a mind-bending composite narrative about Julie Stipes and her experience with the street drug Drakein-5. The psychotropic eye drops blur reality, sending her through a horrific journey of self-discovery and recovery. Each act in this ensemble is further brought to life with illustrations by Daniele Serra, Glenn Chadbourne, L.A. Spooner, and Ty Scheuerman.

AmazoneBook | trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and a part of Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Nobletrade paperback | hardcover

Books-A-Million (BAM!)trade paperback | hardcover.


TIWOL - Cover

THE IMPOSSIBLE WEIGHT OF LIFE, an autobiographical collection of speculative fiction and poetry by Michael Bailey. contains Bram Stoker Award-nominated short stories such as “I Will Be the Reflection Until the End” and “Time Is a Face on the Water,” but also never-before-published mind-benders created during his “highly-medicated” state of recovery, including a story about memory loss called “Fragments of Br_an,” (composed on a typewriter that no longer exists, now ash), “Emergence of the Colorless,” a statement about the beginning of the end of prejudice, and the far future “Oll Korrect,” in which artificial intelligence is used to explore humankind. As for poetry, there are favorites such as “Loosed Earth” and “Shades of Red,” but many new poems to help with balance, including “Hurt People Hurt People,” “Night Rainbows,” and “Paper Earth.”

AmazoneBook | trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Nobletrade paperback | hardcover

Books-A-Million (BAM!)trade paperback | hardcover


Oversight - Cover.jpg

OVERSIGHT, a themed collection of two novelettes and a short story by Michael Bailey. Includes “Darkroom” and “SAD Face” (novelettes), and “Fade to Black” (short story).

AmazoneBook | trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Nobletrade paperback | hardcover

Books-A-Million (BAM!)trade paperback | hardcover

PSYCHOTROPIC DRAGON – FREE!

Now through August 26th, Psychotropic Dragon by Michael Bailey is free to read on Kindle. All that’s asked is to leave a review when finished.

“Addictive, scary, and at times, mind-blowing.” – Jack Ketchum

“A staggering achievement.” – Gary A. Braunbeck

Psychotropic Dragon - Cover (full spread)

PSYCHOTROPIC DRAGON is the third composite novel (technically a fiction collection) by Michael Bailey. Part short novel, part novella, part novelette, with a few short stories and fables in between, Psychotropic Dragon is a mind-bending composite narrative about Julie Stipes and her experience with the street drug Drakein-5. The psychotropic eye drops blur reality, sending her through a horrific journey of self-discovery and recovery. Each act in this ensemble is further brought to life with illustrations by Daniele Serra, Glenn Chadbourne, L.A. Spooner, and Ty Scheuerman.

AmazoneBook | trade paperback | hardcover.

Also available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and a part of Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Nobletrade paperback | hardcover

Books-A-Million (BAM!)trade paperback | hardcover

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PSYCHOTROPIC DRAGON E-BOOK SALE

Now though December 27th, Psychotropic Dragon by Michael Bailey is on sale for Kindle: $1.99 in the US, and £1.99 in the UK.

Psychotropic Dragon - Cover (full spread)

PSYCHOTROPIC DRAGON is the third composite novel (technically a fiction collection) by Michael Bailey. Part short novel, part novella, part novelette, with a few short stories and fables in between, Psychotropic Dragon is a mind-bending composite narrative about Julie Stipes and her experience with the street drug Drakein-5. The psychotropic eye drops blur reality, sending her through a horrific journey of self-discovery and recovery. Each act in this ensemble is further brought to life with illustrations by Daniele Serra, Glenn Chadbourne, L.A. Spooner, and Ty Scheuerman.

AmazoneBook | trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and a part of Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Nobletrade paperback | hardcover

Books-A-Million (BAM!)trade paperback | hardcover.

Full Spread 3D

PSYCHOTROPIC DRAGON

Full Spread 3D

Surprise book launch! 15 years in the making, Psychotropic Dragon is finally going to print.

Available September 28th in hardcover, trade paperback, and eBook.

Part short novel, part novella, part novelette, with a few short stories and fables in between, Psychotropic Dragon is a mind-bending composite narrative about Julie Stipes and her experience with the street drug Drakein-5. The psychotropic eye drops blur reality, sending her through a horrific journey of self-discovery and recovery. Each act in this ensemble is further brought to life with illustrations by Daniele Serra, Glenn Chadbourne, L.A. Spooner & Ty Scheuerman.

Amazon: eBook | trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, AustraliaGermany, FranceItaly, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and a part of Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Nobletrade paperback | hardcover

Books-A-Million (BAM!): trade paperback | hardcover.

The book is dedicated to John Skipp for helping first spark this monster to life, and to Josh Malerman for the inspiration to finish it.

Psychotropic Dragon - Cover (full spread)

Some praise:

“Like the drug he’s invented, Michael Bailey’s Psychotropic Dragon is addictive, scary, and at times, mind-blowing. But it’s the human element that keeps you turning the pages, the wounds to the psyche which we recognize immediately. The human element … and a fierce narrative style.” – Jack Ketchum (miss you, my friend, and sorry this took too long)“

After the publication of Palindrome Hannah, I did not think it possible that Michael Bailey could ever top that mind-bender of a novel. I was wrong. Psychotropic Dragon, from its perception-altering structure to its gut-wrenching and deeply moving and frightening narrative, makes recent cross-genres look like they were written by a three-year-old. Did I say ‘cross genre’? My bad. This phantasmagorical show-stopper of a book defies categorization. It is, in the truest sense of the word, unique, something all too rare in publishing today. Beautifully written, stunningly illustrated, and guaranteed to blow your mind (not to mention scare the bejeezus out of you). A staggering achievement.” – Gary A. Braunbeck

If you try to hold on too tightly to the narrative, you might get hurt. My advice is to let it sweep you up. And to read it twice, or more. Psychotropic Dragon is a modern classic you will want to return to again and again.” – Chris Larsen

Adobe Photoshop PDF

THE IMPOSSIBLE WEIGHT OF LIFE – $0.99

My most recent collection, The Impossible Weight of Life, is on sale for less than a buck on @AmazonKindle in the US and UK. Snag it here: https://amzn.to/2XIuQBA (US), or here: https://amzn.to/2XGiR7F (UK). This is me, flipped upside-down, dissected, and put on display.

TIWOL - Cover

An autobiographical collection of speculative fiction and poetry by Michael Bailey. Contains Bram Stoker Award-nominated short stories such as “I Will Be the Reflection Until the End” and “Time Is a Face on the Water,” but also never-before-published mind-benders created during his “highly-medicated” state of recovery, including a story about memory loss called “Fragments of Br_an,” (composed on a typewriter that no longer exists, now ash), “Emergence of the Colorless,” a statement about the beginning of the end of prejudice, and the far future “Oll Korrect,” in which artificial intelligence is used to explore humankind. As for poetry, there are favorites such as “Loosed Earth” and “Shades of Red,” but many new poems to help with balance, including “Hurt People Hurt People,” “Night Rainbows,” and “Paper Earth.”

AmazoneBook | trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Nobletrade paperback | hardcover

Books-A-Million (BAM!)trade paperback | hardcover

FREE HOLIDAY E-BOOKS!

Free e-Book Holiday

Midnight Dec. 24th through midnight Dec. 28th, the following are available as free downloads for Amazon Kindle. This is a sampling of work by Michael Bailey: short fiction & poetry (including illustrations by Daniele Serra), a composite novel, and themed long fiction. Fill up your Kindle. They’re free!

Trade paperback and hardcover editions are also available.

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000038_00073]

INKBLOTS AND BLOOD SPOTS, a painfully beautiful collection of short stories and poetry by Michael Bailey that reaches deep into the imagination, breaking hearts and boundaries along the way. Features an introduction by Douglas E. Winter, and illustrations and cover artwork by Daniele Serra;. This book was originally published by Villipede Publications. This second edition is now published by Written Backwards.

AmazoneBook trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and a part of Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Nobletrade paperback | hardcover

Books-A-Million (BAM!)trade paperback | hardcover

PR - Cover

PHOENIX ROSE, a composite novel. Michael Bailey returns to the strange town of Brenden, Washington to expand the events of Palindrome Hannah. A family is torn apart after a horse foaling goes terribly wrong; a sickly man recounts getting mauled by his neighbor’s dog; an undead priest is reborn into the world a hundred-fifty years after his untimely death; two brothers run for their lives through a dead field of wheat. Holding all of this together is a young boy named Todd, whose survival pivots on the balance of life and death, and a deranged mental patient with a burnt rose tattoo, whose reality is paradoxical. Cover artwork by Michael Ian Bateson.

AmazoneBook | trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and a part of Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Nobletrade paperback | hardcover 

Books-A-Million (BAM!)trade paperback | hardcover

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000026_00094]

OVERSIGHT, a themed collection of two novelettes and a short story by Michael Bailey. Includes “Darkroom” and “SAD Face” (novelettes), and “Fade to Black” (short story).

AmazoneBook | trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Nobletrade paperback | hardcover

Books-A-Million (BAM!)trade paperback | hardcover

THE IMPOSSIBLE WEIGHT OF E-BOOKS

Starting midnight on Friday the 13th (November 13, 2020) through midnight the 20th, The Impossible Weight of Life eBook is on sale at Amazon for only $1.99 in the US, and £1.99 in the UK. Also available in hardcover and trade paperback.

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AVAILABLE NOW – THE IMPOSSIBLE WEIGHT OF LIFE

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Written Backwards presents The Impossible Weight of Life, a painfully autobiographical collection of speculative fiction and poetry by Michael Bailey, author of previous collections such as Scales and Petals, Inkblots and Blood Spots, and Oversight. Available now wherever books are sold!

Amazon: eBook | trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, AustraliaGermany, FranceItaly, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Noble: trade paperback | hardcover

Books-A-Million (BAM!): trade paperback | hardcover

Fiction:

  • Time is a Face on the Water
  • Speaking Cursive
  • Ghosts of Calistoga
  • Möbius
  • The Long White Line
  • Hourglass
  • The Other Side of Semicolons
  • Gave
  • Essential Oils
  • Fragments of Br_an
  • I Will Be the Reflection Until the End
  • Emergence of the Colorless
  • Oll Korrect

Poetry:

  • Loosed Earth
  • Hurt People Hurt People
  • Life (C)remains
  • Lest We End
  • Past the Past
  • Blink
  • Sands of Time
  • Shades of Red
  • Who Will Teach Them?
  • The Nocturnal Waking Nightmare
  • Paper Earth
  • Apanthropy
  • Night Rainbows

TIWOL - Cover

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