About Me
Hello and thanks for visiting my blog. My name is Patrick D’Orazio and I am an author in the Horror Genre. More specifically, I enjoy writing Apocalyptic fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. I have written short stories that
have been or will be released by several different smaller publishing houses, including the Twisted Library Press, KnightWatch Press, Pill Hill, Wicked East, NorGus, Twinstar Media, Collaboration of the Dead, Static Movement, and May December. My intention is to continue creating new stories with new ideas involving horror, fantasy, and science fiction elements.
Some of the releases that have come out thus far appear in: Letters from the Dead, The Zombist, Dark Dispatches, Read The End First, Zombie: The Other Fright Meat, Before Plan 9: Plans 1-8 From Outer Space, Live and Let Undead, Houdini Gut Punch, Zombiality, Daily Bites of Flesh 2011, Doomology, Collabthology, Look What I Found, Zombidays, Soul Survivors Hometown Tales: Volume 1, and Eye Witness: Zombie. The cover of several more anthologies I will be in have been created already and these books will be available soon. Check the artwork out here as well as in my Biography section, where there is a description of what each anthology is about. In addition to that, one of my short stories, A Soldier’s Lament, which appears in Eyewitness: Zombie, is also available in e-book form via Smashwords and on the Kindle.
My zombie apocalypse trilogy, known as The Dark Trilogy, has been released by The Library of the Living Dead Press, and is made up of Comes The Dark, Into The Dark, and Beyond The Dark. 
An electronic version of the entire trilogy, along with a full book of short stories related to the trilogy, has also being released by the Library as well.
On a more personal note, I was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. 
I attended Catholic schools until I went to the University of Missouri in Columbia where I received both Psychology and advanced Business degrees. I relocated to Cincinnati in the mid-nineties where I met my beautiful wife, Michele. We are raising two great kids, Alexandra and Zachary. I am employed by a company in the communications industry.
I have always had a fascination
with horror, science fiction, and fantasy both in print and in movies, although I try to expand my experiences beyond 
those genres whenever I can
, with the hope that it will impact my writing and allow me to continue to improve and come up with new and different ideas that can translate to the written page.
My 
objective with creating this blog is simply to give me a chance to let you know a little bit about me and the stories I have created. I also hope to help promote some of the other authors out there who have been kind enough to help me out as I have started my journey as a writer. So my hope is that I will be able to promote some of their works as well as my own here. 
If I can make anyone who reads this blog 
curious enough to go check out some of my friend’s books, I will consider it a success.
Thanks 
for taking the time to read some of my posts here. I appreciate you stopping by.
Pat,
Best of luck to you. I wish for your great success.
Joe
February 25, 2010 at 10:36 am
Thanks Joe! I appreciate that!
February 25, 2010 at 10:41 am
Great blog, Pat! Can’t wait to buy a copy of your first book.
April 18, 2010 at 11:37 pm
I am so proud of you! I love you with all my heart and soul. You are one amazing husband. >3
April 25, 2010 at 8:59 pm
It is hard to believe that this is Pat’s first novel. I am lucky enough to have read the whole thing already and it held me in thrall to the end. A great read!
July 6, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Michele told me about the book and I can’t wait to buy it. This is my favorite type of book. I have everything Stephen King every wrote. Good Luck
July 15, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Jenni,
Thanks! I have read most of King myself. I would have to say that he is part of my inspiration, as far as writers are concerned. I would also love to have one tenth of one percent of his success, too.
July 15, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Hey Patrick,
Thanks for the book review. I really appreciate it. While I’m at it, you should check out:
http://www.darksilopress.com/-Deep_Horror__Anthology.html
Dark Silo Press is doing a horror anthology, and from what I can read on your site, your writing is perfect. You should submit some of your work…
Thanks!
August 12, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Thanks Brian! I will have to check it out. I think my motto lately has been: So many anthologies, so little time. But I always want to try and expand to new publishers whenever possible-whether my stuff gets accepted or not, it’s always great to give it a shot.
August 12, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Brian,
I looked at the link and actually, I think I have a story that might fit perfectly with that I have been sitting on, waiting for the right place to submit to. So I might actually be shipping something over very soon! Thanks again for the heads up!
August 12, 2010 at 6:21 pm
Just ordered my copy of Comes the Dark. Will try and have it read by Horror Realm!
September 4, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Thanks Tony! I appreciate it!
September 4, 2010 at 8:36 pm
I was at the zombie walk last weekend and I am so happy I met u I started reading comes the dark that you sighned for me (btw my friends are so jealous of me) and I got hooked to it if you could notify me about all the books you or Benjamin made that would be awsome my email is: gagedamewood@yahoo.com, THANKS FOR THE AWSOME BOOK!!!!!!!
October 21, 2010 at 8:04 pm
I have a question and I’m hoping for an answer. Could you give me some pointers on how you do such an amazing job at writing books? See I’m a big zombie reader/ writer and I know almost everything about thm thanks to you and max Brooks buti constantly get discouraged becaue I’ll never be taken serious if I go to a publisher and ask him about it so if you could u would be my favorite author. You are already are but… You get my point
October 21, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Gage,
Thanks for your flattering comments!
Let me address your last post first. The best thing to do to keep up with Ben Rogers and I is to go to our blogs-you have already done so for me, here, and you can check out Ben’s as well through the Blog listing on the right side of my website here-it lists the websites of a lot of great authors who write zombie and other horror novels. That will keep you updated on what we write-whether it be novels or short stories. My biography page here will list all the different books I am in and I will keep it updated on a regular basis. You can friend us on facebook as well-happy to have you there. I post mainly updates on my writing there. I am on twitter too. My name there is ‘sloggoth’.
To answer your other question, about writing, the best thing to do is to get involved with the message boards for different publishers that accept these types of stories. Look at writing a few short stories here and there, and if you have a novel in mind, go for it. The best thing to do is to get in contact with other writers on those boards, read about what they are doing, offer your own posts, and get some folks to check out what you’ve written. Submit some stories to different short story anthologies that are calling for submissions and accept the fact that you will get rejected, a lot. That is a part of the writing game. Be creative, keep trying, and be very open to criticism. Anyone who tells you that everything you have written is awesome is not doing you any favors-the people who tell you what you need to do to improve are the ones doing you the favors. We ALL are a work in progress. Check out the forums at http://www.permutedpress.com and http://www.thelibraryofthelivingdead.com and introduce yourself as a fan and budding writer. Trust me, the folks there always love to meet new folks who love the genre and want to create new stuff. And also, don’t be afraid to write about different stuff-horror, sci fi, fantasy, adventure, drama, or whatever inspires you. Expanding your horizons is always a good idea. Since you gave me your email address I will post all of this in an email and send it off to you as well, in case you don’t read it here.
October 21, 2010 at 9:52 pm
I’ve never read any of your books but my friend Gage Damewood told me their awesome.
October 22, 2010 at 11:08 am
Well thank Gage for me, Kyle! If you like zombies, then my book may be right up your alley. Comes The Dark is my first novel and the second one (the sequel) comes out in late November or early December. It is entitled Into The Dark. I hope you get the chance to check them both out! Thanks for posting here, I really appreciate it!
October 22, 2010 at 2:27 pm
ur books r pwnage
November 26, 2010 at 12:34 pm
pwnage=pownage
November 26, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Thanks! I appreciate it!
November 26, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Finished “Comes the Dark” last night at 2:00 AM. I enjoyed it alot. A real page turner. A convincing arguement to keep the gas tank full, have a few supplies on hand, and a good solid baseball bat at all times. Can’t wait to find out what happens next.
November 27, 2010 at 8:42 am
Thanks Chet!
November 27, 2010 at 10:52 am
Hi, Patrick.
Don’t get me wrong: I’ve written my fair share of bad reviews of books (see my Amazon comments on a book called “Hell Raisers: The Life and Inebriated Times of Richard Burton…” if interested).
There’s always room for legitimate criticism of why something works or doesn’t. If someone doesn’t care about the writing, or if someone is a hack (I guess that may be redundant) it shows. One of your reviewers used the word “raw” to describe their response to your work. Focus on comments like that to keep you motivated and heading in the right direction.
I passed on that definition of a critic to you simply to say that there are so many people who don’t know what goes into writing, that often their “reviews” are flippant and facile. The only negative criticism that you should pay attention to is that which makes your writer stronger. Period. Rest assured, when someone write that “this is the most boring book I’ve ever read” it almost always means that the book is not the problem.
)
I see by the reviews of your first book that you in what Stephen King calls the right range. If, out of ten reviews, two people loathed it, two thought it the best thing written since Dracula, and the rest fall somewhere in between, you’re doing really well. Most of the Amazon reviews of your first book were quite good.
Best,
r. a.
January 27, 2011 at 3:18 pm
I appreciate the encouraging words. I have a tendency to look at every review I get and do my little OCD dance, which is to say that I start over analyzing everything, heh. I know I have a lot of work to do as I continue to write so that I improve and keep on improving, and I can’t let every minor criticism stand in the way of believing in what I am writing. Still, I try to use as much of it as an incentive to keep moving forward!
Thanks again, R.A.!
January 27, 2011 at 3:46 pm
My pleasure.
Just remember also that you are published, people are discussing your work. John Steinbeck said that playing the ponies was a more sensible way to earn a living than trying to write, so never discount or apologize for what you’ve accomplished as a writer.
While I’m waiting for your book (it’s on its way to me as I type!), I began reading “Patient Zero” by Jonathan Maberry. So far, so good: Well paced, interesting characters, nice mix of Terrorists Gone Wild combined with James Bondesque villains and traditional zombie themes. Plus, the author seems to know his weapons, which is always nice.
Have you read it?
ra
January 31, 2011 at 3:17 pm
I have read that-I got it just as it was released via the Amazon Vines program and really enjoyed it. I had the chance to meet Mr. Mayberry at a convention in September and he is a great guy. I think he is already on the third or fourth book in the Joe Ledger series now. He does martial arts training for the police and I believe he is involved in other aspects of training with the police, so he has a definite angle when he writes his stories that come from experience. I also think he had a near miss with getting a TV show based on this particular character on ABC last year. So he has a lot going on right now.
January 31, 2011 at 4:24 pm
Greetings, Patrick
I hope the Amazon review helps. I really enjoyed the first installment and look forward to the next two. You have a gift for description as well as creating a nearly palpable fear in the reader, or at least this reader. The issues with the first book that some have commented on are just matters of technique, and I think you’re well on the way to working your way through them.
For what it’s worth, and while I admire your comments to those who haven’t liked your book, I do think you shouldn’t give some of them the time of day. I understand why you respond but you’re a writer, and a good on, and apologizing to some of those fools just gives them a platform that they probably desperately need in their wretched little lives.
I’m not referring to those whose criticisms were well meant and constructive. That’s really smart on your part to engage them in a conversation about why something did or did not work.
If I can assist in any way with editing or textual issues, please don’t hesitate to contact me at the email provided.
Best,
ra
February 17, 2011 at 3:56 pm
Needless to say, the offer of editorial help shouldn’t be down-graded because I wrote “and a good on” when I meant “and a good one”.
)
ra
February 17, 2011 at 3:58 pm
LOL…no problem on the correction, RA. We all editorialize ourselves…especially us writers!
I know you are right about responding to some of those reviews, and the advice has been repeated several times by many different folks. It is my obsessive compulsive personality rearing its ugly head. I have taken a “kill them with kindness” approach and probably should just leave it be…and as time goes on, I suspect I will have to do just that.
I actually have hooked up with a great editor recently, who has helped me tremendously with my short stories. She has been looking over my trilogy, and we are re-releasing the first two books with the new edits (with no fanfare, just replacing the old versions) in March, when the third book is released.
With that said, I am a firm believer in the fact that you can never have enough people offering up honest, constructive criticism about your writing. So I might take you up on that. I just wrote a short story for a sub call called “zombies around the world”. You pick a country and write about their culture with the zombie apocalypse (or anything zombie related) as the backdrop. If you want to take a look at it, let me know. It is just a rough draft, so it needs plenty of eyes on it to tell me how off base went.
Thanks!
Patrick
February 17, 2011 at 4:53 pm
Hi Patrick,
I’m really looking forward to reading both parts 1 and 2 of the Dark Trilogy (and ultimately 3 whenever it comes out). Judging from your comments on Amazon, there will be a re-edited version of both parts, that will also be available on Kindle, some time in March. Do you have a more definite date?
Thanks!
March 18, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Heya!
I will give you the most up to the minute information that I have. My understanding is that the smashword versions of Comes the Dark and Beyond the Dark are the revised and edited updates of the books. The paperback version has not been updated as of yet. The third book will be released in paperback sometime soon, but my publisher has been trying to deal with countless other projects, so we are a bit bogged down and my guess is that April is more realistic for that.
In addition to this, there will be a Kindle version of the entire trilogy that will be released to roughly coincide with the release of the third book. It will have all the updated and edited versions of the trilogy plus another full book of the Dark stories that I have posted here on my blog. There will also be a smashwords release of the entire trilogy as well.
Hopefully, all of this will be occurring in April, but I will actually be seeing my publisher at the Horror Hound convention in Indianapolis the last weekend of this month, and I hope to have more details at that time. Our original goal was to have the third book and all of these other updates, including the Kindle version, completed by this time, but again, my publisher has run into some snags with numerous other projects that have delayed the releases. I will try to post here on my blog after my weekend at Horror Hound with further updates.
I hope this helps!
Thanks.
March 18, 2011 at 2:36 pm
Patrick, I am an aspiring writer and ready to self-publish 28 short stories and short verses in the horror/thriller genre. None are Zombie related, so I am not a competitor, although I thoroughly enjoyed Comes The Dark and i am now reading Into The Dark. I enjoy your economy of words while creating interesting characters. Like you, I don’t write a lot of fluff. I want readers to be hooked and flip the pages to see what happens next. You have already achieved that noble aim. I am curious if you hired a book editor before submitting your work for publication, and if you have any recommendations. The self-publishing process seems overwhelming for me at this point. By the way I am also an Ohio native, residing in Columbus.
Patrick Ryan
September 11, 2011 at 11:01 pm
Hey Patrick! Congratulations on getting close to publishing your short stories! I had to laugh when you mentioned not being competition. That sort of leads me to my first bit of advice. You need to make friends with a community of people who are other writers of the stuff you write. There are a lot of smaller publishers out there (Pill Hill, Wicked East, Twisted Library, Permuted) that have message boards where writers interact with one another, and where you can find both editors and beta readers for your work. I assume you have had some folks read your stuff, but you need to make sure you get some people who are going to be brutally honest. Friends and family tend to be fairly gentle if they have any criticism at all for you. I consider none of the authors out there who write zombie stuff, or horror in general, competition-I have found that I have gotten closer to them all (all the ones I know, at least) and we provide a great support network, rooting each other on as much as we can.
You also need to understand that I have never self-published. I have always worked through a publisher for short stories and my novels. For novels, publishers will generally provide you with an editor, though your mileage may vary as to what you get. I have latched on to a few specific editors who really help me out with short stories and I try to do all that I can to have them look at my work before I submit it to the publisher. I have paid for some editing, but with the built in editors (and contracts saying that I have to accept at least some copy editing at the very least with my work), I haven’t had to forge ahead on my own. Now that I have books out there, I would probably feel more comfortable with self-editing (I am helping edit an anthology for one of my publisher friends, which will help add to my experiences). I realize that self-publishing means more money goes into my own pocket, but I like having a partner in the process.
Network, network, network. Build relationships with as many fans of the genre and other writers as you can via facebook, twitter, and message boards. Don’t let that overwhelm you, but be willing to look at other people’s work as they look at yours. There are also writing circles that you can join, which can help a lot.
If you are going to self publish, make sure you are out there promoting yourself. Get your work in front of reviewers (there are a lot who will accept PDF’s from smaller websites and so forth, so you can do that on the cheap) and really work it. Again, I haven’t done any self publishing, but regardless of that, you will find that you are on your own with a lot of promotion work whether you have a small house publisher or not.
Whatever you do, I wish you all the luck. Feel free to drop by at http://www.libraryofthelivingdead.lefora.com and register there. They don’t just do zombie stuff, but horror as well. The publisher is great, and you will find that there are authors there from other publishing houses (we all mix and mingle) and it could be a really great first step to meeting a wider audience for your stuff as well as other writers willing to help you out.
I hope any of this helps!
Patrick
September 12, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Thanks for your thoughtful comments Patrick! Good stuff, and I appreciate it very much!
Patrick Ryan
September 13, 2011 at 8:06 am
hi pat
great blog thanks for setting it up.Read the first two books[dark triology].great books looking forward to number 3.could i get a autograph signed on something i could frame to add to my collection
cheers
nick
keep up the good work
December 26, 2011 at 9:09 am
Sure thing, Nick. I’d be honored to sign something for you. I just need to know where to send it to. Thanks!
Patrick
December 26, 2011 at 1:56 pm
Great stuff! I am going to buy The Dark Trilogy!!
January 3, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Thanks Jason! I appreciate it!
January 3, 2012 at 7:12 pm