#coaltown series

[abalonetea]

Austin has been his best friend since forever, right? His best friend. Andrew’s got to at least try to get him back. Even if he’s so terrified that he can taste the way the fear curls against his teeth.

I just love writing about really heavy friendship : )

Also look, Andrew is learning to face his fears in this book!

[ettawritesnstudies]

ARC Review: 4/5 🌟

@abalonetea gave me a copy of this book as an ARC and this is my voluntary honest review.

I'll stop reading Katie's work when she stops coming up with new horrifying ways to make werewolves into fucked up monstrosities that make you fear for your life at 10:18am on a bright Thursday morning. The depths of her imagination for these creatures is as deep as the mineshafts in this book, and she always surprises me with clever ways to explore the genre. My other favorite part of this book was the found footage letter records they found in the Foreman's cabin. The implication of horror and mystery left unsolved and covered up is a compelling one. If nothing else, read it for the atmosphere alone. It's worth it.

Coaltown follows Andrew and his gang of friends as they take a vacation trip to a cabin to get footage for his senior thesis film. The group is introduced in rapid succession at the beginning and I had trouble differentiating who was who at first, but about 1/3 of the way into the story, Andrew does interviews with them which helps solidify their personalities and goals. I really liked that format and it was fun to see their banter and interactions, especially towards the end as they each step up to help escape. I think my favorite was the grouchy nurse chick who liked poking at the weird skull and took care of keeping the others alive. Andrew himself is a pathetic coward at times but this book sets up a character arc for him to grow in the rest of the series and I'm looking forward to watching his development. It's clear that despite their bickering, they all care about each other and can put their problem solving skills together to (mostly) survive.

Overall I highly recommend this for anyone who's looking for a fast paced monster story to give you the chills this winter! Also, you should help out a local writeblr! It just released yesterday and so if you buy a copy and leave a review, now is a crucial time to tell Amazon it's worth promoting. Support Indie authors!

[scotianostra]

October 5th 1785 saw a spectacular balloon flight by Italian aeronaut Vincenzo Lunardi from Heriot's School, Edinburgh to Ceres in Fife, the first Scottish hydrogen-filled balloon take off.

The 46 mile flight over the Firth of Forth ended at Coaltown of Callange in the parish of Ceres, Fife. There is today a commemorative plaque nearby. At the time, The Scots Magazine reported:

'The beauty and grandeur of the spectacle could only be exceeded by the cool, intrepid manner in which the adventurer conducted himself; and indeed he seemed infinitely more at ease than the greater part of his spectators.'

The Glasgow Mercury newspaper ran adverts the following month announcing Lunardi's intention to 'gratify the curiosity of the public of Glasgow, by ascending in his Grand Air Balloon from a conspicuous place in the city'. Vincenzo made five flights in Scotland in his Grand Air Balloon—which was made of 140m2 of green, pink and yellow silk, and which was exhibited, 'suspended in its floating state' in the choir of St. Mungo's Cathedral in Glasgow for the admission charge of one shilling.

The weather was fine at about 14:00 on 23rd November 1785 when The Daredevil Aeronaut 'ascended into the atmosphere with majestic grandeur, to the astonishment and admiration of the spectators' from St. Andrew's Square in Glasgow. The two-hour flight covered 110 miles, and passed over Hamilton and Lanark before landing at the feet of 'trembling shepherds' in Hawick near the border.

A couple of weeks later, in early December, a local 'character' called Lothian Tam managed to get entangled in the ropes and as the balloon ascended—again from St. Andrew's Square in Glasgow, Tam was lifted 6 metres before being cut loose and falling—with apparently no serious injury. The weather was worse on this flight—which had to end after just 20 minutes, with the Grand Balloon landing in Campsie Glen in Milton of Campsie—just over 10 miles from Glasgow. His landing, on 5th December 1785, is commemorated by a small plaque in the village.

However, the next flight on 20 December 1785, was a disaster, though he survived. Seventy minutes after the ascent from the grounds of Heriot's Hospital in Edinburgh, Lunardi was forced down in the sea. He spent a long time in the North Sea until rescued by a passing fishing boat which docked at North Berwick. The diary of the Rev John Mill from Shetland states:

'A French man called Lunardi fled over the Firth of Forth in a Balloon, and lighted in Ceres parish, not far from Cupar, in Fife; and O! how much are the thoughtless multitude set on these and like foolish vanities to the neglect of the one thing needful. Afterwards, 'tis said, when soaring upwards in the foresaid machine, he was driven by the wind down the Firth of Forth, and tumbled down into the sea near the little Isle of May, where he had perished had not a boat been near who saved him and his machine.'

A short time later, in 1786, Lunardi published 'An Account of five Aerial Voyages in Scotland' in a series of letters to his guardian, Gherardo Campagni.

[bluegrasshole]

what are some of your favorite bluegrass/folk artists ?

OH BOY you don’t know what you’re asking for!!! so i listen to more folk than bluegrass (i just couldn’t find a good folk-y url) and i listen to a uh wide variety of styles (also i don’t always know what actually qualifies as folk) so i’ll try to divide it into sections and include maybe one or two starter songs from each band/musician? it’s going to be long. LET’S GO

bluegrass: 

the bluegrass diamonds from southern new brunswick are like, every acadian kid’s introduction to bluegrass, and the french song is part of the soundtrack of my childhood as it played on my local radio station CONSTANTLY. they’re bilingual yo!

the pickin’ on series are a bunch of albums covering mostly pop in a bluegrass style which i often prefer over the originals… here’s take on me. 

p’tit belliveau is a friend of mine and he just came out w his first bluegrass ep. under the name jonahmeltwave he made like… electronic chill wave music? he’s played at the halifax pop explosion and evolve music festival and he’s only 21. he’s real good at this too. here’s mon drapeau acadjonne vin d’taiwannnn – my acadian flag comes from taiwan

alison krauss and union station – yes, that alison krauss. man of constant sorrow is another one of those songs that feature heavily in the background of my memories even though i can’t pinpoint a first time i heard it. i feel like you’ve probably heard it too. i mean, it has 4 and a half million hits on youtube. and here’s alison krauss doing jolene.

conway twitty – does he count? i don’t care. i love him. hello, darling.

balsam range is good. listen to burning georgia down. they’re very reminiscient to me of jp cormier who’s up next

j.p. cormier is a bluegrass/folk/celtic nova scotian legend, born in ontario but whose family is from cape breton if i’m not mistaken. he lives there now and a lot of his music is about cape breton. i listen to it when i’m homesick for the island, so always. he’s so good. my favourites are kelly’s mountain, another morning, and highland dream (sorry i couldn’t find good versions on youtube). 

canadiana/east coast folk:

the barra macneils are … i can’t even explain to you how much i love them. i have a 9 and a half hour playlist on spotify that’s just them and i listen to it regularly. i couldn’t possibly pick a favourite but banks of the roses is a popular one, the coaltown road prompted me to write 18000 words about coal miners, my heart’s in the highlands sometimes makes me cry, and the clumsy lover’s set is my favourite set of fiddle tunes EVER. and that’s really saying something.

i would be remiss if i didn’t at least mention the rankin family, because they’re again very important to cape breton/nova scotian music and were very formative to me. feel the same way too is a banger and gillis mountain feels like a hug to me. the mull river shuffle used to play at every school dance throughout junior high and high school and is a song i’ve gotten drunk to more times than i’d like to admit. #1 hype-up song.

kate & anna mcgarrigle which i’ve talked about so much on here and who are just quintessential canadian folk. bilingual. the late kate is rufus and martha wainwright’s mom! heart like a wheel is just gorgeous.

in the same vein, i also love loudain wainwright III or kate’s husband/rufus’ father. the swimming song is just the best.

buffy sainte-marie is… an icon, a legend, a genius, perfect, beautiful, wonderful… she’s so important to canadian and indigenous music and if i saw her in person i would cry. you’ve heard universal soldier.

stan rogers’ northwest passage is currently my ‘favourite song’ on tinder. i don’t get many matches.

john allan cameron, another cape breton legend. listened to the miner’s song a lot these past few months for obvious reasons.

lennie gallant, man. more good bilingual east coast music, this time from PEI. peter’s dream is one of my all-time faves.

ron hynes’ sonny’s dream is just one of those songs every nova scotian knows, like stan rogers’ barrett’s privateers.

stompin’ tom OF COURSE, who brought us such whimsical classics as the hockey song and the canadian lumberjack. he loved canada so fucking much. canada loves him so fucking much. my nova scotia home features heavily in my recent playlists.

gordon lightfoot – can i make a canadiana playlist without including him? no way. the wreck of edmund fitzgerald is my dad’s favourite song.

neo-trad/modern folk

hey rosetta! who might not qualify as folk but i haven’t been able to go a single day since the tenth grade without listening to them. i’m dead fucking serious, they’re so fucking important to me and good and especially psalm which is in my top 3 and has just… gotten me through some rough times. they’re so fucking good, you guys. i can’t even explain to you how goddamn good they are.

lisa leblanc, who i talk about all the time and listen to constantly, has been the soundtrack to my life this past year and has helped me and inspired me a lot. if you listen to anything on this list make it all 3 of her albums. but here’s one from each: juste parce que j’peux, which i listen to when i’m lonely, the waiting list, and dump the guy asap.

cy, who are a really great group of guys (+friends). they play such unique beautiful songs and they put on a really fucking good live show. i once saw them play in front of 15-20 people in a souvenir-church (not consecrated) at grand pré national historic site aka the land of our acadian ancestors and it was so special and gorgeous and intimate and emotional. here’s à la camp.

vishtèn!!!!!! vishtèn. VISHTÈN!! FUCK I LOVE VISHTÈN. here’s terre rouge (red earth). i once sang their interpretation of acadian trad mariez-moi in a battle of the bands in high school. 

the once – ugh how much can i talk about the once before it gets boring???? so important to me, so formative, so good. coming back to you, their cover of the leonard cohen song, is one of my top three favourite songs ever. 

great big sea, classic newfoundland. i prefer their more neo-trad stuff like river driver (which is fucking beautiful) than say, ordinary day, but they’re popular for a reason.

old man luedecke is so good!! makes me so happy!!! here’s kingdom come, my fave!!

sarah harmer’s i am aglow was a song i first heard on cbc’s the vinyl café (long live stuart mclean) and was my introduction to what folk could be, back in.. 2008? 2009? a while ago. i haven’t gotten tired of the song since. it’s very important to me. another on my top 3 faves.

amelia curran from newfoundland has a beautiful style and voice. here’s devils.

les hay babies, who’ve i’ve been following since their debut on a francophone new brunswick battle of the bands years ago because i know one of the members. i’m meh on their latest album, but their first two are so fucking good. here’s néguac and back and fil de téléphone. they have some english stuff too but tbh their french is best. kind of the acadian female version of mumford and sons?

bahamas – ok we’re finally getting out of the canadian/acadian range into the more popular folk. i love bahamas!! lost in the light is good.

the head and the heart of course – rivers and roads is killer.

houndmouth’s for no one is beautiful and always in my head. i sing it walking along the beach. 

i loooove the barr brothers. even the darkness has arms is such a warm wintery song.

gregory alan isakov has really moody yet friendly (?) songs. here’s living proof with the colorado symphony orchestra.

and the staves, first aid kit, david myles…

alright so i’ve definitely missed a lot, but this is what i’m listening to at mostly any given moment, mixed in with like… pavement? i listen to a lot of pavement, which might be the antithesis of bluegrass and folk but whatever. you can follow me on spotify i guess. if anyone read this far down i’d love to hear your recs and your thoughts because i’m always looking for new music.

[abalonetea]

He unclips the flashlight from the side of his backpack. Click. The lantern beam arcs through the darkness. Andrew’s half expecting for it to catch on the silver disc eyes of a monster, but it doesn’t.

Hey guys guess who’s editing Gorehound again : )

[abalonetea]

Carefully, Andrew stands up. Every muscle screams out in protest and he nearly crumples right back down. He is not built for all of this running around. He’s built for sitting at computers and editing film, and holding the camera while other people do crazy impressive things.

Mood <3

[abalonetea]

Andrew takes another step forward; ten foot from the wall, fifteen feet. The water comes halfway up the sides of his boots. His toes are so cold they’re numb. There’s no answer. Behind him, something snarls.

It’s very difficult figuring out how to share stuff from the sequel book without totally spoiling the first book, oops.

[abalonetea]

He’s passing one of these openings when the wailing starts. Long, howling screams that echo through the mining tunnels. And then, beyond that: Austin. “No, no, no,” Low and mournful and drawn out, like he’s in pain or – or like he’s scared, or hurt, or something.

Oopsie! Something’s gone wrong!

[abalonetea]

It’s cold, the stone trapping it in. Trapping in the dampness, too. Andrew’s freezing even through the layered shirts, the turtleneck, the heavy parka.

The mines weren’t actually explored in Coaltown, but they’re a main focus in Gorehound!

[abalonetea]

Gorehounds. What's up with those guys?

!!!!!

Gorehounds are so much fun! They were one of my first serious attempts at creating Original Monsters! The basic idea is that the Sweetwater Mines is very, very cursed. This is because ages ago, a bunch of miners were trapped in some collapsed tunnels due to Terrible Safety Procedures. Not wanting the mines to be closed down or to pay out any kind of fee to the families or government, this was simply covered up! In fact, it was so covered up that several of the miners were simply left in that tunnel, trapped!

Their hunger and rage turned them into the first gorehounds, terrible creatures that are like a cross between a human and a cat in appearance, with traits of a very hungry rabid wolf. People who are in the mine for any length of time start to change into them; this happened to a bunch of the miners from repeat exposure to the ‘cursed’ mines.

And oh, hmm! Where is Austin at right now??? Gasp! Could he be in the mines???

Theoretically, the curse can be ‘halted’ by simply leaving the mines and never going back but you also need to keep up a steady diet of raw meat. Plus, halting the curse doesn’t actually undo the curse, which means that you’re still at least partially transformed into a gorehound.

Gorehounds live in packs in the mines but aren’t social animals, they will turn on each other without hesitation. They were also the first creature that I used the term ‘silver dollar eyes’ with. I then promptly started using that term for pretty much every monster creature that I wrote about, because I just thought (and still do) think it’s neat.

[abalonetea]

Oh! I always envisioned the Alaskan horror series to be a trilogy. Is a duology better? Should Gorehound and Hellbound be combined into one story??? Hurm. I think I need to finish editing Gorehound first and then see.

[abalonetea]

Funniest part of editing Gorehound so far as is that at some point during the initial draft, I forgot about the term gas mask and exclusively began referring to it as miner’s mask. Great job, past me. Zero gold stars.

[abalonetea]

Hi, I’m Katie! I’m a chronically ill, indie author, the primary source of income for my family, a former horse trainer, forever a werewolf enthusiast, and the COO for Wandering Words Media!

You can also find me on Patreon under the same name, Abalonetea, or check out my published books at the links below!

Youth Sunken: a horror novel about the fountain of youth and things that lurk in the deep!

Howl: a werewolf YA that follows three brothers in a small, southern town! 

I Drowned In The Summer of 85: a tragic romance turned ghost story, set at a summer camp.

Coaltown: a creature feature horror set in the Alaskan wilds, at Sweetwater mines. the first in a trilogy.

God Is Dead series: a four-book series with a bonus novella about possessions spreading like an infection and the potential end of the world.

Consider swinging by my KOFI for a quick bit of support... 

Check out my KOFI SHOP...

Or you can check out this WISHLIST if you prefer! 

My current primary projects include...

Devil Mine

SHED

Cryptid Hearts Series

How To Date A Werewolf

...and getting prepped for next year’s @writeblrsummerfest!

Interested in knowing more about upcoming K. E. Koontz projects? Sign up for my mailing list HERE!

[abalonetea]

Okay! Still waiting on the cash to order the postcards (oops!) but the book for the Summerfest goodie bag is almost done its final edits. Those of you who’ve been on my patreon might recognize the title! The first book of the Sweetwater Mines series, Coaltown, is finally ready for release! It’s only been, what, two or three years since the first draft went out?

Now, here’s how we’re going to do it. Coaltown’s full finished product is the first in a trilogy, and it’s over 30k words long. It has never been published in-full before! Those taking part in the Summerfest are going to get first access to it.

What does that mean?

It means that Coaltown will be available for purchase during Summerfest through two methods before it’s live on Amazon. You’ll be getting it at a severely discounted price, and you’ll be getting it before anyone else has access to it!

The first method to get it is through the goodie bags! Now, I’m still fine tuning this section but the merch this year will be available in three forms: the sticker, the postcard, and the bundle. The bundle will contain a sticker, a postcard, and a digital copy of Coaltown!

The second method is the minkie bundle! Don’t forget that just like @mothersart designed Lizzie to be the Summerfest mascot, she’s also volunteering her time and hardwork to make minkie adoptable character sheets for you this summer! If you purchase the full package from her, then you’ll get a digital copy of Coaltown as part of your package!

These books will be available exclusively through the August Writeblr Summerfest until January of 2024, when Coaltown will go live on Amazon at regular price – not the discounted Summerfest price that we’ll be seeing with the bundle packages!

So, spread the word, don’t forget to put a little cash back for your Summerfest goodies, and start thinking about what you’re going to name your minkie explorer!

[abalonetea]

Coaltown's series and SHED are both about funky little guys who deal with monsters however they are fundamentally different because technically gorehounds can make due with chowing down on a deer once in a while and that makes everything okay meanwhile in SHED there's an underlying psychological drama note to everything because if Hunter doesn't eat people, literally, he will simply Stop Existing

i think it's very neat how you can take one concept and turn it into vastly different works of art basically

[abalonetea]

This is actually a sincere tactical thing, not a weird question, but there are people who like...finish things and don't release them right away? Like, what if you want to know you're going to finish a series before you start releasing it? I know fic writers do this so they can One Chapter A Week easily. I once read a trilogy where I realized, checking the copyright dates, they had been released 1 MONTH apart from each other. That did not mean this author wrote one whole novel a month. It was very obvious he had written a whole series and it was already done when the first one got published. Idk WHY it was done that way but ??? It's a thing that can and has happened also???

Often, it's done because this allows time for the editing process to be streamlined. I wrote Coaltown, Gorehound, and Hellbound, three parts in a trilogy, all in a few months of each other about three years ago. Then I spent three years editing and changing them, now planning on releasing them all in a relatively close time frame.

With series, this is often done to make sure that people don't lose interest before the next book is released - especially for smaller indie authors or authors that are hoping to make their book releases a full time job. People might be willing to wait twenty years for the next Stephen King release, but that's often not the case for newer authors, especially if their book falls into one of the less popular niches.

It also has to do with the algorithms that sites like Amazon use. I have a friend outside of tumblr who waited until she had 50 books written, edited, and fully ready to release before setting them up for an every-other-month publish on Amazon. This meant that she got perks through the advertisement world and stayed 'relevant' in the new release section of KU, which a lot of people browse exclusively - especially for romance books.

Personally, I have five books sitting fully written and in various stages of the final edits. I have a few others (three, to be exact) that are almost finished and will then probably sit in the editing stage for a long while - but will all be ready for release at about the same time as each other.

It's a very valid and also widely used tactic for a lot of indie authors, especially those dabbling in series!