Special Offer: To celebrate the forthcoming publication of my contemporary novel Beautiful and Terrible Things, I am making a slew of Bonus Materials related to the book available to those who follow my blog and receive my semi-occasional News.
Existing followers (if you got this blog post in your email inbox, you are one) will get another email later today with instructions for accessing the Bonus Materials.
If you are not yet signed up to follow my News, read on for details on how to do that.
What Do I Get?
The free Bonus Materials are:
- A full-length, award-winning novelette, The Wallace House of Pain
- A short story, Two Kinds of People
- 10 bonus scenes
Bonus #1: Novelette – The Wallace House of Pain
Published as a standalone book, The Wallace House of Pain has won numerous awards, including First Place in the Chanticleer International Book Awards, and the 2023 American Fiction Award in the novelette category. You will receive a free digital copy when you follow me.
The novelette encapsulates Xander Wallace’s personal journey, which I hated to cut out of Beautiful and Terrible Things. But, as with the other deleted scenes, these were the least pivotal to the main plot. To my delight, the series of dinners with Xander’s father and stepmother, to which Xander drags each of his friends in turn, worked very well as a novelette. In The Wallace House of Pain (which is also available as a paperback for purchase on Amazon and Barnes & Noble), we see how the friends support Xander as he struggles to find common ground with his dad.
Bonus #2: Short Story – Two Kinds of People
The character Queenie, an old homeless person killed by the police, had much more “screen time” in the first version of the novel than in the final book. Those scenes also helped readers get to know Sunny and Bu better.
I am grateful to Smoky Quartz magazine for letting Queenie see the light of day in my short story Two Kinds of People — a phrase you may recognize as one of Buwan’s favorite sayings.
Bonus #3: Bonus Scenes
Spend more time with all six characters in 10 deleted scenes.
In some, the characters’ platonic and romantic relationships are developed further, and in some, the novel’s social justice themes are explored further. Some scenes will help you get to know secondary characters like Bertie and even bad guy Liam Flammer better.
What Order Should I Read In?
The Wallace House of Pain and Two Kinds of People work as standalone stories and can be read before or after the full book. In fact, WHOP is a great introduction to the six friends in Beautiful and Terrible Things. One reviewer of WHOP wrote:
“This is a short but rewarding read which manages to embed us in Xander’s life and social circle very thoroughly and made me eager to read more about them all. Given that these characters feature in the author’s upcoming new novel, I guess this was the idea and one that has certainly been successful in my case.” – A Little Book Problem
However, I highly recommend reading the full novel before you read the Bonus Scenes as those scenes will make a lot more sense then, and you’ll avoid confusing spoilers.
How Do I Access the Bonus Materials?
You need a special subscriber-only password to access the Beautiful and Terrible Things Bonus Materials. More specifically:
New Followers: If you’re not yet following my News, enter your email address in the “Subscribe” box at the top right of this page, or at the bottom of the page. (WordPress may email you to confirm, to make sure you’re not a bot.) Within a few days, you will receive an email from me with the password and link to access the Bonus Materials.
Existing Followers: Watch for an email with a link and password for the Bonus Materials page and materials later today.
What Does “Following You” Mean?
When you sign up to follow me, in addition to getting the Beautiful and Terrible Things Bonus Materials, you’ll get occasional emails from me with the latest news on my books. Never fear, I will not inundate you with spammy messages. In fact, I’m an irregular blogger at best, only posting when I have actual news to share.
That’s it. No commitment. No overwhelming and annoying amount of email. No hard sell. Just the occasional update on my books plus the occasional funny photo because life is short.
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