Dev Jarrett's Blog, page 2

Back in the Saddle Again. The camel saddle, that is...

Sorry about the grainy picture.

It wasn't just the picture, though.  The very air was grainy.  It was my first Kuwait sandstorm.  I've been through a few in Afghanistan, but this was the first of this trip.  Whee, sandstorm selfie.

Yes, for now, I'm a resident of Camp Buehring, Kuwait.  Not much fun, especially when the ground won't stay on the fucking ground.  Hopefully we'll do some good here, and we can get the job done quickly.  Then we can all get back home.

When we were at Scares that Care, I got the word that we'd be moving to Fort Riley.  I was needed out there.  Fine.  Except, Chief, you've got to go NOW.

So, I got notice that we were moving in July.

Got orders in August.

We got on the road in September.  Got a call the first day of the road trip, and I knew what was coming.  "Chief, you're deployable, right?"

We arrived, and signed in, and before Jennie and I got all our boxes unpacked, I came downrange.

So let's get this done.  And yeah, when I can, I'm writing.  Of course.  I've got a short story called "Idle Puppet" that'll be published soon in an anthology from Sirens Call Publications, and my next two novels will be published by Permuted Press--one, Dark Crescent, next summer, and the other Casualties, in winter of 2016.

Keep reading, and I'll keep writing.

--Dev 

Q: But why do you write horror? You were always such a nice boy...

Brian, Marc, Joe, and me. The Scares that Care Weekend was fun, and my first time attending any sort of Con.  It brought to mind the question I've been asked repeatedly by the people who knew me when I was a kid.  "Oh, Dev, You've got so much talent.  Why do you want to waste it writing that stuff?"  As a kid, all I could do was shrug.  These days though, I say what I think. So, umm, fuck you.  Wasted talent is talent that's not used.  Yes, I write stories that have blood, monsters, foul language, and even...S-E-X in them.

I love it.  People who read it enjoy it, and they tell me so.  So yeah, I'm going to keep doing it.  Until I can't.  And all the folks that we met at Scares that Care are like that, too.  Wonderful, friendly people, getting together and sharing our outlook for a great cause.  We met some fascinating people, and made memories that will always stand out in my mind.

Keep reading, and I'll keep writing.

--Dev

The Family that Scares together...

In less than 48 hours, I'll be in Williamsburg, at the Scares that Care Weekend! All right, folks.  Here are the Ws.  Who: Your favorite horror authors, actors, and artists of every stripe. What: Scares That Care Weekend, a horror convention whose proceeds will go to help those in need.  Where: Williamsburg, VA.  When: This weekend.
Why: Dude, did you need to ask that?

At the Scares That Care weekend, you'll have a chance to meet folks like Brian Keene, Cassandra Peterson, Kane Hodder, Mary Sangiovanni, and many others.  Cast members from the movie Christine will be there, as well as cast members from the original Fright Night .  Other actors and authors will be there as well (including yours truly, of course), doing readings, giving opinions on panels, and answering those freaky questions you've always wanted to know. This is a fantastic chance to get to meet some of those horror icons while at the same time you'll be helping others in need.

Click the picture above to go to the website, and when you come out this weekend, be sure to stop by the Blood Bound Books table and grab a few books.  I've also got some Loveless -themed merch to give away--come get some.

See you there!

--Dev

 

I'll see your schizophrenia, and raise you a god complex...

Yesterday, I saw the Facebook meme-thingy shown on the left (thanks very much, Tina Clark!) and it made me think about those voices.  I know, I flipped right past the piano-playing cat, and my life may be poorer for it.  BUT ANYWAY...

As writers, the voices are there all the time, talking and yelling and screeching and vying for attention.  Clamoring, threatening to never let us sleep again unless we LISTEN.  Unquiet spirits of our imaginations, wanting nothing more than to be heard and seen, to be real.

Maybe the voices are there for everyone.  I don't know.

I DO know that sometimes, the voices talk when you're trying to do other stuff, which can be annoying as fuck.  I was watching a movie the other day and something one of the characters said suggested a whole subplot to something I'm currently working on.  I listened to the idea, considered it, and ultimately rejected most of it, but saved some crumbs, then by the time I'd put it aside, I'd missed something like twenty minutes of movie.  Will it improve what I'm working on?  I think so, but there's a cost.

That's one of those things that is a constant thorn in my wife's side.  She understands that I write, and she further understands that there's no on/off switch to flip, but after twenty-one years, it still gets under her skin.  Sorry, babe. 

Those voices out of our imaginations want to be real.  They want their stories told.  So we make them real.  We breathe life into them, and in return they fulfill us.  With any luck, they can teach our readers about themselves, and about us, too.

Keep reading, and I'll keep writing.

Welcome to the family...now enjoy the apocalypse!

A few years back, I wrote a novella about a guy who finds out too late that he's about to marry into a family of backwoods cannibals.  Writing the story was as easy as hitting water when falling out of a boat, and the editing I did also flew by really easily.  I sent it out, and it got accepted by Sam's Dot Publishing.  The hard part was coming up with some sort of tagline for an ad.

What I finally figured out (or remembered, really) was that any kid about to get married wants acceptance into into his new family.  Granted, the irony of the situation--being welcomed into a family of CANNIBALS--changed the game completely.

As I recently posted on Facebook, I just signed a contract with Permuted Press, and now I'm a member of the Permuted family.  They've all been very welcoming to me, and so far, cannibal-free!  Win-win, right?  I'm very excited by the prospect, and I'm looking forward to every aspect of getting both Dark Crescent and Casualties   into print.

You keep reading, and I'll keep writing.

Chaos has its benefits...

As I alluded to before, this has truly been a season of change. Dolly is a free agent, which is good, and Dark Crescent is also in the hands of a publisher.  Ideally, they'll both get picked up.

In other news, the boss is reading Casualties . Jennie's my first reader, and she doesn't pull any punches when it comes to criticism.  Hopefully, she'll enjoy it.

That means I can focus a little more now.  The short story I'm working on that ended up growing too large for short story-ness is still growing.  I'll continue to feed it the souls of small children, and we'll see where that goes, too.

Speaking of short stories, I had a few in the hopper over at Wicked East Press, but due to a variety of issues, they, too, are now free to be sent elsewhere. Wicked East, apparently, is no more. The "Works" page is goingto be updated shortly.

I know the life of a small press can be difficult, which is why so many come and go every year. I know, too, that many of them are run by well-meaning people who love the work and the craft, but don't have the knowhow to keep such a business afloat. If, as a reader, you find something in small press that's worth crowing about, do it!  You've got the whole internet at your disposal.  Give reviews--good or bad--on the things you read, because when it all comes down to the nickels and dimes, word-of-mouth is a huge benefit for creators of all kinds.

Support good small press. They could grow up to be large press. And if not, they're still the incubators for tomorrow's great writers.    

Turn and face the strange...

So yeah, a few months back, I fiinshed the first draft of what I'm calling Casualties , and at that time, I posted that I wanted to dash off a quick short story before jumping into the first rewrite of Casualties , and that I also had an inkling for the next big thing for my writing. I was riding high on the recent publication of Loveless , as well as the impending publication of Dolly .

Then, it happened. Everything changed.

First, the publisher who had Dolly decided he'd no longer publish books. He was very apologetic, and said he'd be willing to stick to the contract we had, but didn't think he'd be able to "put forth the effort to make it a success." Well fucka buncha that. Dolly is now off seducing some other poor unsuspecting editor, and I've got high hopes for that.

Second, that short story I intended to spend maybe a week cranking out? It grew. A lot. I kept being unsatisfied with the unanswered questions that kept occuring to me while writing it.THAT was frustrating as shit, but now I'm having fun with it. And no, it's not finished yet, but when it is, it's gonna rock.  The tough part is that I'm dividing my time between first drafting that, while rewriting Casualties .

Third, a few real life things have really made this a difficult winter. Personal shit. Enough said.

On the plus side, Horror Library Volume 5 came out, and it's horribly beautiful.  It's got a short story of mine in it, called "Ambrosia," and I'm honored to be in the company of some of the best writers in the field.  Drop by Amazon and grab a copy!

Also, that next big thing?  I suppose it's a testament to its strength that I'm still jazzed about writing it, even though I haven't even touched it yet.  Right now it's just a folder on my desktop with a few weird, cryptic notes in it.  More on that when I can get to it!

Take care of each other, and read a lot.  It's good for you

--Dev

 

Post-podcast...

So last weekend, as promised (or should that say "warned"?), I gave my first live interview on a podcast.  Behind the Words is the name of the show.  This month they're interviewing horror authors, in keeping with the Halloween season (because a Pumpkin Spice Flavored Podcast probably won't work).

The host, Lori Hays, was very friendly and gracious and approachable...and I felt I was a horrible guest!  I had fun trying to answer the questions without sounding like a drooling idiot, but I think I was rude.  I found myself stepping all over what she was trying to say, then rambling, my speech wandering all over the place, repeating itself as if senility has taken hold at the RIPE OLD age of .

I felt that Lori deserved someone MUCH more informed about my work, with a MUCH better grasp of the English language--maybe a tree sloth recovering from a stroke, or a cinderblock sprayed with field-expedient jellyfish antitoxin (yes, a pissed-on
cinderblock...what?).

She insisted I did okay, again showing those telltale signs of a gracious host.

I listened to the playback later, and it didn't really sound too bad.  Reasonably coherent, even.

I'm CONVINCED that she used the F-bomb Editor (that couple-second delay for people who cuss too much...like me) to edit out the "umm" and "ahh" and dead air pauses it felt like I was taking.  For those interested in recording and collecting my voice so that you might re-edit me to say all sorts of terrible things...don't bother.  I already say those things in order to make my kids snarf whatever they're trying to drink.  Also, the voiceprint to unlock the vault includes words that I didn't use in the interview (so nyah nyah!).  HOWEVER, if you want to hear what went on in the interview, what's actually behind the words, here's the link.  My
portion is the second half.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/authorsglobalradionetwork/2013/09/28/new-authors-lori-jones-and-dev-jarrett-on-behind-the-words-1

Podcast!

LOVELESS , my debut horror novel, is on sale now as you know. Go over to Amazon and get it.

Right now. I'll wait.

'Kay, ready? Good. Now you've got the book...but what about everything else?  Where did the story come from?  What's coming next?

What's behind the words? Tune in to Authors on the Air today at 12:30 CST and find out! I'll be interviewed in a podcast " Behind the Words with Lori Hays," and therein, all shall be revealed.

Wait, whut?  All? As in, ALL?

Well, maybe not all (you don't really want to SEE the way the butcher makes the sausage, do you? Eww.), but it'll be fun. Come by and see (um, I mean, hear)!

Here's the link!

Podcast today!

LOVELESS, my debut horror novel, is on sale now as you know. Go over to Amazon and get it.

Right now. I'll wait.

Okay, ready? Good. Now you've got the book...but what about everything else?

What's behind the words? Tune in to Authors on the Air today at 12:30 CST and find out! I'll be interviewed in a podcast " Behind the Words with Lori Hays," and all shall be revealed.

Wait, all? ALL?

Well, maybe not all (you don't really want to SEE the way the butcher makes the sausage, do you? Eww.), but it'll be fun. Come by and see (um, I mean, hear)!

Behind the Words

Loveless