Luke Walker's Blog: https://lukewalkerwriter.wordpress.com, page 35
October 25, 2012
Coffin Hop 2012
So my first blog hop. Until Halloween, the nice people at Coffin Hop have organised a blog hop which basically means you can jump from blog to blog, getting to know 100+ authors and people and be in with chances to win prizes at each blog. Have a look here for all the blogs. For my post, I’d thought I’d talk about The Red Girl and getting personal with fear. . .
I’ve always been a fan of some degree of familiarity in my horror. That doesn’t mean I want my settings, locations or characters to be completely known factors. Far from it. I want to read about new places but at the same time, I want them to be part of real life. Give me a horror story set in a hospital and don’t show me the mad doctors carving people up; show me the half open door with a light still on long after everyone else has gone home. Give me a story that takes place in a haunted house and you can keep the howling wind blowing through the upper floors and down in the dark basement; show me the family trying to watch TV while an invisible presence sits with them. And whispers.
Basically, I love what you might call horror of the real world. I love fiction which takes all the things we think are known, the things we take for granted like our jobs or our shops or homes or families, and they stop making sense because something terrible has changed them.
That’s one of the reasons for the setting in The Red Girl. After all, what’s more familiar than our hometown? If we think about the streets around childhood homes or about schools, for example, it’s not as if all of our memories will be made of some permanent summer but nor will they be unrelentingly grim. They’ll be a bit of both. They’ll be familiar. Known. And if we’ve lived away from that town for any length of time, the chances are we could still find our way around if we ended up back there. Memory is powerful, isn’t it? It’s not much of a stretch to say that even if we haven’t thought about the layout of our hometown in a while, it’s still one of the last places in the world where we’d get lost. Not so for my characters, I’m afraid. (insert evil laugh).
Part of the inspiration for playing with a familiar hometown came from my short story Where The Sun Shines. In that story, a guy gets off the bus on the way to work and is immediately in the middle of a city where everyone wants to kill him. The further he travels into the city, the more affected by all the horror and violence it becomes and the less likely it is he’ll get back to the world he knows. I had a lot of fun with that story; the basic idea of it didn’t leave once I’d written it as the ideas often do. While I’d had the idea for The Red Girl for a long time, it really took shape once I’d put it with the image of a place a group of characters knew turned into somewhere out of a nightmare – somewhere they knew that was now the most dangerous place on earth for them. A personal location and a personal nightmare.
That’s what all good horror comes down to, I think. Getting personal. Getting deep into what creeps us out for whatever reason.
So, to celebrate my first blog hop and to celebrate what scares us, tell me your favourite angle of horror. One of mine is playing with familiarity: what’s yours? What do you look for in your horror? What gets personal for you? Let me know in the comments and I’ll choose my favourite as the winner of an ebook copy of my novel The Red Girl.
Over to you. . .
It’s been ten years since Geri Paulson’s suicide tore her away from her five closest friends and destroyed their friendship. Now her friends’ questions about her death will be answered. They’ve returned to their hometown in a desperate attempt to find out the truth of why she killed herself. But something more than grief haunts them. Geri has returned. And she’s not alone.
Trapped in a nightmare version of their town, Geri’s friends must run, hide, and kill to uncover the truth behind the terrible secret she kept from them. If they succeed, then they might have a chance against the evil that destroyed Geri. They might be able to bury it before it buries them.
But if they fail, Geri’s hell will be their new home.
Musa
Amazon UK
Amazon US
October 22, 2012
Patience and hard work
Can I talk about patience? And maybe about hard work?
In the massive pile of emails waiting for me when I got back from my holiday, there were two rejections from publishers - both for short stories. That was two of my most recent pieces rejected their first time out. Neither rejection particularly bothered me. Yep, it would have been great to come back to two acceptances wedged between all the junk about PPI and meeting hot singles, but it didn't happen. The interesting thing about this is there are people not involved in the writing or publishing world (and dare I say it, some newbie writers?) who would be surprised by the rejections and by my not being too bothered. The logic goes that as I'm a published writer, then surely everything I sub is accepted, and if it's not, how can I be anything other than annoyed?
It doesn't work like that. Not at all. Just because I've had some short fiction published, one book published and another contracted doesn't mean much when it comes to subbing other work. All it tells a publisher is that I'm serious about what I do and SOME of my stuff has been good enought to be accepted. It doesn't tell them jack about whatever piece I've sent them. If they read that piece, like it and have a place for it, then I'm in. If they don't like it or don't have a place for it, then I'm out. It's as simple as that.
So two new stories give me two new rejections. And guess what I did after reading those emails? The only thing I could do: read through the stories to make sure I hadn't arsed anything up and sent them back out to new markets. If a writer is serious about what they're doing, then that's what they do.
Patience and hard work. Get those two mastered and you're on to something if you want to succeed at writing or anything, for that matter.
Or, you know, you could just go on TV, do some bad karaoke, chuck in a sob story and then throw a wobbler if you don't get what you want. That's the path to success, right?
In the massive pile of emails waiting for me when I got back from my holiday, there were two rejections from publishers - both for short stories. That was two of my most recent pieces rejected their first time out. Neither rejection particularly bothered me. Yep, it would have been great to come back to two acceptances wedged between all the junk about PPI and meeting hot singles, but it didn't happen. The interesting thing about this is there are people not involved in the writing or publishing world (and dare I say it, some newbie writers?) who would be surprised by the rejections and by my not being too bothered. The logic goes that as I'm a published writer, then surely everything I sub is accepted, and if it's not, how can I be anything other than annoyed?
It doesn't work like that. Not at all. Just because I've had some short fiction published, one book published and another contracted doesn't mean much when it comes to subbing other work. All it tells a publisher is that I'm serious about what I do and SOME of my stuff has been good enought to be accepted. It doesn't tell them jack about whatever piece I've sent them. If they read that piece, like it and have a place for it, then I'm in. If they don't like it or don't have a place for it, then I'm out. It's as simple as that.
So two new stories give me two new rejections. And guess what I did after reading those emails? The only thing I could do: read through the stories to make sure I hadn't arsed anything up and sent them back out to new markets. If a writer is serious about what they're doing, then that's what they do.
Patience and hard work. Get those two mastered and you're on to something if you want to succeed at writing or anything, for that matter.
Or, you know, you could just go on TV, do some bad karaoke, chuck in a sob story and then throw a wobbler if you don't get what you want. That's the path to success, right?
October 21, 2012
A delay in normal service
So, I take time off to go on my jollies and return with a promise of normal service only to be flattened by a complete bastard of a throat infection for most of last week. Seriously, I haven't felt that rough in years. I'm on penicillin for over another week and out of the loop on just about everything. I've got nothing done since I returned and any tiny decision is taking me about three hours to make.
Give me another day or so and I'll be back on my feet. In the meantime, here's some music...
...do do do....da da da....hey...
Give me another day or so and I'll be back on my feet. In the meantime, here's some music...
...do do do....da da da....hey...
October 13, 2012
The writer and the really big sun
Apologies for the lack of posts lately - been away for a week or so. I'm now back to the lovely October weather, about three million emails and a headache that won't budge. Normal posting will resume shortly. In the meantime, here's where I was a few days ago.
Nice, eh?
Nice, eh?
September 28, 2012
"Braaaaaaaaiiinnnnnnnssss..."
I love me some zombies. From the ghouls of the classic Night of the Living Dead (AKA The Greatest Film Ever Made) through to the ridiculous Euro zombies of the seventies and early eighties and then on to Resident Evil and 28 Days Later zombies, I'm all for them. Of course, those examples just cover films. So what about the printed zombie? Well, there's the excellent Warm Bodies and the superb Tomes of the Dead series from Abaddon. Not to forget Handling The Undead - all of which do something a little different with our brain eating friends. And that's the issue: doing something different with a familiar genre.
You can make a staple of the horror world funny. You can make them sexy. You can make them sympathetic. Or you can just go balls to the wall straight horror. Even that would be different in its own way if it's done well. People will read a book featuring a known threat such as zombies (or watch a film) as long as the story is interesting. Ditto the characters. Give them a cut and paste book or film and while some will go for it simply to experience people being eaten, but give them your own take on the old story and you'll have much more chance of being on to a winner.
All this waffling brings me to 'Set. It dawned on me after a few thousand words that I was writing a book featuring a threat close enough to zombies for that term to fit. I wasn't writing a zombie book and I don't think the finished result is a zombie book. If anything, the supernatural angle is on angels and demons, not the dead. The meat of the story is about what a mother will do for her child, not rotting corpses eating brains. But even so, the book does involve zombies in the same way 28 Days Later involves them (rather than really pissed of infected people acting like zombies, think dead people not quite aware that they're dead...and acting like zombies). Have I done something different with them? I hope so. That'll be for readers to decide.
Ultimately, if you like our groaning relatives, I'm crossing my fingers you'll like my book. And if not, don't worry. I'll just send Bub round to sort you out.
You can make a staple of the horror world funny. You can make them sexy. You can make them sympathetic. Or you can just go balls to the wall straight horror. Even that would be different in its own way if it's done well. People will read a book featuring a known threat such as zombies (or watch a film) as long as the story is interesting. Ditto the characters. Give them a cut and paste book or film and while some will go for it simply to experience people being eaten, but give them your own take on the old story and you'll have much more chance of being on to a winner.
All this waffling brings me to 'Set. It dawned on me after a few thousand words that I was writing a book featuring a threat close enough to zombies for that term to fit. I wasn't writing a zombie book and I don't think the finished result is a zombie book. If anything, the supernatural angle is on angels and demons, not the dead. The meat of the story is about what a mother will do for her child, not rotting corpses eating brains. But even so, the book does involve zombies in the same way 28 Days Later involves them (rather than really pissed of infected people acting like zombies, think dead people not quite aware that they're dead...and acting like zombies). Have I done something different with them? I hope so. That'll be for readers to decide.
Ultimately, if you like our groaning relatives, I'm crossing my fingers you'll like my book. And if not, don't worry. I'll just send Bub round to sort you out.
September 22, 2012
Some good books
I've read some cracking books recently so I thought I'd mention them here.
TimeRiders: City of Shadows
Stronghold
Rivers of London
Juggernaut
A Cold Season
Dead Bad Things
Echo City
These are all defnitely worth checking out (although bear in mind the TimeRiders book is part six of a series so it might best to start at the beginning).
Happy reading.
TimeRiders: City of Shadows
Stronghold
Rivers of London
Juggernaut
A Cold Season
Dead Bad Things
Echo City
These are all defnitely worth checking out (although bear in mind the TimeRiders book is part six of a series so it might best to start at the beginning).
Happy reading.
September 13, 2012
'Set publication date & blurb
Put it in your diary, people. 'Set has a release date.
8th March 2013.
To celebrate, here's the blurb (which will probably go through various changes between now and then) to give you an idea what to expect.
After the loss of her baby, Emma Cooper feels as if she’s just going through the motions of her life and teaching job. That is until an angel and demon come knocking at her door with news that dwarfs life and death.
Emma’s daughter’s soul is trapped in a world of the dead awaiting their judgment and final journey, a world of permanent sunset. This is ‘Set and it is to this world that Emma must travel after she is chosen by the celestial and infernal management. To find out why Above and Below need her help, Emma has to agree to work with both sides. By doing so, she has a chance of helping her daughter and countless other souls move on from ‘Set.
In this world, recently deceased George Bryson has started a war of the dead against Heaven and Hell. But his argument with his maker has opened doors he cannot close. The forgotten remnants of Creation are coming from the beginning of time to consume all worlds - including Heaven and Hell. If the angels and demons can’t find a way to work together and if Emma can’t stop Bryson’s war, her daughter will be lost forever.
And so will everybody else.
8th March 2013.
To celebrate, here's the blurb (which will probably go through various changes between now and then) to give you an idea what to expect.
After the loss of her baby, Emma Cooper feels as if she’s just going through the motions of her life and teaching job. That is until an angel and demon come knocking at her door with news that dwarfs life and death.
Emma’s daughter’s soul is trapped in a world of the dead awaiting their judgment and final journey, a world of permanent sunset. This is ‘Set and it is to this world that Emma must travel after she is chosen by the celestial and infernal management. To find out why Above and Below need her help, Emma has to agree to work with both sides. By doing so, she has a chance of helping her daughter and countless other souls move on from ‘Set.
In this world, recently deceased George Bryson has started a war of the dead against Heaven and Hell. But his argument with his maker has opened doors he cannot close. The forgotten remnants of Creation are coming from the beginning of time to consume all worlds - including Heaven and Hell. If the angels and demons can’t find a way to work together and if Emma can’t stop Bryson’s war, her daughter will be lost forever.
And so will everybody else.
September 7, 2012
REC: Genesis
I honestly don't know where to start with how much of a disappointment the third REC film is. Should I go with the weak attempts at comedy and how massively out of place they are? Or should I go for the film's lack of logic with not only its own rules but the rules set up by the first two? Or maybe how this one, as a prequel, adds nothing to the overall story?
I suppose a description of the plot is in order. We start at a wedding between a young couple. It's all lovely. They have their family and friends with them; it's a big church do and a bigger reception. They've got a professional videographer to record the day (as well as a younger guy who's brought his own camera). The groom also has an uncle who has a dog bite on his hand. Remember the mention of a dog in the first REC? Yeah, you do. So you know what's coming. A short time into the film, it all kicks off and then, strangely for a series which utilises the hand held camera approach so well, we leave that angle behind and go into `normal' film territory. The majority of the rest of the hour and twenty minutes concerns the survivors attempting to find each other and not be torn apart.
So its flaws: you might think the switch from hand held camera would be one, but for the most part, it's not that big of a deal simply because the other flaws are so numerous they take the mind off the change. The comedy, for one. Who thought adding poor attempts at sitcom humour would work in a supposedly intelligent horror series? John Sponge? Really? Then we have the lack of logic and continuity. We've never been dealing with zombies in the REC world and that's fine. We've been dealing with demonic possession spread biologically and infected people who move like they've just stepped out of 28 Days Later. They're also extremely hard to kill. All well and good. Except now we're dealing with a mix of Romero zombies and 28DL infected who've gone from still walking after being shot several times to dropping down dead after one gutshot. We've also got people infected to the point of attacking loved ones one minute, then having a tender moment the next. Then there's the plot line of a group of people in hiding which goes nowhere. Chuck in cheap jumps, noisy thunder and a woman with the body strength of a ten year old boy happily wielding a chainsaw and high kicking like a ninja, and you've got one of the biggest let downs in horror cinema.
Ultimately, REC: Genesis brings nothing to the REC world and can be completely avoided.
Oh, and the suits of armour scene just made me think of Monty Python and The Holy Grail.
I suppose a description of the plot is in order. We start at a wedding between a young couple. It's all lovely. They have their family and friends with them; it's a big church do and a bigger reception. They've got a professional videographer to record the day (as well as a younger guy who's brought his own camera). The groom also has an uncle who has a dog bite on his hand. Remember the mention of a dog in the first REC? Yeah, you do. So you know what's coming. A short time into the film, it all kicks off and then, strangely for a series which utilises the hand held camera approach so well, we leave that angle behind and go into `normal' film territory. The majority of the rest of the hour and twenty minutes concerns the survivors attempting to find each other and not be torn apart.
So its flaws: you might think the switch from hand held camera would be one, but for the most part, it's not that big of a deal simply because the other flaws are so numerous they take the mind off the change. The comedy, for one. Who thought adding poor attempts at sitcom humour would work in a supposedly intelligent horror series? John Sponge? Really? Then we have the lack of logic and continuity. We've never been dealing with zombies in the REC world and that's fine. We've been dealing with demonic possession spread biologically and infected people who move like they've just stepped out of 28 Days Later. They're also extremely hard to kill. All well and good. Except now we're dealing with a mix of Romero zombies and 28DL infected who've gone from still walking after being shot several times to dropping down dead after one gutshot. We've also got people infected to the point of attacking loved ones one minute, then having a tender moment the next. Then there's the plot line of a group of people in hiding which goes nowhere. Chuck in cheap jumps, noisy thunder and a woman with the body strength of a ten year old boy happily wielding a chainsaw and high kicking like a ninja, and you've got one of the biggest let downs in horror cinema.
Ultimately, REC: Genesis brings nothing to the REC world and can be completely avoided.
Oh, and the suits of armour scene just made me think of Monty Python and The Holy Grail.
September 5, 2012
Back to the bosom (of the short story)
The last few months, I've been focused almost exclusively on novel length fiction. And that was mainly because Hospital Road had such a difficult first draft as well as working on a the final (for now) copy of Belham. While I do like to bash out the odd short story between books, it hasn't happened for a while. Plus what I have come up with wasn't a great success. I've liked my recent short fiction, but none of it really got to me. Week before last, I made a determined effort to find the time to come up with something new, something I'd like.
So.
I jotted down some loose ideas and decided to wing one of them. I didn't literally make it up as I went, but it was pretty close. The result needs a bit of a polish. Even so, it's a fair tale. With that in mind, I went after another idea which I originally had shortly after finishing Belham. Again, the result wasn't 100% but there's nothing wrong with it that a small amount of work won't fix. Then from there, I went back to an older story - one that's stayed at the back of my head since I wrote it five years ago.
It was ropey. I won't lie. It was a piece of work from a writer who, even after five or six books and dozens of short stories, wasn't up to scratch. But it did have the odd glimpse of something cool, so I went back to it, reworked it and the result is a massive improvement. And if it ever sees publication, you can thank Jenny seeing as she liked the original story enough for me to keep thinking about it.
I don't know what will happen with short fiction and me over time. I love short stories, of course, but there doesn't seem to be as much time to focus on them these days as there was a little while ago. With a bit of luck and effort, I won't give them up. After all, there's always the need for a little tale told in the dark.
So.
I jotted down some loose ideas and decided to wing one of them. I didn't literally make it up as I went, but it was pretty close. The result needs a bit of a polish. Even so, it's a fair tale. With that in mind, I went after another idea which I originally had shortly after finishing Belham. Again, the result wasn't 100% but there's nothing wrong with it that a small amount of work won't fix. Then from there, I went back to an older story - one that's stayed at the back of my head since I wrote it five years ago.
It was ropey. I won't lie. It was a piece of work from a writer who, even after five or six books and dozens of short stories, wasn't up to scratch. But it did have the odd glimpse of something cool, so I went back to it, reworked it and the result is a massive improvement. And if it ever sees publication, you can thank Jenny seeing as she liked the original story enough for me to keep thinking about it.
I don't know what will happen with short fiction and me over time. I love short stories, of course, but there doesn't seem to be as much time to focus on them these days as there was a little while ago. With a bit of luck and effort, I won't give them up. After all, there's always the need for a little tale told in the dark.
August 30, 2012
A photo I like
My wife and I spent a couple of days in Norfolk recently. This is a shot of a church in a village, taken Sunday night. Try zooming in. Can you guess why I like it?
