Book Report Corner

Instant Classic cover. A demon with a face on its butt signs a contract.

You’ve probably heard by now that a bunch of Night Beats authors wrote an anthology, Instant Classic, with the proceeds donated to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières to support their crucial work.

It felt a bit too circular to review our own book, so here’s what Michelle Browne, author of The Meaning Wars, had to say about it.

“A joyous, pitch-black, vicious read, Instant Classic is a scathing, direct hit on the experience of writing in the current era. It’s a grim business, this metafictional genre-spanning tale of corporate malfeasance and exploitation, and the people struggling to get by in the margins. Rife with metafictional references to the other stories in the volume, the shorts have a unified vision and vibe that cuts like the folded layers of Japanese steel.”

“This book might not hit for people outside the industry, but that’s okay. For the rest of us, who slave and dream over backlit screens and messy nests of pages, welcome. Unite. The only thing we have to lose is our chains.”

Read the full and unedited review on Goodreads.

Free short story by Dale Stromberg, Rohan O’Duill, and Zilla Novikov

The inimitable Dale Stromberg, Rohan O’Duill, and Zilla Novikov wrote a short story to complement the anthology Instant Classic. “Have You Considered Self Publishing” is a satirical take on the rejection letters agents are too polite to actually send. Get your free copy by subscribing to the Night Beats Newsletter—if you’re already a subscriber, there’s a link to download it in the monthly newsletter!

cover of Instant Classic

Book Boxes! Boxes of Books!

Instant Classic offers nine sardonic tales holding a carnival mirror to writers and stories. From a deal with the Devil to the ultimate AI versus human showdown, witness the terrifying spectacle of artists who will do anything to clamber out of the creative trenches alive.

cover of Instant Classic

Featuring works from the usual suspects, and some new voices! Stories by Tucker Lieberman, Ryszard Merey, Zilla Novikov, Rohan O’Duill, Anna Otto, Rachel A. Rosen, and Dale Stromberg.

Get our special limited edition paperback of this anthology, printed locally on Blue Angel paper and sent in a book box with goodies hand-curated by one of the authors. We know you love a book box. Get it here.

If you prefer “free”, apply here—we just ask that you post an honest review on a platform of your choice in return for the epub or pdf.

All proceeds from the sale of the anthology go to Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders.

An Interview with Zilla Novikov

Query Blackout Cover

Dawn Vogel from History that Never Was interviews Zilla Novikov on her blog.

DV: Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.

ZN: I’m Zilla Novikov (she/her), a depressed millennial who is very tired of late-stage capitalism. Turns out, that’s an endless font of story ideas. People tell me I’m funny, or at least, that my writing is funny. My goal is for the reader to laugh through the tears.

Want to read the rest? Check it out here.

Cover Reveal Fail: Take Two

Yes that is a demon with a face on its butt.

Moment after the cover reveal for our anthology, formerly titled Guaranteed Bestseller, we found ourselves with a problem.

This anthology tells stories about the lengths authors go to find someone willing to read their work, such as looking for readers in Hell.

In the real world, if you want someone to read your book, you sell it on Amazon. Yes, it’s a parasitic monopoly. There’s a reason we used Hell as a metaphor. But being a monopoly means they can make arbitrary rules which mere authors must obey.

We were told that using the word “bestseller” in the title was false advertising. Apparently, you can’t say bestseller on amazon any more than you can say dead on tiktok.

My friends, irony is unalive.

If you would like a copy of our anthology (now titled Instant Classic) for the low, low price of free, you can sign up for a review copy here. If you prefer to exchange money for goods and services, you can pre-order the e-book on (sigh) Amazon.