Jared Sandman

Two things today:

One comes from the first World Fantasy Convention (1975) in Providence, Rhode Island.  It’s a clip of Robert Bloch speaking on a writing panel.  Audio interviews with Bloch are rare; in fact, I’ve never heard him speak before.  Here’s another short one about his story-writing process.

Another interesting bit from the Internets:  Ray Bradbury’s final words.  Bradbury spent the last few years dictating his material rather than typing it himself, after a stroke slowed down his output.  Sam Weller, Bradbury’s biographer, attests that this article in the Huffington Post is the final thing Ray dictated before his death.  It’s an introduction to the Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012, a nostalgic piece about books and reading.

Forbes published an article earlier this week about the continuing struggles at Barnes & Noble.  It goes into detail about why Amazon is spanking B&N in the marketplace, and what can be done to pull them out of a tailspin.

In other news, Amazon released information about reselling used ebooks on their site.  Better World Books did something similar late last year, and I feel very ambivalent about the practice.  I don’t think digital files should be swapped online, which feels too much like sanctioned piracy.  It will be up to writers to inform readers about where readers can buy an author’s work so that the most benefit goes to the author.  If readers understand a $4.00 ebook from Reseller A nets the author no money while Retailer B gives the author a 70% cut in royalties, I think most readers will choose to support the writer (assuming price points at both retailers are the same).

I stumbled across a great interview about Charles Beaumont.  Beaumont, for those who don’t know, was a fabulous SF writer who died tragically in the ’60s of what today we’d call early onset Alzheimer’s.  The interview is from 1987, to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Beaumont’s death.  It comes from a radio program hosted by Harlan Ellison, who talks at length with Richard Matheson (Beaumont’s friend and frequent collaborator), Roger Anker (biographer) and Christopher Beaumont (his son).  Later they’re joined by Matheson’s son, R.C.  It lasts about 90 minutes, and it meanders toward the end when Ellison goes off on one of his trademark tangents.  There’s a lot of information here that I didn’t know about Beaumont, a fascinating glimpse into the creative process of a writer who needs to be more widely read.  I consider Beaumont one of the best, an author who ranks in my personal Top 5.  (The fact Matheson and Ellison are both on that list make this interview an extra treat.)

And for lovers of book porn, I have something special:  the 25 most beautiful public libraries in the world.  A couple from the United States make the cut, NYC and LA libraries.  Can’t get enough?  Try the world’s best private libraries.  I never wanted to visit Skywalker Ranch until now.

Macmillan has finally reached an agreement with Overdrive, to supply libraries with ebooks.  They’d held out until now, which hadn’t hurt anyone but readers.  I think the terms are smart — 26 lends or 24 months, whichever comes first — in a deal that doesn’t slight publishers or writers.

And here’s a recent video of Stephen King, talking to students at a Canadian high school.  It’s worth a look.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Barnes & Noble is planning to shutter about one-third of its stores over the next decade.  The Nook e-reader hasn’t been the sales driver the company expected, among several other issues from which it suffers.  Read about it at Digital Book World.

And Brian Keene posted a lengthy essay that should be required reading for all would-be writers.  His newest e-book, The Girl on the Glider, is most excellent.  Pick it up and show him some love.

Over the weekend the Bram Stoker Award preliminary ballot was announced.  If you’re looking for a reading list of great work published over the past year, this is your starting point.  These works aren’t yet nominated, mind you; that doesn’t come until later.  And the ultimate winners will be announced at this year’s World Horror Convention, to be held in New Orleans. 

I’m embarrassed to admit how few of these books I’m familiar with.  I guess the majority of my reading doesn’t come from contemporary sources.  Taken from the HWA website:

NOVEL
Bodner, Hal – The Trouble with Hairy (Phantom Hollow Publishing)
Clines, Peter – 14 (Permuted Press)
Ethridge, Benjamin Kane – Bottled Abyss (Redrum Horror)
Everson, John – NightWhere (Samhain Publishing)
Faherty, JG – Cemetery Club (JournalStone)
Jordan, Lee F. – Coronation (Black Rose Writing)
Kiernan, Caitlin R. – The Drowning Girl (Roc)
Little, Bentley – The Haunted (Signet)
McKinney, Joe – Inheritance (Evil Jester Press)

FIRST NOVEL
Boccacino, Michael – Charlotte Markham and the House of Darklings (William Morrow)
Coates, Deborah – Wide Open (Tor Books)
Day, Charles – The Legend of the Pumpkin Thief (Noble YA Publishers LLC)
Dudar, Peter – A Requiem for Dead Flies (Nightscape Press)
Gropp, Richard – Bad Glass (Ballantine/Del Rey)
Hatchell, Dane – Resurrection X: Zombie Evolution (Post Mortem Press)
Holm, Chris – Dead Harvest (Angry Robot)
Jones, K. Trap – The Sinner (Blood Bound Books)
Soares, L.L. – Life Rage (Nightscape Press)
Sterbakov, Hugh – City Under the Moon (Ben & Derek Ink Inc.)

YA NOVEL
Bickle, Laura – The Hallowed Ones (Graphia)
Bray, Libba – The Diviners (Little Brown)
Burt, Steve – FreeK Show (Burt Creations)
Collings, Michaelbrent – Hooked: A True Faerie Tale (Createspace/Amazon Digital Services, Inc.)
Lyga, Barry – I Hunt Killers (Little Brown)
Maberry, Jonathan – Flesh & Bone (Simon & Schuster)
McCarty, Michael – I Kissed A Ghoul (Noble Romance Publishing)
Stiefvater, Maggie – The Raven Boys (Scholastic Press)
Strand, Jeff – A Bad Day for Voodoo (Sourcebooks)
Waters, Daniel – Break My Heart 1,000 Times (Hyperion Book CH)
Wilson, Connie Corcoran – The Color of Evil (Quad Cities Press)

LONG FICTION
Burke, Kealan Patrick – Thirty Miles South of Dry County (Delirium Books)
Faherty, JG – The Cold Spot (Delirium Books)
Giglio, Peter – Sunfall Manor (Nightscape Press)
Ketchum, Jack, and Lucky McGee – I’m Not Sam (Sinister Grin Press)
Malfi, Ronald – The Mourning House (Delirium Books)
McKinney, Joe, and Michael McCarty – Lost Girl of the Lake (Bad Moon Books)
Miskowski, S.P. – Delphine Dodd (Omnium Gatherum Media)
O’Neill, Gene – The Blue Heron (Dark Regions Press)
Prentiss, Norman – The Fleshless Man (Delirium Books)
Thompson, Lee – When We Join Jesus in Hell (Darkfuse)

SHORT FICTION
Bailey, Michael – Bootstrap (Zippered Flesh: Tales of Body Enhancements Gone Bad, Smart Rhino Publications)
Boston, Bruce – Surrounded by the Mutant Rain Forest (Daily Science Fiction)
Breaux, Kevin James – The Journal of USS Indianapolis Survivor: Stefanos “Stevie” Georgiou (Zombie Jesus & Other True Stories, Dark Moon Books)
Cushing, Nicole – A Catechism for Aspiring Amnesiacs (Lovecraft eZine, March 2012)
Lake, Jay – The Cancer Catechism (Dark Faith: Invocations, Apex Book Company)
McKinney, Joe – Bury My Heart at Marvin Gardens (Best of Dark Moon Digest, Dark Moon Books)
Ochse, Weston – Righteous (Psychos, Black Dog and Leventhall Publication)
Palisano, John – Available Light (Lovecraft eZine, March 2012)
Snyder, Lucy – Magdala Amygdala (Dark Faith: Invocations, Apex Book Company)

SCREENPLAY
Hill, Susan, and Goldman, Jane – The Woman in Black (Cross Creek Pictures)
Kim, San Kyu – The Walking Dead, “Killer Within” (AMC TV)
Minear, Tim – American Horror Story: Asylum, “Dark Cousin” (Brad Falchuk Teley-Vision, Ryan Murphy Productions)
Olynyk, Signe – Below Zero (Twilight Pictures)
Ross, Gary, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray – The Hunger Games (Lionsgate, Color Force)
Sanchez, Eduardo, and Jaime Nash – Lovely Molly (Amber Entertainment, Haxan Films)
Whedon, Joss, and Drew Goddard – The Cabin in the Woods (Mutant Enemy Productions, Lionsgate)

ANTHOLOGY
Beebe, Eric – Fear the Abyss (Post Mortem Press)
Castle, Mort, and Sam Weller – Shadow Show (HarperCollins)
Gallows Press – Tales from the Yellow Rose Diner and Fill Station (Gallows Press)
Guignard, Eric J. – Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations (Dark Moon Books)
Miller, Eric – Hell Comes to Hollywood (Big Time Books)
Salter, Richard – World’s Collider (Nightscape Press)
Scalisi, Patrick – The Ghost IS the Machine (Port Mortem Press)
Scioneaux, Mark C., R.J. Cavender, and Robert S. Wilson – Horror for Good: A Charitable Anthology (Cutting Block Press)
Swanson, Stan – Slices of Flesh (Dark Moon Books)

FICTION COLLECTION
Cain, Kenneth W. – These Old Tales: The Complete Collection (CreateSpace Distressed Press)
Carroll, Jonathan – Woman Who Married a Cloud: Collected Stories (Subterranean Press)
Castle, Mort – New Moon on the Water (Dark Regions)
De Winter, Corrine – Valentines for the Dead (Shadowfall Publications)
Hand, Elizabeth – Errantry: Strange Stories (Small Beer Press)
Hirshberg, Glen – The Janus Tree (Subterranean Press)
Lane, Joel – Where Furnaces Burn (PS Publishing)
LaSart, C.W. – Ad Nauseam (Dark Moon Books)
Oates, Joyce Carol – Black Dahlia and White Rose: Stories (Ecco)
Onspaugh, Mark – Christmas Ghost Stories (Createspace)
Yardley, Mercedes M. – Beautiful Sorrows (Shock Totem)

NON-FICTION
Aisenberg, Joe – Carrie: Studies in the Horror Film (Centipede Press)
Amazing Kreskin, The, and Michael McCarty – Conversations with Kreskin (Team Kreskin Productions LLC)
Collings, Michael – Writing Darkness (CreateSpace)
Klinger, Les – The Annotated Sandman, Volume 1 (Vertigo)
Matthews, Araminta Star, Rachel Lee, and Stan Swanson – Write of the Living Dead (Dark Moon Books)
Morton, Lisa – Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween (Reaktion Books)
Paffenroth, Kim, and John W. Morehead – The Undead and Theology (Pickwick Publications)
Perry, Dennis R., and Carl H. Sederholm – Adapting Poe: Re-Imaginings in Popular Culture (Palgrave MacMillan)
Phillips, Kendall R. – Dark Directions: Romero, Craven, Carpenter, and the Modern Horror Film (Southern Illinois University Press)

POETRY
Addison, Linda, and Stephen M. Wilson – Dark Duet (NECON eBooks)
Boston, Bruce, and Gary William Crawford – Notes from the Shadow City (Dark Regions Press)
Collings, Michael – A Verse to Horrors (Amazon Digital Services)
Dietrich, Bryan D. – The Monstrance (Needfire Poetry)
Ong Muslim, Kristina – Grim Series (Popcorn Press)
Simon, Marge, and Sandy DeLuca – Vampires, Zombies & Wanton Souls (Elektrik Milk Bath Press)
Turzillo, Mary A. – Lovers & Killers (Dark Regions)

——————

The following will not appear on the Preliminary Ballot. As there are only five works, they will proceed directly to the Final Ballot.

GRAPHIC NOVEL
Bunn, Cullen – The Sixth Gun Volume 3: Bound (Oni Press)
Moore, Terry – Rachel Rising Vol. 1: The Shadow of Death (Abstract Studio)
Thornton, Ravi – The Tale of Brin and Bent and Minno Marylebone (Jonathan Cape)
Wacks, Peter J., and Guy Anthony De Marco – Behind These Eyes (Villainous Press)
Wood, Rocky, and Lisa Morton – Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times (McFarland)

I hope everyone had a happy, healthy holiday season.  Last year my New Year’s resolution was to post more here on the site, which I accomplished (84 posts in 2012 vs. 68 in 2011).  I shall up the ante again, and I aim to top that in the coming months.

Blackstone has garnered a couple more positive reviews, from both Yawatta Hosby and Dark Eva.  Both of them gave the novel a thumbs-up, always nice to hear from book bloggers.  My thanks to them.

Reminder:  The Wild Hunt ebook is on sale for .99 cents, but only through tomorrow.  After January 6 it reverts back to the normal price of $3.99.  Kindle — Nook — iPad

In time for the holidays, I put The Wild Hunt on sale earlier this week.  The e-book is only $ .99, so snag a copy while you can.  Since the book takes place over the yuletide, I’ll run the special price through January 6.  It’s probably the darkest of my novels; zombie fans should especially enjoy all the undead carnage in it.  Everything I had to say about Christmas I put in the book, along with a liberal dose of norse and pagan mythology.

And if you like the book, please consider leaving a review at your online bookseller of choice.  Word of mouth is how readers find new writers (and vice versa).  Check out my Review 2 Preview program to learn how you can read all my books for free.

Amazon — B&N — Smashwords

THE HUNT HAS BEEN SOUNDED

The ghoulish horsemen of the Wild Hunt are cursed to ride forever as part of the Furious Host.  Criminals and sadists in life, their savagery knows no bounds in the afterlife.  Their leader, the hellish Lord of the Hunt, has come to reclaim what was stolen from him so many decades ago . . .

A TOWN FROZEN IN FEAR

The village of Wodanfield doesn’t celebrate the holidays.  Its citizens stay locked indoors during the yuletide.  Only a few are old enough to know why, because they remember the evil that is returning.  When Erik and Allie Herne move to Wodanfield, they consider the natives’ odd habits to be charming small-town quirks.  Until their neighbor, Ivan Hertz, reveals the truth . . .

 A PAYMENT IN BLOOD

As mutilated corpses stack up and the body count rises, the Hernes become aware they’re connected to the ongoing violence.  Because now the Host is after Allie, and they won’t stop till she’s dead.  Forced to transform herself into a warrior from a bygone era, she confronts the undead menace.  Only then does she realize there’s no escaping . . .

THE WILD HUNT

While today (Dec. 21, 2012) is not the end of the world, it may as well be for the 156,000 people on earth who will die today.  Just sayin’. 

Last year I wrote a movie review for a new classic, Rare Exports.  This year I decided to do the same, with another foreign offering:  SAINT.  It’s a Dutch flick that came out in 2010, and the version I watched was dubbed rather than subtitled.  At times it reminded me of my novel, The Wild Hunt, weaving European myths and history to come up with a horrifying holiday tale.

Sadly, that wasn’t enough to save this movie.  It’s a pretty standard slasher film, too much like John Carpenter’s The Fog at times.  There were a few great sequences, however:  St. Nick riding his horse along the cityscape of Amsterdam, for example, or breaking into a local hospital to steal kids from the children’s ward.  Although the characters were cookie-cutter stereotypes — the slutty girl, the clueless boy, the grizzled cop who’s too old for this shit — the special effects were actually pretty good.  Kudos to whoever came up with the makeup and costume for St. Nick.  SAINT has a short runtime, 85 minutes, so that works in its favor.  I sat through the whole thing, which I won’t do if I hate something outright. 

My rating?  Two shrugs and a meh.  Pop in Gremlins instead.

Here’s an interesting interview with Richard Christian Matheson that was conducted last year.  R.C. is Richard Matheson’s son, and a helluva writer in his own right.  He works primarily in television and movies, though he has one novel and couple of short story collections to his name.

R.C.’s specialty is short-shorts, one of which in particular has stuck with me.  Track down his story “Red” if you can find it.  I read it three times before it dawned on me what the story was really about.  On my fourth read through I realized it’s a nasty conte cruel, one of the most horrific stories I’ve ever come across.