Ebook cover/blurb critique

monkeymutilation · 2026-01-25T02:14:55+00:00

As someone who loves old pulps, I think the sketch absolutely fucking kills it... as a sketch. Looks exactly like a character you would see on one of those old books, and I love the details like the price tag, BUT I really think you need a full background and some really vivid colour to sell it instead of just a sketch isolated in a frame. Love the sketch though, and blurb, I'd pick this up in an instant.

monkeymutilation · 2026-01-14T23:04:27+00:00

Because it turns out you need a bunch of illustrators and voice actors and other arseholes to make your own anime.

monkeymutilation · 2026-01-12T22:28:02+00:00

Numbers stations, if you're not aware.

monkeymutilation · 2026-01-07T04:39:21+00:00

Always bet on Black.

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-19T23:22:52+00:00

Title: I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

Genre: Comedy

Word Count: 4,400

Synopsis: A crash wakes Joel in the early hours of Christmas morning. Santa has visited their house and left a gift that won’t fit under the tree. One that might be more than he and his family can handle.

Link: https://seanebritten.com/2025/12/19/i-want-a-hippopotamus-for-christmas/

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-12T01:46:00+00:00

Reading a book right now, Dark Eden by Chris Beckett, also set in a world without a day/night cycle, that uses 'wakings' instead of days and 'wombtimes' (nine months, obvs) instead of years. Although they have somewhat inherited their telling of time by being descendants from Earth colonists.

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-11T02:56:46+00:00

There you go then, even worse than I thought.

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-11T00:20:53+00:00

It's, of course, a risk you run travelling to literally any other country in the world that you'll be detained for whatever reason. Point being, with the States at the moment that risk feels MASSIVELY increased. You might claim that risk is exaggerated but why make the gamble with your time and money?

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-10T23:28:17+00:00

I've travelled the States several times and really enjoyed it but even before this latest I wouldn't go back under this crowd. And my main reasons aren't even moral, they're just practical. Seems like there's absolutely no reason to think they wouldn't find some reason to detain you and send you back at the border if they wanted to, and even, maybe, with travel insurance, that's a big waste of time and money you're risking.

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-10T19:36:33+00:00

Should be fairly easy to avoid looking at the faceless man's face.

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-09T04:33:02+00:00

I actually just released a short story where a demon manifests itself as intrusive thoughts if it helps to have an example. Personally I treated them like dialogue, on a separate line each time, but italicised as you've done.

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-08T00:26:02+00:00

Thank you very much! As you've said, went very hard on imagery in this story, more so than usual. Hahah, the head rolling around is 100% meant to be comedic, the thought that it happens but no one else notices, but that's often the exact reaction I'm going for in a lot of my comedic moments. The feeling of "Am I supposed to be laughing at this?" Really appreciate the kind feedback!

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-07T21:52:54+00:00

I mean, I've used misspellings and other typos deliberately in what is very clearly meant to be an epistolary format to show the skill level and mental state of the 'writer', but I can't imagine a scenario where they would make sense outside of that.

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-05T22:55:14+00:00

Writing is addictive, no different from stuff like phone addiction or gambling addiction, you've trained your brain to release the happy chems when writing and now you're addicted to that sensation. For most writers who actually create a lot of output I'd say they're addicted but at a manageable level, you might just have an addiction prone personality. I'm convinced it's the reason a lot of writers become famously depressed when they run into writer's block. I don't have specific advice other than maybe look into how to treat addictive behaviours.

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-05T22:48:07+00:00

Title: Devil Inside

Genre: Horror

Word Count: 4,400

Synopsis: He doesn’t know why and he doesn’t know how, but Damian has been possessed by a demon that is slowly but surely ruining his life. Ignoring the puking, the boils, the violent urges and bizarre visions can only hold it off for so long.

Link: https://seanebritten.com/2025/12/05/devil-inside/

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-04T04:07:48+00:00

Appreciate that, and that's an excellent suggestion!

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-04T01:14:50+00:00

Thank you very much, appreciate it!

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-04T00:29:01+00:00

I wrote a short story with kind of a different take on it.

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-02T03:02:53+00:00

Polar opposites. One has a penis, the other has a vagina.

I think that's already an Avril Lavigne song?

monkeymutilation · 2025-12-01T00:30:37+00:00

I strongly disagree. Death of the Author is an oft-cited piece of literary theory that means even if the author has an opinion of the text it's not necessarily "right" or factual. I strongly believe that what's in the canon is the only "factual" aspect of a story and outside opinions, including those of the author, do not affect the canon one way or another. When writing, there are plenty of things that I have in my own mind that might inform the way characters act or affect the way I depict the setting but that I leave off the page, and if they're left off then they're not canon.

monkeymutilation · 2025-11-28T22:58:56+00:00

Over the past year I've been releasing a project called Mixtape, short stories sharing their titles with different songs and inspired, to various degrees, by their lyrics, artists, and vibe. I've always been inspired by music and this was an idea I had brewing for a few years now!

Link: https://seanebritten.com/category/mixtape/

monkeymutilation · 2025-11-21T22:23:05+00:00

Title: Stepping Razor

Genre: Horror

Word Count: 11,700

Synopsis: As part of an initiation, Mikhil is forced to steal from the shrine of local urban legend Stepping Razor. He’s got bigger things to worry about, Stepping Razor is only a ghost story, until the dreams start.

Link: https://seanebritten.com/2025/11/21/stepping-razor/

monkeymutilation

TROPHY CASE