C.A. Verstraete's Blog, page 33

Bloody Valentine #Horror Event Today!

Happy Valentine's Day! - Or Not!!

A bunch of us are talking books, sharing some fiction, whatever else, and talking ah, love - make that bad love - for the annual Bloody Valentine Horror Event starting at 8 a.m. (Eastern) on Facebook today! I'll be up at 1 pm Central - 2 pm Eastern. Anyone is welcome to stop by, ask questions, suggest a topic, etc.

Here's the author schedule so far:

8 AM: Intros/A. F. Stewart
9 AM: Mary Woldering
10 AM: Merrie Destefano
11 AM: Tiffany Apan
12 PM: Open Posting
1 PM: Loren Rhoads
2 PM: Christine Verstraete
3 PM: Carmilla Voiez
4 PM: A.B. Funkhauser
5 PM: Open Posting

Writing and Planning

(photo: pixabay.com)
While sometimes words flow magically, most times it takes planning to get  a project done.

There's the plotter vs. pantser theory,  meaning do you do a full plot or "wing it," though most of us use some kind of outline. And often publishers require a synopsis, which requires you to fully outline the book, beginning to end. 

You can waste a lot of time and energy just "free writing" if you don't have the story outlined or at least the main points outlined. Most times, your subconscious, your muse, or your brain, wherever those ideas come from, fills in the extras as you go along.

Of course, outlines aren't written in stone. Things change or you get a better idea as your'e writing. I've had some ideas for parts I'm stumped on or not happy with come in dreams. I really like when that happens!

Alternate Planning Ideas

Sometimes, though, you get stuck and the story won't do what you want or leads you in another direction. For a fun, crafty idea, I really like this photo-picture-theme Story Board Idea shared by Christina Freeburn on the Killer Hobbies blog. It has photos and a few lines synopsis. That's a fun way to cement your idea and indulge your creative-crafty side, too! The bonus is you can use it for an interesting  promo, too! I might work on something like that for Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter (and #2... which is getting close to the end!) Here's one idea I had. Next time I'll make one with more photos:


I know others, like fellow writer and USA Today Bestselling author Jean Rabe, do super-detailed pages-long outlines of the whole book, based on her experience working with the big publishers who require every detail and chapter outlined. Hers are almost like writing the book itself. I've seen one, it's so detailed, it's almost scary! But when she starts writing, it's her "bible." It's all there - except, of course, for those little things you change along the way that just work better... 


Oh, and psst - She has a fantastic mystery-thriller coming out soon set in Italy! Love the title - The Bone Shroud....  Check out the amazing cover and more about it at her website! Wait'll you see that! 

* What's your favorite writing or planning ideas? 

Olympics and... #Zombies?

With the Olympics underway in South Korea, it seemed the perfect time to mention the S. Korean movie, Train to Busan. I haven't seen it yet, but I've seen comments that it's not bad.  (There are other trailers and comments on the YouTube page, but there are spoilers too, so be warned.)

The trailer looks pretty good and one thing that is scary - their zombies are fast - they look even faster than World War Z!  

Anyone see this? What'd you think?

Nominees for Bram Stoker #Horror Award

The final ballot of nominees for the 2017 Bram Stoker Award is out from the Horror Writers Association. See all the nominees here.

I'm going to include a few of the categories and link them here. It's always great to find new books to read. And the more I read the blurbs, the more interesting they sound!


Superior Achievement in a Novel

Golden, Christopher – Ararat (St. Martin's Press) - An earthquake reveals a secret hidden in a cave in Mount Ararat, Turkey. What a daring young couple find itself changes everything.

King, Stephen and King, Owen – Sleeping Beauties (Scribner) - What happens when women disappear?

Malerman, Josh – Black Mad Wheel (Ecco) - A group of musicians are conscripted by the US government to track down a mysterious sound.




Miskowski, S.P. – I Wish I Was Like You (JournalStone) - Greta comes home to find a dead body - her own.  Now  she's a bitter, angry ghost setting out to solve her own murder.

Tem, Steve Rasnic – Ubo (Solaris) - Daniel has no idea how long he's been imprisoned - by roaches.  And every day, he's forced to portray another person from humanity's violent history - Jack the Ripper, Stalin...


Superior Achievement in a First Novel
 
Cabeen, Robert Payne – Cold Cuts (Omnium Gatherum Media) - Two scientists struggle to survive in a destroyed space station at the frozen bottom of the world - and then everything is irradiated turning the Antarctic fauna into ravenous monsters...

Davidson, Andy – In the Valley of the Sun (Skyhorse Publishing) - Western horror. By day,  he keeps an old hotel. By night, he fights an unspeakable hunger. 

Hayward, Matt – What Do Monsters Fear? (Post Mortem Press) - A rock musician tries to clean himself up. Again. This time it'll be different. Something is wrong in this rehab center as one counselor hides an ancient, and deadly, secret.


Hepler, Jeremy – The Boulevard Monster (Bloodshot Books) - You need to know how this all began. I am not a killer. You need to hear about the birds. I am not the Boulevard Monster.

Thomas, Scott – Kill Creek (Ink Shares) - A publicity stunt becomes a fight for survival among four horror writers staying at one of the most haunted houses in Kill Creek.

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
 
 Hill, Joe – Strange Weather (William Morrow) - Four short novels about a camera that erases memories, clouds that rain crystal nails that shred skin, a once-hero's story unraveling like his sanity, and a first parachute jumper who finds himself aloft on an impossibly solid cloud. 
  
Kiste, Gwendolyn – And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe (JournalStone) - Stories where beauty embraces the darkness.

Malerman, Josh – Goblin (Earthling Publications) - A novel in six novellas with body parts in the mail, hunting, ghost traps and a goblin zoo...

Matsuura, Thersa – The Carp-Faced Boy and Other Tales (Independent Legions Publishing) - Dark tales reminescent of Japanese folk tales.

McGrath, Patrick – Writing Madness (Centipede Press) - (First, limited edition of 300 copies releases April 3 - for $105.....


Superior Achievement in an Anthology
 
Brooks, Kinitra, PhD., Addison, Linda D., and Morris, Susana, PhD. – Sycorax's Daughters (Cedar Grove Publishing) - 28 dark tales and 14 poems by female African American writers.

Datlow, Ellen – Black Feathers: Dark Avian Tales: An Anthology (Pegasus Books) - Selection of 16 avian-themed dark fiction tales

Maberry, Jonathan and Romero, George A. – Nights of the Living Dead: An Anthology (St. Martin's Griffin) - Selection of stories based on Romero's landmark zombie movie.


Manzetti, Alessandro and Lester, Jodi Renee – The Beauty of Death Vol. 2: Death by Water (Independent Legions Publishing) - Water tales featuring drownings, siren calls, leviathans and more... 

Murano, Doug – Behold!: Oddities, Curiosities & Undefinable Wonders (Crystal Lake Publishing) - Weird fiction abou the dangers of the hive mind, strange creatures, weaponizing beauty and more. 

Jan-Feb Reading List #zombie #horror #Sci Fi #thriller

I'm very late on compiling the latest Blog Reading List - or I'm early for February!

Anyway, lots of new books. I'm finding a lot of great horror this time! I'm finding some neat themes, too, so I may explore specific topics in coming issues.   Enjoy!

 
Short Stories
All That Withers , John Palisano - First collection of 23 Lovecraftian to horror stories, includes 2016 Stoker Award Winner, "Joe's Rest Stop."

Best New Horror, Volume 25 (Mammoth Book of Best Horror) - Former UK anthology of best horror featuring stories from Ramsey Campbell, Joe R. Lansdale and more. 600+ pages.

The Black Room Manuscripts, Volume 3 - (releases Feb. 24) - 25 tales of terror. David Moody and others. Do you dare enter? 

Horror
 
Dead Twin Sister , Jack Wallen - A band, a dead spirit... "With each recorded song, the spirit gains more power until Grog's dead twin sister is unleashed."

Haunting the Deep, - Adriana Mather - A teen finds herself on the "dream" ship. the Titanic. An interesting side note is the author's relatives survived the voyage. 

Sick House , Jeff Strand - Home invasion from beyond the grave. Creepy haunted house stuff, then the ghost begin to arrive... (and a cool cover!) 


 The Silent Companions , Laura Purcell (pre-order, releases March 6) - Okay this sounds cool. Newly widowed Elsie goes to see out her pregnancy at her late husband's crumbling estate. Behind a locked door is a wooden figure that looks much like her...  A Victorian ghost story.
Sci Fi - Aliens 

The Other , Marilyn Peake - The world is melting down.. then people begin seeing UFO's and strange alien creatures. Then a virus begins spreading that causes hallucinations and scrambles thought. Is it from them?
Thriller


Glimpse,  Jonathan Maberry - (Pre-order, releases March 27) - What happens when Rain sees a boy running and screaming with laughter - or just screaming - through the crack in a pair of reading glasses? The voices are telling her to do horrible things and a spectral boogie man is haunting her in the real world. How far do you go to save someone you love?
Saving Grace (Fleetwood and Sheils Book 2) , Simon Wood - Former reporter Scott Fleetwood is still recovering after tangling with a notorious kidnapper  - and now his only chance to save another girl is to trust a headline-hunting kidnapper. 
Zombie
 
 Generation Z, Peter Meredith - Twelve years since the undead hordes swept the earth. We survive.. but for how much longer?

Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter , C.A. Verstraete - Was Lizzie Borden actually guilty? What if she did commit the gruesome axe murders of her father and stepmother in 1892 for a reason no one suspected? 

What I'm Reading #SciFi #Dystopian

Like everything else I do, my reading comes in multiples. 


 If you saw my newsletter last month - (you can sign up on my website), I've been reading Heather Graham's The Presence (Harrison Investigations Bk. 2), about a haunted castle in Scotland. I'm also been reading Cherie Priest's Brimstone, about a dark entity, a clairvoyant town in Florida, and the link between a veteran and one of the clairvoyants.  I'm nearing the end on these two.

Now the NEA has its new book out for the Big Read next month, so I started reading Station Eleven by Emily St. John about a virus, civilization's collapse and a dystopian world. So far, so good. How did I miss this one? 

A related topic is the Death exhibit, Momento Mori: The Art of Death,  of death-related artifacts and art at the Kenosha, Wisc. Public Museum. I hope to catch that this coming week and will try to post some photos.

What are you reading or looking forward to?

#Horror Movies to See

Happy Friday!! 

I usually am watching most movies long after anyone else has already seen them, so these may be old news to you but...

What's your favorite horror movie you've seen so far?

I recently saw IT and I loved IT! Creepy clown, a few spots that make you jump, it really was done well. I liked that book when I read it many moons ago, though I admit I was initially disappointed the ending. But I love the mystery in the clown showing up over the generations and going back in history.



What's next? 
Jigsaw - Yes, I like the Saw movies. Icky, creepy, even if I cringe. So I am curious to see what this new one is about. Anyone seen it? Thoughts??



Other NEWS:

* Writing: LBZH 2: I took some days off from writing Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter 2 . Was busy with nonfiction and I needed to set the project aside for a few days. It's good to do that as I got re-invorgorated, went in a new direction, and have made good progress. I may have to change this one part up a bit, not sure yet if I want it that way, but we'll see. And I can see the end - very soon!!

*  I've been collecting titles to include in a new monthly reading list. Hope I'll get to it before the end of January! Yes, I got a late start, but it'll be a good one - lots of great new stuff is coming out!!

Lost Skills and the #Apocalypse

(Photo: pixabay.com) 

Lost and Old Trades:

Saw an interesting article in Chicago Magazine about the last manual elevator. 

Remember elevator operators? The clang of the doors shutting, the young man dressed in a snappy uniform. It started me thinking of all the other things that have disappeared that we often forget about over time.

Automation and technical/technological advances have influenced how people have lived and worked in every generation. As a result, things/professions/needs disappear like:

1800s: Hand-made lace. Lacemakers went blind working by candlelight. Today it's more a charming hobby and talent than what used to be one of the few jobs where women could make money. How about candlemakers? (not commercial companies.)

1890s -1900s: Industrial revolution: Mills dominated. Cotton mills. Looms. Child labor.

1920s-1930s: Kerosene lamps, Oil lamps. Coal chutes. Leaving a number in the window for the iceman. Horse-drawn wagons. 

1940s-1950s: Remember the scissors sharpener coming around on his cart? Milk delivered in glass bottles. (Which was reinvented again in later decades.)

Other lost trades: 

* Wagon makers. Barrelmakers. Blacksmiths and horseshoers (though these do still exist and are used today.)

* The hatmaker: Taking hats in to be blocked and cleaned. Naptha soap.

* The shoemaker: Remember getting shoes repaired instead of throwing them out?

* The TV and radio repairman. Also car stereo installation.

* Dressmaking and tailor shops - though some can still be found.

* Should I add in American steelworkers and car manufacturers?

I'm sure I've missed quite a few. 

These days most everything is either computerized or mechanized, which offers its own set of  problems. Think computer malfunctions in airports, store system hacks, etc. It affects every aspect of life.

Technology will likely fail or be seriously hampered in some kind of apocalypse. (And you thought I'd never get to the theme of this blog? ha!) The electric grid will fail. Does anyone remember how to read maps - will younger generations even know how to use a compass or how to find their way if lost in the woods? Scary, huh?
--Christine Verstraete

* Anyone got any other trades I may have forgotten?

* Suggested reads:
This time I'm skipping the never-ending apocalypse - dystopian titles. How about something new? 

Apocalyptic and Trade History books: 


 * Lost Car Companies of Detroit

* Lost Skills of the 19th Century - Here's an interesting one. Stuff culled from the pages of past publications. Learn how to build a sod house, dance like the 1850s, hey even vaccinate yourself, and more. 


* The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs : Stuff most of people don't know unless they were in Boy Scouts and forgot from early Girl Scout days. Amazing, what you don't know or thought you knew, isn't it?


* Year One: Chronicles of the One - I admit I haven't read any Nora Roberts, but this sounds pretty interesting and has good reviews. When the description starts: The sickness came on quickly, and spread quickly. Fear spread even faster. That's a hook...

New #Horror Release: Screams You Hear

   
Something different for a Monday. Here's an excerpt and preview for Screams You Hear by James Morris, which released today! Don't forget to turn the lights on...


Murder and madness infect a small town
For sixteen-year-old Ruthie Stroud, life on tiny Hemlock Island in the Pacific Northwest is an endless sea of boring green, in a place where everybody knows everybody’s business and nothing ever happens. Then her world is ripped apart when her parents divorce and a new man enters her mother’s life. But worse is yet to come.
When she drifts ashore on the mainland, hideously burned, Ruthie has a harrowing tale to tell. It begins with the murder of a family. It ends with her being the sole survivor of a cataclysm that sweeps her little island. As a detective attempts to unravel Ruthie’s story of murder and madness, only one horrifying conclusion can be drawn: whatever was isolated on remote Hemlock Island may now have come to the mainland. Is Ruthie safe? Is anyone?
* Buy: Amazon - iTunes - Kobo
Excerpt: Chapter One
I wake to pain, pain beyond comprehension, my skin on fire, only to find myself in a hospital bed, my arms bandaged, and wires snaking into machines. The burns are covered in white gauze and every motion, no matter how small, sends my nerves screaming. The air is heavy against my skin. And that smell. I can still smell the bitterness of my singed hair. I feel my head, expecting strands of hair, thick and wavy, but it’s gone. There are only splotches of emptiness, a topography of touch that alarms me. I wonder if it will ever grow back.Tendrils of anxiety course through me, pulsing steadily. I need to wake up from whatever this is.In spite of the pain, I caress my face and I have no eyebrows. Only stubble. No matter where I touch, my skin isn’t soft; it’s leather, a mask that rests too tightly against my skull. It’s like my skin is both expanding and contracting, pushing and pulling.In the cyclone of terror, I remember. I remember everything.I wish I didn’t. I wish it all away.Around the room, there are no mirrors, and I know it’s no accident. It’s small comfort. I don’t want to see myself. I may never look in a mirror again. It’s only me and a bed, and colorful murals of elephants and giraffes on the wall, their cartoon smiles mocking me. I must be in the children’s wing, even though I’m sixteen. Next to me, an IV recedes into my vein. To my left is a button. It could be to call for assistance. Or to adjust the bed. But I think it’s something else. I think it’s for pain.I could press it and disappear into numbness.I could press it and just drift.But there is something about pain. It’s the price of being alive.The button is my litmus test.I am stronger than my pain. I need to focus on something—anything. I need to distract myself.I am not my pain.I am Ruthie Stroud. I live at— wait—not anymore. I have a brother—no, not anymore.I shut my eyes. I can’t shut them hard enough. Through the darkness, I still see fire. My world engulfed with flickering orange and reds. And the all-encompassing heat, heat beyond boiling, bordering on oblivion. Melting.My last memory is coming ashore on the mainland, alone and fiercely tired. I didn’t walk, didn’t run. I moved, floating, held aloft by the most invisible of strings, my eyes on the horizon, people on the edges of my vision. Adults. I felt their gaze. The air was cool and moist and my skin so hot. Moving and moving; people staring. I hear them, words like police and 911 and oh my God. They surround me, a horde. They’re feral creatures, circling, their faces distorted. They are coming for me. I have no escape.I scream and my world goes dark.“Ruthie?”I open my eyes. A woman stands in the hospital room doorway. Her skin is the color of teak, her black hair pulled into a tight ponytail, and without a uniform, she’s clearly no nurse. I look down her button-down shirt and a badge is attached to her belt, a gun holstered at her side.She says, not unkindly, “I’m Detective Perez from the Washington State Police.”I knew the cops would get involved, even though they’re late. Far too late.She waits for me to invite her in. “May I?”I nod and my skin crinkles and cracks. She enters, pulling a chair beside my bed and sits down. Her brown eyes rest on me and then dart away. She can’t bear to look. I must seem a monster. She asks, “How are you feeling?”I don’t know how to answer that question.“I’m sorry,” she says.Down the hall, I hear a child scream. From surgery or fear, I don’t know. I think fight the pain, fight the pain.She speaks to me in soothing tones. “I need to ask you a few questions. About what happened. Can you talk?”My mouth is dry, my throat sore, my vocal chords thrashed. I’d forgotten how much I screamed. I feel my skin wrinkle into deep crevices as I move my jaw, and it’s an effort to form words. Even my tongue feels burned; this strange muscle in my mouth. “Is my dad coming?”“He’s on his way.” We share a bit of silence and I stare at the woman she is, the beautiful woman I will never be, and she says, “I’d like to start at the beginning. And if there’s ever a point where you need to stop, just let me know, okay?”“There’s just one thing,” and I clear my throat. I force her to find my eyes. To see. To look. To understand.“What’s that?”
“Don’t judge me,” I tell her. “I did what I had to.”

Bram Stoker #Horror Awards Preliminary Ballot

The Horror Writers Association released their preliminary ballot for the 2017 Bram Stoker Awards. 

Here are a few short highlights, including writers and books that have been featured on this blog or whose names I recognize or from small presses. You can see the full list here.  Congratulations to all as the nominee ballot is determined next.

Superior Achievement in a Novel
Golden, Christopher – Ararat (St. Martin’s Press)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel
Hartwell, Ash – Tip of the Iceberg (Stitched Smile Publications)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
Keisling, Todd – The Final Reconciliation (Crystal Lake Publishing)
McGuire, Seanan – Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Tor.com)
Waggoner, Tim – A Kiss of Thorns (DarkFuse)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
Bailey, Michael – “I Will Be the Reflection Until the End” (Tales from the Lake Vol. 4) (Crystal Lake Publishing)
Bodner, Hal – “The Baker of Millepoix” (Behold!: Oddities, Curiosities & Undefinable Wonders) (Crystal Lake Publishing)
Wahl, M.F. – “Absolution” (Feverish Fiction Magazine Issue #6) (Sleazy Viking Press)
Yardley, Mercedes M. – “Loving you Darkly” (F(r)iction Magazine #8) (Tethered by Letters)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
Cain, Kenneth W. – Embers (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Maberry, Jonathan and Romero, George A. – Nights of the Living Dead: An Anthology (St. Martin’s Griffin)