Jonathan Janz's Blog, page 23

SAVAGE SPECIES: The Complete Novel is here!

I’ve got Thomas the Tank Engine going in one ear and my daughters clamoring in the other, so I don’t have long to blog. The girls are actually bathing while they watch Thomas on Netflix, and I’m strategically positioned about five feet away from the tub so I can leap forward should some unseen bath monster rise from the bubbles and attack my girls but also shield my laptop from any gleeful splashing. If splashing occurs due to a bath monster attack, I’ll probably save the girls before my laptop. Probably.

THEY HAVE ARRIVED!!!!

Anyway, today marks the release of SAVAGE SPECIES: The Complete Novel. If you followed the serial releases, you know that this story first appeared as five separate installments. All told, it’s a whopper of a tale and one I think you’ll find worth your while. I could post all sorts of blurbs and gush about how cheap it is…okay, maybe I’ll do that second thing. It’s only five bucks at Amazon and even less at the Samhain website for the ebook; the paperback is $11.90 at Samhain and not much more than that at other sites.

What I will say is that this has been the best-received of my four novels to date and that I’d love for you to check it out. That seems like enough pushing for now; it also sounds like Thomas is shunting the heck out of another engine, and while that might be totally harmless, it sounds to me like it should be illegal. Or at least rated TV-14.

So have a good night. And don’t let anyone shunt you without your permission.

 

Uh-oh. Frank Red Elk just hijacked the Samhain Horror blog…

His name is Frank Red Elk, and he’s one of the main characters in my soon-to-be-released (September 3rd!) novel SAVAGE SPECIES. He must’ve escaped my book this morning and scribbled this blog post before I could round him up again. And somehow it ended up on the Samhain Horror blog.

Read at your own risk:

A Message from Frank Red Elk

Coming in five days!

 

CASTLE OF SORROWS Cover Revealed!

Hey, Friends! I always love this part of the process—okay, who am I kidding? I love all of it! I’m just thankful to be given the chance to write books and have people read them. Did that sound insincere? Or just nauseating? Regardless, it’s the truth.

But I do love the cover art aspect of writing books.

The artist who has done all eleven of my covers (yep, counting the five covers for the various installments of Savage Species, I now have eleven Samhain Horror covers) is named Angela Waters. She is awesome. And creative. And extremely cool. And talented. And awesome.

As some of you know, I’ve been working on my first-ever sequel, the follow-up to my debut novel The Sorrows. The title is Castle of Sorrows, and I’m editing it right now. But despite the fact that I haven’t yet delivered the final manuscript to my editor, the awesome literary mind and former Turkish speed metal bassist Don D’Auria, Castle of Sorrows now has a cover.

In moments like this, I like to sit back a little and reflect. You know, get all philosophical. I think of the size of the cosmos and the wonder contained in a single grain of—

What’s that? Shut up and show you the cover?

Sigh. Okay, if you really don’t wanna hear me wax profound on the mysteries of the universe, I suppose I’ll unveil the cover. Here it is…

The Return of Gabriel

Do I even need to say how much I love it? Do I need to explain why, if my wife and I ever decide to have a fourth child, we’ll name it Angela regardless of gender?

Yeah, I love the cover. I love how Pan/Gabriel is both forbidding and mysterious, simultaneously powerful and intelligent. Kind of like Russell Crowe. With goat horns. And a tattered loin cloth. In the moonlight.

That’s all for tonight, Friends. Remember Savage Species comes out in six days. Remember Dust Devils comes out in February. And remember Castle of Sorrows is coming next July.

Gabriel’s coming. And he’s ready to take his revenge…

 

And We’re One Week Away from SAVAGE SPECIES, the Complete Novel…

Yep, my friends, it’s almost here. I’m going to stop talking about it in installments and instead start focusing on the whole dang thing. SAVAGE SPECIES, the entire novel, will be available on September 3rd. In only one week, you’ll be able to grab it in trade paperback or in complete ebook form. Here are just a couple of the many amazing blurbs:

“A whole myriad of terms come to mind instantly when I think about this book: “relentless”…”ferocious”…”intense”…”brutal”…”amazing”. No single word, though, seems to do it justice. With this book, Janz has reset the bar for horror excellence. This is now the standard by which all future horror books should be judged. It is simply that good. Period.” —Shattered Ravings

“Having been privileged to read the first three parts, I can happily report that Janz has prepared a brutally ferocious banquet which opens with such a welter of savage violence that those with an appetite for bloody, shrieking terror will find it hard to wait for the next course. As the story progresses the tension and terror mounts and we are treated to a nail biting struggle for survival against a legion of seemingly implacable foes. There are a number of nasty surprises awaiting the hapless protagonists who have to increasingly draw upon their own untapped reservoirs of courage and ferocity in order to survive the relentless terror.”  —Dreadful Tales

“The violence is stepped up, the fear is stepped up, and the excitement and suspense are turned to 11 on the dial. I guess the biggest compliment I can give with this is to say, I hate you Jonathan Janz, I hate you so much!” —Horror Novel Reviews (on The Old One)

Enough for now. Folks, I’m really proud of this book and would love for all of you to check it out. Right here you can grab the ebook version for $4.55. And here you can get the paperback for $11.90. Not bad.

And you can get either version anywhere else books are sold. And if you’re still on the fence, you can download the first hundred pages or so right here for free!

Talk to you soon, Friends…

 

Some Things You Might Not Know That I Love: Part Two

Hello, Friends! Busy times as usual around the ranch here. With school starting up again and writing deadlines coming due, I haven’t been able to blog as much, but hey, you all know about being busy, right? And it’s not like your life hasn’t been complete without reading my review of some obscure 1940s horror/science fiction novel.

This isn’t to say I don’t have some news coming—I do. And it’s big news. And there are several pieces of smaller news. But for now, I’m going to torture you by oversharing (my specialty) about some things you might not know that I love…

Elmore Leonard

We miss you, Dutch.

 

Cary Grant

 

Night Walks

 

Flannery O’Connor

 

Buffalo Wings

 

1984

 

Baroque Music

 

The Smell of Lilacs

 

“The Devil Went Down to Georgia“

 

Climbing under the Blankets on a Cold Winter’s Night

 

Grace Kelly

 

Cheers

 

And that’s plenty for one night. Time to go edit.

Have a good one!

 

 

Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD

This is one of my favorite books. It has its detractors, and of course, your mileage might vary, but here are a few quick observations about Cormac McCarthy‘s brilliant The Road.

1. This book made me cry. You’ve heard of the iceberg technique of storytelling? The one Hemingway championed? This book is the textbook example of it. The father-son relationship, which is absolutely the axis on which the entire novel turns, is so full of raw emotion and undying love and unwavering loyalty that it brings me to tears. And not so much by what the father and son say, but rather by what they don’t say, and yet how clearly their emotions still resonate with the reader. I’d like to think that I’d behave like this dad if ever my son and I faced a situation this harrowing because, imperfect though the father might be, everything he does grows from his love of his boy. I admire that. And respect it deeply. There’s an iceberg of love inside many of us men, even if it’s not always immediately noticeable. This book expressed that truth beautifully.

2. Folks sometimes get hung up on McCarthy’s unique punctuation (or lack of punctuation) style. As though a writer of his abilities needs to resort to some stripped-down gimmick in some desperate attempt to garner attention. Okay, so maybe the no-quotation-marks thing isn’t for you, and I can respect that, but let’s be real here—McCarthy doesn’t need to use gimmicks of any kind. He’s a genius. And for me, the form of this novel is part of why it moved me so deeply. Each book is different, and each author must find the right voice, form, and style to express his or her ideas. In The Road (and other McCarthy books), his style reduces the distance between reader and character to the point where we can feel each one of the father’s labored respirations. Our throats tighten with emotion and fear as we swing wildly from one extreme emotion to another. There are no impediments to our readerly intimacy. Through his unique style, McCarthy establishes this link beautifully.

Cormac McCarthy

3. Lastly, I should mention that I read The Road several years ago and have not gone back to it yet. But doesn’t that illustrate just how powerfully it affected me? I’m writing about it now, and though I don’t have a Matt Damonesque Good Will Hunting memory, I can remember vividly several moments from the novel. I remember many exchanges between father and son. I remember ash coating the ground like a newly-fallen scrim of snow. And I remember two horrific moments that gave me nightmares and haunt me still—one relating to a campfire and another involving a horrible revelation in a basement.

And that’s where I’ll end. The Road, in my earnest opinion, is a horror novel. Many of you will disagree with this assessment, perhaps because you see horror as a genre populated merely by vampires, werewolves, and masked serial killers. And while horror can feature those tropes, it can also be lyrical, heartfelt, and as literary as any other genre. The Road, of course, is all of those things, and it’s damned frightening as well. Both in its plot and in its ramifications.

It also happens to be one of the most loving and life-affirming books I’ve ever read, and I can think of few tales that more deserve a five-star rating.

From the Film Version I Still Haven’t Seen

Writing Advice #3: The Time-Sucking Query Letter (or The Importance of Speaking Portuguese)

Okay, let me begin (as I often do) by saying that these are just my opinions. Feel free to disagree, argue, or toss my thoughts out the window like twice-used bacon grease.

I can only speak from personal experience. And my personal experience is this: I once spent a great deal of time—a disturbingly immense amount of time—perfecting a trio of query letters for agents. Now I guess I should utter the obligatory agent platitudes: a) not everyone needs an agent and b) no agent is better than a bad agent. But I always had the feeling that I, personally, would benefit from an agent, and in the eighteen months since I got one, that feeling has proven very correct.

But prior to that, I spent a great deal of time (we’re talking several years here) agonizing over query letters. I lost sleep over every verb. I fretted about my greeting. I brooded over the number of names and places I included my letters. I read seemingly thousands of websites and books that talked about how to write a killer query letter; I changed my approach probably fifty times in my neverending quest to knock my dream agents dead with a tantalizing synopsis.

And you know what?

I should have spent at least ninety-five percent of that time working on my writing.

The Pain of Wasted Time

Imagine you’re applying for a job at the United Nations as a Portuguese translator. You go over every conceivable question you might be asked during the interview. Your portfolio looks amazing. You get your hair styled, your clothes pressed, and you generally look like something on the cover of GQ or Cosmo. You’re ready. You show up for the interview feeling confident, excited, and sure you have paid your dues. However, there’s just one tiny problem.

You don’t speak Portuguese.

Folks, my writing was, is, and will always be in a state of growth. I’m not a finished product now, and I can point to a thousand writers (off the top of my head) who write far better than I do. I will always need to improve. But whatever I do well now, whatever novels I have sold or will sell, any iota of success I’ve experienced or will experience…it’s all come about because I’ve worked my tail off to learn my craft. Not because of a snappy query letter.

So get off the query letter forums a bit. Stop agonizing about agent response times. I’m very happy about where I am as a writer and a person, but if I could go back and change one thing, it would be prioritizing the things that really matter in my writing life in a more sensible way. Five years ago I had learned how to write a killer query letter; I could boil my novel down to an intriguing and sexy one-page synopsis. But five years ago I couldn’t get an agent. The reason? My writing wasn’t good enough.

Like I said, others—even agents—might disagree with me, but I can tell you this. If you have an awesome query letter and crappy writing, your chances of snagging a good agent are nil. If you have a good query letter and mediocre writing, you still won’t get an agent worth his or her salt. Ah, but if you write a decent query letter and an amazing novel, do your odds increase?

Exponentially, my friends. Exponentially.

Yes, you still might not get the agent you want right away, but you will certainly have a far better shot than you did when you were staring at the same four-paragraph letter for weeks on end rather than, you know, writing.

The next time you get the urge to obsess about your query letter, pick up a Stephen King book and pay attention to how he builds a paragraph. Look at his sentence structure. Listen to his word choice. See if you can pick something up and adapt it to your own style. And after you’ve done that, write some more and see if you can structure a sentence similarly or use one of the words you found in King’s writing in your own unique way. If you can do that, you’ll have accomplished more in one hour than you would in a  hundred hours of slaving over a query letter. Or checking your inbox to see if an agent requested a partial that’ll be rejected anyway because the writing isn’t strong enough.

A Great Teacher

That’s all for today. And, as always, these are just my opinions.

Just remember—if you’re applying for a job as a Portuguese translator, it’s always helpful to speak Portuguese.

I just wish someone had told me that five years ago.

My Novels

Howdy! It occurred to me today, Dear Friends, that I’ve never composed a blog post exclusively about my novels. As in, how many of them there are, what’s coming up, and what their titles are. If that doesn’t sound interesting to you, you can stop reading right now. Of course, if you do that I’ll think bad thoughts about you and hope you get poison ivy between your toes, but like I said, you can stop reading if you want.

Here are my novels in order, along with their release dates (some of these dates are for the paperback releases; others are for the digital editions; what can I say? I like to mix things up!):

The Sorrows (March 2012)

House of Skin (June 2012)

The Darkest Lullaby (March 2013)

Savage Species (September 2013)

Dust Devils (February 2014)

Castle of Sorrows (July 2014)

Unnamed novel (January 2015)

Another unnamed novel (some time in the next six months)

And here are five of the above novels’ covers:

So there you have it. A quick summary of my novels so far. More are on the way, more will be written this fall and winter. But if you’re looking for some good reading, I’d love for you to check these out.

Adios for now, Friends. Have a great Sunday!

CASTLE OF SORROWS (Coming July 2014)

Hey, Friends! I’ve been hard at work on something for most of the summer (along with some other things I can’t talk about yet), and I haven’t said much (or anything) on this blog about it. I feel weird talking about works-in-progress because, well, they’re in progress. It’d be like a runner giving live commentary during a marathon. Or Daryl Dixon explaining how his zombie-killing efforts are going as he takes aim. Or a cattle breeder explaining how well his bull—

Okay, you get the point.

[image error]

“And then Ferdinand climbs up like this…”

So I don’t really talk about stories while I write them. Except for now.

I’m making a small exception because I’ll be finishing this novel soon and turning in the edited manuscript by the end of September. And I’m getting nervous. Not just because I have less than two months to go, but because of the final scenes I’m gearing up to write. This book was strange because the only scene I had in mind before I put fingers to keyboard was the very last scene.  And I’m scared of writing that final scene because it’s…

Anyway. Castle of Sorrows is coming in eleven months. It’s the sequel to my debut novel The Sorrows, which you can purchase right here. The book has performed far beyond my expectations, and judging by the reviews, emails, and other reader reactions I’ve received, I think there are quite a few people interested in where this story is going to go.

That’s all for now. I’ve got to go read to my kids before they start getting out of bed so I can tell them to go back to bed so they can pretend to go to sleep before sneaking out again. And after we do that for roughly an hour, I’ll be returning to my lonely island off the coast of California…

 

To My Son on His Eighth Birthday: The Exchange

Okay, Pal. Here’s the deal. In exchange for the items listed below, I promise not to tell Mommy the following three things, okay?

1. That we pee in the yard every chance we get. We usually keep the micturation to the back corners where no one can see us, but everybody likes a little variety, right?

A Lovely Spot for Peeing

2. That every time we eat Doritos and bean dip and watch Harry Potter, we finish the entire bag of Doritos and devour the entire can of bean dip. If we were billy goats, we’d eat the can, too.

3. That we sometimes sneak out for night walks. I won’t tell her how we run through the graveyard pretending Voldemort‘s chasing us or how we spend too much money at the local open-till-all-hours cookie shop an-hour-and-a-half after your bedtime.

So in exchange for keeping the above three items secret, I’m going to ask the following three things of you. An exchange, if you will. I’ll love you no matter what, and I don’t expect you to be perfect, but if you can do the following three things I’ll be extra, extra happy. Okay? So here they go…

1. Know how loved you are. I could type ten thousand words every day for the rest of my life on the subject, but I’d never even scratch the surface of what I feel for you. You’re my son, of course, but you’re also a dear friend, someone to laugh with, someone I trust, and someone who makes me smile every time I think of you. You don’t have to be perfect, and I’ll never expect you to be. We weren’t made perfectly, and the fact is, your imperfections are part of why I love you. So do your best, but when you fail or make a mistake, know that I’ll always be there with a smile on my face and my arms open wide. I love you more than you’ll ever know.

We’re coming for you, Doritos…and we’re not messin’ around.

2. Show people how strong you are by how much love you show. You’re a tall kid for your age with bigger muscles than I had when I was thirteen. You’re also really, really smart. You don’t have to right all the world’s problems, and like I said above, I don’t expect you to be perfect. But when you can…

—Show kindness to the kid no one talks to. There are few things more painful than being left out. Your friends might not want to, but if you include someone that no one else does, you’ll feel good about yourself and have very good reason to feel that way.

—Stand up for those who are being bullied. If a boy or girl is being picked on, do what you can to protect that kid and to make that kid feel better about himself or herself. You might not think it matters now, but I promise you that kid will remember your kindness someday.

—Be nice to old people. Remember how happy your great-grandma and great-grandpa were last night when you helped them clean out their old garage? That’s the kind of strength I’m talking about. Do nice things for old people that others can’t be bothered to do.

Lurking in a graveyard near you.

3. Treat girls (and women) with respect. Remember that girls are not perfect either, and sometimes they’ll make you mad. If a girl is mean to you, you don’t have to break your back trying to make friends with her. But when you can, remember that every girl is someone’s daughter. Remember that every girl has a heart, a mind, dreams, and fears. You know, sort of like you do.

I know I’ve already asked more of you in this exchange than I’ve offered, but here are a few more of my wishes…

Keep reading. And while I’m at it, know that there’s nothing wrong with being silly, with dancing, with laughing, with singing, with playing a musical instrument, with drawing, with writing, with appreciating nature, with loving animals—with generally enjoying life. You are a joyful person right now, but there will be people who will hurt you. That might tempt you to hide some of your joy, but the problem is, when you hide it for too long, you stop feeling joyful. You have brought more joy to my life than you’ll ever know, and you’ve only just turned eight! So remember to be joyful and to be silly. And to read, read, read. Your life will be immeasurably better.

After-Curfew Xanadu

I’ll stop now. Because the truth is, this isn’t an exchange at all. You don’t need to give me anything. I will love you forever and will always be proud of you because you’re an amazing, loving, caring person. Because you’re you. And to me, you are perfect. Thank you for being my son. You are a blessing and a source of neverending joy to me. God bless you, my little man. I’m so thankful I get to be your daddy!