Lee Thompson's Blog, page 9

Gossamer reviewed on Hellnotes

Thanks to Anita Siraki and Hellnotes for the latest review of my Dark Fantasy novel Gossamer: A Story of Love and Tragedy! Here’s a tiny snippet: “Gossamer” is a mythical, almost philosophical book that strips the reader naked and forces us to challenge our assumptions about love with passages that will touch you in places inside yourself you forgot exist.

Cool. You can read the rest of the review over here.

And you can buy Gossamer, which you really should, from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords and a bunch of other places. Thanks for all the support! I hope everybody is doing well!

Seven Crucial Tips for Surviving Your Creative Path

To the non-initiated, it might appear that creative souls (whether writers, musicians, painters, etc.) explode onto the scene fully formed. But, alas, it isn’t so. We learn and grow and discover our own uniqueness and vision by the smallest of increments. It takes years, sometimes a decade, to really see someone’s potential (or even to begin to mine our own). And there are always setbacks, disappointments, and soul-shearing moments of doubt, no matter how far we’ve come or how much success we’ve had. The following tips are things I’ve learned for myself, and issues I’ve heard other writer friends discuss. Dig it.

1. Stay Inspired: A serious writer (say me, or maybe you) has collected thousands of rejections. And even after we’re making a name for ourselves, there will still be markets and readers we want to reach, and there will be more rejections along the way. For me, staying inspired despite the slow-learning curve, the seemingly endless rain of rejections, goes back to soaking up, and being excited about, other writers’ books. I have dozens of writing heroes and find inspiration there. I have favorite films, favorite musicians, favorite painters. They have made it, they’re doing exactly what I want to do, which is to entertain and raise questions and amaze and inspire. They have taught me so much and keep the flames bright when that rain is working so hard to extinguish my, our, your dreams.

2. Dream Big: And when we’re inspired we tend to dream big, which is good because it engages some of the faculties we need to reach those dreams and pull them down from the firmament and clutch them so tightly they can’t fly away. But we also have to face reality: that more than likely it’s going to be a long slog and there will always be peaks and valleys. And sometimes, after we’ve worked hard for a decade without seeing much fruit for our labor, it’s easy to want to quit, or surrender, or acknowledge the looks our family is giving us. We’ll be tempted at times to agree with them (that we’re insane, that we should try something else) and maybe some of us must do that, but I think a part of us dies when we quit searching. So, keep dreaming big, just accept that it will more than likely take longer than you’d like to reach the place in the literary world that you want to claim.

3. Accept: You might not be ready yet… Accept that you have to find your own path… Accept that as you become more successful you’re only going to get busier…

4. Strive: To always learn more… Strive to experience life, which feeds the story and adds an authenticity only experience can give you… Strive to acknowledge the parts of yourself and the world you live in that you don’t like, as well as the parts that put a silly grin on your face…

5. Realize: If you’re learning and growing every year, your writing will change with you…

6. Give: Back to others… Time to your family… A reward to yourself to celebrate every success… The pieces of you that you can only put into your fiction… give to your pre-readers, who prevent you from looking like a fool in little goofs you failed to catch, or in a good story you had that their advice helped make great.

7. Assess: What you’ve done that works… Assess what you’ve done that hasn’t worked… Assess your own motivations… Assess your writing system and where it doesn’t feel natural, or where it simply falters…

What have you learned, and what are you willing to share, that will help someone else?

Interview: Mercedes M. Yardley

I’ve known Mercedes M. Yardley for a few years now, and count her among my true friends, and she’s simply someone who inspires me as a person as well as a writer. She’s got her own style and it’s both tragic and beautiful. The simple truth in the writing world is that only a select few writers will ever go far, but M is one of the select. She’s someone with whom you’ll probably relish her prose and the beauty and power of her stories, and at the same time envy her for said talent. She’s a good mother, a good woman, a good person. I admire her and once you give some of her work (say, Beautiful Sorrows) a chance, I think you’ll admire her too. So, on to the interview!

Lee: Beautiful Sorrows: What was your favorite part of the project? How has the collection been received? Why a collection before a novel? 

 

MMY: I loved every part of the project. All of it. Writing the stories, of course. Picking my favorites for the collection. I especially loved throwing out ideas for cover art and seeing what the artist, Yannick Bouchard, came up with. That was an amazing aspect.

 

Beautiful Sorrows is being received fairly well, I think. It’s getting some wonderful reviews and 5 star ratings, which delights me. But I’m an unknown and it’s my debut, so not a lot of people have heard about it. And a collection at that! We all know novels are much more popular. In fact, my first 1 star rating came because the reader said it was a collection instead of a “proper novel”.

 

I chose a collection first for a couple of reasons. I started out with short stories rather than novels, so I felt that I had some that were strong. Also, my agent is currently shopping a novel around, but he doesn’t represent short stories, so he let me go ahead and do a collection with the small press while he focused on my novels. It was really exciting that I was able to do that with his blessing. And lastly, I work for Shock Totem Publications, who started with a magazine and is branching out into books, chapbooks, etc. We’ve never done a collection. In fact, Beautiful Sorrows was our second book, so I was the guinea pig. We learned (and we’re still learning) what works and what doesn’t. So I did it to help Shock Totem, as well as ST helping me.

 

Lee: Very cool! What, during your beautiful career so far, has truly surprised you?

 

MMY: I love that you call it a beautiful career! Thank you!

 

I’ve been surprised at the praise, I think. The wonderful, wonderful words that people have to say. That somebody would actually part with their hard-earned money to read something I’ve written. It means so much to me. I’ve been surprised at some of the people, I’ve met and they’re like, “I know your book.” They do?  Really? These are people I look up to! It’s astonishing.

 

Lee: It’s praise well-earned, M. Do you prefer short over long fiction, or vice-versa? Or are you equally comfortable and in thrall with both?

 

MMY: I love words. Words words words. Long and short fiction both have their place. I adore short fiction because I can explore twenty different ideas in the same amount of time that a novel explores one idea. I adore that freedom. But long fiction gives me the ability to really crawl inside the souls of my characters in a deliciously fulfilling way. I love reading and writing both.

 

Lee: Neat. Tell us about your typical writing day…

 

MMY: Oh my. My ideal writing day would include hours of solitude by a river, in an office with a door that closes. My writing day is the opposite of that.

 

I boot up the computer around 5:30 AM when my kids get up. I scramble with them for a while. Baths, dressed, teeth brushed. I try to write for 15 minutes or so before checking my email. The second I look at my email I’m distracted for two hours.

 

I leave the computer up all day. I’ll read slush for Shock Totem. I’ll write a few words.  I’ll remember I have an interview to do or a contract to sign or review to write, so I’ll work on that. I think about my project. Or more accurately, I think about the project lined up after the one I’m working on now. Then I stare at the screen of my current project.

 

It’s a lot of communication, and a lot of things having to do with the business side of it. I can do these things while getting my child toast, or having my hair brushed and styled (and I use the word “styled” very loosely) by my five-year-old, or with my two-year-old on my lap, begging for Mickey Mouse. Actually having a block of time to quietly concentrate? It doesn’t really happen. I write in starts and spurts all throughout the day.

 

Lee: Ha! Cute on the “styled and Mickey Mouse.” Another one of my heroes, Tom Piccirilli, works in a similar manner, with short, intense bursts. Do you ever find the idea frightening of what it’d be like to have too much time? 

 

MMY:  I was just discussing this concept with another writer a few days ago. We were discussing how being busy and day jobs and all of this forces us to be productive with our writing time because there isn’t another option. But I would love to have too much time. It’s a dream of mine. It isn’t frightening at all. I’m sure there would be lovely ways to fill it. I’d also like to win the lottery, as well, if only to prove that money wouldn’t change me.

 

Lee: What do you want to achieve both personally and professionally?

 

MMY: Funny you should ask that. I’ve been wondering that myself, trying to define what my concept of personal success is.

 

I want to write for all of my life. I know that. I want to always expand and find new challenges. The same goes for my personal life, as well. I want to make sure that my family is always happy, that my kiddos always know that they come first and work, no matter how fulfilling, comes second. If I could marry these things seamlessly, that would be ideal.

 

Lee: That’s wonderful. I hope you find a way to marry them seamlessly. Who are your biggest influences? Have you ever read a book that changed your life? 

 

MMY: My biggest influences…let’s see. I read a lot of Erma Bombeck growing up. I think she let me know that it was all right to be a woman and speak your mind, but with humor and in a kind way. She was never mean. I have two distinct writing styles, and the humor and swagger comes from her, I think. The more ethereal voice…it was something I developed when I got out of my own way. I’ve been told that it’s reminiscent to Neil Gaiman or Kelly Link, but I wasn’t familiar with their work while discovering this voice. I stopped conforming to what I thought I was “supposed” to write, and just let myself…say.  Say what I wanted to say, in the way I wanted to say it.

 

There is a book that changed my writing, which changed my life, in a sense. It’s Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s book One Hundred Years of Solitude.  I didn’t enjoy the book particularly, per se, but it deeply influenced how I allowed myself to write. I wrote one of my very favorite essays about it *here*.  

 

Lee: Oh, I’ve gotta read One Hundred Years of Solitude, now! And that is a great essay, M! Discovering that we don’t have to approach storytelling in the exact same fashion as everybody else is definitely a huge release! What do you have in the works now?

 

MMY: Ha! A little bit of everything!

 

I just finished a story titled “A Love Not Meant to Outlast the Butterflies”.  It’s a magical realism piece about soul mates turned tragic. I have a magazine in mind for it, so we’ll see how that goes.  I’m also working on a novella titled Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love.  It’s sort of a modern day Bonnie and Clyde tale, in a way. I want to see how far I can push it. I’m also putting notes together for my new novel, which has to do with a very charming and independent kitchen witch. It’s going to be dark and very emotional. I’m moving on to that as soon as I finish with Apocalyptic Montessa.

           

I’m also turning Beautiful Sorrows into an audiobook, which is fun and very exciting! I’m reading it myself, so it’s fulfilling a little bit of a dream for me. I like the idea of adults telling other adults stories. “I’ll read you a story, my darling. Now listen.”

 

I have two other stories coming out in a wonderful audio collection with several friends. That releases this month or next, I think. And I’m in the Tales of Jack the Ripper anthology that’s coming out next month. I’m extremely thrilled about that one.

 

And I’m working on learning screenwriting, too. I have something to adapt. So I’m trying a little bit of everything, and seeing if I like the taste. This goes back to what I want to achieve personally and professionally. I want to be happy and busy.

 

I also learned to knit last week, so I’ve been making scarves like a madwoman. And I’m learning the ukulele. And we adopted two Russian dwarf hamsters this week. So life is good. Happiness is a tiny little rodent in a pink plastic hamster ball.

 

Lee: God, you are one busy lady. I can’t wait to hear the new stories have been finished and purchased! I loved your post on the production of the audiobook for Beautiful Sorrows. Having listened to audio interviews and talking to you on the phone, I think your voice will add so much character to the reading of the stories. Do you think you’ll ever end up narrating anyone else’s work?

 

MMY: You’re so nice, Lee! I’ve always wanted to do audiobooks.  And I love when authors read their own work, because there’s such an intimacy to it. That said, we both know I have a rather small voice. It works for the whimsy that I write, but I don’t know if I could ever narrate, say, a thriller and have it sound all right. It would sound like any other nine-year-old girl reading aloud. It might be disconcerting. But I’d love to try. Reading aloud is one of my favorite things. And I adore being read to.

 

Lee: Let’s talk a moment about Shock Totem, which along with Black Static, is arguably the coolest, bravest, and most visionary genre magazine. What role(s) do you fill there? Does Ken Wood really have a third nipple?

 

MMY: The best thing about Shock Totem is that everybody does a little bit of everything.  I read slush and vote for stories. I contribute content for the magazine and the site in the form of reviews, interviews, and articles. I’m learning more about promotion and marketing, and I’ll be taking that area over, a little more. Everybody pitches in pretty whole-heartedly. It’s an awesome place to be.

 

And you don’t want to know some of the things I know about Ken. You really don’t.

 

Lee: Cool, and yes I do want to know what you know about Ken. He’s an enigma! What do you honestly think of all this ‘networking’? Are you comfortable with it? Is it really that important? 

 

MMY: Then we’ll get together for lunch sometime and discuss Ken. He’s a good guy. One of the best. He can take a ribbing as good as he gives. He’s family.

 

Mmm, networking. It’s a mixed bag.

 

On one hand, I truly feel like it’s necessary. You can write the greatest book in the world, but if nobody ever reads it, it will never sell. I wish it could be all about the work. I wish all of our time could be spent writing and not divided into social media/networking/whatever.

 

And I abhor the very concept of networking. The people that don’t understand it, and think that it’s all about making superficial connections in order to get ahead. When somebody comes up to “network” with you, it’s obvious. I’ve absolutely been tossed aside when a Bigger, Better Deal walked into the room. There’s that insincerity, and I hate that.

 

But I do value the friendships. That’s what I personally think networking is, or at least should be. Making friendships, seeing what another person likes, and keeping an eye out for that person. If I see a call for steampunk, I send it to Matt Betts, for instance. And that’s how I scored an invite to the Jack the Ripper antho, actually. My friend, Mason,  received an invitation, emailed the editor and said, “Hey, I have a friend named Mercedes who is actually pretty good with serial killers. Could she possibly…?” and so I was invited to submit as well. It’s nice to have somebody looking out for you. It’s fantastic to look out for other people. It makes everything more interesting and friendly.

 

I hate networking to network. It’s shallow and feels like being used. But I love strong friendships. That’s a different beast, entirely. A beautiful one.

 

Lee: I like your attitude. You’re the best, along with those other three people I always claim are the best! Thanks so much for taking time to share your heart with everyone! *Hugs*

 

MMY: Thank you, Lee! You know I’m a huge fan of Lee Thompson the writer as well and Lee Thompson the person. You’re one of the good ones. Have a wonderful day, my friend!

Lee: Likewise! Thanks again, M! And thanks to anybody who gives M’s work a try or shares the interview! You can find Mercede’s website, and all the other places she stalks, *here*. Carpe diem.

/span

New review of Shock Totem #6 and reveal of issue #7

There’s a new review of Shock Totem #6 on Hellnotes. Go check it out and grab a copy! They’re an amazing publication.

Also check out the cover Ken Wood revealed for issue #7 here. If you’re not reading this magazine you’re missing out. 

Soon I’ll also have an interview on here with the wonderful Mercedes M. Yardley. She’s my soul sister. I just read one of her unpublished novels and gave her a blurb because she is so incredibly talented it makes me want to cry.

And as soon as writer/publisher K. Allen Wood has some free time I’m going to interview that bugger too. 

Working hard to complete the second Thomas Morgan novel so I can send it to my pre-readers by the end of this month, and had a short story/novelette idea I started writing out of the blue, which is pretty cool since I haven’t written any shorter work in almost a year. It’s called On Cool, Autumn Evenings Like This One. It’s pretty wild, sad, beautiful, all that crap. 

I hope everybody is well!

In Production: Audiobook of THE DAMPNESS OF MOURNING

 

“The Dampness Of Mourning is taut, tough, and terrifying…” — Brian Hodge, author of Picking The Bones

“The Dampness of Mourning is a riveting thriller.” –Midwest Book Review

Very excited that the audio book of my Division Mythos novel THE DAMPNESS OF MOURNING is in production. Narrator Matthew Stevens has sent me the audio files and I’m in the process of listening to them and suggesting changes before the final version. Neat. It should be up for sale on Amazon and iTunes by the end of July. 

I have other exciting news but I can’t share it yet. :O 

I hope everybody is doing well! Thanks for the support!

First chapter of A SAVAGE AUTUMN by Thomas Morgan

Go HERE to read the first chapter of my next Thomas Morgan novel A SAVAGE AUTUMN. Gotta go get some more story written! Happy weekend for everybody.

Interviewed by Blu Gilliand for Horror World

As antisocial as I tend to be, I enjoy being interviewed a lot, possibly because I live inside my own head too much. I’m happy to share my latest interview on Horror World. Blu Gilliand also interviewed me last year on his own website, October Country. I think he might love Ray Bradbury, and who can blame him? Something Wicked This Way Comes was one of the books that made me want to write. So a big thank you to Blu for thinking of me for the May interview. I’m wishing him mucho success with his own writing career, and tipping back a drink to those who read and share this interview.

You might not agree with me on everything, which is okay, just don’t expect me to agree with everything you have to say. (I’ve read some disturbing bashing that some trolls did on an author who didn’t do anything wrong and that pisses me off.)

Anyway, I have exciting news that I can’t share yet. Wishing you all self-awareness, which leads to a type of peace and happiness that very little else can provide! 

My Second Year Anniversary

(Note: I’ve been up since yesterday so this might not come across very coherent…)

In a couple weeks it will be two years since Darkfuse released my first novel Nursery Rhymes 4 Dead Children. A lot has happened since then: I’ve learned a lot, written and sold a ton of other novels and novellas and short stories, started writing under other names, and it’s all gone by in what feels like the blink of an eye. I have a lot going on here at the moment, digging deep into this second novel I’m writing as Thomas Morgan, getting another novel ready for Darkfuse Publications, dreaming of how wonderful it’s going to be to hit The World Mystery Convention in New York again later this year and get to talk to some of my literary heroes and hang out with my best buddy Shaun Ryan.

Pausing for a second to look back, I still think that the honesty in a writer’s work, the honesty of their characters, and the pivotal moments in those characters’ lives are what resonate with us as readers. 

Click here to read a post I did a while back called “Remembering.”

It’s good to consider our roots.

What are you excited about right now?

I’m curious. Tell me!

Here’s what I’m excited about this week…

My latest Dark Fantasy novel GOSSAMER: A STORY OF LOVE AND TRAGEDY earned a 10 out of 10 star review on Famous Monsters of Filmland. Thanks to Peter Schwotzer for the read and review! You can check out the novel on Goodreads, or buy it from Amazon, Smashwords, iTunes, Kobo, etc throught that Goodreads page.

Also great to see Shock Totem, my favorite magazine, receiving glowing praise for their sixth issue from John Skipp over on Fangoria!

I’m eagerly awaiting my best writing buddy Shaun Ryan’s Crime novel. After I pre-read it, offer feedback, and he becomes famous I can make him buy me dinner. Good plan. He’s an amazing writer and I can’t wait to see him sell that first novel. What a thrill.

The weather here is finally breaking into spring so I can get out and walk/jog a lot. Thank god. I was sick of winter. A snow bunny I am not.

Reading a lot of great novels lately by James Lee Burke (Robicheaux series) and Joe Lansdale (Hap and Leonard series).

But the thing I’m most excited about is warmer weather.  My brain is thawing. Soon I’ll be the midnight express.

Share your secrets with me. 

New review and a short break

I have a new review of the second Division story WITHIN THIS GARDEN WEEPING. It makes me happy because that story hasn’t gotten very much attention and it’s a crucial point in Red Piccirilli’s life between Before Leonora Wakes and The Collected Songs of Sonnelion to who he becomes as an old man in Nursery Rhymes 4 Dead Children. Thanks to Eden Royce for the review on Hellnotes!

I’ve been a busy motherlicker, as is my nature. I’ve written four novels in the the last eight months and just ordered myself to take a week break because, honestly, I need a recharge. I’m emotionally beat. I just want to read and take walks and watch a bunch of movies before I hit it hard again.

Things to consider:

If you’re a writer check out this post on the awesome Chip MacGregor’s website, where on April 10th, you could learn a lot! Learning is great!

Also, David Farland’s Daily Kicks are one of my favorite things. Unfortunately his son was just in a bad accident and is in a coma. Send good energy their way and go buy one of his books since they don’t have insurance.

I hope everybody is well!