David A. Riley's Blog, page 103

The Appeal of the First Person Narrative

I'm halfway through a fairly large anthology of new stories and have been struck by how overwhelmingly many have been written in the first person. It's so prevalent in fact that when I see an opening sentence with the inevitable "I", I begin to shudder.

Now, let me be clear, I have nothing against first person narratives. But in my own writing I have only ever used it thrice - and then only in some of my earliest stories. I haven't used it in decades.

Which is perhaps why I am puzzled why so many writers in this anthology have chosen this form of narrative. Is it because this is now more popular, at least amongst younger writers? Have I missed spotting a new trend? Or is it because many of these writers, being new, feel it is easier to use this viewpoint?

For a horror story, it has always struck me that the first person has distinctive limitations, particularly for the climax. Not to mention limitations in characterisation. It takes a particularly good writer to be able to give a distinctive character to the narrator when theirs is the only voice.

As I would automatically start a new story in the third person singular, I am interested to know why there are so many first person viewpoints in this anthology, all but to the exclusion of any other. It's something I'll probably feel obliged to look out for in other anthologies too now that I've noticed it here to see if this is prevalent today.

Highest Hits on this Blog Yet

Last month this blogs's stats showed that it had attracted the most hits since I started it in 2010. Astonishingly, it has already attracted the same number this month - and it's only the 17th!

Whispers From The Abyss

Starting to read this Lovecraftian anthology on my kindle tonight. Looks like a great lineup of writers:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction by Alasdair Stuart.
“Iden-Inshi” by Greg Stolze
“Pushing Back” by J.C. Hemphill
“Nation of Disease: The Rise & Fall of a Canadian Legend” by Jonathan Sharp
“When We Change” by Mason Ian Bundschuh
“Nutmeat” by Martin Hill Ortiz
“The Last Tweet” by Charles Black
“Secrets In Storage” by Tim Pratt & Greg Van Eekhout
“The Well” by Tim Jeffreys
“The Neon Morgue” by Nathan Wunner
“The Deep” by Corissa Baker
“Fear And Loathing In Innsmouth: Richard Nixon’s Revenge” by Jason Andrew
“My Friend Fishfinger By Daisy, Age 7″ by David Tallerman
“Chasing Sunset” by A.C. Wise
“The Thing With Onyx Eyes” by Stephen Brown
“I Do The Work Of The Bone Queen” by John R. Fultz
“Suck It Up, Get It Done” by Brandon Barrows
“The Substance In The Sound” by W.B. Stickel
“Stone City, Old As Immeasurable Time” by Kelda Crich
“Hideous Interview With Brief Man” by Nick Mamatas
“The Sea, Like Glass Unbroken” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
“The Decorative Water Feature Of Nameless Dread” by James Brogden
“Henry” by Lance Axt
“My Stalk” by Aaron J. French
“Give Me That Old Time Religion” by Lee Finney
“Afraid Of Dobermans” by Chad Fifer
“Leviathan” by Nicholas Almand
“Horrorscope” by Charles Black
“The Jar Of Aten-Hor” by Kat Rocha
“The Floor” by Jeff Provine
“Waiting” by Dennis Detwiller
“Other People’s Houses” by Sarena Ulibarri
“You Will Never Be The Same” by Erica Satifka
“Death Wore Greasepaint” by Josh Finney

Shadow Publishing Book Launch at the World Fantasy Convention

Shadow Publishing will be launching four books at the World Fantasy Convention on Friday the 1st November. The event, which includes complementary wine, will be from 2 till 3 p.m.

The books launched will be:

•   The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror (David A. Riley)
•   Phantoms of Venice (David A. Sutton, Mike Chinn, Tim Lebbon & Conrad Williams)
•  Worse Things Than Spiders and Other Stories (Samantha Lee)
•   The Whispering Horror (Eddy C. Bertin)

The Dunwich Horror - Remake

I haven't watched this yet so I have no idea how good it is, but the fact it's based on H. P. Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror should make it interesting. At least I hope so!

Shadow Publishing Blog

Dave Sutton has created a blog for Shadow Publishing, which looks pretty interesting and is well worth a visit.

Komodo vs Cobra

Watched this over the weekend on DVD. Not my usual fare, but it sounded interesting enough in a bizarre way to justify a viewing.

CGI does help low budget films like this. Years ago, what we had here would have even looked impressive. At least the monsters could be seen moving with a semblance of realism on the same screen as the human characters. By today's standards, though, it does fail woefully, especially when the creatures scoop up their victims. That did look hilariously unrealistic, especially as their victims just disappeared in the blink of an eye.

What really made this film fail, though, was the terrible casting, the worse acting and the simplistic, cliched dialogue. Not to mention the pistols that could fire countless rounds without ever needing to be reloaded (and I'm talking of well over 50 shots at a time) - or to offer any sort of recoil in the hands of those firing them! Less realistic gunfire I have never seen in my life.

Was it bad enough to be good?

Well, apart from a few laughs at the ineptitude of some of the really awful acting, I would have to say no.

Review Copies Available of The Return

Electronic review copies of my Lovecraftian horror novel, The Return, are available. If you do reviews on your blog, on a website or a magazine please contact me on rileybooks@ntlworld.com and I'll email a copy to you to upload on your kindle, etc.

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com
 

Free Copies of The Return Won On Lovecraft eZine Last Night

Three free ebook copies of The Return were won last night during the Lovecraft eZine's online playing of The Call of Cthulhu . Congratulations to all those who won copies - and I hope you enjoy reading it!

If there are any reviewers who would like copies of the ebook version of this Lovecraftian horror novel, please contact me on rileybooks@ntlworld.com.

WFC Shadow Publishing Book Launch