Yesterday, while cruising blogs of fellow writers, I found an interesting anthology. The Monsters Next Door has a upcoming anthology entitled The Devil's Food. It's focus is on stories centering on people being food for some sort of monster. While I usually don't write stuff like that I am floating a few things around inside my mind grapes and will test my luck with this. Check it out. It looks interesting.
My second story "One Cup of Safari Punch" was rejected at 52 Stitches. Oh well. Maybe the piece will find a home somewhere else. Shame though as I would have loved to have been a part of that.
One of my stories, "Beneath the Crawling", is still out there in hope land and I'm waiting for a reply so I still have my fingers crossed with them.
Still working on my Camp Douglas fictional piece and it's growing quite long. Not sure what I'm going to do with it when it's done. It's looking to be novella length so after I do a few revisions I'll shop it around.
My goal this month is to get another acceptance bringing my total for his year to five pieces in print, which is pretty good considering I just started submitting this spring.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Finding Words
Sometimes I struggle to find the words for the ideas in my head. Not in the sense of a lack of vocabulary, hell, I wouldn't try to write if I didn't HAVE the words. More in the sense that sometimes I feel the words aren't doing the story justice. I must type and delete more paragraphs than I actually keep. I wonder if I'm doing right by my characters. Am I giving them the flesh they deserve, the organs to keep their blood pumping or are they only skin with hollow bones.
I write horror, but I never intend to give chills. I honestly believe it's damn near impossible to frighten or disgust anymore, not with computer effects and the heights to which both film and reality have taken our imaginations these days. No, monsters aren't scary anymore cause we've seen them. They're known. I don't find the ghost in the haunted house scary anymore. It's the ghosts in the man's head that lead him to drink obsessively and neglect his loved ones that are really terrifying. That's what I try to capture. Life is horror and when you can grab it and twist it just right, well hell, you can make someone shudder and look at the people around them a little differently and that's true horror. My opinion anyway. Not to take away from those writers that still create those beastly creatures that haunt dreams. More power to them. It's just not my cup of blood.
Vampires are sexy. Werewolves are hip. Mummies, well, mummies are dead. We've split more zombie heads than George Romero and buried more bones than the neighbors dog. Ghosts get hunted on the sci-fi channel by plumbers. What's left? Serial killers? Please, they belong in the movies and on CSI: Miami. It's the little horrors that I like. The kid at school with the pistol in his backpack, the mother who doesn't love her child enough, the man who's so tired of losing he'll go to any length for a victory, even if it means someone gets hurt. And even though we see them everyday, we never truly SEE them until it's too late. And that's scary.
On a more personal note, "Sweet Sherry" was a no go over at 52 Stitches. Oh well, the editor there got a different perspective than I was going for when reading it and that's totally my fault. The story was a bit rushed so I shelved it for now. I'm working on shooting another one at them entitled "One Cup of Safari Punch" which I hope will be more to their liking.
The Northern Haunts anthology over at Shroud is moving along. Mr. Tim Deal says it's coming in at over 300 pages and at least two of them will be mine. (probably even 4 pages) The soft cover will be out soon and the hard cover is looking to hit before Christmas this year.
My story "The Choice" is still slated to appear in Black Ink Horror Magazine early next year. If you haven't checked them out please do, I like what Tim Manning/Tom Moran is doing over there. He's really putting together a quality publication.
Well, I better get back to doing something...constructive. Maybe I'll build a fort.
I write horror, but I never intend to give chills. I honestly believe it's damn near impossible to frighten or disgust anymore, not with computer effects and the heights to which both film and reality have taken our imaginations these days. No, monsters aren't scary anymore cause we've seen them. They're known. I don't find the ghost in the haunted house scary anymore. It's the ghosts in the man's head that lead him to drink obsessively and neglect his loved ones that are really terrifying. That's what I try to capture. Life is horror and when you can grab it and twist it just right, well hell, you can make someone shudder and look at the people around them a little differently and that's true horror. My opinion anyway. Not to take away from those writers that still create those beastly creatures that haunt dreams. More power to them. It's just not my cup of blood.
Vampires are sexy. Werewolves are hip. Mummies, well, mummies are dead. We've split more zombie heads than George Romero and buried more bones than the neighbors dog. Ghosts get hunted on the sci-fi channel by plumbers. What's left? Serial killers? Please, they belong in the movies and on CSI: Miami. It's the little horrors that I like. The kid at school with the pistol in his backpack, the mother who doesn't love her child enough, the man who's so tired of losing he'll go to any length for a victory, even if it means someone gets hurt. And even though we see them everyday, we never truly SEE them until it's too late. And that's scary.
On a more personal note, "Sweet Sherry" was a no go over at 52 Stitches. Oh well, the editor there got a different perspective than I was going for when reading it and that's totally my fault. The story was a bit rushed so I shelved it for now. I'm working on shooting another one at them entitled "One Cup of Safari Punch" which I hope will be more to their liking.
The Northern Haunts anthology over at Shroud is moving along. Mr. Tim Deal says it's coming in at over 300 pages and at least two of them will be mine. (probably even 4 pages) The soft cover will be out soon and the hard cover is looking to hit before Christmas this year.
My story "The Choice" is still slated to appear in Black Ink Horror Magazine early next year. If you haven't checked them out please do, I like what Tim Manning/Tom Moran is doing over there. He's really putting together a quality publication.
Well, I better get back to doing something...constructive. Maybe I'll build a fort.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Night Walk
I walk at night. I enjoy it. It's really the only time I get to think, to be alone with my thoughts. Sometimes I get inspired to write something, sometimes I get inspired to do something, most times I get cold and have to pee. Sometimes I stand on the side of some random house and stare at the upstairs windows for 15 to 20 minutes hoping someone inside, a child awakening from a dream or a mom or dad just having trouble drifting off might glance out the window and spy the dark figure staring back at them. With any luck they'd be ruined for life, never able to sleep with the blinds open, never finding peace knowing that sometimes there are monsters outside.
Tonight I saw something beautiful. The sky was split in half. On one side a solid, white cloud ruled while on the other was nothing but a clear dark blue ocean. And right above me was where the blue met the white and it ran to the horizon. Some of the clouds, like clawed fingers reached into the blue, but alas, the blue was winning, pushing the clouds further away. And as the clouds retreated, stars appeared from beneath. It reminded me of a beautiful women slowly lowering her blouse to expose her breasts.
I wonder how many people were awake and looking at the sky at the same time I was. I wonder out of those that were, how many of them appreciated it and thought it was beautiful.
Tonight I saw something beautiful. The sky was split in half. On one side a solid, white cloud ruled while on the other was nothing but a clear dark blue ocean. And right above me was where the blue met the white and it ran to the horizon. Some of the clouds, like clawed fingers reached into the blue, but alas, the blue was winning, pushing the clouds further away. And as the clouds retreated, stars appeared from beneath. It reminded me of a beautiful women slowly lowering her blouse to expose her breasts.
I wonder how many people were awake and looking at the sky at the same time I was. I wonder out of those that were, how many of them appreciated it and thought it was beautiful.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Crossing My Fingers
I just sent out my story "Pretty Pink Pills" to Arkham Tales e-zine. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one. "Pretty Pink Pills" has a special place in my heart as I really put a lot of effort into this story. I would just love to see it find a home.
Also fired off "Sweet Sherry" to 52 Stitches.
Also fired off "Sweet Sherry" to 52 Stitches.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Pre-emptive Paranoia
Have you ever been talking with someone when all of a sudden you think, "Wow, this person would never expect me to just wind back and punch them in the eye socket"? It's a thought that frequently crosses my mind. Not, mind you, for any hidden hatred I may harbor towards the person I am currently conversing with. Nor is it any mental instability I happen to have just the right grip on keeping it quiet but ever-present. No, I'd say it's more because it would be something so unexpected, so against the normal routine of conversation.
Usually it's you talk, I answer, I ask then you answer, good day, take care and we're off about our business. But anywhere during that routine you throw in a knuckle sandwich to the jaw and chin arena and now, well, you got yourselves a unique situation no?
So, when I get that thought, or urge, depending on how boring the convo is, I think of how a seventh grade teacher once told me that any thought I may have has without question previously been thought before by someone else. That what may seem unique to you is something that is simply not spoken about by others. Kind of like masturbation I guess. So, one can conclude that while I am thinking of interrupting my next-door neighbors little tale about his poodle getting off the leash with a well-placed punch to the esophagus, he's simply distracting me with his poodle epic until he can get the drop on me. So now I have no choice right? I must act first. If I don't, I lose the element of surprise and that means the war is lost.
Perhaps I'm reading into this a bit too far. Perhaps not. All I know for sure is that no one is going to get the drop on me anytime soon. And I have plenty of bail money put aside.
Usually it's you talk, I answer, I ask then you answer, good day, take care and we're off about our business. But anywhere during that routine you throw in a knuckle sandwich to the jaw and chin arena and now, well, you got yourselves a unique situation no?
So, when I get that thought, or urge, depending on how boring the convo is, I think of how a seventh grade teacher once told me that any thought I may have has without question previously been thought before by someone else. That what may seem unique to you is something that is simply not spoken about by others. Kind of like masturbation I guess. So, one can conclude that while I am thinking of interrupting my next-door neighbors little tale about his poodle getting off the leash with a well-placed punch to the esophagus, he's simply distracting me with his poodle epic until he can get the drop on me. So now I have no choice right? I must act first. If I don't, I lose the element of surprise and that means the war is lost.
Perhaps I'm reading into this a bit too far. Perhaps not. All I know for sure is that no one is going to get the drop on me anytime soon. And I have plenty of bail money put aside.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Currently Working On...
Well, a few things actually.
Firstly, working on a short story called "When Dark Things Meet". Not sure where this idea came from. Thought of it while driving the other night. I get a lot of ideas when I'm driving around, listening to music. I daydream a lot. I also, ironically, cause quite a few car accidents.
Also nursing a short story that is getting longer and longer as I write it that has no title. It's a fictional tale set in Camp Douglas during the Civil War. I just love mixing horror fiction and historical fact. Really the only thing that separates them is truth.
I also have been fiddling around with this, www.skainworld.blogspot.com, which is a fictional blog telling the story of a few survivors of a global zombie outbreak. I update it daily and all the characters, commenters and all, are fictional and written by myself. Why am I doing this? Well, I have no idea. Stop by and check it out, if it ain't your thing, move along. Hey, what beats a free zombie story? Nothing...well, maybe 4 of a kind.
Firstly, working on a short story called "When Dark Things Meet". Not sure where this idea came from. Thought of it while driving the other night. I get a lot of ideas when I'm driving around, listening to music. I daydream a lot. I also, ironically, cause quite a few car accidents.
Also nursing a short story that is getting longer and longer as I write it that has no title. It's a fictional tale set in Camp Douglas during the Civil War. I just love mixing horror fiction and historical fact. Really the only thing that separates them is truth.
I also have been fiddling around with this, www.skainworld.blogspot.com, which is a fictional blog telling the story of a few survivors of a global zombie outbreak. I update it daily and all the characters, commenters and all, are fictional and written by myself. Why am I doing this? Well, I have no idea. Stop by and check it out, if it ain't your thing, move along. Hey, what beats a free zombie story? Nothing...well, maybe 4 of a kind.
Another Upcoming Story Coming Out
This time, the esteemed Mr. Tim Manning (wink, wink) has given my story, "The Choice" a nod for Black Ink Horror Magazines upcoming issue #6 due out in the first quarter of 2009. I'm very excited to see my work in Black Ink Horror, alongside a piece of artwork. The thought that an artist will be creating an image off the inspiration he/she receives after reading my story blows my mind. And the talented artists over at BIH are some of the best.
Check it out...wait for it...here!
Check it out...wait for it...here!
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