Mark Matthews's Blog, page 6

ALEXANDER HAMILTON AND HIS SCHOLARSHIP FROM HELL

I have Hamilton buzzing in my head, beating in my heart, running through my veins. I feel this urge to write these thoughts out of my chest before they burst. Forgive everything that comes next, for it is the result of a maelstrom of Hamilton stimulus.


In the span of three days I saw Hamilton twice, first time 3rd row after winning the 'Ham4Ham' lottery, second time with previously purchased tickets, and it just happened to be the performance when LIn-Manuel Miranda appeared on stage at curtain call to the delight of the crowd.

I saw the musical first time in Chicago last summer, and fell in love, for multiple reasons, and could speak at length on each character's arc.  I would see it again, tonight. I just like how I feel when I am watching it.

What the hell does that have to do with Horror writing?

Well, I'm declaring our country's foundation was built upon a work of Hamilton Horror. Yep, a work of Horror.

Um, what?

First off, the story of Hamilton is the story of a writer. Someone obsessed with its power, and who could wield it like a wizard. Hamilton's"skill with the quill is undeniable" and his opponents knew that "as long as he can hold a pen, he’s a threat."

His words were part of what made Eliza fall in love with him, as she states:

"You and your words flooded my senses. Your sentences left me defenseless. You built me palaces out of paragraphs... You built cathedrals..."

But his obsession with writing starts to confound her as she asks:

"How do you write like tomorrow won’t arrive? How do you write like you need it to survive? How do you write every second you’re alive?"


If it weren't for his writing skills, he would have never made it to America, and what a different country we may have become. After the devastation of a hurricane rained down upon his West Indies island, he documented the horrors, and the world took notice.

"Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain, he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain - Well, the word got around, 'hey, this kid is insane? lets take up a collection and send him to the mainland.'"


In other words, he got his own scholarship from hell when the community, astounded by his talent, financed his move to the states, without which he might not ever have set foot in the country. 

The passage that set him free, found here,   screams of Cosmic Horror with its references to a supernatural forces, as if the hurricane was a creature, and the mortal humans powerless below. Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft would be impressed. I am taking an expansive view of horror, for sure, but if you define horror is an unflinching stare down at the pain of being human, the ever-present spector of death with its "unrelenting scythe, pointed, and ready for the stroke" and when facing down this darkness, we are forced to look inward at the 'deformity of our lives' - well, then, I'm saying it qualifies. 


Here's just a brief glimpse:

"Good God! what horror and destruction. Its impossible for me to describe or you to form any idea of it. It seemed as if a total dissolution of nature was taking place. The roaring of the sea and wind, fiery meteors flying about it in the air, the prodigious glare of almost perpetual lightning, the crash of the falling houses, and the ear-piercing shrieks of the distressed, were sufficient to strike astonishment into Angels"

..and...

"Look around thee and shudder at the view. See desolation and ruin where’er thou turnest thine eye! See thy fellow-creatures pale and lifeless; their bodies mangled, their souls snatched into eternity, unexpecting. Alas! perhaps unprepared! Hark the bitter groans of distress. See sickness and infirmities exposed to the inclemencies of wind and water! See tender infancy pinched with hunger and hanging on the mothers knee for food! See the unhappy mothers anxiety. Her poverty denies relief, her breast heaves with pangs of maternal pity, her heart is bursting, the tears gush down her cheeks. Oh sights of woe! Oh distress unspeakable! My heart bleeds, but I have no power to solace! "



Alexander lived through plenty of horrors; abandoned by his dad, his mom died of the same sickness that afflicted both of them, but Alex survived then "moved in with his cousin, but his cousin committed suicide." One can see how he "imagined death so much it felt like a memory." 

"I wrote my way out of hell," he explains, as his pride swelled and inflated to greek tragedy proportion, proclaiming in a howl: "When my prayers to God were met with indifference, I picked up a pen, I wrote my own deliverance."

Well, Icarus flew too close to the sun, and when he tried to write his way out again with blunt honesty after caught in a sex scandal, the community wasn't ready to rejoice in the same manner. His opponents danced with glee "Never gonna be president now."

*I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the other elements that make the musical so special. 
Hamilton rewrites the narrative of our history to reflect the kind of country we live in today, with its inclusiveness and representation of minorities and people of color. It shows the founding fathers with all of their noble intentions, fatal flaws and foibles, delivered in a hip-hoppy music, with wit and wisdom. So often the lyrics cite actual, historical quotes mixed in with its colloquialism. It rewrites the narrative to include those who currently live within its unfinished symphony, and allows so many to feel part of our country who before only saw a bunch of white dudes. (and lets not forget, Woman in the sequel! 'Work') 

Its delivery has reached an audience and taught our history in ways no other medium could. My daughter is in 6th grade and has President Washington's farewell speech memorized. She can describe the significance and unique precedence of transitions of power when he stepped down. These are concepts usually reserved for High School AP history. 

All of this is explained in numerous essays written with much more eloquence than I've managed here, but no time to rewrite. I'm off to play the Hamilton lottery looking for tickets to tomorrow's performance. There are a million things I haven't done, but just you wait, just you wait.

Nothing excites an obsessed man as much as a play about an obsessed man.

That Which Grows Wild, by Eric J. Guignard

Happy to have Eric Guignard on the blog today.
Eric is one of the nicest humans you will ever meet. He has this fantastic aura that bleeds kindness, and to spend a few moments with him, you can't avoid getting caught up inside. You also can't avoid noticing his intense appreciation for books. Their content, their presence. their power. I've seen him tending to his collection of signed paperbacks (can I share this? I hope so) as if each one was an ancient artifact, a rare gem. This appreciation is why he creates such fantastic books himself, including the groundbreaking anthology, A World Of Horror, and the fiction collection featured below, That Which Grows Wild.
If you don't believe me, believe this - BOTH of them were nominated for Bram Stoker awards in their respective categories. 



What was the inspiration for this collection?
The book is a collection (my first!) of previously published works, the stories having first appeared in various anthologies, magazines, etc. Each story in itself had its own inspiration or aim, so the collection is more about which stories would work well together in a grouping. I worked with editor Norman Prentiss at Cemetery Dance to select ones that showed a range, but at the same time weren’t too far “out of the box”. Originally I had some other choices that were more “weird” or satire or dark, and Norm suggested switching out those to ones a bit more in the same mood, so voilà, the finished product, which I’m happy with!
Story ideas and inspirations come, literally and figuratively, from everywhere: Dreams (both night and day), global news and current affairs, conversations with people, personal observations of the world, and playing the “What If?” game.
General inspirations for my creative works also stem from The Twilight Zone television show, comic books, and authors such as Cormac McCarthy, George Orwell, Dan Simmons, Seanan McGuire, Joe R. Lansdale, Neil Gaiman, and many, many others.


What are you working on and what can we expect from you in the future?
My most recent writing work is my debut collection, That Which Grows Wild: 16 Tales of Dark Fiction (Cemetery Dance Publications; July, 2018)
Quick synopsis: Equal parts of whimsy and weird, horror and heartbreak, That Which Grows Wild, by award-winning author Eric J. Guignard, collects sixteen short stories that traverses the darker side of the fantastic.


How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing fiction driven by the goal of publication since February, 2011. However, I’ve been writing and drawing stories ever since I was a child. I just did it then for my own interest, or for friends. I stopped in college, in order to pursue business and serious-minded life necessities... which, of course, I now regret. I don’t regret the pursuit of those things, but rather having given up writing for so many years. I only jumped into as a potential career after the realization struck me that I was missing out on something I was passionate about!
Grab "That Which Goes Wild" from Amazon

GARDEN OF FIENDS: TALES OF ADDICTION HORROR - NOW AVAILABLE

Garden of Fiends: Tales of Addiction Horror
IS ALIVE!!$4.99 for Kindle$12.99 for paperback (buy the paperback, and you can get the kindle version for only .99 cents more) Check it out on amazon here. 
ADVANCE PRAISE:
"There's something here to scare anyone and everyone. Garden of Fiends pushes all the wrong buttons in all the right ways!"
-Jonathan Maberry, New York Times best-selling author of Dogs of War and Mars One

"Garden of Fiends is scary in the realest of ways. What fertile ground for horror; stories that already, by nature, take place in the Twilight Zone; where lies and shady acts are the rule; where men and women step out of one world and into another; a place where addiction is king. John FD Taff's 'Last Call' is worth the price of admission alone."
-Josh Malerman, Bram Stoker nominated author of Bird Box
"A brilliant and original concept, Garden of Fiends captures the struggles of addiction and the horrors they inflict on those affected by it. Yes, it is dark and visceral, but with moments of hope throughout that make this a memorable collection of stories."
-The Horror Bookshelf

"Garden of Fiends brings us face-to-face with the demons driving us to dependence. Raw, brutal and insightful, Garden of Fiends is an important work."
-Lee Murray, author of Into the Mist

"An unflinching and intense look at addiction and its consequences, from some of the best horror writers in the business."
-Char's Horror Corner

"An incredibly fascinating and at times grim read. These are dark tales set against a backdrop of fear, addiction and self-loathing where families are ripped apart and relationships are left in tatters. Some of these stories will infect your conscious, burying themselves deep inside of your mind, leaving you scarred and itching to read more."
-Adrian Shotbolt, The Grim Reader

"Every offering drips with truth, blending tales of horror and addiction into an emotionally draining, yet essential experience."
-Ben Walker, UK Horror Scene

GARDEN OF FIENDS MARCH MADNESS CONTEST! Win a paperback or one of ten kindle copies

It’s MARCH MADNESS. Time to fill out your bracket. And by bracket I mean, “Garden of Fiends” brackets, of course. Here's how you play: Match the authors from the Table of Contents with their story’s first sentence and email to WickedRunPress@gmail.com. Get the most correct and you'll have a paperback delivered to your U.S. doorstep. (see below if you're not from the U.S.)



 If there’s a tie, first one to submit will win the paperback, rest will win a voucher to download Garden of Fiends: Tales of Addiction Horror for FREE the day it is released. In fact, if you're one of the first 10 who submit, regardless of your bracket, you'll win an amazon voucher for a FREE kindle download to your email on release day. Contest closes after 50 entries.

Below is the list of authors on the table of contents, as well as a list of the first sentences of all the stories.

Just match the author number with the corresponding sentence letter. (For example, one entry might be 1.B  2.F  3.A  4.G  5.C  6.H  7.D  8.E )
Enjoy! Email your answers to: WickedRunPress@gmail.com. 

Author Number: 1. Kealan Patrick Burke

2. Jessica McHugh

3. Max Booth III

4. Johann Thorsson

5. John FD Taff

6. Glen Krisch

7. Mark Matthews

8. Jack Ketchum


First Sentence Letter

A. Ted was so nervous about that evening's AA meeting that he'd gone out and had a drink or two.
B. The best way to take atlys is to inject it straight into the testicles.
C. Julia tried it for the first time in a party uptown, a party she only went to because her friend, that friend, the one who knows all the cool people, convinced her to come. 
D. Jeremy watched the blood flow out of him, helpless and terrified.

E. "I'm here.”
F. I wake up drowning in a puddle, my lungs filled with rainwater.

G. “Stop listening right now if you don’t want to hear the truth.”

H. Exhausted after hitching for hundreds of miles, Maggie had finally hopped on a Greyhound in Wichita to take her the rest of the way to her long lost father.

**Email your answers to WickedRunPress@gmail.com. Most correct answers wins a paperback, ten more prizes of a voucher for a FREE Kindle download.(if you're outside of the U.S., you can win but must pay paperback shipping. Sorry.)(if you are in possession of an advance review copy, you're not eligible.)

GARDEN OF FIENDS PRESALE is NOW! (But read from the Table of Contents TODAY)

GARDEN OF FIENDS:  TALES OF ADDICTION HORROR   Available for Presale on Amazon
So excited to announce that The Presale has begun! Get your copy at a discount.  But who wants to wait for release day? Not me, and not you. 
So Check this promo out:
The first 25 readers who send a receipt confirming a pre-sale purchase of GARDEN OF FIENDS to  WickedRunPress@gmail.com will win the kindle book of their choosing written by any author on the GARDEN OF FIENDS table of contents. Yep, don't wait for April, read from the table of contents TODAY.

Lemme break this down:

1. Purchase Garden of Fiends on Amazon presale (currently at a discounted price.)

2. Choose from one the books listed below written by authors appearing on the table of contents

3. Email your Garden of Fiends' purchase receipt along with your choice of one of the books below to WickedRunPress@gmail.com and...

Bamn! If you’re one of the first 25 you’ll receive an amazon voucher right back for a free kindle download of your chosen book.

 (And, pssst... if you're not one of the first 25 who email, I can still promise something extra.)

Here are your choices: 

Jack Ketchum 
The Girl Next Door
Off Season
Offspring
Peaceable Kingdom
The Woman
Red

Kealan Patrick Burke
Kin
Sour Candy
Secret Faces
The Turtle Boy

Jessica McHugh
The Train Derails in Boston
The Green Kangaroos
Pins
Rabbits in the Garden

John FD Taff
The Desolated Orchard
I Can Taste the Blood
The End in All Beginnings

Max Booth III
How to Successfully Kidnap Strangers
Lost Signals
American Nightmare

Johann Thorrsson
Not Your Average Monster: Volume 2

Glen Krisch
Where Darkness Dwells
The Hollowed Land
The Nightmare Within
Loss

Mark Matthews
Milk-Blood
All Smoke Rises
Lilly's Tale: The Milk-Blood Trilogy
On the Lips of Children
STRAY


 (Don't see a book by one of these authors on the list? please inquire within)

Writing Is For the Dogs

It was a dark, scary night, and I needed to poop in the backyard.

ALL SMOKE RISES on the Preliminary HWA Bram Stoker Award Ballot

ALL SMOKE RISES made the Preliminary Ballot for the 2016 Bram Stoker Awards in the long fiction category. I'm incredible honored and thrilled, especially for the book to be alongside such writers as Josh Malerman and Nicole Cushing.

Humongous thanks and appreciation to everyone who gave ALL SMOKE RISES a slice of their precious time: either through creating it, reading it, reviewing it, or recommending it. (This means you: Kealan Patrick Burke, Julie Hutchings, and Andi Rawson) Feels like a peak, (for me, at least) and I can see for miles and miles. I'm just gonna sit here with my lunch and be content. No need to move on, not yet at least. Been a long trek.

The final list will be narrowed down to five, and then the final awards will be handed out at this year’s StokerCon (April 27-30 in Long Beach, California).

Here's the full list: Superior Achievement in a NovelFenn, J. Lincoln – Dead Souls (Gallery Books)Hand, Elizabeth – Hard Light: A Cass Neary Crime Novel (Minotaur Books)Heuvelt, Thomas Olde – Hex (Tor Books)Jones, Stephen Graham – Mongrels (William Morrow)Langan, John – The Fisherman (Word Horde)Lombardi, Nicola – The Tank (Dunwich Edizioni)MacLeod, Bracken – Stranded: A Novel (Tor Books)Murray, Lee – Into the Mist (Cohesion Press)Prentiss, Norman– Odd Adventures with your Other Father (Kindle Press)Snyman, Monique – Muti Nation (Omnium Gatherum Media)Tremblay, Paul – Disappearance at Devil’s Rock (William Morrow)
Superior Achievement in a First NovelBarnett, Barbara – The Apothecary’s Curse (Pyr Books)Chapman, Greg – Hollow House (Omnium Gatherum Media)Deady, Tom – Haven (Cemetery Dance Publications)Franks, Matthew – The Monster Underneath (Samhain Publishing, Ltd.)Garza, Michelle and Lason, Melissa – Mayan Blue (Sinister Grin Press)Gorman, William – Blackwater Val (Crystal Lake Publishing)Kilgore, Kari – Until Death (Spiral Publishing)Labat, L.M. – The Sanguinarian ID (Night to Dawn Magazine & Books LLC)Lewis, Beth – The Wolf Road (Crown Publishing)Murphy, Jason – The Black Goat Motorcycle Club (Sinister Grin Press)Woodrow, Jonathan – Wasteland Gods (Horrific Tales Publishing)Wytovich, Stephanie – The Eighth (Dark Regions Press)
Superior Achievement in a Young Adult NovelAlexander, Maria – Snowed (Raw Dog Screaming Press)Brozek, Jennifer – Last Days of Salton Academy (Ragnarok Publishing)Cosimano, Elle – Holding Smoke (Hyperion-Disney)Ford, Michael Thomas – Lily (Lethe Press)Kelley, Michael Brent – Keep Away From Psycho Joe (Omnium Gatherum Media)Roberts, Jeyn – When They Fade (Knopf Books for Young Readers)Sirowy, Alexandra – The Telling (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)Varley, Dax – Sinful: A Bleed Novel (Garden Gate Press)
Superior Achievement in a Graphic NovelBunn, Cullen – Blood Feud (Oni Press)Chambers, James – Kolchak the Night Stalker: The Forgotten Lore of Edgar Allan Poe(Moonstone)de Campi, Alex – No Mercy, Vol. 2 (Image Comics)Miller, Mark Alan and Lansdale, Joe R. – The Steam Man (Dark Horse Books)Moore, Alan – Providence, Act 1 (Avatar Press)Quach, Ashley P – Weirdy (Sassquach Comics)Kirkman, Robert – Outcast, Vol 3 This Little Light(Image Comics)
Superior Achievement in Long FictionAnderson, Paul Michael – Bones Are Made to be Broken (Bones Are Made to be Broken) (Written Backwards)Boden, John – Jedi Summer with the Magnetic Kid (Post Mortem Press)Cushing, Aric – Vampire Boy (Grand & Archer)Cushing, Nicole – The Sadist’s Bible (01Publishing)Drinkwater, Karl – Harvest Festival (Organic Apocalypse)Edelman, Scott – That Perilous Stuff (Chiral Mad 3) (Written Backwards)LaValle, Victor – The Ballad of Black Tom (Tor.com)Malerman, Josh – The Jupiter Drop (You, Human) (Written Backwards)Matthews, Mark – All Smoke Rises: Milk-Blood Redux (Wicked Run Press)Shane, Simmons – Raw (Silent Screams: An Anthology of Socially Conscious Dark Fiction) (Serpent & Dove Speculative Fiction)Waggoner, Tim – The Winter Box (Darkfuse)
Superior Achievement in Short FictionBailey, Michael – “Time is a Face on the Water” (Borderlands 6) (Borderlands Press)Bodner, Hal – “A Rift in Reflection” (Chiral Mad 3) (Written Backwards)Golden, Christopher – “The Bad Hour” (What the #@&% is That?) (Saga Press)Hanson, Michael H. – “Conqueror Worms” (Dark Corners) (Iron Clad Press)Hucklebridge, Dane – “Ortolan (F(r)iction #5” (Tethered by Letters)Kiste, Gwendolyn – “Reasons I Hate My Big Sister” (Nightscript Volume 2) (Chthonic Matter)Mannetti, Lisa – “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories) (Crystal Lake Publishing)Manzetti, Alessandro – “Long Hair’s Inferno” (The Monster, the Bad, and the Ugly) (Kipple Officina Libraria)Oates, Joyce Carol – “The Crawl Space” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Volume #2016/Issue#8) (Dell Magazines)Smith, John Claude – “The Wounded Table” (The Wrath of Concrete and Steel) (Dunhams Manor Press)Yap, Isabel – “Only Unclench Your Hand” (What the #@&% is That?) (Saga Press)
Superior Achievement in a Fiction CollectionBarron, Laird – Swift to Chase (JournalStone)Braum, Daniel – The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales (Grey Matter Press)Chizmar, Richard – A Long December (Subterranean Press)Gavin, Richard – Sylvan Dread: Tales of Pastoral Darkness (Three Hands Press)Oates, Joyce Carol – The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror (Mysterious Press)O’Neill, Gene – Lethal Birds (Omnium Gatherum Media)Schaller, Eric – Meet Me in the Middle of the Air (Undertow Publications)Schwaeble, Hank – American Nocturne (Cohesion Press)Sutton, Pete – A Tiding of Magpies (Kensington Gore Publishing)Wehunt, Michael – Greener Pastures (Shock Totem Publications)
Superior Achievement in a ScreenplayAlvarez, Fede and Sayagues, Rodo – DON’T BREATHE (Ghost House Pictures, Good Universe)Campbell, Josh, Chazelle, Damien, and Stuecken, Matthew – 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE (Paramount Pictures)Catlin, Sam, Rogen, Seth, and Goldberg, Evan – PREACHER: PILOT (Episode1:0) (AMC)Duffer, Matt and Duffer, Ross – STRANGER THINGS: THE VANISHING OF WILL BYERS (Episode 01: Chapter One) (21 Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre)Duffer, Matt and Duffer, Ross – STRANGER THINGS: THE UPSIDE DOWN (Episode 01: Chapter Eight) (21 Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre)Eggers, Robert – THE VVITCH (Parts and Labor, RT Features, Rooks Nest Entertainment, Code Red Productions, Scythia Films, Maiden Voyage Pictures, Mott Street Pictures, Pulse Films, and Very Special Projects)Gimple, Scott M. – THE WALKING DEAD: THE DAY WILL COME WHEN YOU WON’T BE (Episode 07:01) (AMC)Hayes, Carey, Hayes, Chad, Wan, James and Johnson, David – THE CONJURING 2 (New Line Cinema)Logan, John – PENNY DREADFUL: A BLADE OF GRASS (Episode 03:04) Showtime Presents in association with SKY, Desert Wolf Productions, Neal Street Productions)Nichols, Jeff – MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (Warner Bros.)
Superior Achievement in an AnthologyBailey, Michael – Chiral Mad 3 (Written Backwards)Bennett, T.C. and Carbone, Tracy L. – Cemetery Riots (Awol From Elysium Press)Dabrowski, Lisa – Horror from the Inside Out (Whorror House)Johnson, Eugene and Day, Charles – Drive-In Creature Feature (Evil Jester Press)Kahle, Pete – Not Your Average Monster, Vol. 2: A Menagerie of Vile Beasts (Bloodshot Books)Manzetti, Alessandro – The Beauty of Death (Independent Legions Publishing)Manzetti, Alessandro and di Orazio, Paolo – The Monster, the Bad and the Ugly (Kipple Officina Libraria)Monteleone, Thomas F. and Monteleone, Oliva F. – Borderlands 6 (Samhain Publishing, Ltd.)Mosiman, Billie Sue – Fright Mare-Women Write Horror (DM Publishing)Murano, Doug and Ward, D. Alexander – Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories (Crystal Lake Publishing)Rivera, Anthony and Lawson, Sharon – Peel Back the Skin (Grey Matter Press)
Superior Achievement in Non-FictionBraudy, Leo. – Haunted: On Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural (Yale University Press)Franklin, Ruth – Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life (Liveright Publishing Corporation)Ocker, J.W. – A Season with the Witch (Countryman Press)Olson, Danel P. – Guillermo del Toro’s “The Devil’s Backbone” and “Pan’s Labyrinth”: Studies in the Horror Film(Centipede Press)Poole, W. Scott – In the Mountains of Madness: The Life, Death and Extraordinary Afterlife of H. P. Lovecraft(Soft Skull Press)Skal, David J. – Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker, the Man Who WroteDracula (Liveright Publishing Corporation)Tibbetts, John – The Gothic Worlds of Peter Straub (McFarland)Towlson, Jon – The Turn to Gruesomeness in American Horror Films, 1931-1936 (McFarland)
Superior Achievement in a Poetry CollectionBetts, Matt – Underwater Fistfight (Raw Dog Screaming Press)Boston, Bruce and Manzetti, Alessandro – Sacrificial Nights (Kipple Officina Libraria)Collings, Michael R. – Corona Obscura: Poems Dark and Elemental (self-published)Cowen, David E. – The Seven Yards of Sorrow (Weasel Press)DiLouie, Craig and Moon, Jonathan – Children of God: Poems, Dreams, and Nightmares from the Family of God Cult (ZING Communications, Inc., Jonathan Moon.)Gailey, Jeannine Hall – Field Guide to the End of the World: Poems (Moon City Press)Lepovetsky, Lisa – Voices from Empty Rooms (Alban Lake)Lopez III, Aurelio Rico – Two Drinks Away from Chaos (Azoth Khem Publishing)Simon, Marge. – Small Spirits (Midnight Town Media)Wytovich, Stephanie M. – Brothel (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

GARDEN OF FIENDS Submission Deadline

The deadline to submit to GARDEN OF FIENDS: TALES OF ADDICTION HORROR is now in the past and there is much work ahead.  I've been reading submissions first thing out of bed, and reading submissions until I go to bed at night. Many of them I will read twice, and some will be read by at least two others who are also doing read throughs. Then there will be decisions to make. I want a diverse table of contents, with a variety of tones, and something that will keep the readers turning pages. 

Wicked Run Press will never be a traditional small publisher, only a small, personal company I will use for dream projects, but I am trying to 'do it right' and measure each step along the way. 

The nature of the guidelines required writers to put forth a ton of effort. The word count was longer than most anthologies, the topic required research, and it took a lot of hours writers could have spent doing otherwise. I certainly know how this goes, and with that in mind, I feel I owe each person who submitted a timely response. It will not be easy, and I want to feel confident in the final decisions.

If you are reading this and submitted, please know that I appreciate it and will do my best to get a response by early February.   I also want to thank the team of folks I have been leaning on for guidance and support. I would never have gone into this alone.

The Horror Novel Reviews Gives ALL SMOKE RISES A 2016 Shout-Out

10 Horror Novels Released in 2016 That Will Stock With You In 2017



ALL SMOKE RISES made the list! Here's what they had to say:Whoa!! Talk about a powerful read, Mark Matthews has given us a horror story steeped in reality. We all have heard the horrors of addiction and perhaps some of us have even dealt with such a curse, but to have it thrown in our face so brutally such as Mark has done is really terrifying. Mark knows of what he writes about, he has worked in the mental health and substance abuse field for over 20 years and so he is able to relay emotions so heart wrenchingly real.

One of my favorite reads of 2016, Of Foster Homes and Flies, by Chad Lutzke also made the list: This is a wonderfully told story of growing up, facing one’s fears, and taking that first step into adulthood. Its dark subject matter is balanced with the authenticity of Denny’s character. You want everything to go in his favor, you want him to come out stronger for his actions, you can’t help but cheer him on!  Like a story plucked from Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine, it is one that will be remembered long after you’re done reading.

Co-Writing My Next Release

My dog, seen here writing himself into my next novella, which is to appear in Garden of Fiends: Tales of Addiction Horror, coming in spring of 2017.