The Story Behind “Inferna” and Why It Will ALWAYS Be Free For You

So I’m going to try to have this posted by Halloween. We’ll see what happens. I’ll tell my little story here so you guys know why this is important to me.

Once upon a time, I entered a short story contest. Winning stories would be published in something free for download. I won this contest. First place, in fact. The whole situation changed, however, when a publisher found the contest and it was decided that the compilation would be sold.

I retracted my permission to publish the story when the publisher and I couldn’t come to an agreement about the terms of the contract. This was a bit of a disappointment, but it was much more important to me to do what I felt was right with regard to my story and my copyright than to be able to say “I am a published writer.”

In the spirit of maintaining the integrity of this story, which was always intended to be free of charge so that people could read it whenever they wanted to, I’m going to be posting this story myself. In addition (since he already broke the news on Facebook I guess it’s okay to spill the beans about the BIG SECRET SURPRISE), my father Tom Vincent, former colorist for Marvel and various other comic book companies, will be providing brand new original artwork for my story.

This is a horror story called Inferna that is, I think, the best short story I’ve written to date. It does have some gore/violence, deals with some disturbing material, and has one of the creepiest creatures to ever pop out of my brain. I’m incredibly proud of this work, and because of this, I’m making a promise.

Inferna will always be available for free, no matter what.

If, one day, I decide to include Inferna in some collection that is sold for money, it’s still going to be available for free on my website. This story, with new original artwork and a different ending than the one the publishers saw, will be posted to Naps in the Library, my personal website, as soon as the artwork and formatting is complete. We’re hoping to have it ready for Halloween.

Please feel free to share this story. Email it to people. Download it to your e-readers. Print it out and sneak it into people’s briefcases and backpacks. Staple it to your company’s bulletin board. Tape it to the inside of a bathroom stall. Stick copies of it under people’s windshield wipers. Anything that you want to do to share this work, you can do, but only under the following conditions as defined under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) Law:

1. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
2. You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
3. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

For the full legal code, click here.

If, after reading this story, you feel like it was worth paying for, do one of two things for me. Either go out and buy a book for someone (either give it to someone you know or donate it to a library), or make a monetary donation for whatever you think this story was worth to the charity of your choice. Some great options are The Make A Wish Foundation, The Trevor Project, and CARE. None of the aforementioned charities have in any way endorsed me or my writing. I just really like those organizations.

I did not write Inferna to make money off of it. I wrote it because I had a story to tell, and I wanted to share it with others. Inferna will, as long as I’m alive to make sure of it, be available for free. If you think it’s worth some money, send a donation or give someone a book.

Stay tuned, and thank you for supporting the creative process, you wonderful people.