Stratum Press's First Novella, HOTEL EREBUS, is Coming to Kickstarter!
The first novella from Stratum Press is coming in a few weeks to Kickstarter. It’s going to be an action/horror adventure called Hotel Erebus (An Elijah Crowe Thrill-Ride). It’s inspired by classic pulp hero novels of the 1930s-1950s as well as movies like Dark City, Last Man Standing, John Woo’s The Killer, Tales from the Crypt presents Demon Knight, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Shining and more.
You can check out the preview of the Kickstarter project by clicking on the button below.
Plot: Elijah Crowe is a troubled man living in troubled times. Having returned from fighting in World War 1, he’s a low-level hood in 1925 Chicago. One night, he awakens in a hotel not knowing how he got there. A voice booms from a speaker box telling him that he’s in a room on the sixth floor of Hotel Erebus. If he wants to live, he has to get to the first floor and walk out. That’s all. Problem is that the hotel isn’t empty and it isn’t like any hotel that Elijah has ever been in. He’s now part of a game and must follow the rules to survive. All manner of ghoul, damned and worse will try to stop him.
Will Elijah survive? Find out by reading Hotel Erebus!
Goal: Hotel Erebus is meant to be a quick read for an afternoon; a thrill ride that starts with a punch to the face and races to the finish. The characters are fun; the dialogue is punchy and the action is eye-popping. I know that there are seemingly innumerable distractions demanding our attention on a daily basis: video games, streaming shows, social media and more. Most books are in the 300-400 page range and require a decent amount of time to read. I wanted to offer some reading alternatives that provide a high entertainment density(relative fun compared to time invested). Stratum Press novellas will offer high-concept stories that offer high value while respecting your time. If enough people like the first Elijah Crowe adventure, there may be more!
I’m writing around 3,000 words a day and it’s likely that the total page count will conclude around 110-120 pages. I’m thirty pages in after three days, so I’ll be done in a few weeks. After my editor does a few sweeps and it’s in a good state, we’ll be making public a Kickstarter campaign for it.
Full Disclosure
There is a need for full disclosure in situations like this: ALL BOOKS PUBLISHED BY STRATUM PRESS ARE 100% WRITTEN AND EDITED BY HUMAN BEINGS. The cover images and some promotional materials will likely employ AI, but the books themselves from front to back covers are entirely written and edited by human beings. I’m writing Hotel Erebus right now as I type this.
Campaign Rewards:
The campaign for Hotel Erebus will offer a variety of neat rewards:
eBook (PDF)
softcover
hardcover
audio book
soundtrack
postcard prop
character prints (possibly)
My Plans for Bigger Books
I had mentioned earlier in the year that I was working on a dark fantasy novel, and I still am. However, I realized that the story for that book required more than what I was giving it at the time. I thought it would be a relatively short story, but it kept demanding more expansion. I’m on the sixth draft for it and the plot sequence was rewritten and concretized. I really wanted to get some experience publishing through Kickstarter and Amazon, so I’m opting to devote some time to knocking out shorter books to establish a rapport with readers. I can knock out a 100-pager in 2-3 weeks and get feedback, which works better than doing a 450-pager in six months.
I’m very excited to offer up Hotel Erebus through the Kickstarter. I think you’re going to like what products will be available.
SARJ OUT