Stephanie Ellis's Blog, page 8

Inferno: Goes for the Jugular with TC Parker

TC Parker has only recently arrived on the horror scene but has already made a splash with her novel Saltblood and more recently A Press of Feathers (both are terrific reads). When she was suggested as someone to approach for a short story, I couldn’t wait to see what she came up with – and I promise you, you won’t be disappointed. TC takes us to the Third Circle with her story, ‘Cerberus’.

Infernal Clock: What was the inspiration behind your story?

Classical Hollywood! And especially Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? I love those ‘50s narratives about unlikeable people thrust together through mutual dependency who don’t get much more likeable as the narrative progresses, but whose very unlikability keeps you entertained. See also: Norma Desmond, Margo Channing/Eve Harrington and about a thousand others!

Infernal Clock: What is your idea of hell on earth?

There are so many to choose from! I’m a gay woman with a lot of opinions – things wouldn’t have gone so well for me in most periods in history I can think of! Not that things are perfect now, I hasten to add… 

Infernal Clock: The Inferno was created on old ideas of sin. If you had to label the nine levels how, what would you call them? Would you keep it at 9? Increase or decrease?

I think probably decrease, significantly! 

I’m an atheist, so I’d like to see Limbo and Heresy go, as well as some of the more theistic Rings (… though, equally, as an atheist, perhaps it wouldn’t make much different to me if they stayed or went!) 

The Lust circle feels unnecessarily punitive, so I’d probably lose that one too.

Greed, Wrath and Violence still feel like pretty solid choices, though. 

Infernal Clock: They say the Devil has all the good tunes. What song would you recommend as an accompaniment to your story?

Anything with an angry female vocalist would probably do the trick. But the three songs that spring to mind (all of which I’m sure I was listening to when I wrote the story) are Marianne Faithfull’s Ballad of Lucy Jordan, Skunk Anansie’s All I Want and the Cell Block Tango from Chicago.

Infernal Clock: If you were able to visit the Inferno, what level would you want to go to and who would you want to see there?

Given Dante’s moral compass, I feel like most of the people I’ve ever admired would be there, in one circle or another.

I’d definitely check in on Michel Foucault – probably in Heresy, though I’m sure more than a few of the other circles would be happy to have him. And maybe Ada Lovelace, while I’m there.  

Infernal Clock: What is the hottest food you’ve ever eaten. Can you share a recipe?

Unfortunately, my kids like it bland, so I don’t have much opportunity to cook much with heat at the moment! But I love beef rendang, which can get pretty hot, and a decently-strong Thai green curry. 

Infernal Clock: Who is your ‘favourite’ villain in history or fiction?

She’s a movie character rather than one from literature, but Linda Fiorentino’s character in John Dahl’s The Last Seduction is an absolutely perfect villain, for me: clever, amoral, sociopathic and, best of all, always six steps ahead of everyone around her. If she’s down in the Inferno, then she’s running it. 

Infernal Clock: What is your long-term ambition for your writing?

Just to keep on producing books, really: I’ve had four out this year, and am working on a fifth which I’d like to finish before Christmas. In the immediate term, I’d like to wrap up my con-artist trilogy – I hate leaving things unfinished, and it’s hurting me to be only 2 books into a 3 book series! 

Infernal Clock: Top-tip for other writers

Write for an audience, not only for yourself – with a focus on clarity and intelligibility as you communicate your ideas. And keep the narrative interesting – you want people to want to read on, so – simplistic as it sounds – make sure that things keep happening in your story. Unless you’re Virginia Woolf, you probably don’t want 100 pages of an internal monologue meditation on whether or not to buy the flowers. 

Bio:

TC Parker is a writer and researcher based in the fox-ravaged wilds of Leicestershire, where she lives with her partner and two extremely energetic children. A former copywriter and lecturer with a PhD in media and politics and nowhere to put it, she runs a cultural insight agency by day and dreams up horror and crime fiction at night—including Saltblood, a dystopian-survivalist creature-feature set on an island prison in a near-future Scotland and, as Natalie Edwards, the con-artist thrillers The Debt and The Push. She can be tracked down online at https://www.tcparkerwrites.com/, tweets enthusiastically at @writestc, and has just published her new novel A Press of Feathers—a Midlands-set tale of female rage, haunted houses, marauding crows and the human horrors of recession. No doubt because of her tendency to write long in almost all circumstances, Cerberus is her first short story. She hopes you like it.

Latest publications

As TC Parker, I’ve released 2 horror novels this year:

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And also the first 2 books in my El Gardener con-artist trilogy (written under my real name, Natalie Edwards):

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Book 3 in the series, tacitly titled The Remembrance, hopefully soon to come!

You can find me online via my website, www.tcparkerwrites.com, and on Twitter as @WritesTC

Inferno: Infernal Indulgence with Alyson Faye

Alyson Faye is a writer I’ve come to know and admire over the past few years, and is one of the most supportive people I know to all writers. She is also an editor par excellence and jumped onboard (or should I say plunged into the abyss) when this project threatened to become overwhelming. As well as her editorial contribution, she has supplied a fantastic story, MaXXed Out for the Third Circle. It is a pleasure to give the spotlight over to Aly herself.

Infernal Clock: What was the inspiration behind your story?

My story had to feature the sin of ‘gluttony’ so I began thinking about what character I could create who was hugely obese, a slave to his appetites. Due to my interests in film/TV and acting, I created the character of Max Llewellyn, a massively popular TV comedian who is also morbidly obese.
Max’s appetites lead him into very dark places, and then his life unravels big time.

Infernal Clock: What is your idea of hell on earth?

There’s a lot of scope with this idea:- one possible hell is an eternal loop where you live out your worst mistakes again and again with no let up.

Infernal Clock: The Inferno was created on old ideas of sin. If you had to label the nine levels how, what would you call them? Would you keep it at 9? Increase or decrease?

Pass on that one, I’m not big on listing sins! and the world is messed-up enough without me listing all the ways!

Infernal Clock: They say the Devil has all the good tunes. What song would you recommend as an accompaniment to your story?

The Devil’s Harmony:- I’m much more of a film fan than a music buff, so I’d always go with a movie – if that’s allowed – The 1933 Mystery of the Wax Museum, an early example of 2 strip technicolour.

Infernal Clock: If you were able to visit the Inferno, what level would you want to go to and who would you want to see there?

Just a pop-in quick visit though – I wouldn’t want to linger- not sure this is the top tourists’ destination spot – wouldn’t mind a quick ferry ride with Charon and a cuddle with Cerberus, but after that home for tea.

Infernal Clock: What is the hottest food you’ve ever eaten. Can you share a recipe?

Probably a curry or an American tacos dish when I was over there.

Infernal Clock: Who is your ‘favourite’ villain in history or fiction?

Villains get all the best lines in books and films – not so much in real life I suspect. Alan Rickman in Die Hard comes to mind.

Infernal Clock: What is your long-term ambition for your writing?

I want to keep writing and enjoy it and improve, and look back on these years and think ‘Yes, you did good there.’

Infernal Clock: Top-tip for other writers

If you want to write, then do it and keep at it.

Bio:

Alyson Faye lives in West Yorkshire, UK with her husband, teen son, trio of cats and a rescue dog, called Roxy. Her fiction has been published widely in print anthologies – DeadCades, Women in Horror Annual 2, Trembling with Fear 1 &2, Stories from Stone, Ellipsis, Rejected ed. Erin Crocker), Strange Girls, and in many ezines, but most often on the Horror Tree site, in Siren’s Call and The Casket of Fictional Delights. In 2019 Demain published her Gothic story, Night of the Rider, in their Short!Sharp!Shocks series and her noir crime novella, Maggie.
Recently she has had stories in the NHS charity anthologies, Diabolica Britannica, Kitchen Sink Gothic 2, Things in the Well’s Trickster’s Treats 4, and she has released her own collection, Darkness Calls. (available on amazon).
Her work has been read on BBC Radio, local radio, on several podcasts (e.g. Ladies of Horror), posted on YouTube and placed in competitions. She performs at open mics, teaches, edits for an indie publisher and hangs out with her dog on the moors—in all weathers. She’s on twitter @AlysonFaye2

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Darkness-Calls-Shadows-Alyson-Faye-ebook/dp/B08DM7K4FQ

INFERNO: Veering Off Course With Cassie Daley

Cassie Daley is an upcoming writer whose stories I first took note of earlier this year. Although she has only published a couple of short stories so far, I enjoyed her ‘voice’ in those tales so much, I had no qualms with inviting her on board. Cassie takes us into the Sixth Circle with her story, Off Course.

Infernal Clock: What was the inspiration behind your story?

I’ve always been one of the morbid folks that reads a lot of true crime, and is grimly fascinated by how dark and monstrous regular people can be. We often hear stories about people who show signs from a young age of being “troubled” – hurting animals, etc. The killers that scare me the most are always the ones that showed no outward signs beforehand, and who everyone else would have sworn was a great person. For my story, I tried to imagine one of these types of people, and aimed to make her both sympathetic as a character, but also unredeemable. I’ll also admit that I wanted to have fun with this one, since it’s the first thing I’ve written that features any sort of sex or violence – two things I love reading, but either blush or get squeamish while writing, I’ve discovered, haha

Infernal Clock: What is your idea of hell on earth?

A world filled with people who lack empathy for other people. This year especially has taught me so much about how far kindness and support and compassion can go, both in regards to my own struggles as well as in witnessing other people dealing with theirs. There are people who don’t prioritize those things, and it shows in their actions and the ways that they go around hurting other people – my idea of hell on earth would just be more of that, I think! Also, lots of long lines! I really hate waiting, haha

Infernal Clock: The Inferno was created on old ideas of sin. If you had to label the nine levels how, what would you call them? Would you keep it at 9? Increase or decrease?

I’d probably change them up to put less of a focus on how much sex people have and how much people want to sit around or eat, and more on people who hurt, manipulated, and cheated others. I don’t think Limbo would work quite as it does for Dante, especially in regards to shunning the nonbelievers! I’d also maybe nix the middle violence ring, since it seems pretty awful that folks who would be in a rough enough spot to opt for suicide would then be made to suffer even more (via… tree transformation and harpy feeding? Is that right? Ouch!)

Infernal Clock: They say the Devil has all the good tunes. What song would you recommend as an accompaniment to your story?

The Gits – Second Skin

Infernal Clock: If you were able to visit the Inferno, what level would you want to go to and who would you want to see there?

Honestly, all of the levels are pretty terrifying. Is there a way to safely take a glass elevator tour? I don’t need to meet anyone in particular, but a drive by glimpse of Medusa or Cleopatra would be pretty cool!

Infernal Clock: What is the hottest food you’ve ever eaten? Can you share a recipe?

I like regular spicy food, but can’t really handle overly spicy food because my belly is a baby! But here’s a fun story: the first time I ever tried sushi, the friend that took me to the restaurant told me that wasabi was meant to be snorted before your meal. They were joking, but I am extremely gullible, so I did it quickly before the food came. I suffered greatly. Would not recommend.

Infernal Clock: Who is your ‘favourite’ villain in history or fiction?

I have a lot of favorite villains – I always end up liking them more than the heroes! One of my favorites is Jubal Early from the Firefly TV show. He’s a bounty hunter sort of modeled after Boba Fett, and he’s super terrifying – a methodical sadist whose own mother could sense some sort of darkness inside him.

I also really love Pyramid Head from the Silent Hill 2 video game – super scary, and such a great character design! A lot of the villains in Silent Hill are pretty great, really. And they’re all manifestations of people’s pain and grief and mistakes in monster-form, which adds a whole other layer of scariness to them in my opinion!

Infernal Clock: What is your long-term ambition for your writing?

I don’t have a lot of big goals for writing, really. I started writing to help me work out some of the anxieties and problems in my brain, and so far, it’s been great for that. I’d love to hold a full book that I’ve written in my hands! That’s my main goal right now, really!

Infernal Clock: Top-tip for other writers.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help! There are so many things I just had no idea about before this year, and I’m so grateful to the people who have offered advice or tips or answered my questions about anything writing related. There are a lot of books on the craft, but not a lot of resources on the nitty gritty how-tos for unrepresented new writers looking to submit to publishers. When in doubt, ask! There is usually someone around who won’t mind answering

Bio:

Cassie Daley is a blogger, artist, and writer living in Northern California with her boyfriend and three dogs. Her first published short story, ‘Ready or Not’, debuted as a part of Fright Girl Summer, and is available to read online. Aside from writing, she runs an online art shop and is a contributing team member to the Dead Head Reviews and Ladies of Horror Fiction websites. She is the creator of THE BIG BOOK OF HORROR AUTHORS: A Coloring & Activity Book, and is also a host on The PikeCast, a book podcast dedicated to reading and discussing the works of Christopher Pike. You can find Cassie on Twitter as @ctrlaltcassie, or letsgetgalactic.com.  

Latest publication and links.

Writing:

“Ready or Not” – Free online story, part of Fright Girl Summer: https://www.frightgirlsummer.com/ready-or-not

Nonfiction article in Issue #14 of Unnerving Magazine: https://www.amazon.com/Unnerving-Magazine-14-King-Inspired-Extended/dp/1989206565

“Ruthie’s Garden” – story in WE ARE WOLVES: A Charity Anthology by Burial Day Books (out later this year – https://twitter.com/BurialDay)

My own books:

The Big Book of Horror Authors: A Coloring & Activity Book (https://www.etsy.com/listing/839579430/the-big-book-of-horror-authors)

You’re Out of This World: A Magical 12-Month Self-Love Planner & Activity Book for Boss Witches (https://www.etsy.com/listing/878544959/youre-out-of-this-world-witchy-planner)

Inferno: vEERING off Course with Cassie dALEY

Cassie Daley is an upcoming writer whose stories I first took note of earlier this year. Although she has only published a couple of short stories so far, I enjoyed her ‘voice’ in those tales so much, I had no qualms with inviting her on board. Cassie takes us into the Sixth Circle with her story, Off Course.

Infernal Clock: What was the inspiration behind your story?

I’ve always been one of the morbid folks that reads a lot of true crime, and is grimly fascinated by how dark and monstrous regular people can be. We often hear stories about people who show signs from a young age of being “troubled” – hurting animals, etc. The killers that scare me the most are always the ones that showed no outward signs beforehand, and who everyone else would have sworn was a great person. For my story, I tried to imagine one of these types of people, and aimed to make her both sympathetic as a character, but also unredeemable. I’ll also admit that I wanted to have fun with this one, since it’s the first thing I’ve written that features any sort of sex or violence – two things I love reading, but either blush or get squeamish while writing, I’ve discovered, haha

Infernal Clock: What is your idea of hell on earth?

A world filled with people who lack empathy for other people. This year especially has taught me so much about how far kindness and support and compassion can go, both in regards to my own struggles as well as in witnessing other people dealing with theirs. There are people who don’t prioritize those things, and it shows in their actions and the ways that they go around hurting other people – my idea of hell on earth would just be more of that, I think! Also, lots of long lines! I really hate waiting, haha

Infernal Clock: The Inferno was created on old ideas of sin. If you had to label the nine levels how, what would you call them? Would you keep it at 9? Increase or decrease?

I’d probably change them up to put less of a focus on how much sex people have and how much people want to sit around or eat, and more on people who hurt, manipulated, and cheated others. I don’t think Limbo would work quite as it does for Dante, especially in regards to shunning the nonbelievers! I’d also maybe nix the middle violence ring, since it seems pretty awful that folks who would be in a rough enough spot to opt for suicide would then be made to suffer even more (via… tree transformation and harpy feeding? Is that right? Ouch!)

Infernal Clock: They say the Devil has all the good tunes. What song would you recommend as an accompaniment to your story?

The Gits – Second Skin

Infernal Clock: If you were able to visit the Inferno, what level would you want to go to and who would you want to see there?

Honestly, all of the levels are pretty terrifying. Is there a way to safely take a glass elevator tour? I don’t need to meet anyone in particular, but a drive by glimpse of Medusa or Cleopatra would be pretty cool!

Infernal Clock: What is the hottest food you’ve ever eaten? Can you share a recipe?

I like regular spicy food, but can’t really handle overly spicy food because my belly is a baby! But here’s a fun story: the first time I ever tried sushi, the friend that took me to the restaurant told me that wasabi was meant to be snorted before your meal. They were joking, but I am extremely gullible, so I did it quickly before the food came. I suffered greatly. Would not recommend.

Infernal Clock: Who is your ‘favourite’ villain in history or fiction?

I have a lot of favorite villains – I always end up liking them more than the heroes! One of my favorites is Jubal Early from the Firefly TV show. He’s a bounty hunter sort of modeled after Boba Fett, and he’s super terrifying – a methodical sadist whose own mother could sense some sort of darkness inside him.

I also really love Pyramid Head from the Silent Hill 2 video game – super scary, and such a great character design! A lot of the villains in Silent Hill are pretty great, really. And they’re all manifestations of people’s pain and grief and mistakes in monster-form, which adds a whole other layer of scariness to them in my opinion!

Infernal Clock: What is your long-term ambition for your writing?

I don’t have a lot of big goals for writing, really. I started writing to help me work out some of the anxieties and problems in my brain, and so far, it’s been great for that. I’d love to hold a full book that I’ve written in my hands! That’s my main goal right now, really!

Infernal Clock: Top-tip for other writers.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help! There are so many things I just had no idea about before this year, and I’m so grateful to the people who have offered advice or tips or answered my questions about anything writing related. There are a lot of books on the craft, but not a lot of resources on the nitty gritty how-tos for unrepresented new writers looking to submit to publishers. When in doubt, ask! There is usually someone around who won’t mind answering

Bio:

Cassie Daley is a blogger, artist, and writer living in Northern California with her boyfriend and three dogs. Her first published short story, ‘Ready or Not’, debuted as a part of Fright Girl Summer, and is available to read online. Aside from writing, she runs an online art shop and is a contributing team member to the Dead Head Reviews and Ladies of Horror Fiction websites. She is the creator of THE BIG BOOK OF HORROR AUTHORS: A Coloring & Activity Book, and is also a host on The PikeCast, a book podcast dedicated to reading and discussing the works of Christopher Pike. You can find Cassie on Twitter as @ctrlaltcassie, or letsgetgalactic.com.  

Latest publication and links.

Writing:

“Ready or Not” – Free online story, part of Fright Girl Summer: https://www.frightgirlsummer.com/ready-or-not

Nonfiction article in Issue #14 of Unnerving Magazine: https://www.amazon.com/Unnerving-Magazine-14-King-Inspired-Extended/dp/1989206565

“Ruthie’s Garden” – story in WE ARE WOLVES: A Charity Anthology by Burial Day Books (out later this year – https://twitter.com/BurialDay)

My own books:

The Big Book of Horror Authors: A Coloring & Activity Book (https://www.etsy.com/listing/839579430/the-big-book-of-horror-authors)

You’re Out of This World: A Magical 12-Month Self-Love Planner & Activity Book for Boss Witches (https://www.etsy.com/listing/878544959/youre-out-of-this-world-witchy-planner)

Inferno: Lynn Love in Limbo

Lynn Love is a writer introduced to me by Alyson Faye and I am so glad she did. Lynn leads us into the Inferno at the dreaded point of Limbo, a place I think we might all feel familiar with at the moment. Her story Limbo, is the first story in the First Circle.

Infernal Clock: What was the inspiration behind your story?

When I saw the theme of Limbo, this ex-Catholic schoolgirl’s mind instantly went to the Magdalene Houses, laundries run by the Catholic Church and other bodies that housed unmarried mothers and their children. The women were used as cheap labour, often verbally and physically abused and many of their children were taken from them and forcibly adopted.

There was a strong pull in my mind between the old Catholic belief of Limbo (a place where the souls of unbaptised babies went after death) and the laundries, especially those such as the convent run by the Sisters of our Lady of Charity in Dublin where 155 bodies were found in a mass grave.

When I was doing my research, I read that some women weren’t made aware they could ever leave the convents, so they just stayed. I began to imagine what the life of one of these women might be like, someone who had lived her whole life in Limbo – first in one such institution, then as a live-in carer.  I imagined the dialogue, the bond, between the woman and those neglected children buried in a mass grave and the story grew from there.

Infernal Clock: What is your idea of hell on earth?

On a serious note – my son being badly injured or seriously ill. I can’t imagine a more effective torture for Satan to devise for me.

On a not so serious note – being forced to watch the ultra-cheap, ultra-cheesy, sickeningly sentimental Christmas films that fill the Channel Five schedule in December whilst Baby Shark is played at ear melting volume. (Almost tempted to put a link to Baby Shark here but thought better of it – Steph)

Infernal Clock: The Inferno was created on old ideas of sin. If you had to label the nine levels how, what would you call them? Would you keep it at 9? Increase or decrease?

I’d dispense with the lot because the only factor that should determine whether someone’s condemned to Hell or not, is what harm they did in life. If you did more harm than good,  an eternity of cheesy Christmas films and Baby Shark should be yours.

Infernal Clock: They say the Devil has all the good tunes. What song would you recommend as an accompaniment to your story?

As an old Goth, I recommend a Siouxsie and the Banshees song from the album Peepshow – Rawhead and Bloody Bones. The music is discordant and very unsettling and the lyrics talk about unpunished misdeeds, a sense that something sinister lurks at the bottom of ponds and wells, in chimneys, waiting, if not to right wrongs, then just to do very bad things to you.

Also Andrew Bird and Matt Berninger’s version of A Lyke Wake Dirge, describing the soul’s journey to Purgatory. Fitting for this story, but I’d listen to it when reading anything unsettling – it’s hypnotic.

Infernal Clock: If you were able to visit the Inferno, what level would you want to go to and who would you want to see there?

A couple of candidates for me – Galileo Galilei, a heretic according to the Catholic Church of the 17th century. I’d love to listen to the man explain how he had the courage to promote the Copernican model of the Solar System, of the Earth orbiting the Sun, even though he must have known the Inquisition would try him for it. I might not understand what he was saying, but I’d still be in awe.

The other is the blues musician Robert Johnson, who (if rumours of his womanising are to be believed) is probably in the Second Circle of Hell, Lust. There are very few recordings of Johnson, so I’d love to hear him play, to see if he was as amazing as reputation would have us believe. Most of all, I’d like to know if the story is true, that he really did sell his soul to the Devil in return for his musical talent.

Infernal Clock: What is the hottest food you’ve ever eaten. Can you share a recipe?

We eat a lot of curry in our house – I mean, a lot – so the hottest would be a tough one to pin down. There’s a sweet potato vindaloo recipe by Meera Sodha which is pretty pokey. It might not be the hottest thing I’ve eaten, but it’s hot, tangy and bloody delicious.

Infernal Clock: Who is your ‘favourite’ villain in history or fiction?

Ooh, so many! The Anchorites from David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks and Slade House are pretty repellent. They’re sort of soul vampires, gaining eternal life from the murder of others. Neil Gaiman’s created some outstanding villains – The Man Jack from The Graveyard Book, Croup and Vandemar in Neverwhere. As for an historical villain, there’s nothing ‘favourite’ about her, but the serial killing baby farmer Amelia Dyer is an interesting person. I wonder how she was emotionally detached enough to murder an estimated 400 children placed in her care. She’s at once fascinating and repulsive.

Infernal Clock: What is your long-term ambition for your writing?

I’m not naive enough to think I could write full-time, but to earn a reasonable amount of my income from writing would be brilliant. My debut Urban Fantasy novel is being read by agents now and I’m taking my mind off that terrifying thought by writing my next novel, a supernatural thriller set during the early 1970s.

Infernal Clock: Top-tip for other writers.

I have two. Write a lot. I mean, a real lot, more than you imagine is necessary to be good. But also, develop your writers’ gut by sending your work to trusted readers for feedback. Read that feedback, digest it, even if it’s not glowing. Over time your gut will tell you what advice to follow to improve your work and what to ignore. In the end it’s your story and only you know what it should be.

Bio:

Lynn Love is a Bristol based writer whose serials and short stories have been published in various magazines in the UK and in online outlets including Writing Magazine, The Horror Tree and The People’s Friend. She was a guest blogger for Mslexia and was mentored by author Ruth Ware (In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10) through the WoMentoring Project.

Her debut Contemporary Fantasy novel is out to agents and she’s currently writing a Supernatural Mystery set in a rundown coastal town in the early 1970s. 
Twitters at: @Lynn800XLove.

Latest publication and links.

She blogs at Word Shamble https://lynnmlovewords.wordpress.com/

INFERNO: Plunging to the Ninth Circle with C.C. Adams

C.C. Adams is a writer who pulls no punches. A fixture on the UK indie scene, he joins the Inferno at its deepest, darkest point in Circle Nine with his story ‘Janine Inside Me’. Whilst he was writing his story, I picked up a copy of Forfeit Tissue from Demain Publishing and realised we would be in for something special. Here are C.C’s infernal views on the darker side.

Infernal Clock: What was the inspiration behind your story?

One thing I like to explore is when everyday narratives are become something insidious. Malicious. Twisted. All the good stuff. Without giving too much away, I wanted to take the kinds of characters I imagined would have a pleasant and well-rounded existence and shift them to somewhere harrowing. Yes, you might like to think that you’d never let your loved ones come to harm – but what if that basic status quo has changed? What do you do?

Infernal Clock: What is your idea of hell on earth?

Now this is discomforting here…

One thing I suppose would be hellish is the idea that we as humans are prey. Yes, there are instances where we as human beings succumb to animal attacks; mauled by dogs, bitten by snakes, eaten by crocodiles. Those are exceptions rather than the norm; like how people eat chicken. Or beef. Or fish.

It’s not a pleasant thought that we as humans could be culled and harvested like livestock.

Infernal Clock: The Inferno was created on old ideas of sin. If you had to label the nine levels how, what would you call them? Would you keep it at 9? Increase or decrease?

Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery. No; looks pretty comprehensive to me. I might take out Lust though.

Infernal Clock: They say the Devil has all the good tunes. What song would you recommend as an accompaniment to your story?

Off the top of my head? I’d say it would be ‘Imagine’ – not the John Lennon version, but the cover by A Perfect Circle. Because while the lyrics suggest a peaceful future, the music behind it is haunting and melancholy. When the drums kick in, there’s a sense of fury, whether it’s simmering or spent – but it’s there.

I’ve never been a fan of the original track – each to their own, I suppose, but I heard this cover by accident. All because the ‘Counting Bodies Like Sheep…’ track appears on the teaser trailer for the Fantastic Four (Chris Evans, Jessica Alba) – ‘you know that looked cool.’ I loved that enough to get the artist’s album, which is Emotive. And then I heard the cover of Imagine. Which is one of my all-time favourite covers of any song.

Infernal Clock: If you were able to visit the Inferno, what level would you want to go to and who would you want to see there?

Intriguing. I’m tempted to go with Fraud.

See, I used to have this thing where I wouldn’t lie – that it was dishonourable. I say that remembering at least one job where a call came through for a boss. Boss in question said, ‘tell them I’m not here.’ But the older I get and the more I see, I decide lies aren’t so bad, if they’re done with honourable intent. If someone with a gun visits you at home asking for your child, you might lie to protect your child. But those who lie and cheat without that honour? I don’t wish such hell on them but if they’re sent to Hell, I won’t lose sleep over it.

Infernal Clock: What is the hottest food you’ve ever eaten? Can you share a recipe?

Could be anything! I can do mild spicy, but I’m not a spice fanatic. I have a hankering for Lebanese food and around the mid-range on the Nando’s scale. West Indian heritage and upbringing means I know the taste of Encona hot pepper sauce, as well as the yellow pepper sauce. Although I remember trying to down some Danish schnapps in Denmark years back – and that was hot. Took ages just to sip a mouthful.

Infernal Clock: Who is your ‘favourite’ villain in history or fiction?

You do realise this’ll be a major trip down the rabbit-hole, right…?

Oh, man, where do I begin? I mean, as a Spider-Man fan, I’ve still got several hundred original-issue comics – mainly Amazing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man. Favourite Spidey villain? Can’t pick just one – although the Lizard and Electro have always been favourites. As is, I’m still re-reading the Spidey vs Lizard ARC, No Turning Back, which features Morbius, the living vampire. Suspenseful, violent, and very clever. Also pays homage to Amazing Spider-Man #100 – #102.

TV villains, I’d go with Angelus from Buffy The Vampire Slayer / Angel. The ‘demon with the face of an angel’ isn’t one for histrionics, but he has a cold and ruthless humour in place of his humanity. Personal favourite appearances are Passion (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Soulless (Angel). Compelling. “Oooh, provocative. Get me all riled up.”

As for film? Too many films to remember, let alone choose from. One standout has to be the antagonist from Fallen (which is my second favourite film of all time behind John Carpenter’s “The Thing”). And what I like about the antagonist here is that even when Reese is dead, you’ve got a cunning and seemingly invincible foe. How do you defeat that? You know what also sells it? The film hardly has special effects, but from the story point of view, how the …mechanics of the antagonist present themselves is unsettling. You see it in Denzel’s performance – his character doesn’t know which way to turn, he’s out of his depth. At least, he is at first.

Infernal Clock: What is your long-term ambition for your writing?

To run with it as far as I can and make a good living from it. I don’t want or need to be a celebrity with it though. For all the mileage so far, I do my best to stay humble and heed the basics: write good stories that engage and move the audience. And maybe scare the shit outta them.

Infernal Clock: Top-tip for other writers.

For any author who wants to write stories: write. Start a story, finish a story, repeat. That’s the bottom line, the alpha-omega – and it’s so deceptively simple on paper that some people will fall down when it comes to putting it into practise.

Bio:

London native C.C. Adams is the horror/dark fiction author behind books such as But Worse Will Come, Forfeit Tissue and Downwind, Alice. His short fiction appears in publications such as Turn To Ash, Weirdbook Magazine and The Third Corona Book of Horror Stories. A member of the Horror Writers Association, he still lives in the capital. This is where he lifts weights, cooks—and looks for the perfect quote to set off the next dark delicacy.

Visit him at www.ccadams.com and here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MrAdamsWrites
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MrAdamsWrites
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/CC-Adams/e/B00J438GCI
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/CC-Adams/e/B00J438GCI

Latest publication:

Meet Alice Morecambe.

After two years away, a chance encounter with her ex-boyfriend Kieran proves awkward and sours when Alice lashes out at him, before storming off. An unfortunate turn of events that would soon blow over, right?

Wrong.

Because, unfortunately for Alice, Kieran is …different now.

For the last couple of years, Kieran has kept a tight rein on more than his feelings – but now he’s going to do more than tell Alice how he really feels.

He’s going to show her.

And Alice won’t know what’s downwind until it’s too late.

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Downwind, Alice              –              https://www.ccadams.com/downwind-alice

Inferno: Gets the Latinx Treatment with V. Castro

V. Castro is an author I feel privileged to include in Inferno. If you like gritty, powerful writing, check out her novella, Hairspray and Switchblades from Unnerving (I sprinted through this fantastic page turner not long ago). V. fires her way into the Sixth Circle of Inferno with At the Bottom of my Lake of Blood.

Infernal Clock: What was the inspiration behind your story?

When approached for this anthology I knew I wanted it to be from a different perspective. I have been The Other all my life and I relish sharing that experience because although it has caused much pain, it has made me the woman I am and becoming. I’ve also been to very dark places at the bottom. Exploring that is important to me and I think its important for other people struggling to know they are not alone. You can be at the bottom, but there is always a way out. You don’t have to settle. You don’t have to believe you are not enough.

Infernal Clock: What is your idea of hell on earth?

My idea of hell on Earth is not living the life you truly want to live, even if it means a little pain and hard work. Hell is not being true to yourself, denying who you really are and not going for what you really want out of this very short life.

Infernal Clock: The Inferno was created on old ideas of sin. If you had to label the nine levels how, what would you call them? Would you keep it at 9? Increase or decrease?

For me there is one sin and that is not treating others with love or respect. This goes for humans, animals, children, and Earth.

Infernal Clock: They say the Devil has all the good tunes. What song would you recommend as an accompaniment to your story?

I wrote this story to Seasons In the Abyss by Slayer. I love music and write all the time to music. For this theme, I thought it was appropriate because the song begins slow, almost like an obsessive thought. The beginning captures the simmering rage. The gong is when the thought turns to action.  There is a building of the tempo and arrangement that marks the “breakthrough” in the story. That is when the music speeds up. All hell breaks loose (literally) after that.

Infernal Clock: If you were able to visit the Inferno, what level would you want to go to and who would you want to see there?

I want to see Satan. The chamber would most likely be empty or a mirror with our own reflection.

Infernal Clock: What is the hottest food you’ve ever eaten. Can you share a recipe?

Probably a Madras curry here in the UK or my very own salsa. I use multiple dried chilis to give it a complex spicy flavor. The recipe is too long! The curry was in a restaurant.

Infernal Clock: Who is your ‘favourite’ villain in history or fiction?

My favorite villain would be Satan. Consider who tells the story in the first place. You never know.

Infernal Clock: What is your long-term ambition for your writing?

My stories made into films. My stories to have meaning even if it is for one person.

Infernal Clock: Top-tip for other writers

Don’t compare. Your journey is your own. The story you write can only be told by you. Find your voice and express it without apology especially if you are from a marginalized community.

Bio:

V. Castro is a Mexican American writer originally from Texas now
residing in the UK with her family. When not caring for her three
children, she dedicates her time to writing.

For more information about her books and other publications, please
visit www.vvcastro.com. Violet is also co-founder of Fright Girl
Summer, a book festival for women in horror. You can also follow her
on Twitter and Instagram @vlatinalondon.

Her latest publication:

Goddess of Filth from Creature Publishing is available for preorder! Click on the book cover.

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Inferno: The Fourth Circle with Kev Harrison

Kev Harrison is an author you need to read. His folk horror novella, The Balance was published by LVP Publications earlier this year and is a must read. (Those at The Infernal Clock have a soft spot for folk horror.) His contribution to Inferno, is the Fourth Circle story, ‘Elixir’.

Infernal Clock: What was the inspiration behind your story?

I actually have a friend of a friend who is involved in one of the ghastly modern pyramid schemes that the protagonist is part of. That person is less cynical than Kai, but I generally find it pretty disturbing how people can get sucked into these brands and their promises, and can even program themselves to overlook the way in which people further down the chain are being chewed up, if they can’t get enough people to pound into grist beneath their own feet. I thought an examination of sin like the Inferno was the perfect venue to explore such an idea.

Infernal Clock: What is your idea of hell on earth?

Where the Daily Mail or Fox News were the only available sources of information.

Infernal Clock: The Inferno was created on old ideas of sin. If you had to label the nine levels how, what would you call them? Would you keep it at 9? Increase or decrease?

I would have to spend a lot of time doing this properly, but sins I’d like to see punished that come straight to the top of my head would be:

Tax avoidance, bigotry, cruelty to animals & spreading deliberate misinformation

Infernal Clock: They say the Devil has all the good tunes. What song would you recommend as an accompaniment to your story?

Definitely Opal by Swedish prog-metallers, Soen

Infernal Clock: If you were able to visit the Inferno, what level would you want to go to and who would you want to see there?

I think I’d really rather stay out of hell. But of the famous people mentioned by Dante, I’d most like to go and meet the Assyrian queen Semiramis, because no-one knows which of her huge number of misdeeds are real and how many are poetic license.

Infernal Clock: What is the hottest food you’ve ever eaten. Can you share a recipe?

I love spicy food and, when I went to Sri Lanka for a month of travelling in 2015, I promised myself I would take it easy on the spice, so as not to overdo it and get sick. On my penultimate day, back in the capital, Colombo, I went to a lunch time curry and rice canteen near the railway station, famed for it’s roasting hot food. After 26 days in the country, I felt ready. I told the guy, “give me the normal spice level for locals. I’ve been here a month, I’ll be fine.” I was not fine. It was absolutely delicious, but the guy gave me a complimentary lassi, because of the sweat and tears pouring down my face.

Infernal Clock: Who is your ‘favourite’ villain in history or fiction?

The portrayal of Lucifer, in Glenn Duncan’s I, Lucifer is someone I would gladly meet up with for a beer on a weekly basis.

Infernal Clock: What is your long-term ambition for your writing?

To be able to cut down my teaching hours to part time and focus on it more completely and for my peers to appreciate my work (though that last element’s already come partly true!)

Infernal Clock: Top-tip for other writers

Persistence is key to everything in writing. From drafting, to editing, to having the resilience to weather the inevitable multitude of rejections.

Bio:

Kev Harrison is a British writer of dark and strange stories living in
Lisbon, Portugal. His short fiction has appeared in a variety of
magazines and anthologies, as well as on a number of podcasts. His
debut novella, The Balance, is out now from Lycan Valley Press, while
two of his shorter works, Cinders of a Blind Man Who Could
See and Curfew are available as part of Demain Publishing’s Short Sharp
Shocks range.

www.kevharrisonfiction.com
www.twitter.com/lisboetaingles

Latest Publication:

Curfew, from Demain Publishing is a short story, released as part of Demain’s Short Sharp Shocks range, depicting a romantic weekend away on the English south coast that goes utterly wrong in ways that (I hope) you will not even begin to imagine. Don’t, whatever you do, miss Curfew! https://books2read.com/curfew

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Inferno: Enter the First Circle with Shannon Felton

Shannon Felton is a talented author whose novella, The Prisoners of Stewartville, was published by Silver Shamrock Publishing earlier this year (a book I’ve read and would highly recommend). Shannon’s story, ‘Her Knife is Hunger. Her Cup is First’, is to be found in the First Circle of Inferno. Here, we ask a few questions to get an insight into the workings of Shannon’s devilish mind.

Infernal Clock: What was the inspiration behind your story?

I actually don’t know a lot about Christian mythology but I’ve always been interested in non-Abrahamic religions. In H.A Grueber’s Myths of the Norsemen, there’s a section on the Thuringian goddess, Bertha, and her lake of unbaptized children. One line in particular, “tradition relates that she once left the country with her infant train dragging her plough, and settled elsewhere to continue her kind ministrations,” really captured my imagination.

Infernal Clock: What is your idea of hell on earth?

[Looks around] Is this not it?

I’m only half-joking.  It’s easy buying into the idea that earth is hell. We compete for limited resources, and despite how well we do we still lose loved ones to disease and crime, and on top of that we commit atrocious acts of war against one another. But maybe the trick to heaven on earth is finding the good despite all that. Little moments that miraculously outweigh the bigger ones.

Infernal Clock: The Inferno was created on old ideas of sin. If you had to label the nine levels how, what would you call them? Would you keep it at 9? Increase or decrease?

The entry level would definitely be a Walmart and from there you’d descend down the corporate ladder into even darker depths of despair, greed, and perversion. At the end? A private dinner with Jeff Bezos every day for eternity. But he’s the only one who gets to eat.

Infernal Clock: They say the Devil has all the good tunes. What song would you recommend as an accompaniment to your story?

HELL from the Valhalla Rising soundtrack.

Infernal Clock: If you were able to visit the Inferno, what level would you want to go to and who would you want to see there? (I think it’s best to keep current politics out of it though!)

I would go to the ninth circle of treachery, and the person I’d want to see there knows what they did.

Infernal Clock: What is the hottest food you’ve ever eaten? Can you share a recipe?

I don’t know if it’s the hottest, but my family likes Spicy Sausage Mac and Cheese Bake.

1lb ground hot sausage
1 ½  cups milk
12oz velveeta, cubed
1/2c Dijon mustard
1c hot Rotel
1c sliced mushrooms
1/3c sliced green onions
⅛ tsp cayenne
12oz elbow macaroni
2 tbsp grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook sausage in skillet. Combine milk, cheeze, and mustard in saucepan and cook over low heat until smooth. Stir in sausage, Rotel, mushrooms, green onions and cayenne. Remove from heat.

Cook  noodles, drain. Combine macaroni and cheese mixture in large bowl. Pour into greased casserole dish. Cover and bake 15 to 20 minutes. Stir, sprinkle with parmesan. Bake uncovered 5 minutes.

6-8 servings.

Infernal Clock: Who is your ‘favourite’ villain in history or fiction?

I watched Megan Follows as Catherine de’ Medici on a TV show recently. She did a great job of being evil, conniving, and murderous. And yet she still also managed to be hilarious and sympathetic. Definitely one of my favorite villains.

Infernal Clock: What is your long-term ambition for your writing?

I’d like to someday earn a living from it, have an actual office, hire a maid. Buy a cheese wheel and watch The Hobbit.

Infernal Clock: Top-tip for other writers

Don’t share your writing until you think it’s finished. I think having time alone with your story before anyone else reads it is really important—like Schrodinger’s Book, if you will—  where anything is still possible and it’s neither good nor bad until someone else cracks it open.

Bio:

Shannon Felton lives in the Phoenix area with her husband, four
children, and dogs. After relocating to the States from Germany, she
focused on a career in writing and has since published several short
stories as well as her debut novella, The Prisoners of Stewartville from
Silver Shamrock Publishing. You can find more on her Twitter
at @ShannonNova3.

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Enter the Inferno

I read Dante Alighieri’s Inferno (from his Divine Comedy) some years ago and the imagery from his verses has long stayed with me. Whilst his words were directed very much at certain people who lived during his own time period, the sufferings and punishments remain something you could apply to anyone in any age. The structure of the Inferno, with its Nine Circles and with some of those circles having rings within rings, is such that I thought it would make an excellent structure for an anthology. Stories could be created in Hell itself, within a specific circle, or the protagonist could be committing – or indulging – the specific sin which ultimately condemns them. Thus was our own Inferno born.

I am delighted to say that Inferno is not far off publication and still projected to appear in early December. We’re hoping to announce a specific date in a few weeks. In the meantime, Inferno contributors have answered a number of hellish interview questions and I will be posting them on this site in the runup to publication. First up this Sunday is Shannon Felton, whose story ‘Her Knife is Hunger. Her Cup is Thirst’, sits in the First Circle.

Look out for many more such interviews over the coming weeks.