Mark Matthews's Blog, page 8

STOKERCON 2016 IN LAS VEGAS

I got home less than 24 hours ago from my first HWA convention, and I'm still feeling the buzz. Warning: this blog post may be the equivalent of a drunken text.

It was a fantastic weekend.

I went in not having met anyone there in person, only online dialogue, so I approached it with some apprehension.

The voice of my social anxiety imagined all sorts of nasty scenarios. The weekend would be full of me anxiously approaching other writers, who would then ask me, "so what books have you written?" I would then go through  my publishing pedigree in a jarbled elevator pitch. There would be a pause while their brain computes if I am worth talking to, and then many would move on. My three horror novels weren't worthy of their time.

What I found was the opposite. Warm, welcoming, egalitarian. I can honestly say there wasn't a single writer there who did not seem genuinely happy to strike up a conversation. And strike it up I did.  I was going to get my money's worth, and was introducing myself to anyone who had a convention nametag. If you had a pulse, I stuck my hand out and said hello. If I saw you in the casino, on the elevator, next to my urinal (okay, not that one) I was going to meet as many people as I could and it all felt so natural and welcoming. So many writers and editors that I met, it would be impossible to name them all. 

I had some goals for the convention. To meet people, to get motivated, to give myself direction, and of course to be a fanboy to some of the talent.


I checked off a picture with Jack Ketchum from the list the first night, and then I got so much more including a signed book and a handful of conversations with "the scariest man in America." We discussed the Girl Next Door and how I was blown away by the POV he chose to write the story in. We discussed his books with Lucky Mckee, both "I'm Not Sam" and his next release. Then, in another conversation out of the blue he asked what Stephen King book I like best.  (Gotta go out of the ordinary, I told myself, so I went with The Long Walk, one of his Bachman books.)

Jack was engaging, inviting, approachable, all of which epitomized the whole HWA convention experience, where massive talent shared space and didn't shade out the tiny little seeds of talent (such as myself) trying to grow in the shade.  

I got to meet John FD Taff, someone who I have considered a near digital mentor ever since we were signed together with Books of the Dead Press and who has helped my writing life tremendously. Without him there, I may not have braved it, and he's got all the emotion and range of his books.

I broke bread with John Foster, got a signed copy of Mr. White, a book that was on my must-read list after reading the short story teaser.

I got signed copies of Library of the Dead (an anthology which won a stoker later on that day) and Chiral Mad 3.  Editor Michael Bailey noted that I have been to every single StokerCon ever held. (Damn straight) I met the ever-pleasant Eric J. Guignard, who extended his hand and hotel key for a place to put my suitcase for the last day of the Con, for I had to check out at 11 am but wasn't leaving until 12 hours later.

Another goal was to say hello to Nicole Cushing. I've read three of her books, each one of them blowing my mind a bit more than the last,  and I got a chance to talk with her and her husband on more than one occasion. We discussed her unusual sense of transgressive fiction, and I got a few copies of her incredible flyer/mock-religous pamphlet and tie in to Mr. Suicide. When she won the deserved Bram Stoker award, she was sitting right by me, and I couldn't help but feel the emotional explosion when she hugged her husband. I gave her my own hug, and I got perhaps the first picture of her with her prize.

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RL Stine is God-damned hilarious, only to be outdone by Jeff Strand who was born to be an MC.

Other highlights: The madness of John Skipp, who hopped about the plotting workshop like a drug-infused leprechaun helping an army of other leprechauns plot their next book. The subtle genius of Tim Wagoneer, who discussed "how to create a monster" and more importantly, how we react to monsters, The affable Jonathan Maberry, who happily signed a copy of Rot &Ruin for my daughter and personifies the convention spirit of cooperation and paying it forward.

I also sat on my own panel moderated by Jason Brock, trying to explain that, if you do it right, you can be a self-publisher who is actually a small publisher, just act like one. Beta readers, editors, arc copies, cover artists, pre-orders, advertisments, etc..  Of course, what I wanted to say and how it come out were two different things. You don't get to sleep on what you say and edit it the next day. It's why I write and do not public speak.

 Just to prove I know how to complain, the food at the banquet was pretty shitty, (but, who cares) the hotel was the armpit of the Vegas strip (no Coffee in the rooms, you have to take an elevator to the lobby, stand in line, and then pay 5 bucks for your morning fix. A bottle of 8 ounce water was 5 bucks, a slice of pizza 7 bucks) Vegas in general was largely a distraction. I did not play a single hand of blackjack or a single slot machine, just some minor sports betting at the Flamingo sportsbook. (the armpit of Vegas sportsbooks) 

Last thing: this is not the first time I went to Vegas sober. I've gone there twice in my early sobriety, so it is not like I feared I was going to lose my 24 years of being drug and alcohol free, but I did fear feeling "awkward" being sober, which is never a good place to be in. I never felt that, but I did buy some Crystal Meth. See, when one sees Mr. Walter White on the Vegas Strip, one can not help but buy some Heisenberg Blue. See below. (I did smuggle it home in my suitcase, and any extra I have will be attached to ALL SMOKE RISES , so buy a copy, 'right?)




Meanwhile, I need to start writing and making a few sales. The plane tickets to Long Beach for StokerCon2017 are not cheap, and this John Skipp plot isn't going to write itself. Huge thanks to the HWA who put this thing together. It was an unforgettable time. 

MY 2016 STOKERCON SCHEDULE

In case you want to put a (nerf) bullet through my head, I want you to know where to look.

I am leaving on Thursday morning for Las Vegas to attend the Horror Writers Association convention, now known as Stokercon.

On Thursday, I will be part of the panel for The Small Press or Self-Publishing: Weighing the Best Options for an Unagented Author".  Then I hope to hit up the 9:30 reading by Tim Waggoner.

On Friday, I have two workshps, one by Jonathan Mayberry (my daughter has sent me with a copy of Rot & Ruin to sign), and then I'm taking part of John Skipp's much heralded "The Master Plotting Crash Course." 

After this, I want to hit up the Patrick Freivald  & Trevor Firetog reading, and then another "Small Press, Agent, Or Indie Publishing" workshop, and then the Linda Addison & Paul Dale Anderson reading.

Friday night ends with the StokerCon Luky 13 Film Competiation, which goes until 2 am, eastern standard time, so this aging Mo'Fo is going to need caffeine.

Saturday morning starts with Tim Waggoner's workshop "Build a Better Monster," and then I want to hit up "The Horror Short Story in the 21st Centry" with Ellen Datlow, Stephen Jones, and Jonathon Mayberry on the panel.  At 1:30 I will be standing outside the doors of the Jack Ketchum's 'Writing from Experience, Writing from the Wound" workshop, hoping to hear a few words since it sold out before I could make it.  After that, "The Pulse of the International Horror Market."

Saturday at 3:30 I am doing my own reading along with Denver native Sam W Anderson (I had been paired with Bram Stoker nominated Gary Braunbeck, but he has unfortunately taken ill. I was relieved to know his spot will be filled. Thanks Sam!)  I will be reading from two scenes from MILK-BLOOD and splashing  heroin-laced milk-blood at the audience. So, please attend but wear protection if you are in the first row. Think Gallagher.


Saturday night is the Bram Stoker award banquet, after which I am flying out to take the Red-Eye home.  One last shout-out thanks to Eric J. Guignard who is letting me put my stuff in his room rather than living out of the hotel lobby for the day.  Thanks Eric, and it all just is more proof that horror writers have the finest hearts, and they are an incredible, talented, unique bunch. 

The Fireman - And My Grubby Hands On An Advance Review Copy

I've read a handful of Advance Review copies in my time, but none higher on the horror writing totem pole as what I am reading now.

Joe Hill's The Fireman releases next month, and I got my grubby hands on an advance review copy.

It's a hefty book at nearly 800 pages, but so far I am loving it.


I've just started to dive in, but I am reminded that premise and plot are not the same. Characters are what count, premise is just the landscape of their conflict. The premise of The Fireman is horrifying, brought to life seamlessly, but the character's inside are so incredibly sweet. NOS4A2 was more premise, The Fireman more character and plot, and after just 10% in, I want to cancel my full weekend of family events to sit home and read instead. That's what great reads like The Fireman do to you. One of Stephen King's greatest gifts to the world was his son

SNORTING COCAINE LIKE IT'S 1976

I am loving the new HBO series VINYL. Bobby Cannavale is powerful playing the owner of a record label in the 1970's whose world is crashing down, but he's going down fighting fueled by cocaine, charm, and an ear for music. His frenetic thoughts and inflated feeling of supremacy is something he's got down after snorting some cocaine (the Bruce Lee scene could not have been done better) but when it comes to the actual snorting, when he violently jerks his head back in ecstasy: Overacted. If he was snorting crystal meth, then maybe, but not from cocaine. A small electric shiver would do. 

With that in mind, I thought I'd repost the article I wrote, called.....

GETTING YOUR CHARACTER HIGH
One has to wonder what great works of art might not exist had certain authors never had a drink. Whiskey and writing are eternal companions.  Too much of the latter, however, and the former never happens. Back when I nearly drank and drugged myself to death, I liked to fancy myself a misunderstood artist, but with no art to actually misunderstand. My addiction left my bloody soul dangling from barb wire with vultures circling overhead, ready to feed soon as I passed.  Instead of dying, I made some changes, and have been blessed with 23 years of sobriety. By day, I work as a therapist, helping others struggling with addiction, but at night my obsession is writing novels. I’ve written 5 novels in the last 6 years, and plan to keep writing more.
Substance abuse and addiction play a major role in all of my books. On the Lips of Children features a crystal meth addict living in a drug-smuggling tunnel. My latest releases, MILK-BLOOD , and the sequel ALL SMOKE RISES , feature a ten year old girl addicted to heroin and raised amongst poverty and urban ghosts.
Writing about the power, pain and transformation of chemical dependency has certainly been personal and therapeutic.  Here are a few things I’ve come to believe when writing about addiction and substance use.
Addiction as Torture Device Substance use is a great vehicle for any author to torture their protagonist and turn them inside out. Dropping some substances into your character’s life tosses them into a pot of boiling water, and their internal conflicts come bubbling up to the surface. Whether they have a longstanding addiction, are in recovery from addiction and relapse, or take their first hit of that strange looking pill, a character under the influence is a pivotal point in many stories. A drunk man tells no lies.  The filters are gone, the emotions are exaggerated, impulse control is low, libido may be ablaze. Memories and demons and actions they will later regret come rushing in.  
Amounts and Terms Get it right. To make it feel truthful, characters should use the right amount, the right away, with the right terms. “Weed” is the common vernacular for marijuana, right? And Dope doesn’t mean “Weed” in my parts, maybe nowhere. Dope is particular to just heroin.  Crack rocks, depending on size, cost about $20, but once you start, you’ll spend hundreds and sell your kids Xbox collection to keep using. Of course, if you are writing fantasy or science fiction, this all changes. Spoiled milk got the aliens high in “Alien Nation.”  NZT-48 was an intellectual buzz in “Limitless” and Hobbits love their pipe-weed. In Wendig’s Blue Blazes, there’s a whole underworld of tweakers and creatures mining Cerulean deep under New York and then rubbing the blue substance on their temples. World-building can hinge on a whole drug culture.
What You Drop In Matters
All Substances are not equal. A tiny dot of crystal meth holds much more power than a drop of Pabst Blue Ribbon, and the variances are tremendous. Social marijuana use and social alcohol use or quite possible, but write about social crack use and you’ll be run out of town as a fraud.
I’ve been around others who are drinking in my sobriety without a problem, but I never want to be in the same room as crystal meth again, for if I do not leave, there will be blood.
Research  If your character is an addict trying to get sober, then you should go to some open AA/NA meetings. If your character is using a substance you’ve never used, find some YouTube videos of people using.  Listen to songs that capture the tone of the specific substance. (I listened to a ton of Velvet Underground writing Milk-Blood.)   Stare at images of the substance for hours without blinking until they soak into your brain and appear in your dreams. I’m not saying to go snort some coke, but, go snort some coke. No, don’t snort coke. Ask someone who snorted coke to edit your work.  Or of course you could just snort some coke. (No, don’t!) (really).
Rituals
Addicts love rituals.  Alcoholics love the ding of the bell as they enter the party store, the smell of old mop soap, seeing all those little stogies at the counter. Heroin addicts come to welcome the prick of the needle into their flesh, and the comfort of patting their front pocket and knowing there’s a pack of dope inside. Some are universal, some are unique to the character. When we watched Rust Cohle from True Detective make little tin-men out of his Lone Star beer cans, you felt this was not the first time he had done so. Get the rituals right, and the passages will read true to the reader. 
The scariest moment is always just before you start Which pill do you take, the red pill, or the green pill? (or no pill at all). The choice will change your character’s reality, and that moment of choice can be riveting. Laying out the temptation and creating the set-up is a great plot builder.  If you can get readers screaming at your character in their head, "No, don't do it, don't do it!” you've won them over. When recovering heroin addict Jane Margolis met Jessie Pinkman in Breaking Bad, you knew something had to give, but they let the moment play out over time. A character we care about acting against their best interest is reason to read on.
Perceptions and Prose When characters uses substances, perceptions are altered, and this is where your prose should change. First person point of view will certainly change the most, followed by third person limited. The deeper you are in the POV the more affected the prose will be. 
Make the sentences reflect the substance: Drunkards will have big, bold dreams, or violent impulses. Any good drunk is always telling you how much they love you or how much they hate you.  Heroin will make you feel soft and warm, like a return to the womb where everything is beautiful and has its place. Cocaine will have your brain and tongue electric with tangential philosophies.  Dialogue that slurs might be as annoying to the reader as listening to a drunk in real life, but one can evoke drunken words without the slurs.
Of course, the pain of craving for and detoxing from these substances will have a visceral effect unique to the substances. Making your characters detox and crave is twice as much fun and much more intense than getting them high. The possibilities are endless, and characters going through the cycle of addiction transform as much as any werewolf. It’s a painful process and part of the torture chamber. Make the pages sweat and tremble.
Thought patterns and Narrator Reliability. Characters getting high will rationalize insanity until their choices seem perfectly reasonable and actually preferable. Their internal dialogue will be filled with lies. Addicts lie, they deny, then they die, and listening to them bullshit themselves can create untrustworthy narrators who’s intent is hidden to both reader and themselves. What's more fun writing than that?
Surroundings Unlike the pits of hell for murderers and rapists and plot spoilers, there is no need for fences in the pits of hell for addicts, for if an addict tries to climb out of their pit of hell, another addict grabs them by the ankle and pulls them back down. A miserable soul feeds of the misery of others. Want to put your characters around some nastiness and see how they respond? Send them to a crack house. Or a dive bar. Cavern scenes are the catalyst for characters in many plots. Think Martini’s Bar in “It’s A Wonderful Life” or the Mos Eisley Cantina in Star Wars. It’s a pot of bubbling madness in there, and your character will either get tested, or their own madness will boil right out of them.
There are my thoughts Don’t kill your darlings, that’s letting them off easy. Get them drunk, get them high, stick a knife in their hearts, and spill it all right on the page.

 

ALL SMOKE RISES .99 Cent Kindle Countdown Deal Starts Now!

"When there's nothing left to burn, set yourself on fire"
ALL SMOKE RISES  .99 Cent Kindle Countdown Deal Starts Now!
"Perfectly encapsulates horror as a reflection of real life."
~@Kealan Patrick Burke​, Bram Stoker Award winning author of KIN
(from the introduction)

 "There's no escaping the emotional scars that it will inflict on you. It's unforgettable."
~MICHAEL A. ARNZEN, Four Time Bram Stoker Award Winning Author

"Burning with addiction and desire, a heartbreaking story."
~ Richard Thomas​ author of Disintegration and Breaker and editor of MILK-BLOOD

"This story is probably one of, if not the most harrowing, horrific and thought provoking urban horror stories you will ever read."
Nev Murray​ Confessions of a Review

 "Filled with such dread and depravity that even the most desensitized among us will feel the pain."
~ Jon Bassoff​ author of Corrosion and Factory Town,winner of the DarkFuse​ Readers Choice Award

"Heartbreakingly sad, overwhelmingly disturbing, creepy, violent and poignant. Highly recommended."
~JOHN FD TAFF, Bram Stoker Award Finalist

"Absolutely Stunning,"
 Julie Bennett-Hutchings​, author of Running Home

ALL SMOKE RISES

Who Dies Next on The Walking Dead? (And who, if they do die, I won't really miss)

Last night, The Walking Dead showed more flesh last night than ever, and not the eating kind. The more bad-ass Carol gets, the more she cries, and I love her for that. Darryl was the old, stubborn, 'go against the group's suggestions because my standards are deeper than yours' Darryl. Morgan is still the wise, insightful, spiritual black mana advising the lead white protagonist (Que Jon Coffee, Bagger Vance, Morpheus).

Due in part to its popularity, I think The Walking Dead gets dismissed as too 'pop culture' despite some incredibly deep themes. One need to only look at the 3/13/2016 episode which is worthy of a writing a thesis on. What it means to be a woman and a mother in this world was thrust into our chest, and we were left alive, unable to pull it out, but yep, still living. Reminded me of this lyric:


"They say that the son must bear the burdens of the father.
But it's the daughter, who's left to clean up the mess"
~The Cowboy Junkies.

That said, someone is going soon. Here's an interesting article that postulates who is going to die next. There's a list of potential characters in this article, but a few of them, if they pass, I don't feel much would be lost.


This includes:

Eugene: lucky to be alive after his lies and weakness. He can be kind of sweet, and nice comedic relief, but if he goes, he's already lived longer than he perhaps should have. Sad, but there's not place for him in this kind of world. The afterlife will be more pleasent and accepting.



Father Gabriel: He's redeemed himself somewhat, but it's time for him to meet his maker. The arc of his story is over, his 'angst' gets old. When he does pop on the screen, I can't help but think, "oh,that's right.You're still here."












Spencer: we hardly knew ya, but you're on this list for some reason.



Abraham. (yeah, Abraham.): He's kicked some ass in his time, but he's gone gross, dumping partners who shouldn't have taken him in in the first place, and going to new partners who somehow can stomach him. His struggles do not excite me, his hair and facial hair a bit too Jesus-like perfect for this environment. Eugene and him have made their peace, now lets bury them together

GOOD FRIDAY THOUGHTS

I was raised Catholic and taught to kneel in front of an ancient torture device (the cross) and reinact cannibalism (communion.)
Now, as a metaphysical Christian, Good Friday is perhaps my most revered spiritual holiday and the message resonates. Worth mentioning that the story of Christ, the entire papacy and Christian faith, is based on the world's most powerful horror story ever told.


Being asked to carry your own cross up hill, after being betrayed by those who said they loved you,(the only tenderness coming from a rumored prostitute), to then have nails pounded through your appendages, looking up to the sky through the blood dripping into your eyes from the crown of throwns on your head, asking your father, "why have you forsaken me?"

But this physical suffering releases your soul, as holds true in many spiritual beliefs, that it takes a ravaging of the physical body (or a deprivation of) in order to set our true selves free, to then harrow hell, as Jesus did, for 3 days in order to then ascend.

I have thought of Good Friday more than once as I ran marathons and endured physical pain but felt such spiritual ascendancy and bliss. I have thought of it with the pain I put myself through in my addiction. It happens in large shares and small bits. Today and everyday and all of our days.
It is part (just part) of why teenagers cut.

Cliche to say, but we all have our cross to bear, we will all feel forsaken, and most endure pain in this life with small glimpses that our spirit is meant for something bigger. Enjoy your hell. It's going to be okay.

2016 Horror Writers Convention - AKA Stokercon

I'm incredibly excited to be attending my first Horror Writer's Convention this May in Las Vegas.

I've been to one other writing convention, and found it motivating, life-affirming, friend-building. It's like getting an IV drip of crystal meth creative lubricant. There's a certain comfort in being surrounded by like-minded people. There is sanity in numbers.  

I've long said that Horror Writers have a deep understanding of the fragile human spirit and have the finest hearts around, and I'm expecting to see plenty of smiles.

In golf, they tell you when you play with better golfers, it raises your own game. I'm hoping this happens.  I can't wait to breath the same air as the best in the business, and to meet so many folks who I have only written to.

The schedule has just been released. On Friday night, I'll be part of a panel "The Small Press or Self Publishing: Weighing the Best Options" moderated by Jason Brock.  I'll be alongside a host of other authors: Alex Johnson, Paul Dale Anderson, L. Andrew Cooper, JL Brozek. It's a panel I would have surely been sitting in on had I not been sitting up front. 

On Saturday, I will be doing an open reading alongside of Gary Braunbeck. You heard what I said about golfers? Well, Gary has been nominated for TWO Bram Stokers this year. Damn dude has two works that are Bram Stoker Finalists, and I've been paired up with him. I may have to check to make sure there's not another Mark Matthews attending. I've read both of his nominated works, and he's got incredible talent, and I'm left with a HumbleBrag.


Thanks to Dear Wife for being a single parent for the weekend, while I venture to Vegas. I have promised to have my daughter's copy of Rot & Ruin signed by Jonathan Mayberry, which might have helped me punch my ticket.  I'm going as writer, but doesn't mean I won't fanboy myself all over writers such as Jack Ketchum and Paul Tremblay. I have no shame. 

50 FREE Kindle Copies of MILK-BLOOD from Amazon #AmazonGiveaway

50 Free Kindle Copies of MILK-BLOOD. 
"Incredibly powerful! Guaranteed to have you on the edge of your seat." MILK-BLOOD has been optioned for film
MILK-BLOOD (Kindle Edition)
by Mark Matthews
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SHOUT IT, SHOUT IT, SHOUT IT OUT LOUD. (ALL SMOKE RISES IS HERE)

In case I haven't screamed it in your ear already, so loud that it made your eyes wince and your brain bleed, ALL SMOKE RISES released this week.




I've been quite a bit manic about the whole thing.

I've spent a ton of time writing up guest blog posts and getting the word out. You want to be a one man publishing team? You are both writer and marketer, and after the writer sticks a knife in his heart, and spills it all right on the page, you don't relax when he wants you to get the word out. You scream it from the rooftops, shout it from the blogs, you actually make friends on facebook, and you reach out to the fabulous horror and dark fiction community.

I've got a guest blog post here on Bram Stoker nominated author Nicholas Kaufman's blog, in which he features author's answer to the question: What is the scariest part of your book?


Horror After Dark and Ginger Nuts of Horror posted Kealan Patrick Burke's introduction to the book, which you must read. (forget about reading the damn book, just read the introduction)

I've got a post on author Julie Hutchings' blog here, in which I gush over her job in editing the book. (pssst... if you want an editor, ask her. Tell her Large Marge Sent you)

Some reviews have appeared on some blog posts. One by this  avid runner and dark fiction fan , and..  Another from David Spell, one of the greatest michiganders in the world. 

I've four blog posts coming out soon on Detroit and Michigan specific blogs, including the Motown Writers Network.  

Huge thanks to everyone for their support.

Lastly: If you are wondering if you need to read MILK-BLOOD before ALL SMOKE RISES, rest assured you do not. It was written in a way to serve as a stand-alone story. Of couse, MB will enrich the experience, but you can read them in reverse order.


ALL SMOKE RISES: MILK-BLOOD REDUX Just $2.99 on Amazon