Thomas R. Clark's Blog, page 12

COVER AND TITLE REVEAL

Giving a book a title that resonates with the readers is often more difficult than writing the story. Let’s take THE DEATH LIST, for example. My previous book’s working title was EPIC FAIL, and it remained that title until about a month before the release. And my next book, coming out in July, is no different.

As many of you already know, the working title was shared with the book’s opening section: Fireflies And Apple Pies. I’ve even promoted the book as having that title.

Then Lynne Hansen came into the picture.  Lynne is a veteran cover artist, and her goal is to make sure that the cover sells your book. The cover I acquired from her, will indeed sell books. But not with the title I first envisioned.   

So after heavy deliberation… and I discussed this with my publisher (St. Rooster Books), my mentors, and peers – I’ve decided to change the title to a catchphrase readers of the book will find gives them shivers. 

THE GOD PROVIDES

This title says horror or supernatural much more than Fireflies and Apple Pies.

And here is Lynne Hansen’s wonderful cover portrait, which is the ending scene of Part II, Dogs Don’t Lie.  

I’ll be truthful. I didn’t commission the art. Lynne offered it as the desktop calendar this month to her fan club. When I saw the scene from my book on the cover, I had to have it.

The god does, indeed, provide.  

What do you all think?  Did I make the right choice?

OH, HOW THINGS CHANGE, OR, ANOTHER DAY IN INDY HORROR

If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my path as a creative, it’s “change happens.” Now, this isn’t exclusive to the creative community, change does indeed happen daily throughout the world. But in the writing world, change is prevalent and constant.

Take writing a book, for example. Often, when a writer starts a new book, they will outline it in some form, or at least have a mental picture of the story they want to tell. This mapped out path will frequently change during the course of the story’s creation. Character names will change and plots will take paths they didn’t foresee, just for example. 

With my last book, THE DEATH LIST, I experienced pandemic setbacks, editing issues, a cover art change, and a last minute title change. THE DEATH LIST’s working title was EPIC FAIL. It was a little juvenile, so I switched it out. I made decent cover for the book, but Lisa Vasquez made it better.  Oh, and that editing problem. I’m not going to say Beetlejuice.

My next book is no different.

Next week we’ll unveil the new cover art and title to you all.

Yes, I said new cover art and title.

First, the cover art.  As happy as I am with the art I made for the book, it’s a common stock photo I manipulated. As a result, I wasn’t happy with it. I’ll still use it in marketing, for sure. But the art I purchased from a pro in the field is a direct scene from the book. The artist made this without having knowledge of the contents. It was as if it were meant to be.

Then…

After consulting with the cover artist (an established pro whose work has seen mainstream attention), my mentors, beta readers, and peers … we determined for marketing’s sake, changing the title from FIREFLIES AND APPLE PIES to needed to be done. We’re keeping the original title for the first segment of the book. I’ve also had stickers printed with the FIREFLIES AND APPLE PIES printed on them. A waste? Nope. Now each segment of the book will have a sticker, each is 1 in a series. 

All will be revealed next week…until then… don’t forget-

#TheGodProvides

HOUSE OF STITCHED ISSUE #2

The second issue of House of Stitched Magazine is available for your reading pleasure. You can get it here on magcloud

We put a ton of work into this one, and it was worth the wait. Lisa talked to Larry Elmore, the man who established how we visually perceive Dungeons and Dragons. Jonathan Maberry chats with Donelle about his career. Those are just the tip of this issue. 

I remind you why Nancy A. Collins’ Sunglasses After Dark is so awesome, and how she tapped into the zeitgeist of Urban Fantasy at the right place and time, essentially creating the genre.

I love THE STAND, and explain why it’s America’s Lord of the Rings. Is it Horror? Is it Fantasy? Is it a good TV miniseries? I’ll touch on all of these points in my op/ed.

And I start a new monthly column, ROOTS OF APATHY: The Origins of Cosmic Horror. The first focuses on Robert E. Howard’s cosmic horror in HP Lovecraft’s sandbox, and I talk to Curt Lawson for some expertise on the subject. 

This explains why my blogging presence hasn’t been as prominent, not that I’ve ever been consistent with it to begin with. With life happening, I often have to make a choice: write a blog post… or a magazine article? So, for the time being, I’ll be reserving my op/ed reviews and commentaries for House of Stitched only. 

And just wait and see what we have in store for you with issue 3 in August!

Wrestlemania: Godzilla Vs. Kong Go Home

Alongside anime and baseball, there are two things they love over in Japan: Kaiju (that’s Japanese for strange beast) and professional wrestling. It hasn’t escaped me that the Americanized forms of these Japanese pastimes, Warner Bros/Legendary’s MonsterVerse and the WWE, are both in the relevancy limelight.

The WWE’s annual showcase, Wrestlemania, airs next weekend on the brand new Peacock app. Every year at this time, the sports entertainment giant uses the event to grab new fans outside of their weekly wheelhouse of regulars. It’s a spectacle of quality matches, with each wrestler striving for victory.

Wrestling has a unique duality to it, and I’m not talking about the obvious. Everyone knows wrestling is …n’t fake, right? What goes on in the ring is real. These are real athletes performing, and what you see in the ring does indeed hurt and break bones. Only the outcomes of the matches are predetermined. Well, that and the “soap opera” aspect of it, the scripted reality dramas going on backstage and in the ring between competitors, building up their matches. 

But these stories told between matches are only one aspect of storytelling in wrestling. This is where the duality I mentioned before comes into play. You see, the wrestlers themselves tell a separate story in the ring: the story of the match itself.

Like any story, the one told in the ring has a beginning, a middle, and a clear end. The opening may start with a hammer striking a bell, signaling the match is underway. Or it may kick off as soon as the entrance music for one of the competitors hits. It ebbs and flows, with each competitor gaining the advantage at points in the match. You may notice placement of objects throughout the match that one or the other might utilize, often not with the expected results. And this all leads up to the grand finale.

There’s a term in pro-wrestling speak: “Go Home.” It means to wrap the match up for “the finish.” “Workers” (wrestling talent) will generally wait for the referee to give them a signal when they are nearing the time allotted for their exhibition. At this point the predetermined outcome is played out through pinfall or submission. A good, exciting finish, will often feature a “run in” by a rival wrestler, forgeign objects (like chairs, trashcans, or sledgehammers)

GODZILLA VS. KONG is classic Vince McMahan booking (the “Booker” is the guy who determines the outcome). The underdog little guy, Daniel Bryan, versus Braun Stroman. Or for old school fans, this is The luchador Rey Mysterio vs. the 500lb Big Show or Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant from Wrestlemania III. 

Even the build up to the movie has been the same as a Wrestlemania main event, with genre fans choosing sides, #TeamKong and #TeamGodzilla. I’m Team Kong. Always have-always will be, in spite of Godzilla effigies outnumbering Kong in my house at about a 3 to 1 ratio.

Adam Wingard’s entry into the modern resurgence of kaiju films is a spectacular CGI slugfest. It’s glorious to behold. A visual feast of monster versus monster. And, like all the MonsterVerse films, at all costs, do NOT pay attention to the story. 

Hold up. I really can’t say that. It depends on the story you watch. You see, all the story beats are here, as established in the franchise-both good and bad. Much like the WWE, the MonsterVerse films are a weird juxtaposition of bad, and good, story. It’s almost as if the writers have tried to make the stories as bad as those surrounding the original TOHO kaiju films. And GODZILLA VS. KONG is no different.

Retro pop songs to soothe the savage ape, ala KONG: Skull Island (It’s as if Kong has his own signature WWE entrance music!) Wacky conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorists. There’s Bobby Milly Brown doing what Bobby Milly Brown does. What’s that? Why she breaks into top secret facilities. There’s scientists with hard science fiction technology! Rebecca Hall as Jane Faux-dall, Kong’s zoo keeper on Skull Island. Oh, and I can’t forget Alexander Skarsgard reprising his role as …Alexander Scarasgard! And a cast of redshirt bad guys, including the gorgeous Eiza Gonzalez and Demien Bicher, (channelling the World’s Most Interesting Man) who get squished by giant monsters throughout. 

It’s not the people and the ridiculous narrative stitching the monster fights together. It’s the story the fights between the Kaiju tell. The in-ring story is what matters here- the fights between kaijus and the story told in each battle. And that’s what matters in this film and each previous entry in the franchise. 

Wingard, and both Vogt-Roberts and Edwards before him, are stylish directors, skilled at creating drama during action sequences.  In GODZILLA VS. KONG there are ebbs and flows in the fights, the same as any wrestling match. And there is the convenient placement of the foreign object (Kong’s Dino-Axe), to be utilized in the finish.

Kong and Godzilla is the franchise’s Battle of the Babyfaces (Babyfaces in wrestling are good guys). Each gets their moments in the spotlight, and each has their low points. We get a false finish ending with a heel run-in, a fan favorite. A wrestling match of this epic proportions would surely bring a pop (loud response) from the 70,000 wrestling fans in the stadium. 

Or the 300 people sitting in the IMAX theater. 

Or even just me and my dogs watching from the couch.

GODZILLA VS. KONG is a call back to the kaiju movies of yore, complete with awesome monster battles and a bad human story linking them together. And that’s OK. It’s the main event we cared about, and GODZILLA VS. KONG delivers what it promised.

There’s no place like home.

Now give me KONG: HOLLOW EARTH!

The Wicker Man meets Cycle of the Werewolf in “Fireflies And Apple Pies”

I’ve lived in Central New York most of my adult life. I love it here. The history is as rich as the soil, steeped in a diversity of cultures. The folklore is deeper than a bottomless glacial lake, and often as terrifying. My family ancestry is Irish and English, and we are not afraid to let you know. So it was only a matter of time before I blended the three in my fiction. The end result is coming out this summer. 

In July, St. Rooster Books will be releasing my fifth book, and second novel length piece of fiction, Fireflies And Apple Pies. It blends elements of extreme and folk horror, with a little A24 cottagecore and re-imagined Irish Myth thrown in for good measure. 

The book features a collaboration between myself and the Darque Bard, James Matthew Byers. I’m happy to reveal the cover of the book here, for your viewing pleasure:

Sequels And Prequels And Remakes, Oh My

Gather ’round the fire, childrens, and old Token Tom will tell you a story. It’s not technically a scary story, nor is it a story with a happy ending. But it is riddled with harsh realities and a little bit of the most frightening things ever: numbers and acceptance. Some folks are up in arms over an announced Wizard of Oz remake.

Yes, another Wizard of Oz remake.

Yes, I’m aware, there’s been dozens of remakes, retakes, and reimaginings of L. Frank Baum’s beloved children’s fantasy. How one more is going to hurt, I don’t know. But I see these angry fans as a mob of Munchkins carrying pitchforks and torches, storming the witch’s castle, chanting “NO MORE REMAKES!” All in that squeaky, diminutive, Munchkin voice, of course.

Now, the scariest thing about all of this will be a bitter pill to swallow for some of us. You see, much like when you train a dog, the first thing they tell you is: YOU ENABLE A DOG’S BAD BEHAVIOR. And guess what? Uber Entertainment Fans like us? We are a contributing factor to the never ending cycle of #Sequels&Prequels&RemakesOhMy. I’ll get to that later, because, you see, we’re not alone in this mess.  

Here comes the math part. You know those people who, um, believed a certain conspiracy theory the last couple years? Well, those people are dumb. And they make up a large demographic of America. Like 1/3 of it. And then there are people who didn’t believe in that particular conspiracy, but still think vaccines are bad. They are also dumb. Well, those people also make up a large demographic in America. How many of us know someone who doesn’t have a favorite movie, band or song – but they can tell you who sang what on American Idol? We all know one or two of those heathens. They aren’t necessarily dumb, but they are bad at music trivia in a bar (unless it’s about American Idol, of course). This disparate collection of people makes up about half of the remaining 2/3. These dumbasses (as Red would say on That 70s Show) are called MIDDLE AMERICA. They are the main consumer of casual entertainment in this country. And movie studios and television networks and book publishers and video game manufacturers want THEIR money.  

They don’t want YOUR money. They already have it. In order to get Middle America’s money, they have to draw these dumbasses in. They do that by keeping movie plots simple, for example. Another way is through familiarity – ie: #SequelsAndPrequelsAndRemakesOhMy.

But… and this is a big but that doesn’t lie – the ONLY way they can make movies or TV shows or Video Games… is through a loan from an investor.  Banks and those elite with deep pockets want a return on their investment. The bottom line is they want to make money.  Most films barely break even. But many are successful. And those that do are ripe fodder for sequels, prequels, modernizations, reinterpretations, and remakes in the eyes of an investor.  

Why? Cos the chosen #Sequels&Prequels&RemakesOhMy have a proven track record of a return, and familiarity with Middle America. And whose money did I say they want? Those dumb assholes. James Cameron figured out how to reel in Middle America and take their money. The Planet of the Apes and Star Wars franchises started the modern tradition of merchandising. Marvel Studios mastered all of it with the theatrical MCU, a success they are carrying over to the small screen on Disney+. And don’t get me started on Disney and branding.

This is no different than you or I getting a bank loan. The bank wants a return on their investment, too (it’s called interest). But before you can take the loan out, you have to prove you have the capability to pay back the money. And that’s what this is. Instead of your paystubs and tax returns, these investors look at how much money this entertainment property made, and how much it can make again. It’s intellectual collateral.

Now, the wonderful thing about #SequelsAndPrequelsAndRemakesOhMy is the original films still exist. AND WE CAN STILL WATCH THEM! And when we do so through a hardcopy purchase, streaming service, or rental… guess what.

We add to the problem.

Now here’s the hard part you have to come to accept. We – the fans of genre properties – do indeed justify the studios in their decision making. Repeat theatrical viewing or binge watching supports this by proving said property has that guarantee of a return. You see, we enable the studios by giving them a constant stream of data with numbers to crunch. It’s us, the superfans of entertainment, who have created this beast. 

When we bitch on social media or in a podcast about a new entry into the annals of  #SequelsAndPrequelsAndRemakesOhMy, guess what it does. It feeds the machine by creating buzz for the new incarnation. This also happens to be free advertising for the studios, free advertising they are counting on, no less.

We must accept this truth. We have no one to blame but ourselves for #SequelsAndPrequelsAndRemakesOhMy. They will remain a constant irritant to some, and a refreshing vision to others. This isn’t a bad thing. Because it’s these stories told over and over today that will become the myths of tomorrow. 

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