So I've been collaborating with Jack Bantry for some years now. It all started with a story I submitted to him for SplatterpunkZine. He liked the story but thought it needed something, asked if he could tinker with it and if I liked the outcome we could publish it as a collaboration. Now, I didn't know Bantry outside of a fellow writer who was putting out a cool DIY zine. Had that particular story been one of my recent ones I might have declined, but the story in question, it was called "In the House of Wicking" at the time, had been with me for a very long time, in many different forms. It started as a screenplay when I was in high school, then turned into a short story, and then was completely rewritten two or three times.
I liked the story idea, obviously, but I had to admit that something was indeed wrong. All my efforts with the damn thing were getting me nowhere. I told him to go for it, and what he sent back pretty much blew me away. Bantry had gone through and rearranged some things, added stuff here and there, and gave an emotional depth to a villainous character that was desperately needed. We were off to the races.
Since then we've sold a few short stories in such notable places as Dark Moon Digest and Year's Best Hardcore Horror Vol. 1. Most recently we've published our novella Ain't Worth a Shit with Sinister Grin Press, and Insatiablewith Grand Mal Press. There's more to come, including a project with Death's Head Press.
Writing with another author is not something that comes easy for me in the sense that writing is such a solitary act. When Bantry and I started collaborating I was a staunch pantser. I don't think I could have written a book with an outliner, so it was a good pairing since Bantry too is an pantser. These days I write a bullet point outline to streamline my work and utilize my time better. We did this sort of thing toward the end of Insatiable because we found ourselves lagging a bit. I would be interested in collaborating with another author, but I've never reached out to anyone. Part of me fears that the experience might not be as enjoyable as working with Jack. We mesh well together. It takes some time to get a longer story finished, but I appreciate that we don't clash and have a mutual understanding of our process.
The hard part about collaborating is that I become immersed in other projects when the collaborative story comes back to me, and I sometimes struggle to get back into it. That can be a challenge, especially when we get well into the story. It's not like I'm going to go back and reread the entire thing each time I'm up and need to get a chapter down. The good thing is that I can usually go back a couple of chapters and become reignited. It's a very different process from writing my own story, but ultimately rewarding, particularly when the book comes out. So, now that we have two novellas out and the reviews have been good, I hope you, whoever you are, give our work a chance. And if you do, please consider leaving a review.
Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House is a classic. It has been adapted into at least two films, one in the 60s that is pretty good and the other in the 90s that is a steaming pile of crap. I always site Jackson's story "The Lottery" as the piece of fiction that opened my mind to the written word (this is after reading King, Lumley, and whatever schools taught at the time, but getting no inspiration), and though that story had such a profound affect on me, I have never gone back to read any of Shirley Jackson's novels...until now.
My favorite haunted house stories are Richard Matheson's Hell House, Douglas Clegg's Harrow House series, and The Elementals by Michael McDowell. Reading The Haunting of Hill House doesn't change my adoration of those books, but falls somewhere in the top ten. I loved the book, but there was something about the ambiguity that eventually lost me. More than a haunted house story, this was the story of a woman losing her mind. Now, perhaps it was the haunts that edged her mind into the realms of insanity, but she appeared to be going down that road right from the beginning. In the end, I wasn't even sure there was a haunting at all. I do understand that this was intentional, and it sure did have my mind running overtime after finishing the book. For a book to leave a lasting impression is something any author strives to achieve (well, most authors--some just pump out the pulp and cash in the checks). For the lingering affects, Jackson succeeded, and I am always pleased and interested in downbeat endings. At the time when this book was originally published it must have been quite a shock, much like the end of "The Lottery". All these years later the shock is dulled by so many books that have come since, and especially by the film industry. Consider the end to Night of the Living Dead. To this day, after watching that movie time and time again, it still gets to me. It's not so much a twist ending as it is a nihilistic mindbend, just a straight out glass of half-full fuck you. I can appreciate that.
A great book, no doubt. Up next is Stirring the Sheets by Chad Luzke, The Hell-Bound Heart by Clive Barker and several others. I'm falling behind on these, having been so focused on my forthcoming novel Death Obsessed, which is up for pre-order. Only .99 cents until June 19th when the price goes up to $3.99. The print book will be available around June 9th for $11.99 until release day when the price goes up. Pre-order HERE.
The non fiction book of 2017 was Paperbacks From Hell by Grady Henrix, hands down. Not that I read a whole lot of non fiction in 2017. I just can't see something else that's better than a book about mass market paperback from the seventies until the crash in the nineties, loaded with colorful pictures of cover art, sublime and glorious. If nothing else, I imagine this book has and will continue to reinvigorate people's fondness for long lost paperbacks that have been relegated to used book stores, thrift shops, and library book sales. Some of them have been terribly mistreated, probably considered a slice of schlock that wasn't worth preservation. I have plenty that were used as door stops and bent and torn and probably thrown across a room a time or two (I can only imagine how previous owners treated some of the books in my collection). Covers taped on, spines so cracked you can hardly read the title much less the author's name. But the words are still there on the pages (if they're not falling out), and thus the story can be read, for better or worse. Some of those old books are great (Michael McDowell's The Elementals and T. M. Wright's Strange Seed are recent gems I've read), and others are utter trash (William W. Johnstone's The Devil's Kiss fits nicely in this category). Paperbacks From Hell covers it all, with brief summaries of certain titles, interesting factoids about certain authors, and even insight on some of the cover artists that brought us all those amazing creatures, skeletons, demons, evil children, native spirits, and devils that popped in embossed foil, holograms, and step-back art.
I savored this book slowly since getting it for Christmas. I didn't want to just blow through it. I lingered on the cover art, following paint brush strokes and skeleton faces, baby dollies and evil entities. The book is written with a nice dose of humor and sarcasm that could only come from someone who truly appreciates the subject matter. Hendrix has obviously read a great deal of the books (probably pored over them while writing the book and probably sick to death of embossed skeletons by the time he was finished). Putting a book like this one together is clearly a labor of love, and the insight on the titles that are summarized come from more than just reading the back cover copy.
My guess is that finding autobiographical info on the more obscure authors who graced paperback racks back in the seventies and eighties is pretty difficult. I could have done with more of that. I found the little biographical tidbits fascinating. I think there should be a companion book that focuses on some of the more prolific authors of the time, as well as the cover artists. A few authors and cover artists are highlighted, but there are plenty more, and I for one would be fascinated to learn more.
If you're a horror fan and you don't have this book, shame on you. You can purchase it HERE, and though there is an ebook available, do yourself a favor and pick up the physical version. It's full-color and well worth the investment.
That's all for now. Next up is Pete Kahle's The Specimen. I've already finished it, so those thoughts will be posted soon.
My second read of 2017 was Gone South by Robert McCammon. Initial thought on finishing it . . . I loved it! I've read a few of his books and this was the best by far. Better than . . . wait for it . . . Boy's Life. Yep, I said it. I actually didn't even finish Boy's Life. I had consumed far too many southern coming of age stories at the time (Fear by Ronald Kelly, Midnight Rain by James Newman, etc.), so I was admittedly burnt out on that trope. I'll finish Boy's Life one day, but for now Gone South takes the cake.
Every character was complex and interesting from our Vietnam vet protagonist who finds himself on hard times and makes a life changing mistake that throws him into a downward spiral of twists and turns through the American South, to the bounty hunters who crisscross the same path looking for him. I mean, you got one guy who is a consummate professional and part time gambler who has an arm and partial face of a twin brother connected to his chest. Team him up with a greenhorn Elvis impersonator who goes by the name of Pelvis, and you have a misfit duo that can't help but get in each other's way. Both of these characters are revealed through the story and far more complex than your run of the mill antagonists. You get to liking Pelvis and even the professional bounty hunter, especially when they make it to a podunk bayou town that runs by its own set of laws, which is to say no law at all.
I'm not going to get into all of the characters, but they were well fleshed out and could have climbed out of the pages. Their motivations were justified by their varied pasts and the actions that set the whole shebang in motion. Every action has a reaction, that's for sure. As crazy as some of this book gets, it's plausible. Not once did I lose my suspension of disbelief.
Gone South is character driven fiction at its very best. This isn't horror, this is a southern fried crime thriller. The cherry on top is a fulfilling ending that brings the plot to completion with a bit of a twist that had me thinking about fate long after I was finished with the book.
Highly recommended especially if you like the twisty, turny plotting of Laymon and the oddball charm of Lansdale's Hap and Leonard books. I know my thoughts don;t get too deep, but I'm hoping that these posts will act as a sort of exercise in the way I consume and analyze fiction. Up next are my thoughts on Andrew Neiderman's Pin. See you soon!
Here's the list of books I read over the past year. Not as many as I wanted to read, however I started a metric shit-ton of books that I couldn't get into, sometimes reading as much as fifty or seventy-five pages before shelving them. I'm currently reading Tom Piccirilli's A Choir of Ill Children and Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks From Hell, and enjoying both of them. I read mostly older books this year. I hope to dig into some newer stuff next year, but my bookshelves are filled to the brim with good old mass market paperbacks from the seventies through the Leisure crash, so who knows.
1. The Bottoms by Joe Lansdale
2. Mischief by Douglass Clegg
3. Edge of Dark Water by Joe R, lansdale
4. Road Rage by Stephen King, Joe Hill, and Richard Matheson
5.Ghoul by Brian Keene
6. Wild Blood by Nancy Collins
7. Arboreatum by Evans Light
8. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
9. Once Around the Bloch by Robert Bloch
10. Fear Today, Gone Tomorrow by Robert Bloch 11. Water Rights by Guy N. Smith
12. The Captors by John Farris
13. Breeding Ground by Sarah Pinbourough
14. Odd Man Out by James Newman
15. Dark Gods by TED Klein
16. Prodigal by Melanie Tem
17. Nightingale's Lament by Simon R. Green
18. Spectre by Stephen Laws
19. Mayan Blue by Melissa Lason and Michelle Garza
20. Dark Masques Ed. by J. N. Williamson
21. The Elementals by Michael McDowell
22. Strange Seed by T. M. Wright
23. How I Made A Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime by Roger Corman
24. Flesh by Richard Laymon
25. City of the Dead by Brian Keene
26. Midnight Sun by Ramsey Campbell
27. The Dirt by Motley Crue and Neil Strauss
28. It's So Easy and Other Lies by Duff McKagen
29. The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx and Ian Gittins
My latest novella BROTHERS IN BLOOD is on sale for .99 cents for a short period of time. If you're a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, it is available to you for FREE. Grab a copy HERE.
The contest is simple. Whether you purchase the book now, purchased it already, borrow it for free on Kindle Unlimited, or got an ebook file from me for free, if you leave a review on Amazon by the end of August you can enter to win paperback copies of the first two volumes of the San Diego Horror Professionals anthology series (US only due to shipping costs). You are not required to leave a five-star review or even a positive review. Leave an honest review. That's what it's all about. One you leave a review, tag me on social media or leave a comment here on my blog and your name will be put into the hat. I don't expect to get a lot of participants (contests are always hit or miss), so your chances to win two paperback books is pretty good.
In short, read BROTHERS IN BLOOD, leave a review on Amazon by the end of August, enter for a chance to win paperback copies of SAN DIEGO HORROR PROFESSIONALS VOL. 1 and VOL. 2.
How do you feel feel when you read something that triggers you? Maybe you had a problem with addiction in the past, maybe your ex was a drunk, maybe you were severely bullied as a child, maybe you have a unique fear, or maybe you were mentally or physically abused.
Maybe, just maybe you have cared for someone with a disability, and perhaps an extreme story that features some such person in horrific situations triggers you.
I've heard the term "trigger warnings" many times but didn't really understand what it meant. I mean, I sort of understood the concept, but for whatever reason I always pictured a gun trigger and wondered what that had to do with warning an audience about potentially offensive or harmful material. Duh. Certain subject matter can trigger a negative response in people--PTSD, depression, angst.
I just received the first Amazon review for my latest novella Brothers in Blood. It was a two-star review that mentioned various reasons for disliking the story including Kyle and Lyle Morris, twin brothers, one of whom is severely mentally disabled. The reviewer called the story "offensive." Now, I can laugh that off and use it to sell the book to people who want to read offensive material, but it got me thinking. I sure didn't set out to offend. In fact, Lyle Morris, though one of the antagonists, is a character who should have caused the reader great sympathy. I certainly didn't write about a mentally disabled character for shock value or to be cruel. That's what got me thinking about trigger warnings. The reviewer was triggered. Perhaps triggered enough to leave a negative review.
And there's not much I can do about that. After all, the subtitle on Amazon says: An Extreme Psychological Horror Novella.
Fair enough warning?
Look, I'm proud of this novella. Check out the book on Amazon and read the synopsis. If it looks cool, give it a shot and let me know what you think. If you have already read it , please leave a review. I'm not begging for four and five star reviews, I want honest reviews. Like the two-star review that's starting things off.
Consider yourself warned.
You can get Brothers in Blood for your Kindle or Kindle app an Amazon,com in the US, UK, and regional Amazon sites across the world.
Remember! Brothers in Blood is available on Kindle Unlimited for FREE. You can't beat that with a dead rat.
Twin brothers Kyle and Lyle Morris depend on one another to live and to
kill, only Kyle’s strange desires are becoming more twisted with each
new body. Lyle, a grown man with the mind of a toddler, doesn’t
understand the perversity of his relationship with dead things. Lyle’s
caregiver, Desiree, is worried about the big ol’ lug, and she’s
terrified of his brother, but she’s been getting those strange letters
again, the ones that her stalker ex used to send her, only now it seems
as if he wants something she can’t give him.
A necromaniac using
his deformed brother for fresh meat; a young woman in the clutches of
her ex’s twisted fantasies—blood will flow . . . but who will bleed out
first and what will be left of them?
Think Rex Miller's Slob meets HG Lewis's Gruesome Twosome.
The response for this novella has been good. Big thanks to all who have bought a copy. If you have read it, please leave a review. This day in age independent releases live and die by the Amazon reviews. It's sad but true. And remember, you don't have to love a book to review it.
I recently wrote a guest blog post for SplatterpunkZine in which I discuss my love of cheesy horror book covers of the 80's and 90's, as well as interview author Evans Light, whose name is synonymous with said covers, considering that he is passionate about preserving those wonderful books (and yes, even the not so wonderful ones that came out of that particular horror boom, because some of those covers are truly magnificent!).
Simple Things is a consignment shop unlike any other. Inside you’ll find
home furnishings, housewares, fashion accessories, toys, books and a
number of one of a kind items. But be forewarned; all of our things have
a dark and sinister side. Some cut, some bite, some steal your chance
for a restful night. With stories from Ross Baxter, Martin Reaves,
Gregory L Norris, Jacki Wildman Wales, Paul D Marks, Roy C Booth &
Axel Kohagen, Catrin Sian Rutland, K Trap Jones, Jo-Anne Russell, David
Tocher, Frank Martin, Lori Safranek, Billie Sue Mosiman, Nicholas
Paschall, Terry M West, Joseph M Monks, Sherri Sabastian-Gabriel, Robert
Essig, Ken MacGregor, Roy Bishop, Robert Teun, Laura J Hickman, E F
Schraeder, Anthony Servante, and V Franklin
My offering is called "The Beauty Mark". Take one part Marylin Monroe, two parts Halloween, a jigger of evil, and you've got yourself a creepy horror/mystery mash-up.
It's the month of October, which means one thing...Halloween. This year things got a little...funny. Or maybe not so funny. A lot of people have been clowning around, as we all know from what we've seen on the news. Creepy clowns walking the streets, attacking people, scaring children, making threats on social media, and even doing an interview on one of my local news stations. It's crazy! (That's the tagline for Killer Clowns From Outer Space, by the way.)
To celebrate the madness, I thought I would make my own contribution in the form of a free story. It's a short one. You can read it in less time that it takes to check your twitter feed for the latest Killa Clown sighting. No really, it's that short, but it packs a punch...or maybe a squirt of hydrochloric acid from a fake flower?
Go ahead and play the music above if you are in the position to do so. It will accompany the story quite nicely.
ROSCOE THE CLOWN
Roscoe the
clown was looking pale--well, beneath the white greasepaint, bright red painted
lips and dark circles around his eyes, he was as pale as death.
His demeanor was lacking. The
buoyancy of his gait had been reduced to something along the lines of a
lethargic narcoleptic, always appearing to be one step away from collapsing on
the ground, or perhaps falling and crushing a gleeful child.
The eyes were gruesome to behold,
but the children didn’t seem to care, just the parents that would grab their
child’s hand and hurriedly rush them away as if Roscoe would grab and violate
them.
“Hey kids!” The voice came from
Roscoe’s crooked mouth muffled and low.“Do you want to see a trick?”
If it weren’t for the smile painted
on his face, the kids would have been more aware of the slack jaw with the dried
spittle and blood decorating the corners of his mouth.
The kids were uninterested as if
they couldn’t hear the faint voice of Roscoe the clown.They walked away in search of a livelier
clown, or perhaps some cotton candy.
Roscoe retreated to his trailer, his
steps stiff like a silver screen zombie.
Inside, he collapsed on the
bed.From the back of his colorfully
striped clown suit there was movement, and then little hands began unbuttoning
the large buttons.
Larry pulled the clown suit back and
exited the hollowed out cavity of Roscoe’s body.The interior had been lined with plush
leather--well, as plush as a midget could afford on a carnival wage.The legs were equipped with stilts that his
feet strapped into, the arms with a series of grips fastened to Rosco’s tendons
that allowed Larry to manipulate the dead clown’s hands. He was looking forward
to showing the children the trick he learned to do with his crude
manipulations, but they weren’t paying attention to him.
Roscoe’s body was beginning to rot
and it was harder every day for Larry to mask the odor, but he wanted to do
just one trick for the kiddies, just one balloon animal.
Larry grabbed a microphone and
gutted his stereo system.If the kids
couldn’t hear his muffled voice within Roscoe’s body, damn-it, he would just
have to wire the clown for sound.
So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed my little Halloween treat. If you did and you would like more, please check out my Amazon page, featuring my latest release, Salpsan.
"Robert Essig has crafted one creepy-as-hell tale of modern gothic
horror that sets an ominous tone from the first few words and never lets
up. Told from the POV of an unconventional narrator with secrets of her
own, Salpsan is a dark, dark story that will prove you wrong several
times when you think you know where it's going. I enjoyed it immensely,
and can't wait to read more from this writer!" -- James Newman, author of Odd Man Out, Animosity, and Ugly As Sin
"With Salspan, Essig takes you on a twisted journey through the Spanish hillside; one
full of intrigue, memorable characters and hellish encounters. This is a
story that will stick with you, long after turning the last page. --K. Trap Jones, author of The Charm Hunter, The Sinner and The Harvester
