Made You Flinch

On the heels of Alienology is the latest book from the Twisted Library imprint Library of Horror entitled Made you Flinch: Stories to Unnerve, Disturb and Freak You Out.  As with the last Library release, I have a story within the bindings of this one called "The Hitman Who Never Used a Gun", about an ex-mobster living in Florida hiding from his past life on the mean streets. Thing is, he has such a love for murder that he does hits for local socialites, only his latest hit was a strange one that left him unnerved for the first time in his life.

The book is available at amazon.com: HERE

Lemmy's Distracting Me!!!!!

So, my lovely wife bought me a book for Father's Day called White Line Fever, the autobiography of Lemmy.  If you don't know who Lemmy is you've probably been living under a rock or are a complete square (which is fine -- to each their own, you know).

Anyway, I've been plowing through the book and it's great.  Can't put it down (well, I suppose I just did to screw around on the net and post this post).  Point is, when I read one of these rock n roll autobiographies I get sucked in.  They're like crack to a junkie.  I can't get enough.  Therefor I haven't written a word in three days, haven't read a submission, haven't edited anything...

When I'm finished reading about the craziness of Lemmy and Motorhead, then I'll get back to writing.  Now, back to my binge...

New Interview

Ken Cain was kind enough to conduct and interview with me that has now appeared on his blog Your Vision, My Eyes.  We talk about my forthcoming novel and novella, some of my previously published stories, my chapbook Pantomime, the anthologies I have edited, and other odds and ends.  The man conducts a nice interview, so please go to his blog and have a read HERE.

Alienology: Tales From the Void

Out now from Library of Horror Press: Alienology: Tales From the Void.

What lies in wait amongst the gleaming stars? In Alienology you'll explore the corners of an endless universe through twenty-eight tales of alien horror, written by new and established authors from around the globe. You'll come face to face with creatures from beyond, battle to protect Earth against beings bent on destroying humanity, learn too late of the plot to control the collective human psyche, and salvage alien crafts in a distant galaxy. Remember...we are not alone.

Proud to have my story "The Fruits of Incubation" in this one.  Here's the link if you are interested in buying a copy: alien horror

My Love Affair with Adverbs

It is well known, at least amongst writers, that adverbs are the enemy.  We're taught to slay those bastard adverbs from our manuscripts whenever possible, leave only one or two per thousand words or some nonsense...or is it nonsense?

I've often wondered because I, at one point, had never met an adverb I didn't like.  Mind you, while editing anthologies I pay careful attention to adverbs and remove some of them as I see fit, mostly because so many people regard them as a cigarette butt stuck in a piece of shoe-blackened gum on a sidewalk. 

Truth is, it took me a long time to get what the whole blacklisting of adverbs was about.  Modifiers with "ly" at the end were said to be like garlic to a vampire and I didn't get it.  I would remove them from my work and rearrange the sentences because I knew that was what editors would like to see.  the less adverbs, the better chance at acceptance.  Proof readers pointed this out to me, namely Tonia Brown, and I took hers and their advice in exterminating adverbs like roaches, but they would insist on coming back in the next piece I wrote, only to be exterminated again during re-writes and edits.

Then I read some older work and really paid attention to the use of adverbs, particularly in several Issac Asimov, Robert W. Chambers, and William Hope Hodgson stories.  In the past several months I have read work from these three authors and noticed an abundance of adverbs.  So many in fact that I would cringe at times, those pesky modifiers being used over and over, sometimes two in a single sentence!  Now, did that mean the stories were bad?  Hell no.  In fact Chambers' The King in Yellow is one of the best reads I've had the pleasure of experiencing in a long time.  Hodgson's House on the Borderland was very good, and the Asimov stories were amazing, especially considering the fact that I rarely read sci-fi.

But it was another time.  There were so many bits of grammar and tact that are now outdated due to progress and changing times, particularly in the case of Chambers and Hodgson.  I love reading the classics, and though I cringe at times concerning the overly, repetitively, monotonously used adverbs, I know that without these gems none of us would be doing what we're doing today.  It took reading the classics for me to understand what all the hoopla was about concerning adverbs, and now that I understand, I hope less and less of the little bastards appear in my work.  And if they do rear their ugly mugs, damn-it, I'll take my red pen and remove the little shits.

(Minus my deliberate use of three adverbs in a row, there were five in this post.  Too many, right?)

Scarecrow and The Madness: The Cover Revealed

Here it is!  The cover for mine and Craig's forthcoming book Scarecrow and The Madness, artwork by none other than Andrej Bartulovic, the Maggot Master!  (Check the post below for his website link and take a look at his work.  He isn't called Maggot Master for nothing.)

I can't say enough good things about this cover.  I'm astonished and truly pleased with it.  They say don't judge a book by its cover, but in this case...shit, this cover is so damn cool it's bound to sell copies, and the novellas within won't disappoint.

I will post details and news as the release draws near.  Look for the book later this year from none other than Blood Bound Books.

I Saw a Preview of my Novella Cover...

...And it's freakin' awesome!  I was ecstatic when I found out that Andrej Bartulovic aka Maggot Master was the man at the helm.  He's done several Blood Bound Books covers, all of which look fantastic, but I guarantee when you see what he came up with for mine and Craig Saunders' book Scarecrow and The Madness you are going to be impressed.  I would post the preview that was sent to me, but I think it's wise to wait until it's finished.  It'll be a hell of a teaser.  The book is slated for a December release.

Check out Andrej's website.  He does art for heavy metal CD covers, t-shirts, books, and his prices are very reasonable, and the artwork...well, it speaks for itself.  Twisted, mad, gruesome -- check him out: http://maggotmaster.com/

What's up with my WIP: Through the In Between, Hell Awaits

That's the new title of my work-in-progress: Through the In Between, Hell Awaits.  (Yes, "In" is capitalized on purpose.)  Of course, titles are always subject to change.  This is at least the third or fourth title this book has had since I began writing it a few months ago.

The progress?  Well, I'm on page 307.  I'm still not keeping track of my word count, and I insist that it is a good method for creativity without some looming distraction and pressure to write a certain amount of words in a day or week or whatever.  Today I wrote about seven pages while my son slept, which is the most I've written in one sitting in a few weeks, and that's just fine with me.  As Tom Petty says, "Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks".  I wrote a few shorts last week and have been reading submissions for Through the Eyes of the Undead II.  The creative juices for Hell Awaits weren't flowing as freely as I had wished, so I chose to work on other projects until the bug bit me again, and it has. 

I like the direction the book is going, and as much as I will not allow myself to look at the word count, I can't wait to see what it is when I am finished.  I have no real expectations, but I do hope it is longer than my first novel, which ran about 70K words.  I think 80 or 90K is a solid number, but...ah, who cares right now.  Writing the first draft of this beast is fun enough.

I have a good idea how the book will end, and there is a series of incidents occurring now that will bring the primary characters to the apex, respectively -- well, those who make it that far.  But, though the book seems as if it will end much the way I thought from the beginning, there is something I hadn't seen coming that I'm unsure about.  Sometimes books write themselves, as this one has done 75% of the time.  And I worry about my protagonists.  Really, I do.

Until next time...

Audio Books and ipods

I just got an ipod shuffle for my birthday.  Never had anything quite like this aside from a cheap mp3 player that up and quit on me a few months ago.  I listen to talk radio at work since FM music channels are bland and repetitive (now that I think about it talk radio can be just that), but I would like to listen to the music of my choosing, and I like to listen to the songs in the order the band put them on the album, which I couldn't do with my old mp3 because it alphabetized the tracks, which irritated me.

The ipod is very cool.  I put on a Pantera album and a Mr. Bungle album and they sound great (I use my own headphones -- I hate those stupid ear buds people use these days), but what is really cool is that I found some websites with free public domain audio books.  This may very well be the coolest damn thing I've discovered in some time.  I can listen to books while I work...  I can listen to books while I work!

Today I listened to Robert Bloch's This Crowded Earth as well as a Sir Conan Arthur Doyle story.  For tomorrow I loaded up a collection of Lovecraft stories (most of which I have already read) as well as Robert W. Chambers' The King in Yellow and more Doyle stories.  No music.