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.
Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that NewsCorp (owner of both HarperCollins and WSJ itself) was in talks with CBS (owner of Simon & Schuster) about a possible merger. This after last month Rupert Murdoch missed out on the major Penguin/Random House deal. If S&S and Harper come to an agreement, the industry will undergo even more consolidation. Given the new dynamic forming among these competitors, I wonder how long it will take before Hachette and Macmillan follow suit. (Someone mentioned their new company name should be “Machete,” which totally gets my vote.)
Speaking of S&S, they’ve just started a self-publishing arm called Archway Publishing. Ten years ago they would have sneered at such an operation, but nowadays major publishers are happy to take your money. And only for three times the amount you’d spend by doing it yourself. Their author packages range from two to fifteen thousand dollars. My advice? Steer clear. If it costs more than $500-750 total (per title), then someone’s taking advantage of you.
Originally posted last year at Darkeva’s Dark Delights.
*****
I watched a lot of horror movies when I was a kid, and the only monsters that were able to scare me were werewolves. It wasn’t until I grew older that I realized why that was the case. Vampires didn’t frighten me, nor zombies, nor mummies or any manner of creature from beyond the stars. It wasn’t even about special effects, though some films like “The Howling” and “An American Werewolf in London” had memorable transformation sequences.
No, it came down to what werewolves represented. By day they walk undetected amongst us; at night they hunt us for food. Scratch the surface of any normal-looking individual, and one might find a murderous predator lurking beneath. That’s a very real fear for people, especially children and parents, the secrets of two-faced strangers.
Werewolves struck a nerve because I saw myself in them. And I don’t mean the trite YA angle of a pubescent boy who suddenly sprouts hair all over and takes an animalian interest in the opposite sex. It went deeper than that, the primal fear underneath the phobia.
In my novel The Shadow Wolves, I call it the Beast. It dwells in every person, some more strongly than others. It’s a bestial darkness that each person fosters. Average people do their best to suppress it, while others give in to it. (The latter are the ones you usually see in police mugshots or under a BREAKING NEWS headline on CNN.)
The issues lycanthropy raises are existential ones: loss of identity, loss of self-control. These are the same things that upset me when I looked into a mirror, so I was able to draw on that dread as I wrote the book.
I wanted to probe other aspects as well. The Shadow Wolves are a Border Patrol unit that patrols a Native American reservation in Arizona. In the novel, its members are corrupted by the power of skinwalking and begin to think themselves superior to mankind. This sets up dramatic tension between the protagonist (Scout Hemene) and the team he so desperately wants to accept him.
As I broke the story in my head, initially I wanted Scout to fall in love with the team’s only female. He’d help rescue her from the other werewolves and start a new life together. Only through his love for her does he reconnect with his own humanity.
It didn’t take long to realize that’s the same plot to almost every classic werewolf book or movie, the woman who tames the beast within the man. Since I didn’t want to tread ground that’s been already trampled, I mused about other types of love. Everyone jumps to romantic love because it’s the most obvious, but there’s friendship love and familial love and — eureka.
Once I had the epiphany that this wasn’t a story about a man falling in love with a woman, the rest of the book quickly fell in place. Instead it would be about two estranged brothers who reunite through the power of shape-shifting.
The Shadow Wolves allowed me to explore universal themes using a supernatural canvas to tell the tale. I believe that’s what the horror genre does at its best. And that’s how werewolves went from scaring my six-year-old self to becoming this author’s favorite kind of monster.
Tom Piccirilli posted a lengthy essay this morning about his ongoing battle with brain cancer. It’s a powerful piece, and it reminded me of a story by sci-fi writer Norman Spinrad called “Carcinoma Angels.” Christopher Hitchens’ last book, Mortality, also touches on many of the same themes. Please pick up any one of Tom’s books; you won’t be disappointed.
And a few weeks ago The Awl published an interesting article about “Lies Writers Tell Themselves.” It’s amusing and worth a look, especially during NaNoWriMo.
Every November National Novel Writing Month blows into town like a cold winter wind. I’ve never taken part, but I wish all the best to those who do. The idea is simple: each participant has 30 days to write a short novel of at least 50,000 words. There are no prizes, except for a feeling of personal accomplishment. If you fail to reach that word count, however, you are forced to turn in your thesaurus and are banned from writing forever. That’s what happened to Hemingway, look it up.
The Guardian had an interesting piece yesterday about the horror genre and whether it’s doomed to literary hell. Do you agree with the author, Stuart Kelly? I don’t. Every genre goes through high points and low, and each has interest from the general reading public hit the same notes. Sometimes the two intersect — horror in the 1980s or sci-fi in the 1950s — and then the entire genre explodes in public consciousness. Right now I don’t believe horror itself is going through the creative doldrums, but I think it is being ignored by the industry. The readers still care, the writers still care . . . it’s the publishers who’ve left them behind in favor of the “paranormal” genre.
(There’s a longer blog post in that thought, one I hope to return to in the near future. Right now I have to leave it at that.)
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