Kevin Lucia's Blog, page 41

Dreaming On The Borderlands: On Losing Heart, And Not, And Pushing Forward

Sometimes, I'm amazed at how the learning curve twists and bends. I started out writing not knowing a thing. No actual ideas about craft, or the market. Because of this, I wrote in a black hole for nearly six years, submitting nowhere, writing, spinning my wheels, and that's it. Compelled to write (because, at the bottom of it all, I'm a WRITER), but having no idea where to send my work, or how to get published.

Then, lightning struck, and I sold my first story for a hundred bucks. After that, drunk on the concept of having my work "in print," I sent my stories everywhere, regardless of the publication's background, street cred, regardless of their market standing. I had a "book signing" at our local Barnes & Noble for the first anthology I was in, I bought dozens of contributor copies, and actually paid close to $300 (which I earned maybe half back), for an "author's table" at my first Horrorfind. Because I'd MADE it. I was ON MY WAY.

And, commence the HARD learning, when I learned that basically, no one wanted to buy collections full of short stories written by newbies like myself, just to read a short story by a newbie like me (In other words, I still have boxes of contributor copies I'll never sell).  Of course, I signed with Shroud Publishing to write a Hiram Grange novella, so THAT would be the big thing, right? That would be ALL ME, and maybe more people would be likely to pick it up.

And they have, definitely. I don't end up with lots of leftover copies of Hiram Grange after conventions, which is a good thing. And hey: It got several Stoker Recommendations, though it wasn't nominated, whatever that's worth.  But still - it's a niche, pulp story that's fourth in a series. Not of wide appeal, really.

And then, after that....

Nothing.

For a really long time.

A novel that I tried to write three times, that failed all three times. Three short stories  that lingered in submission limbo. Thank GOD I broke the ice last summer with "And I Watered It, In Tears...."

But then I was invited to write a novella for a prestigious small press, and botched it. Wrote myself into a corner, and couldn't finish it.  And, even though writing Billy the Kid has been awesome, and I know exactly how to finish it, things keep popping up, getting in the way.

Author and colleague Mike Duran recently posted a guest blog at Novel Rocket entitled: Are Unrealistic Expectations Killing Your Writing Career? And, I have to wonder...

Do I have unrealistic expectations? 

Have they gotten in the way?

I'm no longer sure.  


Four years ago, I attended Borderlands Press Writers Bootcamp for the first time. I also attended the following year, and while I probably learned MORE the second time (not as many stars in my eyes), the first time (as always) is incomparable to any experience since then, darn near MAGICAL. I mean - being taught, hands-on, by F. Paul Wilson, Tom Monteleone, Douglas Winter, Gary Braubneck, Mort Castle, and Elizabeth Massie. Having Mort Castle ask to speak with me, privately, after the workshops. Hanging out at the local bar for dinner with the rest of the recruits....

Magical.

The sky was the limit. My writing career, golden and promising before me. And my expectations?

High.

Maybe too high.

I'm not sure WHAT my expectations were. Maybe I'd suddenly start selling short stories, left and right. That Hiram Grange WOULD get nominated for a Stoker (and yes, I know, there's all that "Stroker" nonsense, and whether or not it really matters, but screw that. I'm honest enough to admit that it woulda felt pretty darn good.) 

Of course, I was fresh off reading all of Brian Keene's memoirs (collections of his blogs, published in the small press -awesome reading), and sitting there at the bar with those other writers, I was thinking: "This is it. We're the next batch. The next group of horror writers to take the scene." On the outside, I was portraying a level-headed, even-keeled, balanced demeanor. On the inside, though?

I figured this was IT.  Or IT was right around the corner.

Before I continue - I'm very happy, in some ways, with the things I've done, with what I'm involved with right now. Horror 101 for Tales to Terrify is getting me new exposure, offering me a chance to study the horror genre in a venue I wouldn't have, otherwise. I have a short story coming out in a collection with BENTLEY LITTLE, for goodness sakes. There's the serial novella for Lamplight, a sneak peak of Billy pretty soon, and a short story collection that I HOPE won't get too ripped apart by beta readers (though, I hope it gets ripped apart just enough).

But I'd be lying if I didn't say that I'd hoped things would be a little different. Instead of selling lots of short stories, I've discovered that the short story is hard for me to write, and the novella is probably better for me to write. I've also discovered that I've only got a certain amount of time every day to write, and that's it.

I'm not saying I'm disappointed, or that I'm losing heart. And most of the time, I lose myself in the writing. But sometimes...sometimes, when I see announcement after announcement of peers just ahead of me on the journey doing things,  BIG things, and seeing folks who were next to me - or, heck, BEHIND ME - suddenly moving ahead...

Well, the motivation takes a hit.

Like today. 

I'd planned on writing all day, taking advantage of the snow day. Instead, I sat on my butt and watched "Supernatural" all morning. Why? Simple. I thought about writing, and, unfortunately, a little voice in my head said:

Screw it. Who cares?

It's not like anyone wants to publish you, anyway.

A bad attitude, I know. And one I hope to shake off with a nap. But, on the heels of the latest Borderlands Bootcamp (this past weekend), I can't help but wish I could go back and recapture the magic of that first weekend. Bottle it, store it up, and uncap it when I need it, on days like this, like Douglas Spaulding sipping dandelion wine in the winter, tasting the magic of summer to get through those harsh, cold days.

I'm just a little frustrated, today.

I'll get over it, of course. How?

By writing, of course. Always by writing.

Bring Maurice Broaddus to Binghamton: Phase II, Barnes & Noble Book Fair

Barnes & Noble Book Fair - starting today and running through February 1st, Seton Catholic Central High School will be running a fund-raising book fair at the Barnes & Noble in Vestal, New York. Proceeds from this book fair will be going towards funding author Maurice Broaddus's visit to Seton Catholic Central High School.

How can you help? Any purchases made online at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ before February 1st with the following code: 11008356 will be credited towards our book fair, regardless of location. Just make a purchase, enter the code were directed, and a portion of the proceeds will go towards Maurice Broaddus' visit.

Thanks again for remaining a part of this group, and please spread the word about this fund-raiser! Don't forget about our indiegogo campaign for Maurice's travel costs, which will be running until May.

Bring Maurice Broaddus to Binghamton, New York

For the past four years, Seton Catholic Central High School in Binghamton, New York has been fortunate enough to enjoy visits from a variety of acclaimed poets and writers who've donated their time and effort to work with our student writers: Daniel G.Keohane, Andrei Guruianu, Bryan Davis, Norman Prentiss, Claudia Gabel, Rio Youers, and Phil Tomasso. For the past two years, we've also had the extreme pleasure of hosting creative writing workshops taught by Tom Monteleone and F. Paul Wilson, as a well as an illustration workshop with Danny Evarts.

 This year, acclaimed author Maurice Broaddus was slated to visit Seton Catholic Central High, but our usual grant sources dissolved due to budget cuts shortly after Maurice agreed.

So, I'll be quarterbacking fund-raising efforts among the Seton Catholic Central High School community and the horror community, as well as Maurice Broaddus' readers, to try and raise funds for Maurice to visit Seton Catholic Central High School and work with our students. 

Among these efforts is a Barnes & Noble Book Fair - running in-store January 25th - January 27th, and online through February 1st. Other fund-raising efforts - book auctions, and an Indiegogo campaign - will be listed here and on the Facebook Group, also.

Stay tuned for the first leg of our fund-raising efforts, our Barnes & Noble Book Fair, January 25th - 27th.

Horror 101: The House and the Brain, The Alchemist, The Haunted House Story, and Wuthering Heights

This month's installment of "Horror 101: Studying the Roots of the Horror Genre" is up, and this  time through, we're looking at  The House and the Brain , by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Haunted House Story, an interesting collection edited by Charles Dickens, "The Alchemist", by none other than H. P. Lovecraft, and Wuthering Heights,  by Emily Bronte.

Some of the topics range to the introduction of the "occult detective" in The House and The Brain, commercial ghost stories for entertainment in The Haunted House Story, and the distinction between supernatural phenomena - with occult sources - and actual ghosts and hauntings. 

Also, with our natural/literary gothic selection in Wuthering Heights, the potential demonic/daemonic figure of Heathcliffe, an orphan "born" of the moors, who listerally destroys everything he encounters.


Also, in a moment of humility, I must admit my unfortunate panning of the literary contributions of Wilkie Collins and Elizabeth Gaskell, in my examination of The Haunted House Story. Not sure how I managed that, and my only defense - a weak one, at that - is my exploration of the roots and evolution of the horror genre is exactly that: an exploration, in many cases, of my own weak spots. My only course of recompense, indeed will be to add both authors to my list of upcoming spotlights.

Up for next time are:

The House on the Borderlands, by William Hope Hodgson
"The Rats in the Walls," "The Picture in the House," "The Lurking Fear," and "The Unnameable," all by H. P. Lovecraft
Uncle Silas, by J. S. Le Fenu 

Sacred Terror: Mini-Review #2

In my first mini-review of Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen, I basically talked about the power of religious belief in the framing of a horror story, and how objects of religious fear are often used in horror movies, and how horror movies very often play off these objects of religious fear, take expected, trusted religious conventions and invert them, and how horror can portray our feeling of apprehension in our dealings with the  "unseen order" that we may or may not believe (but perhaps suspect) pushes against us on a daily basis.

Today, I'm going to look at Cowan's attempts to define both "religious" and "horror." Basically, he once again finds fear to be central to both of these: that the center of any religion is essentially fear - IE., the Christian ethic that we are to "work out our faith with great fear and trembling" - and that the chief aim of a horror movie is to invoke fear in the audience.



Like Noel Carroll in The Philosophy of Horror, Cowan points out that every movie genre has it's best and worst examples, that, just as there are "smart" action movies that are exciting AND thought-provoking and there are ones that feature nothing but mindless action and violence, there are horror movies that aspire to greatness, that traffic in lofty themes, and others that simply seek to disgust or "gross-out" its audiences, and that horror cinema as a whole should be judged on its finest attempts,  not its attempts at exploitation (although Cowan disagrees with this a bit in the fact that ALL directors are trying to exploit SOMETHING in order to tell a story with a theme, and that exploitation isn't necessarily a bad thing). Noel Carroll went further in his explanation, differentiating between films aimed at exploitation, and films at least aspiring to what he called art-horror.

Cowan also points out the difference between religious belief and "being spiritual," citing the development in today's society of people eschewing organized religions in favor of pursuing a "spiritual outlook on life", even though that's not clearly defined.   Because of this, Cowan adopts a definition from American psychologist and philosopher William James:

"...the life of religion...the belief there is an unseen order, and that our supreme good lies in harmoniously adjusting ourselves thereto..."

Cowan believes this definition fits his purposes best, because it accounts not only for "accepted"  organized mainstream religions, but also extreme faiths deemed as "cults" and those who believe they live "spiritual lives." So therefore, horror films trafficking in "religious fear" portray themes of SOMETHING pushing against, or violating, or inverting our attempts to harmoniously adjust ourselves to an unseen order, or our ambivalence and apprehension about our interaction with that unseen order.

Of course, Cowan then cites philosopher and Christian Theologian Rudolph Otto, and his thoughts on "religious dread." Now, I've already dealt with Otto in my examination of The Philosophy of Horror, but in brief: Otto felt that fear of a holy, divine, supreme OTHER was at the very core of not only our existence - whether we "believe," or not - but at the core of every religious belief and practice, but not only are we AFRAID of the "holy," we are attracted to it as well, in some sort of mixed response of fear/attraction to something larger, greater, and ABOVE us. But this could be applied to "demonic" orders as well, because they are bigger and larger than us, and inspire in us feelings of fear. 

Cowan then cites examples of movies that employ this "religious dread." He begins with a very obvious example: Lost Souls , (trailer) staring Winona Ryder and Ben Chaplin. This movie deals with "religious dread" in a very direct way, the fear of the Antichrist rising, possessing an innocent human being, and bringing forth the "End Times." Cowan calls this a film about the "naziresis of evil" - "films that present audiences with the possibility of a satanic legacy, the expectation of a child dedicated in some way to the devil."

And indeed, this movie does all the things Cowan has been talking about: inverts our expectations of religious orders, with a Catholic Church and priest that initially seems very dismissive of "evil", then (SPOILER) is revealed to be complicit in the plot to raise the Antichrist. Lost Souls has all the recognizable religious "signifiers": bottles of holy water, the cross/inverted crosses, pentagrams, scripture readings in Latin, chanting, exorcisms, satanic plots...the whole deal. 

An interesting note that Cowan makes here, regarding the power religious dread has over the general viewer's subconscious, is that Lost Souls begins with a bogus verse quotation from the Bible:

...a man born of incest
will become Satan
And the world as we know it,
will be no more - Deuteronomy 17

This verse isn't found anywhere in the Bible, but it hints at the knowledge filmmakers have about the resonance of anything religiously themed, the understanding that most viewers will read this verse - and even if only casually religious - will somewhere inside feel a small shiver at its implications, because they  subconsciously assign it supernatural authority.

In Lost Souls, Maya (Winona Ryder) works with Exorcists in the Catholic Church, because she was possessed once herself, and has now dedicated her life to fighting evil. She KNOWS evil exists, and has been delivered from it, but she can't seem to get anyone in the mainstream - including mainstream Catholic officials - to take her fears about the coming Antichrist seriously. Of course, we learn this is because there's a sect WITHIN the Catholic Church (betrayal at the highest order, like in Carpenter's Vampires) that is part of the satanic plot. 

Also, Peter - the object of this cult's "worship" and "preparation" - is completely innocent, and helpless in the face of his future possession. He's unaware that he was conceived through an incestuous relationship, unaware of the plot surrounding him. Peter's inability to do anything about his possession is an inversion of most religious beliefs and faiths, which usually hinge very heavily on "free will", involving some sort of CHOICE - AKA, another great movie of "religious fear", The Devil's Advocate, with Keanu Reeves (trailer), in which our character can at LEAST still choose, at some point, his path (although, that movie traffics in another "religious fear" in that, even after we choose, we're going to be set up to fall again and again and again...). In Lost Souls, no matter what he does, Peter's destined to be the Antichrist. It's out of his hands. He's doomed.

On a side note of my own, there are SCORES - maybe even hundreds - of "Catholic/Protestant" movies dealing with these above themes, so many, that even their efforts at "inversion" have become expected, in a way. Like another very heavily Catholic "religious horror" movie, End of Days (trailer), another movie about the rise of the Antichrist, remarkably similar to Lost Souls in both its themes and execution. Except, of course, in that movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger wins, because, well...Arnold always wins.


A movie that I found far more disturbing, especially given my own personal beliefs was The Ninth Gate, (trailer) starring Johnny Depp. 

Instead of religious trappings like the Church, priests, exorcists, Catholic/Protestant signifiers, the Antichrist rising to usher in the end of the world, in The Ninth Gate we have a somewhat agnostic book collector played by Johny Depp, who's asked at the beginning of the movie: "Are you a religious man? I mean, do you believe in the supernatural?"

This movie targets forbidden, unknown knowledge, of a satanic order...but there's no "religious" institutions in this movie set off against it, portraying this forbidden knowledge as necessarily evil.  Dangerous and violent and alien, yes...but not necessarily evil.




Dean (Depp) has no religious beliefs or aims of his own, at first, he's just trying to do his job: track down a book for someone.  He gets drawn into a supernatural web - an "unseen order," in this case, one that's "demonic", and in a COMPLETE inversion of what we expect, that people generally try to align themselves harmoniously to a "good" order, in this movie, everyone is  trying to align themselves with an "evil" order. Depp is somewhat innocently drawn into all of this, and the ending (spoiler) of Depp walking through the Ninth Gate, obtaining this enlightened, "forbidden" knowledge, is also an inversion...because it's portrayed as a good thing. A happy ending, because Depp was able to open the door to this forbidden realm, when others could not.

That's enough for now. In my next blog, I'll look at Cowan's examinations of movies that deal with the religious indirectly, in particular, the movie Ghost Ship.

Do I Need Mentor? No, But Maybe I Want One.....

This is a blog I've started multiple times, but I never ended up posting it, either because maybe the words didn't come that day, or I was worried about how it would sound - whining, posturing, posing - or maybe I just had too much to say, and not enough time to really sort out how to say it.  BUT, it's Christmas vacation, and Abby's off to work today, so I've got plenty of time to sort it out.

So here it goes, and to forewarn: no offense of any kind is meant with this blog. So if it sounds offensive, it wasn't meant to be. I'm also not whining, either. Just sharing a little bit of my writer's heart, I guess.

On Monday, Christmas Eve, I blogged briefly about where I've been, about the advice I've received, and where I'm going (or, where I'm planning on going). And, while I have been lucky enough to get lots of great advice over the past few years, for whatever reason, I can't say as if I've actually had a mentor there, along the way, guiding my steps.

And for a long time, that really bothered me. 

I'm not sure why.

I've been writing since the 8th grade. I finished my first "novel" in a MEAD spiral notebook my senior year in high school.  I've been actively building a "career" since 2008, when my first story - "The Way Station" - was published in The Midnight Diner.  And really, it started about two years before that, in 2006, when I started writing book reviews for a variety of venues, including my city newspaper, getting actual MONEY to write something.

And all this time, I've been lucky enough to meet people along the way who have given me great advice. But so often, in reading blogs or writers' memoirs, I've seen writers referring to other veteran writers as "mentors," experienced writers who placed a guiding hand on their career, and helped shepherd them along on their first, fledging steps in their career. 

Actually, what got me thinking about this again was a recent blog by author Brian Keene, talking about the mentors - elder statesmen of the genre - who had an impact on him, and how he's now in that same position.  It made me ponder - can I say I've had a mentor, along the way....do I have one, now...

And do I want one?

Early on in my writing career - VERY early - I aimed for the CBA (Christian Bookseller Association).  That's where I began writing reviews, getting to know authors, editors, and publicists. I made some inroads, some contacts, even had the first three chapters of a WIP looked at by a major CBA acquisitions editor. He passed on the project, but even then, I was kind of relieved he had done so, because I hadn't really made peace with myself about whether or not I wanted to be published in the CBA.

But anyway...because of my hustling and reviewing and working the "scene", I'd established some email relationships with three fairly big CBA names. One, I actually got to meet in person, and two of them, I emailed almost ALL the time with questions about the business, they were very generous and responded, and they read my earliest published work, offered their opinion...

And then I "jumped ship", decided to target secular fiction instead.

Insert the sound of crickets, here.

Now, I don't feel slighted (well, maybe I did, a little, at first). Of these three authors, one had a pretty bad health scare and withdrew from the publishing industry almost entirely (which is a shame, because this person is a FABULOUS writer), and the other two became HUGE sensations in their genre, certainly too busy to correspond with a writer suddenly not interested in the CBA, any more.

And, to be fair, one of these authors - despite becoming massively busy and successful - HAS still emailed on occasion, and has hooked me up with contacts, and has still showed an interest in my career, so I'm truly thankful that, despite being so busy, he/she has shown an interest in how I've turned out.

BUT.

I think, in my head, I'd been all set to call those writers "mentors." And when I realized that wasn't going to happen, because we'd all moved off into different directions....I dunno.

Kinda felt like that one guy at the prom, with no date.

Now, a few years into the horror genre, I started to feel the same way. Everyone and their brother alwaysseemed to be talking about their mentor, and here I was, lonely old me, with no mentor.  

And, here's a little secret about me, between you and me: I'm a little "needy", quite frankly.  And I often feel "left out" of things, even when I haven't really been left out. So I think this has exacerbated things, making me feel worse off without a "mentor" than I really should've. 

There are a couple good, solid reasons why I haven't developed a relationship with a mentor, reasons I can't really control. The primary one, of course, would probably be my light Con attendance. I really just can't afford to get to many, right now, so some folks - folks I probably MIGHT consider mentors, if we actually talked more - I probably only see once a year. AND, another little secret about me: as needy as I am, I'm also socially awkward, and shy. So if I don't get enough "face time" to become comfortable with someone, I'm much less likely to email or call said person.

Plus, some things just don't work out as you expect, and that's just life. A few writers I thought I'd established connections with...well, they kind of faded away. I'm not going to say: left me behind. Although - again, see warning above about me not wanting to sound whiny, or offend anyone - I did feel that way. That I'd connected with a few people, traded lots of emails, but as they got more successful, I faded away in their rear-view mirror. 

AND also, in a few cases, MEETING certain of my favorite authors has NOT turned out to be what I'd (stupidly) built it up in my head to be. Ironically enough, authors whose work I only "like", have turned out to be far more helpful. 

So where does that leave me? Do I still feel this...lack of a mentor?

Maybe a little. But as the market continues to change, as I continue to just work, every single day, having a "mentor" has become less and less important, for two reasons:

1. it leaves me freer to define myself, define my career FOR myself, and be the kind of writer I want to be

2. Instead of a "mentor", I've gained something maybe even better: trusted friends and colleagues in the writing industry

BUT, many, many folks have been great help. I've always been eminently grateful that Mort Castle and Norman Partridge and Rob Dunbar have so generously answered my emails. Attending Borderlands Press Writers' Boot Camp twice not only connected me with a group of peers who have developed into great friends, it also introduced me to both F. Paul Wilson and Tom Monteleone, which led them to working with my students, which lead to some wonderful conversations - including the "best night ever" - as they were very gracious sharing their "down time" with me. And at Horrorfind, I always somehow end up at a bar, chatting about the publishing industry with Tom. He, in particular, is also close to the title of "mentor."

Kelli Owen and Michelle Pendergrass have provided LOTS of advice over the past few years. They're like big sisters. Probably the closest things I have to mentors, actually. Rio Youers has been very gracious with his time, as well as Ron Malfi.  Norman Prentiss, especially, as well as Dan Keohane and Bob Ford and Jeremy Wagner and Alethea Kontis and Maurice Broaddus, and the best part is - those guys are dear, dear friends, as well.  Tosca Lee - despite becoming wildly successful - has shown a continued interest in my career.

I'm also immensely grateful for Brian Keene's words of wisdom. He's never really spoken TO me, per se (about writing, we speak regularly on FB and in person as friends), but - and this is NOT hyperbole - I've been so grateful to simply sit and listen to Brian talk about the genre, its history, and his experiences. He's seen it all: the good, the bad, and the ugly - and I've learned a lot, just by listening to him.

And of course, I've developed great friendships with colleagues: The "Hiram Five" and the Shroud crew (Danny, Tim, Johnny, Mark), Gard Goldsmith, Michael Smith, Mike Duran, Phil Tomosso, Greg Mitchell and Douglas Warwick and Kyle Johnson and Tony Trembley and John Dixon and James Newman and Robert Swartwood and way too many more to name here (if I left you out, I humble beg your forgiveness).

So. Do I still want to call someone a mentor?  Probably. And, it's very likely that over the next few years, a mentor will develop out of this pack.
But right now, I no longer feel like I "need" one. I still need advice, of course, and I have plenty of people I know I can ask for advice. But, little by little - especially as, also noted in Brian's blog, the industry changes more and more - I've become more and more confident in defining myself as a writer, by my own standards and priorities, rather than needing a mentor to define myself by.

And there isn't anything better you can ask for, I don't think.

On My Next Steps, Always Moving Forward

A lot has changed since this picture was taken, at my very first book signing at the Vestal Barnes & Noble, in April, 2008.  I'd sold my very first short story, "The Way Station", to The Midnight Diner, as well as my first nonfiction story "Choices" to an inspirational collection, "Life Savors." I'd earned actual, for REAL cash for my writing. I'd arrived, baby, and was on my way to writing success. 

Uhhh....no.

Actually, for a year after this early burst of success, I made some key - if relatively minor - blunders, spending lots of time submitting mediocre stories (or worse, GOOD stories that could've sold elsewhere) to "4theluv" anthologies and magazines that didn't help advance my career at all. Most importantly, these markets didn't push me to become a better writer.


So, I started listening to my peers, soaking in advice from more experienced writers, reading blogs and writers' memoirs, hunkering down, talking very little, and LISTENING at every Con I attended (which, by the way, is better by FAR than intentionally trying to glad-hand everyone in the place). In the process, I compiled a healthy "do and don't do" list in my head in regards to publishing, based on all the advice I'd received.

And a lot of this was good advice, excellent advice, in many cases. I've moved slowly over the past few years (though this can be attributed also to a full time job, two children under nine, one with special needs), becoming careful about which markets I submit my work to, deciding to write only stories I  really needed to write, not rushing to write and publish  one novel after another. And this, of course, jivved with everything I'd been TOLD by folks wiser than myself.

Then, something interesting happened. I got the chance to pitch a series to a major New York publisher. And, lo and behold, they showed VERY little to NO interest in anything else I'd done prior to the manuscript I was pitching. They didn't care where I'd peddled my short stories, or that Hiram Grange was small press, or anything like that. They just cared what was on the table before them.

This was a revelation. Flying in the face of all the: "sell your short stories to pro markets only, because no one will take you seriously if you don't" credo. Now, who knows - maybe this editor passed on my pitch because of that, but just didn't want to tell me. But I don't think that's the case. Our conversation revolved entirely around my pitch's strengths and weaknesses, not my publishing history.

Factor in the number of pro short story markets that have tanked in the last few years, the number of semi-pro markets that have likewise died, the Leisure/Dorchester fiasco, and the number of talented, seasoned, proven authors suddenly self-publishing...

Whoa.

A lot has changed since 2008.

Almost everything.

Well, not necessarily. Some things haven't changed, like:

1. good writing takes time, effort, sacrifice, humility, critique, and rejection

2. the best stories are the ones generated internally, from real, human emotions

3. none of these things are produced instantaneously

4. there are many different paths to quality publication

But here's a truth that I've come to believe, one I've suspected for the past year or so and have finally accepted, one that kinda flies in the face of all  the original advice I received in the first two years of my "career": our writing careers are not doomed by any ONE thing. Which, of course, means:

- selling a few stories to semi-pro, or, even token markets, will NOT ruin a career

- self-publishing one novel - one collection - one novella - will NOT prohibit traditional        
   publication in the future

- selling a small press novel will NOT prevent people - and big publishers - from taking you 
   seriously in the future

Far as a I can tell, the only thing that "dooms" a writer's career (and this also depends largely on what said writer WANTS from their career) is not moving forward/upward.  Not challenging yourself to write better, finer prose; not challenging yourself to conquer harder, more competitive markets.

You do what you do, do your very best to make IT the very best....

Then you move forward, trying something different, harder, climbing the ladder, not resting where you are, and challenging a new, harder, more competitive market...somehow, keeping an open mind, WITHOUT having everything you do dictated by a "do/don't" list.

This has become very freeing, allowing me to enjoy simply WRITING a lot more. Because, regardless of where I am NOW, I know I'm moving forward, upward. I'm targeting markets higher than the ones I've been published in before, and as long as every step is just a little bit HIGHER than where I am, I'm content.

So far, I've sold stories to semi-pro collections with TOC's filled with contemporaries and peers, and sold a novella to a small press publisher. However, in the past year, I sold a novella and a short story to collections/publications not only featuring my peers, but people ABOVE me. Hence, small steps forward.

Soon, I'll see a short story published in Horror Library's 5th Volume, once again appearing in a TOC with names "bigger" than me, including Bentley Little. A really nice step forward, in my opinion. 

Next November, I'll see my first collection of short stories published, by a publisher also trafficking in names "bigger" than mine. I'm currently running a podcast series - Horror 101 - at Tales to Terrify , which has recently been nominated for their work.

I've just finished my first novel, which I've decided to pitch to mid-list and higher publishers only. I soon hope to write a novella I'd like to submit to Dark Fuse Publishers.  For NANOWRIMO next year, I'd like to write a gothic novel and submit it to Samhain Horror.

All these markets are ABOVE where I am now. I'm moving upward and forward. Not resting on what I've done before. It's slow, but it's happening. 

And I feel blessed that it is.

Merry Christmas!

Sacred Terror, Mini-Review, #1

First, a side-note: I've had to enable comment moderation. I wanted to avoid that as long as I could, but looks like I've picked up some spammers, so for now, all comments will be moderated. If you've made a constructive comment, and it doesn't appear for awhile, no worries, I probably just haven't been able to get to it. And now, on to our regularly scheduled blogging...

Last Spring, I wrote several blogs reviewing Noel Carroll's The Philosophy of Horror, in preparation for this big paper on modern horror cinema that I wrote for grad school.  I ended up writing a series of blogs about the subject, all kindly reposted in one place by author Kristi Peterson Schoonver, as I was her "guest blogger" for several months. And in reading Carroll's work - which all lovers of the horror genre, both writers and fans, should do - I got bitten with the non-fiction reading bug, for horror.

So, I decided to grab several other nonfiction titles to fill my plate, especially since, over this past summer, I'd decided to enact the "Bradbury Reading Plan", which called for a daily dose of nonfiction in my diet. I nabbed King's seminal Danse Macabre, but paused halfway through that,  because it was going into expansive detail about several books I hadn't yet read, and I wanted to avoid spoilers.

I then read Lovecraft's seminal Supernatural Horror in Literature , which I ALSO highly recommend. Very comprehensive, and I doubt I'll ever be able to read all the books Lovecraft recommended. I'm not going to review that here, though, because I'll be accessing that heavily for my podcast series with Tales to Terrify , "Horror 101".


Currently, I'm reading Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen. It's interesting reading, so far, and it shouldn't be a surprise that - given my own beliefs - this subject matter would interest me. However, one thing that should be noted from the outset: this book isn't a treatise on how all horror is religious, or that religious belief is the basis for good horror, or that any certain or particular religion creates any kind of superior brand of horror. No, what this work seems to be about so far, is two things:

1. religious images and beliefs are the fodder for many horror tales, both directly and indirectly

2. horror movies/stories are just as often about our anxieties and worries about religion's insufficiency as they are about religion's power




"If you really believed in God, Father, why is it so inconceivable to you that His adversary could be just as real?" Maya (played by Winona Ryder - Lost Souls)

One of Cowan's main points early on is not a new one, and has been offered by many others: that horror films, (depending on the film), often deal with latent anxieties about our relationship with "unseen orders", about the conflict between "nature" and "supernature." He points out a key factor in his first example, The Fog, as a staple of supernatural horror: that souls of the wronged dead cannot rest until things have been put "right", or they have been avenged. Cowan also states that:

"Horror films regularly juxtapose what we expect as we go about our daily routines and what we suspect lurks just beyond the borders of our perception once those routines have been disrupted." (Cowan, 6)

Essential to understand is this: Sacred Terror isn't about "Christian" horror, isn't trying to evangelize from a certain religion, through horror. It's basic attempt, really, is simply to analyze a series of horror films through the lens that, be we Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, Jews, Agnostics, Atheists, horror films in general deal with our worries and fears and anxieties about the "unseen world", and how that unseen world impacts us.

Cowan begins with examining John Carpenter's The Fog, and some of the religious elements presented, asking the following questions:

1. What do we fear?

2. And why religion?

I don't believe Cowan is slamming religion, here. I think, more importantly, he's trying to analyze what it is horror movies express about our culture's anxieties about religion, in general. For example: he highlights the fact that, generally speaking, for the most part, (though, if you bring in post-modernism, this argument changes), when people think of "religion" or "church" or "Providence", they think of "good" things. 

However, one of the cornerstones of horror is inversion: the flipping of our preconceived notions, to create an atmosphere or unease, disquiet, or outright fear (definition, mine). I briefly discussed this in my recent visit to English classes at Montrose High School, in PA - why do so many horror flicks, especially "slasher flicks", take place in houses? Why haunted, cursed, possessed houses?

Because houses - homes - are supposed to be safe. Sanctuaries, places to hide. By flipping that, inverting that premise, we're targeting a very basic, intrinsic fear of mankind: that there's no place to call home, there is no safe harbor.

Cowan uses Carpenter's The Fog as being illustrative of this.  Initially, the town's small church and the priest are held up as being the only safe harbor from the things hiding in the fog, the priest the only one who can truly understand and figure out what's going on.

However, as the movie plays out, we learn that centuries ago, the town's priest was not only complicit in the plot that led pirates to their death - the ghosts of which now haunt the fog - but he also double-crossed his conspirators and stole the pirate's gold to help beautify his church, and the rest of the gold - which the ghosts now hungrily seek - has been melted down into a cross and hid in the very place that these townspeople have sought out as safe harbor.  

So, in this case, the cultural expectations of "church" and "priest" have been inverted. A priest was initially responsible for bringing about this evil, and the one place everyone flees to is where the monsters are drawn, because that's where the cursed thing they are looking for is hidden. 

Ironically enough, Cowan points to another Carpenter film that not only inverts cultural expectations of "religion = good", but also inverts expectations of the horror "tradition" in a very pos-modern way. In Carpenter's movie Vampires, Jack Crow (James Woods) plays a rather amoral, hardened, mildly depraved vampire hunter working for, of all things, the Roman Catholic church.

He and his motley band of coarse, carousing, albeit deadly vampire hunters scour the countryside, slaying vampires, and partying. There's a token priest working with them, but these guys are basically weapons being used by the Church, with little regard for their own "spiritual" or "religious" conditions.

*Spoilers!* The inversion here is when the audience learns that, not only does vampirism come from within the church in the botched exorcism of rebel priest centuries ago, creating the first vampire, but that Jack's highest superior, a priest, has sold him and his team out to this vampire, in exchange for eternal life.  

Now, this movie could also be read about the danger of corruption at the highest level of any offices - in the end, the new, young and inexperienced priest assigned to Jack earns his stripes, retains his faith - though it's become a little more colorful  -and continues on with Jack, slaying vampires. But the inversion is there, not only of the audience's expectation (even if only subconscious), but also of the horror film fan's expectation, also.

So, one of this book's first basic premises is this: that great evil comes from, and often hides in, the institutions of our faith. Again, I don't believe Cowan is indicting organized religion in any way, especially considering that horror is an inversion of what we expect or believe.  In this case, horror movies - in regards to religion - in the words of Stephen King from Danse Macabre:

"...often serve as an extraordinarily accurate barometer of those things that trouble the night thoughts of a whole society."

Well, that's enough for today - need to get writing. Next blog will look at Cowan defining what he means by "religion", in regards to telling a "religiously-themed horror story."

"House of the Seven Gables", "Turn of the Screw", "Fall of the House of Usher", "Jane Eyre" - The HOUSE, Part 1, on Tales to Terrify

My next installment of Horror 101 is up at Tales to Terrify. Right now, we're parked in the 19th century, and we're going to spend the next several episodes studying the following horror tropes:

The House
The Ghost 
The Beast
The Weird

Today's episode is my first look at "The House", and in it, I talk about the following conventions and works representing them:

 - the "cursed" house: The House of the Seven Gables, by Nathanial Hawthorne

 - the "dying" house: "The Fall of the House of Usher", by Edgar Allen Poe

 - the "haunted" house: The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James

-  the natural Gothic, "hidden secret" house: Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte

 So, head on over, give a listen, and, if you haven't yet, please join the Facebook Group, and offer your opinions. Thanks!
 

Want some SWAG? Well, what's In A Name? On Kicking Around Names For Upcoming Short Story Collection.

First of all, I'm going to try and blog more regularly. I've done a decent job keeping the traffic consistent here, I think; my Klout score (however important that is), seems to stay consistent, as do the hits on the blog.  Normally, I wouldn't care much about such things, but Mike Duran's recent blog post has got me thinking a lot more about my "platform", especially with the novel I'll be pitching to publishers soon, and a short story collection due next fall.

That, of course, is the big news around here: my first short story collection. I'm keeping mum on the details - not to be needlessly clandestine - mostly because I'm still putting it together, the publisher that proposed the idea hasn't yet seen the finished product, there's no signed contract, so there's no need to make a big splash when nothing's been settled.

But, I offer a quick note: one big factor in deciding to put forth a short story collection was this: a publisher asked me to. It seems like a small thing, but I've always thought I wouldn't be interested in compiling a collection of my short stories until a respectable publisher actually said to me: "Hey, we'd love to do your collection." A publisher has said that; therefore, I've decided that's the right move for me, right now....especially with me pitching the novel around in the next few months or so.

Of course - you know me. The collection won't be as simple as a collection of stories. My mind is always working over different ways to do things, and it's the same with this collection. I MAY be committing literary hubris. Hopefully not, hopefully it'll be something the publisher will run with, something folks will find different, and most importantly, will like.

Anyway....I'm thinking of the title. Now, titles are strange animals, and I can be honest in saying I'm not so good at coming up with them, at all, and I probably should aim for something short, snappy, easy to remember - but I can never do anything simple, can I? I'm always reaching for the big, long, rambling, epic titles.

And of course, it's been the same with the short story collection,  and I'm really probably over-thinking this, but I've been somewhat consumed with the desire to develop a title that not only reflects the stories inside, but is also a signature for me, as a writer. This feels different than just a novel title, because the short stories - many of them - are far more personal in nature, or at least were generated from very personal roots.

So, anyway...I've been kicking some names around. And I probably could use some help. As things become more official, and the publisher reads the collection and gives a thumbs-up, and the contract is signed, if I haven't generated a title by then, I'll probably have an official contest to help determine the title.  But for now, here's where I stand. A little info, without giving too much away:

-  the stories all take place in a strange little town, where strange things happen

- are basically about regular people, average joes caught up in supernatural events

- they'll sport cross-over elements

- maybe even some reality-warping elements

- will hopefully walk a balance between dark and light atmosphere

- and in the front matter, I want to have this quote, from Sir Francis Bacon:

"In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.”

So here are the titles I've toyed with so far.  The first couple has asterisks next to them, because unfortunately, Amazon searches turned up dozens of titles just like them:

1. On A Darkling Plain *
2. Through A Glass, Darkly*
3. Haunted by A Thousand Fleeting Forms
4. A Thousand Fleeting Forms, Darkly
5. Fleeting Forms
6. I See The Shadows Falling

SO, I will be having an official contest - which probably won't draw much interest, I'm sure. But, if anyone out there happens to have any ideas now, based on what I've offered....feel free to post in the comments....I'm sure I can come up with some SWAG for the "finalists"...