M.P. Callender

@KMCarlsonAuthor you got it

LET ME TELL YOU... I have been in an editing hole. It's sad and lonely in here. Please send me your favorite gifs for a pick-me-up. Please and thank you!

WARNING SIGNS by @tsierraauthor is a snowy father-son backcountry emotional thriller, incredibly well written. The core relationship was high emotion & high tension. Book jacket told of a "strange creature" lurking in the dark, which was a bit monster-misleading, IMO. Fun read.

Partial MS request & a full MS request last week on my horror novel from two solid agents - hope in the air! I'll take it. Now the fun in-between, silent waiting period. #amquerying #writingcommunity

THE FURY by @AlexMichaelides is a thrilling tale of murder on a Greek island. If you read THE SILENT PATIENT, you'd know this novel would have a twist or two. Fun narration you want to trust, but can't. Solid mystery, constantly unfolding. Good read.

@sj_cristea Many Congratulations! Solid work - and great news!

It’s official!!! I’m gonna be a published author!! Words cannot describe how grateful I have felt these last few months, this is an absolute dream come true ❤️ Skeeter Pete 🐕🐶 is gonna steal your hearts (unless you’re a cat person 🤭)

Read PHANTOMS by @deankoontz in high school & knew bits of the story. Read it again & it was a nostalgic delight. Small town horror thriller with great characters & a wonderfully imaginative monster. Koontz's original monsters are why I gravitated to him so early on, safe to say.

@SusieLindau DANG.

A new record! A full manuscript FORM rejection after 914 days. 🤣 Can you top that?

@rebecca_linam Girl, preach

Sometimes I want to be traditionally published so bad that it hurts.

Oh man - that green smile. Such a boon to the querying author. #amwriting #writingcommunity #querying

Curious what you make of this @AlyssaMatesic

@vickyweberbooks dropping some bombs vickyweberbooks.substack.com/p/what-nobodys…

@vickyweberbooks Thanks for this, Vicky.

It’s been a rough few weeks for publishing.

In THE BONE QUEEN by @WillShindler Jenna searches for her daughter who disappeared from their London home. Led to a mysterious village, she uncovers buried legends & learns of the bone queen & her victims; getting tangled in the dangerous & deadly lore along the way. Solid read.

THE FINAL GIRL SUPPORT GROUP by Grady Hendrix was a bit of a let down - maybe it was over hyped as one of his best. Think it was a swing & a miss, trying to do too much & be too clever with slasher connections. Characters ran together. Unlikeable, annoying protagonist. Scattered.

@JamesMarkert Thank you for the story and the ride!

Thanks so much!!

SPIDER TO THE FLY by @JamesMarkert is part cat-&-mouse-serial-killer-thriller and part crime-fiction-twisty-whodunit. Great read. Multiple POV done right with solid pacing, characters you care about, and a complex story the reader wants to stick with. Quality fiction right there.

@AlyssaMatesic This seems like a surreptitious way to collect quality pitch ideas.... ha

So tell me: what's the pitch for your book?

As an editor, I've heard THOUSANDS of book ideas. Some brilliant…others boring. But I've realized something: The issue often isn't in the idea itself, but in the pitch. Most ideas can turn into great books. It's all about how you execute and pitch it. Let me show you what I mean. Would you read this novel? "A man throws parties hoping his ex-girlfriend will notice." Doesn't sound very interesting, but I just described The Great Gatsby. To avoid a flat pitch, watch for these two common mistakes: 👇

BLOOD LIKE MINE by @stuartneville was a mother daughter on the run horror/thriller making sure it never said the word vampire (like in Midnight Mass). Quality characters you root for, even when they keep getting knocked down. Fun ride. Solid read.

@grady_hendrix departs from horror & jumps into redneck sci-fi in BADASSTRONAUTS. Certainly wasn't what I was expecting from the author, but was a fun ride. Gritty South Carolina Americana bands together to save a stranded astronaut, unexpectedly building community along the way

@grady_hendrix departs from horror & jumps into redneck sci-fi in BADASSTRONAUTS. Certainly wasn't what I was expecting from the author, but was a fun ride. Gritty South Carolina Americana bands together to save a stranded astronaut, unexpectedly building community along the way