u/mac_ashton

My short story collection, The Dark Humor Will Continue Until Morale Improves, finally has some free codes available to share here! What's it like to drive trucks for an elder god? Can you be a good coworker when the corporate AI has it out for you? Who gets to decide if the big red button gets pushed?

The 10 stories in this collection were created out of frustration, anger, and my favorite coping mechanism, humor. If you enjoy it, please share it around, half the profits before the midterms are going to Act Blue (an organization for helping elect democratic candidates in the US).

Here are 10 codes, sound off in the comments to tell folks which one you grabbed.

1. https://authors-direct.com/spotify/?code=SPOT-01M0-BXHC-C5AA-HH3F-45VA-E6SSMV
2. https://authors-direct.com/spotify/?code=SPOT-01M0-BXHC-C2EY-B5W9-SHYR-MSYH9C
3. https://authors-direct.com/spotify/?code=SPOT-01M0-BXHC-C5AA-HH3F-45VA-E6SSPY
4. https://authors-direct.com/spotify/?code=SPOT-01M0-BXHC-C5AA-HH3F-45VA-E6SSP3
5. https://authors-direct.com/spotify/?code=SPOT-01M0-BXHC-C714-HSRD-QY92-FMZ7PX
6. https://authors-direct.com/spotify/?code=SPOT-01M0-BXHC-C8QM-YHBV-V67Y-E1XWK8
7. https://authors-direct.com/spotify/?code=SPOT-01M0-BXHC-C9P6-Z67S-C6BF-6PQXE5
8. https://authors-direct.com/spotify/?code=SPOT-01M0-BXHC-C8QM-YHBV-V67Y-E1XWKT
9. https://authors-direct.com/spotify/?code=SPOT-01M0-BXHC-C9P6-Z67S-C6BF-6PQXD6
10. https://authors-direct.com/spotify/?code=SPOT-01M0-BXHC-C2EY-B5W9-SHYR-MSYH6C

I had a ton of fun researching this cryptid. The body count on this thing is absolutely wild and some of the stories of people fighting it off are wild.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1UXTTfr33lsS8ICNfMQ6FQ

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cryptids-decrypted/id1473505510

Disclosure: I wrote this!

Hello! I have 15 free codes for my audiobook.

Premise:

Nick Ventner has a blatant disregard for other people, bog monsters, wargs, or creatures that defy classification. He accepts any monster hunting jobs that pay enough to fill his flask, even for a night.

So when a letter arrives promising "much money" to investigate a series of deadly attacks in the Himalayas, Nick doesn't ask too many questions. What should have been a simple job gets complicated the moment he arrives and finds his infamous rival already on the mountain with a head start. Neither of them is prepared for what's actually waiting on the slopes above. The locals have a name for it, and Nick's starting to wish they hadn't told him.

Narration By: Stuart Bentley, Canadian actor, cool human, occasional Santa impersonator (yup, that's real and it's uncanny).

The Series: This is Book 1 in the Nick Ventner Adventures. Some of you may have gotten codes for the prequel audiobook, A Man of the Mountain, also narrated by Stuart Bentley. Book 2 is only in paperback/digital for now, but if this goes well, I will get an audiobook done of that as well.

Codes in the comments, if you like it, please leave me a review and tell others. As an indie author, word of mouth is the most important part of a launch, and I would really appreciate it.

I'm not sure if this is just my ADHD or if it's a legitimate issue, but I feel like this game wastes a sh** ton of time on animations. I would love an update that allows animations to either be sped up or skipped entirely.

Ex: The level up stopping everything on the screen dead until it triggers the congrats animation we've all seen a hundred times. I love it happening the first time it happens, I wish I could turn it off now.

Ex: Pokemon skills stopping everything on screen. What if they didn't and you could still click other mons while this was happening?

Ex: The slow animation of a pokemon receiving a candy and stopping you from clicking that mon for a few seconds.

I know these are relatively minor time sucks, but they add up! Sometimes I want to log in and just breeze through my triggers on a break.

Rant over, hope that's helpful. Curious if others agree or if I'm off base.

Blurb - What's it like to drive trucks for an elder god? Can you be a good coworker when the corporate AI has it out for you? Who gets to decide if the big red button gets pushed?

The Dark Humor Will Continue Until Morale Improves is all about finding the laughs in the dark corners of the world we'd rather not look at. As a condition of laughing at the dark state of the world, half of the profits support ActBlue, so maybe the next book doesn't have to feel so bleak.

TRIGGERS!! - Self harm (there is one story, I can tell you which one if you'd prefer not to read it)

https://preview.redd.it/rdpa8fc1o5xg1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a4802ba9da370516520360b93ea221c04e3ed58e

Exact date of publication - 06/06/2026

The date you plan to send your ARCs to your team. - 05/01/2026

The date you expect your ARC team to finish the reading and submit their reviews by. - 06/01/2026

Instructions/link for readers to sign up for your ARC: Please sign up using my google form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvr7CsUb0_EMrYJi2f1aLrKHRZjT7tPCfpQCY8hmCUoNsk-Q/viewform?usp=header