Sara Jayne Townsend's Blog, page 36

Launch – A Report

(Cross-posted on the WriteClub blog)

There are many writing-related things on my “things to do before I die” list, and most of them have been on there a very long time.  Some I have been fortunate enough to achieve.  The first time I got a story published I was able to cross that one off.    Getting the first novel contract was another.  The final file of my first published e-book arriving in my ‘in’ box was a momentous event.  The proof of the first print copy of SOUL SCREAMS was a thrill that surpassed even that.

And being able to have a ‘proper’ launch, with books I could sell and sign, was another big moment.  This I achieved this past weekend, when SOUL SCREAMS launched at the BFS social event.

All this preamble is to give you an inkling of how big a deal this event was to me.  I’d been anticipating it for weeks.  I had the books.  I’d been stockpiling change.  I’d got promotional post cards and posters printed.  I’d been pimping the event all over the Internet.  I’d thought about what to wear.

And so the day arrived.  I’d decided on my new antique rose hankerchief hem dress from Joe Brown’s.  I put it on and went to ask Hubby’s opinion on what footwear would go with it.  I will qualify here that for a straight man, Hubby has an unusually keen sense of women’s fashion.  His mother is a talented dressmaker, and I think some of this flair has been inherited.  When the stylist came to give me a wardrobe detox a few years ago, everything he’d picked out for me I got to keep.  All the clothes I’d picked out myself went in the discard pile.  So when he gives style advice I do tend to take heed.  He scrutinised the outfit and said, “I like the dress but I think you should wear something more formal.”

So I went running back to my wardrobe.  Within minutes every dress I owned was laid out on the bed.  Eventually, with his help, we decided on the versatile purple wraparound number that I’ve always been very fond of.  With outfit decided, I went to finish packing my bag.  It already had all the books in it.  And it was very heavy. As I’d elected to take a backpack, I picked it up and realised that if I hefted this through London I was likely to get backache at best – at worst, it would keep pulling me over backwards.  So I thought about the small wheeled suitcase that we take as hand baggage on trips.  That could be pulled along and was probably a better bet.  Unfortunately retrieving it meant a trip into the attic.  In hindsight, it would have been better to think about this before putting on the dress and tights.

Fortunately, the bag was retrieved without damage to the outfit, and once my books had been transferred to the new case, I was ready to set off for the train station, happily trundling my case of books behind me.  Luck was on my side that day – no delays, engineering works or cancellations to hinder my journey, and I arrived at the Mug House ahead of schedule, about 3pm.

Also launching that day were ALT-ZOMBIE, the latest book from Hersham Press, and a new collection of MR James stories, published by Jo Fletcher books and edited by Steve Jones. With these luminaries of the British genre publishing industry present, I couldn’t help but feel a bit intimidated.  I put up my posters, scattered the promotional postcards over all the tables, unpacked my books and set up shop next to Peter Mark May, publisher of Hersham Press.  And for a while, the two of us watched everyone flock to buy the M.R. James (which was lovely, I have to say).  But Steve and Jo, who were the headline act, so to speak, did make a point of telling the enraptured audience that the BFS had always supported emerging writers and new publishers, and so they should go buy our books, too.

By and by people did come to see me, and they came to buy copies of SOUL SCREAMS.  Some of them were friends, not members of the BFS, who were there specifically to show moral support.  That was nice.  Others were BFS members who’d heard about my launch, and might have come to the event anyway, but wanted to buy my book as well.  But there were also a couple of people I didn’t know – BFS members who’d come to the event, picked up the postcard, and come over to investigate.  I also sold a copy to Michael Marshall Smith.  That was, I admit, a bit of a fan girl moment.

Then there were the lovely members of the T Party Writers’ Group.  There was a meeting going on that day – one I’d given apologies to, since I was at the launch instead.  After the meeting finished, they came to the pub en mass and most of them bought a copy of the book.

In the end, I sold all the copies I’d brought with me, and I left a very happy bunny indeed.  It’s nice to know SOUL SCREAMS has begun its publishing life with such a flourish.  And with the launch over with, that’s one more thing to cross off the ‘bucket list’.

Monday’s Friend: Candice Gilmer

Today I am pleased to welcome Candice Gilmer to my blog. She’s all set to introduce herself, so I’ll hand you over to her.  Take it away, Candice!

The Writing Schedule

By Candice Gilmer

First off, I’d like to thank Sara for having me here on her blog, I really appreciate getting to take over visit. My name is Candice Gilmer, and I write romance novels, all across the board. From contemporary to paranormal to fairy tale, I love it all. I even have a few sci-fi oriented stories on the far-back burners, bubbling and boiling until I have time to write them.

I’ve been doing this professionally for about six years and I learned a trick from writer Michelle Pillow. Now, Michelle has been writing a couple years longer than I have, but she’s managed to write 70+ books in approximately that amount of time.

So I had to know how she did it.

Bribing her with coffee and chocolate, she confessed she makes a writing schedule for the year. And me, being a hairdresser who lives by calendars and schedules, it was like a neon light-bulb exploded in my head.

Of course… A schedule. Planning my writing projects out for a year’s time, how brilliant. It may seem daunting, but if you think about it, it really makes things easier. Because when you finish Book A, you know where you’re going next. And because it’s a schedule of the year, maybe you finish Book A, and decide, well, you’re more feeling the idea in Book D. You can go work on Book D, and slip the others down. So they’re fluid, but they’re still schedules.

Making the schedule is really pretty simple. But it does require math, so be warned.

First, and this is by far the most important, figure out how many words you can comfortably write EVERY DAY. (Because that’s the other secret—writing every day or at least five days a week—but if you’re really into the story, you probably wouldn’t want to take any time off)

Let’s say, for easy math, 1,000 words a day is your word count goal. (In manuscript format, that’s about 4 pages)

After that, you make a list of potential projects and estimated word counts. Now, here’s where the math comes in. To figure how many days each book will take is pretty easy, assuming you hit your word count goal, of course.  I always add in one extra week, because sometimes we just can’t get everything done every day like we like, so I give myself a few extra days.

But mostly I operate on the plan to write every single day.

To figure, take the total word count of your book, and divide it by your word count goal for the day:

35,000 total word count / 1,000 words a day = 35 days.

35 days + 7 extra “buffer” days = 42 days or 6 weeks (42/7=6 weeks)

With a weekly writing goal of 7,000 words a week.

(This is how I do it, because I write a little every day.)

If you give yourself weekends off, you’ll figure it like this:

35,000 words / 1,000 words a day = 35 days

35 days / 5 days a week = 7 weeks.

With a weekly writing goal of 5,000 words.

I don’t count a “buffer” in here, because already, two days a week are “off” so if your weekly goal has come up short, you have the weekend to make up the word count.

For me, seeing it broke down like this makes a lot of the projects I work on much less daunting. Also, it gives me a finishing goal to get to. Do I manage to get everything done on my schedule that I planned for the previous year? I haven’t yet, but I’m working on it. Last year, I FILLED my calendar with projects, and only managed to get about half done, but it was my first year with a schedule, too. This year is going much better so far than last year, as far as hitting goals. But that just takes time and practice.

And writing every day.

Can’t forget that tiny little nugget.

Rescuing Rapunzel Blurb:

The Charming Nobles Book 1

Getting Rapunzel out the tower is only half the problem…

Rapunzel longs to live in the world she sees through her window, but more than her tower keeps her trapped. Her mother has taught her obedience without question and filled her with fear. She knows she will never reach the ground. Then Lord Nicolas von Hohburg scales her wall, breaks into her life, and changes everything.

Nick has resigned himself to a life of duty when Rapunzel’s song calls him to her tower. Soon she has his heart wrapped in her lengthy tresses and he can think of nothing else. But his responsibilities and sense of duty threaten to come between them…

Warning: A scheming witch, a damsel in distress and a Charming Noble who just might save the day.

By RESCUING RAPUNZEL in all e-book formats from Lyrical Press here, or for the Kindle here.

Candice Gilmer leads a dangerous double life as a mommy and a writer. In between diaper changes and boo-boo healing, she writes stories usually to the tune of children’s television shows.

Growing up in the Midwest, Candice stays close to her family, especially the ones with basements when the tornadoes come around. She also works as a hairdresser, which she’s done for over fifteen years, and brings her laptop to work so she can write between clients.

When she’s not writing, styling hair and taking care of her family, she gets together with her girlfriends for gossip and coffee while her husband hunts ghosts with Wichita Paranormal Research Society.  All in all, she stays very busy, but really, she wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Well, maybe a little less children’s television. 

Learn more about Candice by visiting her website or her blog.  You can also catch up with her on Facebook, and on Twitter.

And The Winner Is….

Thanks to everyone who stopped by my online party yesterday. It was a lot of fun – an excuse to spend all day on the Internet, for starters. Though the virtual champagne could do with a bit more kick…

Winners of both contests have now been picked by random selection and I can now reveal who they are…drum roll please…

Pamela Turner is the winner of the free SOUL SCREAMS e-book.

The winner of the poster, which was the contest running on Facebook, is Yvette Stevenson-Munitz.

Congratulations to you both, ladies!

And there’s more excitement today, as the story about me and SOUL SCREAMS appears in today’s issue of the SUTTON GUARDIAN. If you can’t read the story in the image attached, then you can read it on the SUTTON GUARDIAN’s web page here.

And there’s still the BFS launch on Saturday to look forward to. And that is tremendously exciting. So exciting I’ve been practising signing the books. And I have discovered an unanticipated complication. The books are soft back. I am left-handed. It’s actually quite difficult to sign the title page without leaning my arm on the cover and creasing it. I am worried about damaging someone’s pristine copy, so I shall have to perfect some kind of arm-raise technique for my signature. Perhaps by the end of Saturday’s signing I will have mastered this!

If you can’t make the launch, and you didn’t win a prize, don’t forget you can order the book online. Find the links for ordering both the e-book and the print version on Stumar Press’s website.

With all this excitement, I don’t think I’ll get time to put up another post until next week. But don’t worry, I’ll be back soon with the full low-down on the launch.

SOUL SCREAMS Online Launch Party!

It’s Launch Day, and I’m cracking open the virtual champagne!

It’s been quite an exciting week in my world. SOUL SCREAMS is starting to attract attention. The first review is in, on Matthew Fryer’s “Welcome to Hellforge” website. And he has some very good things to say about it.

I was also featured in the press this week – there’s an article about me and SOUL SCREAMS on the Kingston Guardian website.

If you didn’t catch my reading of “Just Don’t Scream” on Edin Road radio last night, you can listen to the recording here. And, as one last plug, I’m in the spotlight on author Sonya Clark‘s website too.

On top of all that, there’s the ‘physical’ launch of SOUL SCREAMS on Saturday at the BFS, too. So it’s a rather busy week!

And today, here on Imaginary Friends, we’ve got a virtual party, and I’m giving away one free e-book version of SOUL SCREAMS. To be in with a chance to win, all you have to do is to post a comment here. I will be accepting all comments that are posted by midnight (London time) tonight, and the winner will be chosen at random and announced tomorrow. Just make sure that when you post your comment your email address is included, so that I know how to contact you should you win! I will be hanging out here all day, so if you get a message saying your comment needs approval first, don’t worry – it will appear soon.

And if you want an additional chance to win, head on over to my ‘Imaginary Friends’ Facebook group, where I’m offering a copy of the SOUL SCREAMS cover as a very cool signed poster. You have to be a member of the group to enter the contest, so if you are not currently a member, just send a request to join.

So let’s get the party started! Anyone for cyber-fizz?

My Life in Books: Killing Mr Griffin

At an age when my fellow T Party writers were discovering epic fantasy novels, I was discovering the marvellous new world of Young Adult horror.

It wasn’t called that at the time. In the 1980s, Lois Duncan was a pioneer in this genre, writing a lot of very creepy books featuring teenagers. I don’t know how I got my hands on a copy of KILLING MR GRIFFIN, but I did have a battered copy on my book shelf at home, so I suspect I discovered it in a second hand book store somewhere. I didn’t buy too many books new when I was an impoverished high school student.

It is the story of a group of teenagers who decide to take revenge on their hard-nosed English teacher. They don’t mean to kill Mr Griffin – at least not at first. They kidnap him, tie him up, blindfold him so he can’t tell who they are, and lock him away. But Mr Griffin recognises his students by their voices, and during his incarceration he comes out with the same cutting remarks he gives to them in the classroom. What the group don’t know is that Mr Griffin suffers from a medical condition, and without his medication, he will die.

I was pleased to find this cover image, because this is the one that featured on the version I read, and it’s what drew me to the book. The current edition has a different cover but I’m happy to see it’s still in print – it’s a terrific book.

I must have been about 14 when I first read this book, and the characters really spoke to me. There are five students involved in the kidnapping plot. Jeff and David are jocks. Mark is Jeff’s best friend, highly intelligent and quick to anger, but at the same time he is incredibly charismatic and it is this charisma that persuades the others to go along with his plan. It’s his idea to kidnap Mr Griffin after suffering humiliation at the teacher’s hands. What the others don’t know until the end of the book is that Mark is a psychopath – in the clinical sense of the word.

As well as the three boys, two girls are drawn into this nefarious scheme. Betsy is a bubbly cheerleader type and Jeff’s girlfriend. She’s not very bright and is just out to have a good time, and it doesn’t take much to convince her that the plan to kidnap the English teacher is nothing more than a great prank. The fifth member of the group, Susan, is a more unwilling accomplice. A straight ‘A’ student, Susan is brought in as bait, to keep Mr Griffin talking in the car park about school work so that the others can pounce on him. She only agrees because she has a hopeless crush on David, and Mark hatches a plan to get David to go out with her, deducing – quite correctly – that once Susan has been lured into the inner circle of ‘popular kids’ she has up to now never dreamed she’d ever be a part of, she’ll be willing to go along with anything they suggest.  Mark has also noticed that Mr Griffin’s class is the only one Susan ever receives a ‘B’ in, and this is something she’s not used to.

Naturally it was the nerdy, brainy loner Susan I identified with, though I recognised pretty much all of the other characters from my school (apart from Mark – there may well have been psychopaths at my high school for all I know, but if I did know any, I wasn’t aware of it at the time). And the situation was set up in such a way that it seemed entirely plausible. Having agreed to the initial plan to request a meeting with Mr Griffin in the car park, when the deed is actually done, Susan rapidly begins to have second thoughts. But since she knows what the group have done, they are not going to let her go that easily – especially Mark. Susan suddenly finds herself in a waking nightmare, when things start going from bad to worse, and she is unable to extricate herself from it. As the plot unfolds, Mark’s grip on reality rapidly unravels, and his descent into insanity is startling and terrifying. This is a genuinely creepy and gripping book, and it was one of the books that hooked me on horror for life.

Along with Stephen King, Lois Duncan was a major influence on my early attempts at writing horror, and I think her books will still resonate with teenagers today. Especially since YA horror is now a legitimate genre. In my day it was just ‘scary stories featuring teens’.

It’s Away!

(Cross-posted on the WriteClub blog)

Exciting things are happening on the SOUL SCREAMS front. First of all, the book is now published, and both print and e-book versions are available to order. See Stumar Press’s website for buy links.

Second, the print version will officially launch at the British Fantasy Society’s open day on Saturday 16 June. The British Fantasy Society exists to promote British fantasy, horror and science fiction writers and publishers. As both my publisher and I are members, we were able to arrange to launch the book at their next social event, which is to be held at the Mug House tavern, Tooley Street, London (see link for map and further information).

Everyone is welcome to BFS open events – you don’t have to be a member.

I will be there from 4pm and the event will go on until late in the evening. So if you’re in London on that day, why not stop in and get your signed copy of SOUL SCREAMS?

If you’re not able to make the physical launch, you can join in the fun virtually, at the online launch on 13 June. A competition will be running all day, on this blog and my Imaginary Friends Facebook group. If you’re not a member of the group yet and would like to join, please send me a request and I will add you.

So there’s lots going on over the next couple of weeks regarding the launch of SOUL SCREAMS. Lots of ways to get your hands on a copy, so get yours now!

Monday’s Friend: Melissa Field

Today I am pleased to welcome Melissa Field to the blog.

Using frustration, tension and pressure to your advantage …

By Melissa Field



When going through the writing process all writers feel frustration at different moments for different reasons. The range of reasons is pretty large, going from knowing something isn’t right but unsure how to fix to feeling something is perfect and everyone is telling you to change it. And then there’s the frustration of rejection and criticism, which generally holds hands with other feelings such as sadness, anxiety, and anger.

I went through the frustration of writing and getting rejected on and off for five years before taking a long break of several years. During that time I just didn’t think I could take the difficult parts that came with the writing. The rejection was difficult, but it was generally all of the feelings that came up to the rejection letters that really made my nerves raw. The actual process of writing gave me a constant feeling of tension, like I was a big knot being pulled ever tighter and more compressed. Once the process was over and I’d revised to my heart’s content, then came the other side of the coin, the fear and intensity of making your work public. I came to decide I just wasn’t cut out for it and it was best to stop for the sake of my health.

But then something happened. I began to feel that undeniable spark of a story brewing. I tried hard to ignore it. When it came I was in fact in one of the most relaxed places in my life. I was crewing on a sailboat and traveling through the Mediterranean Sea. The feeling came in the middle of the night, a sharp and heavy contrast to the warm sea air surrounding me in my cabin. By the next day the feeling was consuming my whole body. I had to write down my new idea.

Despite my sabbatical plunging back into writing came with the inevitable feelings of frustration, tension and of course fear. I was plagued by doubt and fear. Was I really going to go through all of that again? This time, the feelings grew even stronger because I was writing from a much more personal place. I was using my own stories and those of my friends. I don’t know why but I just felt the need to tell honest stories of female friends and their experiences. Before I had written for the love of writing, but now I wrote not just out of love but a feeling of necessity.

My personal feelings made my attachment to the book I created, THE GOOD LUCK KNOT, deeper than with any other work. It was stories from me and my friends, and therefore the book felt like a friend also. When the criticism and then rejection letters came it hit me harder than ever. This time it really was personal. I was so angry and frustrated on certain days I couldn’t handle it. Sometimes I drank too much and at other times just went into a TV stupor, watching LOST until I could finally relax a little.

After the book failed to get picked up I decided that was it. This was just too hard. Now I knew for sure, I couldn’t do it. I was convinced that I was doing something extremely wrong. If I was so tense, frustrated and upset then there was no way I was going to succeed. I thought at some point I should reach a plateau where I was confident and excited about my work. I expected at the end of THE GOOD LUCK KNOT to be thrilled at the prospect of writing again. But I wasn’t. I could barely write an email without associating it with dark mood over the book.

During this period I was in a bookstore perusing writing articles (I know – glutton for punishment here). I read an article from a published author over how she felt after completing a book. She said after each book she was exhausted and would swear she’d never write again. I was stunned. I thought I only felt this way because I was doing something terribly wrong. It amazed me that a published writer shared the same feelings of frustration and exhaustion that I did. If she was doing everything right and still hit such levels, then did that mean I was just quitting too soon? For the writer, she said that after some time the feelings would subside, she’d become bored, and once again be inspired and energized to write. Hmmm. That sounded familiar.

After reading the article I have to admit I didn’t exactly jump for joy and get back to writing. I was intrigued by it, but still seeing too many signs that said “quit” rather than “try again.”



It’s been about six months since I called it a wrap on THE GOOD LUCK KNOT. I self published, did the promotional bit, and now I’m moving on. Only this time I’m refusing to let the feelings that come with writing (frustration, tension, pressure and even anger) tell me I’m doing everything wrong. I know these are a natural part of the process. I see now that learning not to drown in the frustration is perhaps one of the most important tools a writer must develop. Frustration and tension can lead to the feeling that you just can’t go on. You’re burned out. But perhaps you need to take that frustration and build off of it. It can be the catalyst that inspires a character in your next book, or perhaps even inspires an entire plot built around frustration and desire.

It’s often easy to forget that tension and pressure are what create some of the most beautiful things in our world. How does a violinist create music? You have a string pulled to the point of tension, and then by putting pressure on the string you create a disturbance in the air. None of these things sounds very pleasant, tension, pressure or disturbance, but the sounds created by a violin are powerful and often times stunning. There are other example of this, such as the pressure on carbon that creates diamonds. And let’s not forget a diamond takes billions of years to form. A novel or work of art of course doesn’t take billions of years, but it is important to remember that to create something takes time. Most writers and artists are incredibly hard on themselves if they don’t reach their goals in a specific amount of time. And even worse is feeling you suck at this because sometimes you’re just really frustrated or tense. I can’t manage these feelings perfect yet myself, but I am attempting to gain a little perspective on them and see if in fact there’s beautiful music attempting to be realized.

If you’re feeling frustrated or tense yourself don’t give up. Take a moment and see what’s behind the tension. Perhaps just by asking yourself, ‘what is it I want right now that I’m not getting?’ that you’ll find some resolution. We’re writers, so put down whatever comes to you. Such as, “I’m really pissed off because this character has no depth.” Then, just leave it. Walk away, leave the source of frustration, and come back to it when you’re ready. There are other ways to cope also, and I hope you find what works for you.

Melissa Field grew up in the central valley of California. She attended college in California but never graduated. After leaving she took odd jobs in various locations and travelled as much as possible. She now lives in Holland with her boyfriend. She has a blog on travel and writing and also continues to work on various fiction projects.

THE GOOD LUCK KNOT is available on the Amazon Kindle.

 

Monday’s Friend: Luke Walker (interview)

Horror writer Luke Walker has visited my blog before. This time I’m pleased to be interviewing him. Welcome once more to Imaginary Friends, Luke!

SJT: When did you first know you were destined to be a writer?

LW: I don’t know if I’d say ‘destined’. To me, that takes some of the effort and responsibility out of it. Saying that, though, I can remember being at my happiest as a kid in school when I was writing stories. There were also a few times in which I made up a story on the spot when asked by friends. They were usually complete rubbish but the interesting thing to me now as an adult is the idea of a group of ten year old boys knowing they could ask me to tell them a story and me doing so.

I made a conscious decision to sit down and write a story when I was thirteen. Between then and 21, I wrote a load more stories and poems, then started on my first book. There were plenty of moments (and days and weeks and months) of self-doubt but I don’t remember at any point thinking about doing something else. Nothing else came to mind that I thought I’d be any good at or that I should be doing. Writing was definitely the should. So I did.

SJT: Who would you cite as your influences?

Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Gary McMahon, Tim Lebbon, Simon Clark, Sarah Pinborough, Joe Hill, Charlie Brooker, John Connolly, Susan Hill, Penelope Lively and Pat Barker are the people who come to mind. They all know the power of writing and of a story. I try to keep those two thoughts closest when writing.

SJT: What advice would you pass on to beginner writers that you wish someone had told you when you were first starting out?

LW:

1. You suck.

2. You’re allowed to suck.

3. Keep writing until you stop sucking.

4. Now that those are out of the way, remember publishing is a business while writing is an art form. Write with one eye on the business and you’ll probably succeed sooner than later.

SJT: When it comes to your writing projects, would you describe yourself as a meticulous planner, or a ‘seat-of-the-pantser’?

LW: Neither, to be honest. I do a rough outline to use as a guide but it’s nowhere near as detailed as other writers’ plans and it’s definitely not rigid. It’s a bit like a map drawn by someone with a vague idea of where they’re going. I use it to feel my way through the book, then let it go its own way if it knows a better route. Most of the time, it works out well although I did kick about the idea of writing my last book with no plan at all. I changed my mind early on, drew up a vague plan and really struggled with the first draft for a couple of reasons. I think one of those reasons was part of me still thinking I should have scrapped the plan and winged it. While I prefer having a plan, I wouldn’t rule out writing without one. As with a lot of writing issues, it depends on the individual book.

SJT: What’s your take on e-books? No substitute for paper, or a phenomenon that’s changing the publishing industry?

LW: They’ve definitely changed things. There’s a perception it’s easier for a writer to be published through e-books. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve seen the terms ‘e-book’ and ‘self published’ used interchangeably which drives me nuts. If people don’t know the difference, they shouldn’t get involved in the discussions.

It’s as easy as it ever was to be self-published. E-book or print doesn’t make a difference to that. In terms of traditional publishing, I think e-books are rapidly become seen as more mainstream. Go back just a few years and they were seen as a bit niche. They were for a certain ‘type’ of reader and they didn’t appear to be taken particularly seriously. That’s changed. And while I don’t think for a minute print books will ever vanish, e-books are only going to grow over the next few years.

SJT: What draws you to write horror?

LW: Haha. That’s a loaded question. On one side, it’s the sort of question that annoys me. Nobody asks the historical novelist why they like to write about Elizabethan England or Colonial America. Nobody thinks the Urban Fantasist has any issues if they write about an arse-kicking woman who kills vampires and has boyfriend troubles. And the boyfriend is a werewolf. The horror writer, though, they’re odd because they write about pain and fear and blood. But on the other side, I tell myself not to get so precious about it.

Horror has always interested me. There are so many areas to explore in it. You can stick with the dark side of it and throw as much blood as you want at your characters. Or you can go a bit deeper and see what happens when you treat them as real people dealing with a supernatural threat. You can also use horror fiction to hold up a mirror to real life. It doesn’t take much comparison to see which can be uglier. Ultimately, I think I write horror as a way of saying life can be a nightmare but there’s a chance of waking up from it.

Not that everyone wakes up, of course.

SJT: What would be your weapon of choice in the Zombie Apocalpyse?

LW: The instinctive reply is a gun, but I wouldn’t know how to load even the simplest gun even if I had any chance of finding one and enough bullets to make a difference. I’m more likely to run around with a cricket bat or a tree branch. A sword would be quite handy, too. One of those proper swords designed to chop off heads. Nice. But then unless I raid a museum or a castle, I don’t think I’ll find a sword just lying around, so I better stick with my original plan of running away.

SJT: You have two cats – one of them is in your author pic. Do you think writers are more likely to be ‘cat people’ than ‘dog people’?

LW: Cats are seen as aloof and independent, but then they’re also silly, warm and they like to sit on your lap. They occasionally overeat. So yes.

I don’t lick my bum, though.

SJT: Thanks very much for your time, Luke!

Luke Walker has been writing horror and fantasy fiction for most of his life. His debut horror novel THE RED GIRL is available now from Musa Publishing. A number of his short stories have been published online at Dark Fire Fiction and in the emag Penumbra. He is thirty-four and lives in England, with his wife, two cats and not enough zombie films.

Book link: http://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=160

Blog link: http://getthegirlkillthebaddies.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/lukewalkerbooks

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LukeWalkerWriter?sk=wall

My Life In Books: Different Seasons

I found this book in my junior high school library. It changed my life – quite literally. Very simply, this was the first Stephen King book I ever read, and he so blew me away as a writer that he’s influenced my writing ever since.

DIFFERENT SEASONS is a book containing four novellas, each one representing one of the four seasons – sometimes somewhat tenuously. Three of these tales have been made into Hollywood Films. “Stand By Me” is the film version of the story “The Body”, representing Summer. Four 12-year-old boys go on a hike to glimpse a dead body they hear rumour is lying by the railway track some miles away. The story is more about their journey than the dead boy – and the journey represents their passage from childhood into puberty. The film version did a pretty good job of staying true to the spirit of the story.

Then there was “Apt Pupil”, the Autumn story (subtitled “Fall From Innocence”) about a young boy who makes repeat visits to an old man with war stories to tell. I didn’t like this story much, and I haven’t yet seen the film that it was made into, but there’s a sinister air to it, and the real story is about deception – although initially the man seems to have power over the boy, by the end of the story the table is turned, and if there is an evil character, it’s the boy.

“Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” is more famous as the film “The Shawshank Redemption”. By the process of elimination this story has to represent Spring (I think the subtitle was “Hope Springs Eternal”, the story of a man, wrongly charged with the murder of his wife, who spends years in prison and all the while persistently digging a tunnel with a tiny hammer, until he can escape this way. The story is mostly about human nature – largely the flaws, but also the hope, which keeps the main character digging his tunnel.

But it was the fourth story – the one subtitled “The Winter’s Tale” that got me the most. As far as I know this has never been made into a film. Possibly it’s considered just a bit too gruesome, but it had such an impact on me I can still remember this story, even though I’ve only read it once and that was nearly 30 years ago. The story, entitled “The Breathing Method” is narrated by a retired doctor, telling the tale of a patient of his, many years ago. His patient was a young single pregnant woman, and back in the 1950s, being single and pregnant was scandalous, but this young woman was determined to have her baby, and that it would be healthy. The doctor decided she was a likely candidate for the new birthing method – known as The Breathing Method – that at the time had only just come into practise, where the woman is not given drugs and instead controls her breathing to make childbirth easier. All went well, and his patient never wavered in her determination to have a healthy baby. But the day she went into labour,there was a terrible blizzard, and the taxi taking her to the hospital skidded on the snow and ice and was involved in a terrible crash right outside the hospital. The pregnant woman was decapitated. But as the doctor arrived on the scene, he realised with horror that the headless body of his patient was still breathing, still in labour, still determined to give birth to her baby.

That story really got to me. In hindsight, perhaps the shock effect would not be the same in a film. But as a 13-year-old, I read that story and it gave me nightmares for a while. It also inspired me to look for more Stephen King books, and it was then I first started to understand the thrill of a really scary book.

SOUL SCREAMS Online Launch Announced

(Cross-posted on the WriteClub blog)

I can now announce the plans for the SOUL SCREAMS online launch party!

This will take place on Wednesday 13 June.

I will be hanging out on Imaginary Friends and Facebook all day, and there will be prizes to win. The prizes will be one copy of the e-book version of SOUL SCREAMS, and one copy of the limited-edition SOUL SCREAMS cover image poster (which I can sign for the lucky winner). And if you’ve seen the SOUL SCREAMS cover, you know just how cool the poster looks!  One prize winner will be chosen at random from the people who leave comments on the blog. The other will be chosen at random from the people who respond to the question I will post on my Facebook group.

So be sure to stop by this blog on 13 June, to be in with a chance of winning.  To increase your chances, stop by the Facebook group too.  There’s nothing to stop people from entering both contests!  If you are not a member of said group and want to be, be sure to send me a request (because I won’t add you unless you ask me to.  I think adding people to groups without their permission is rather impolite).

So the count down is on.  It’s all getting rather exciting!