Daily Creativity Prompt – The Killing Holiday

In honor of its 5th anniversary, Indie Blu(e) Publishing and Brave & Reckless are teaming up this November to sponsor a series of 30 daily creativity prompts, comprised of the titles of our 25 published books and four upcoming titles, along with a couple fun phrases to round it out. We think our book titles are pretty damn cool and we hope they spark your creativity. You are welcome to respond to as many that inspire you.

There is only one rule to the prompt challenge: the book title or phrase should serve as the title of your piece OR all the words in the title should be integrated into your piece somehow.   

Note: Some of IB books have fabulous subtitles. Want an extra challenge? Try integrating the subtitle into your response

It is our honor and pleasure to publish your prompt responses on Indie Blu(e) Publishing and Brave & Reckless . We welcome poetry, prose, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, and high-res original art inspired by the prompts.

How to Submit

  • Email your submission to indieblucollective@gmail.com
  • Writing can be submitted in the body of the email or as a separate Word document or PDF
  • If you are submitting writing, please include a suggested image to accompany your work. Unsplash and Pixabay are two of our favorite sites for royalty-free images.
  • Your email should include your name EXACTLY as you want it to appear on Indie Blu(e) Publishing and Brave & Reckless, a short biography, and any links you want shared.

Kindra M. Austin’s neo-noir novella, The Killing Holiday, is filled with sex, cigarettes, and whiskey, leaving the reader wanting more.

“Austin’s dark, disquieting ability to provoke unease, is the exact right tempo for an addictive noir novella. You’ll be looking over your shoulder for weeks afterward… think you know psychological thrillers? Think again.”

-Candice Louisa Daquin

“The Killing Holiday digs beneath the human psyche and begs the question, what will you do for love? Or better yet, what are you willing to do for revenge? The dark and honest truth comes out in Austin’s characters, who become more animalistic and primal as the story progresses. The reader is forced to confront their own despicable and basest aspect of humanity: we are all killers. Killers of the spirit, of the heart and of course, the body”

—Rhiannon Marie, author of SHIFT

The Killing Holiday will have you hooked, unable to put it down until the whole story unravels itself. Like an epic poet of old, Austin plunges in media res straight to the heart of the tale. . . The Killing Holiday is a must-read masterfully told tale by a novelist with the soul of a poet, who leaves us wondering how much of herself was left in the ink on the page.”

—John Leys, author of Whispers of a One-Eyed Raven

“In The Killing Holiday, author Kindra M. Austin thrusts readers into a world that is sexy, dangerous, and full of deceit. This is not just a tale about betrayal; this is a book that, at its core, is about love, and “love is madness.”

In a cast of femme fatales, dames, and anti-heroes, Austin smashes readers’ expectations and brings classic noir into the modern age. Her characters are a direct reflection of our society that invoke feelings of empathy and disgust. What started as a slow burn quickly turned into a fast-paced ride.

Moreover, this neo-noir novella taught me that dark fiction cannot, and will not, wait for permission to be literary vehicles of change. I personally appreciated how this book explores transgressive themes, like sexuality, to create a space of introspection for readers.”

—Grace R. Reynolds, author of Lady of The House

To purchase The Killing Holiday,  click here.

Publication Date: October 20, 2021

ISBN-13: 978-1951724122

Kindra M. Austin is a poet and gothic fiction author from Mid-Michigan. She co-founded Indie Blu(e) Publishing with Christine E. Ray in 2018. Her published works include two novels, (The Black Naught and The Killing Holiday), and six books of poetry (Constant Muses, TWELVE, All the Beginnings of Everything, Heavy Mental, I Am a War, and Little Book of Blackness). It’s her dream to open a bookstore/craft beer bar. She will call it, Get Lit. You can follow Kindra M. Austin on Instagram: @gothic.poser

Published by braveandrecklessblog

I refuse to be invisible. I honor my voice. I write because I have to.

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