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Through the Gates of Madness, or What Fiction Podcasts Should Be like from Now On

Posted on November, 2021

Last year I had the rare and distinguished pleasure of working alongside a talented group of voice-over actors in a Free Bundle Originals production that would have made the very Norman Corwin tip his hat had he worn one. Written in less than four days (and cast in much less than that), “Through The Gates of Madness” is a writer’s fantasy.

The premise goes like this:

A strange door surfaces in the middle of the South Pole. Nobody knows how it got there. Nobody knows what’s behind. Walter Gibson, a seasoned war correspondent, will be joining a group of scientists from every nation to find out. Grab your gear and accompany Walter as he walks… through the gates of madness.

Classic Literature Trading Cards

Posted on February, 2021

This first quarter I will be again occupying some of my time by wearing the editor hat since Free Bundle Magazine is releasing a pretty impressive set of premium Digital Trading Cards themed after the great classics of literature. The first two revolve around Jules Verne and his Voyages Extraordinaries, but many more are still on the whiteboard. Though I am obligated not to say much, this I can promise: the next couple of cards will be done with the exact same love and dedication as these two.

Get your deck here: https://thefreebundle.com/cards/

A Very Different Christmas

Posted on December, 2020

Editing a magazine like Free Bundle has never been easy, but this year it has proven to be even more challenging, and the plague has nothing to do with it. We have moved from a website-format to a digital magazine. I have just been informed that the latest issue, the Christmas Special, has been read by 93% of our regular subscribers. That is around 2300 eyes reading our little magazine on Christmas Eve. Unreal. Best way to end a somewhat hectic year.

Short Fiction Sells, or How to Sell Your Short Story

Posted on September, 2019

Since I took the seat of editor-in-chief for the Free Bundle Magazine, one of the questions I find myself answering the most is where can I sell my short stories? Many writers appear not to know the immeasurable value of their short stories, and since our payment scheme is a little different than what most Speculative Fiction magazines are offering nowadays, I decided to write an essay on Medium about it.

Read my essay here: https://javiercabrerabooks.medium.com/short-fiction-sells-the-definitive-guide-to-submitting-your-stories-b5178a4168a3

Far Beyond the Stars

Posted on September, 2019

When CBS launched Star Trek: Discovery worldwide, I couldn’t help but writing a very critical commentary in Medium to point out the show’s many flaws and their solutions. While some of these are now out of their scope (one of the solutions was to bring award-winning screenwriters who had previously worked on the franchise onboard, like the now-deceased Harlan Ellison,) I made sure to point out the importance of recognizing the work done not only by the cast of the show’s first season but from the previous Star Trek installments as well.

Read my essay here: https://medium.com/@doncabrera/far-beyond-the-stars-18d3aa60b4d9

The Tape Project, part 1

Posted on March, 2019

Picture a young Mark Twain, newly appointed journalist seated on a teak folding chair on the starboard of the San Francisco as he and dozen passengers slowly roam downstream the Mississipi waters in a hot and humid Thursday afternoon. During a trip which, as shocking as it might sound to many because of Clemens’ inclination to story telling, actually happened¹, we learn of the death of a child at the hands of cholera and his burial at the sea.

We also learn about the grieving young mother, and how the deadly bacteria that fulminated her child spread quikcly through the entire ship, ignoring social scales and fluvial ranks, to the extent that even the clergyman aboard became sick with the terrible disease.

Mythos: a Silicon Valley Thriller

Posted on March, 2019

As a programmer, Jack Nash solves problems for a living.
Now he must solve one to stay alive.

Today I’m releasing a novella I wrote back in late December 2012 and published in January 2013. MYTHOS: A Silicon Valley Thriller was born from the idea of writing a series of short novels in the style of Rod Serling’s fantastic Television show The Twilight Zone.

Though the “MYTHOS DOSSIER” never happened beyond this first novella, Jack’s story survived the ax and found its way into a new kind of book series, which I’ll be presenting later on this year.