Amanda M. Lyons's Blog: Inner Voices, page 8

Submissions Open for LGBTQ Youth Charity Anthology from JEA!

Attention Authors! JEA is seeking submissions for this charity anthology to benefit at risk LGBTQ youth. We're accepting all genres of fiction and are open to non-fiction essays, poetry, and stories as well.

 Sumissions are due by 3/15/15 and should be sent to:

jellingtonashton@aol.com with ATTN: Amanda M. Lyons For Love of Leelah Submission

 12pt Times New Roman 2-8k words please. 

For Love of Leelah - edited by Alex S. Johnson and Amanda M. Lyons

Each story must have a major trans character and  one character named Leelah to show that any one of us could have been in her shoes, systematically destroyed from the inside out just because of who we are. 

Interview With Jennifer and Stacy Buck

Bio- Stacy and Jennifer Buck are a husband and wife writing duo born and raised in Seattle WA. Having known each other since they were sixteen years old makes their writing together a rich experience not only themselves, but also for their readers. Shortly after marrying they began writing Squanto Undead, an alternate history serial novel based on the mysterious historical figure. Stacy has been an archer and outdoorsmen all his life and brings that realism to the character. They live and work together with their five kids, two cats, and dog in a suburb just outside Seattle.


Links: 
 Author website- http://primeevilpublishing.squarespac...
My facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/stacybuckwri...
Twitter- https://twitter.com/StacyBuckWritin
Amazon author page - http://www.amazon.com/Stacy-Buck/e/B0...

 1.You're a husband and wife writing team, what's that like? Are there certain strengths and/or weaknesses you have that lend themselves to the process? 

You’ve got to play off of each other’s strengths. Our process is pretty much the same every time. I’ll go through and write the outline and rough draft and then my wife, Jenn will go through and fix my bad writing. She’ll take out stuff that doesn’t make sense and add in parts that are missing. She’s a lot better at the grammar and punctuation than I am, so she fixes all of that too. Then I’ll go over it again and do a final polish. We also work with a few great beta readers. Having two minds to go over the work enables us to edit our own work. We catch almost all the typos and grammar mistakes. This is a great way to do it if you can’t afford an editor. 

2. Do you have any written work individually? Published or not? 

No. It just wouldn’t be the same. Maybe it’ll happen one day, but we’ve both got a lot to learn before that can happen.

3. Tell me a little about Squanto Undead. Where did the idea come from? 

I really wanted to do something with Native Americans. There aren’t enough Native American heroes in fiction. I wanted to combine zombies with something that hadn’t been done before. The book is basically the Last of the Mohicans meets zombies. The premise is based on what would have happened if in an alternate history, the Europeans that came to America got a disease from the Native Americans. We all know how it really turned out. Smallpox basically wiped out the Native American population, making it much easier for the European settlers to come in and take over the country. Well what if the roles were reversed? I imagine American history would look much different. Then I added in the idea that they turned into zombies after the Europeans got sick and died.

It’s not a great book. I’m not going to lie. You can definitely tell it’s a writer’s first book. I don’t know if it’s that the premise is so far out there, or that the zombie genre is so saturated, but the book doesn’t sell. It’s probably a good thing that it doesn’t sell though. I love the book, but it’s not my finest work.

4. What did you learn writing it? Did it teach you anything about writing and marketing you didn't know before?

Yes, not to write a book like that again. I learned so much from writing that first book. The list is probably longer than anyone would care to read. I think that’s probably the same for any writer. Your first book teaches you so much. That’s the mistake a lot of writers make though. They think that if they write a book that’s going to be the end all be all. That’s not reality. Finishing your first book is just the beginning of your journey, not the end.

5. Do you think you'll venture into more horror in the future? 
Maybe, I’m kind of a chicken when it comes to scary stuff. My writing all reads like epic fantasy, because that’s what I read most of the time. I’m a big fan of the lighter horror stuff. I like the monster movies and horror comedies. I could see us doing an Evil Dead/Army of Darkness type of horror novel, but I’ll stick away from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre type books. There’s a lot of authors out there that can do the really dark scary stuff, but that’s not my style.

6. What is the Users series about? What makes it stand out in your mind? 

 Users is about a fallen superhero. Carter, the main character, is an ex heroin junkie. He’s a kind of antihero. The underlying theme is something that most recovering addicts deal with. As an ex heroin junkie myself, I’ve dealt with it personally. After you sober up, you feel like you’re making up for lost time, so you go overboard on trying to make up for all the bad things you did. You over compensate by trying to be better and do better things. I was honest with you about Squanto Undead not being my best work, and I’m going to be totally honest about this book kicking ass. Users is by far our best work. It’s got a lot of heart for a book about a recovering heroin junkie. Recovering addicts will appreciate the way the subject is handled with dignity and care. For those who have not directly had an addiction problem, it gives them an inside look into what it’s really like to suffer from this disease.

All the serious and ugly nature of drugs and addiction are funneled through a quirky action adventure superhero story. It doesn’t make light of the subject, but it does have fun with it. Writing this book was like therapy for me.

7. Clockwork Wings is another series you've been working on, tell us a bit about it.

Clockwork Wings is our second novel. It’s a Steampunk meets Greek Mythology series. The series is meant for a YA audience. It’s a bit lighter than the other two series of books we’ve done. It’s pure action and adventure. I wanted to write something that my kids could read.

8. You have a high output for your fiction, tell us a bit about how that works. How is your writing style different than others?

I just plan like crazy. You got to make sure you have a detailed outline before you start. I only have about 45 minutes a day to write, so I’ve got to use it wisely. If I write a book that is 60K words, I’ll have an outline that is 20K words. It may take me a few weeks to write the outline, but it saves me months of time on the rough draft and polish.
I don’t know if my style is different from anyone else. I just do the work. That’s the most important thing with any job. You need a good work ethic to be good at something and writing is no different. 

9. So far you've tackled three different genres, do you think you'll always write in so broad a spectrum? Do you have a favorite among your books so far? 

I’ve written what appears to be in three different genres, but my stories are all action and adventure. Whether it’s a horror novel, or steampunk, or superhero, they all have a common theme of action and adventure. I want my readers to expect an action packed journey full of fun moments and adventure in exotic places when they open our books. I write books for readers looking for something different. The premises we come up with are strange and exciting. A good premise can really make the story.
My favorite genre that we’ve written in so far is superhero. I’m going to do a bunch of those. I’m already on book 3 of Users. Book 2 comes out next month and book 3 will be out a few months after that. But we’re not going to stop there. I want to do even more Users novels and I want to do other superhero novels not set in the Users universe. I’m a super geek. I think I’m more suited to handle the genre than most authors writing in it today. I think Users is one of the best superhero novels in the market today. That may sound arrogant, but whatever. I’m not here to do a half ass job. I want our books to be great. 

10. Are there any other projects in the works? Ideas you're toying with? 
We’re always playing around with new ideas, but our story premises so far have been really unique. I don’t think I could go from doing an alternate history native American zombie horror novel to writing a little character piece about a coming of age boy in the south.  We’ve got to keep upping the ante.
I’ve got an idea for a lord of the rings style western that I really want to do if I can find the write plot line. I want to do a big monster novel too eventually, something like Godzilla maybe.  But whatever we do, you can bet it will be unique or strange. Most likely strange.

Interview with M. A. Carson Author of Beauty is for Suckers

Bio: Michael (M.A.) Carson grew up in California before moving at age twelve with his parents and sister to Colorado. His love for writing started in fourth grade, providing him limitless possibilities for creative expression. Throughout school, he bounced between short stories, comic books, and screenplays with imagination and humor at the forefront.
After graduating college, Michael focused on novels, with subject matters ranging from science fiction to superheroes to beauty-sucking vampires. Regardless of the genre, his goal has always been the same: to take readers on a one-of-a-kind adventure and make them laugh along the way.

Website: http://www.macarson.com/#

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RudeLightning

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imacarson





Your book is a send up of the vampire genre. What inspired you to write Beauty Is for Suckers?

At the time, the Twilight series was blowing up the big screen, and I was struck by how desirable turning into a vampire had become. No mob will chase you with pitchforks. You’ll be beautiful, ageless, strong, immortal, and not even sunlight will hurt you. Sign me up. What if a protagonist struggled with low self-esteem and a poor body image and saw the perfection of vampires as the only way to fix her flaws. Vampires as a cosmetic enhancement. I wanted to create a world where the fantasy elements of immortals and fangs collided with real-life issues of peer pressure and superficiality. I found that the two sides had a lot in common.

Did you always know this would be a funny and unusual book?

Funny and unusual are the two words I hope describe everything I write. I love challenging myself by taking established genres or character types, in this case vampires, and playing with expectations. Vampires are my favorite monster because they can be portrayed in every way imaginable, from bloodthirsty demons, to sex goddesses to bloodthirsty sex goddesses. I knew it would be a lot of fun writing a story where every type of vampire showed up. What would Nosferatu think of Edward Cullen? That scenario still makes me laugh.

Iris isn’t your usual vampire, could you tell us a little about her?

Since high school, Iris has struggled to find her place. She thinks she’s forgettable, invisible, and she puts all the blame on her appearance. If she had a big chest, long legs, and a flawless face, people would notice her. Every vampire she’s seen dusted on reality TV is more perfect than the last; they might be feared by society, but they are her best chance at happiness. Iris moves to L.A. to become a hot California vampire, but the bite only transforms her halfway. She has the fangs, the heightened senses, and the aversion to sunlight, but on the outside, nothing has changed. She can turn others into beauties by sucking their blood, but her looks remain untouched. Since all other vampires are perfect, Iris stands out more than she ever wanted. Now she must find her place, and her confidence, in a world ruled by veins and vanity.

Iris lives in a world where vampires haven’t just come out of the fang closet, they’ve taken the world by storm via reality TV. What made you choose this angle for the book?

In other books and movies, the vampire world is kept secret from humans, but I’ve always liked the idea of fantasy elements existing for so long that they’ve become parts of everyday, modern life. Learning about the dangers of vampires from PSAs in elementary school, or sitting down to watch someone combust into ash on a hunting reality show, are funnier when they’re seen as normal staples of society.

The vampires here aren’t living by the same rules either. Tell us a bit about these vampires.

For vampires, blood is purely cosmetic. They won’t weaken or die without it, but their beauty will fad. A week without blood, a vampire will return to how they looked before they were bitten. Two weeks without blood, a vampire will turn into something far worse.

This plays a big part in Iris and Nolan’s outlook, how did you come up with Nolan?

Nolan has dreamed of becoming a famous vampire slayer like his heroes on TV, and, like Iris, he is also self-conscious of his appearance but for different reasons. He thinks his red hair, glasses, and assuming frame aren’t how a slayer’s supposed to look, so he wears contacts, thick black clothes, and an intimidating fedora that shadows his face. When Nolan meets Iris, he doesn’t know she’s a vampire, and as the two form a friendship, their insecurities bring them together. They help each other, and find strength in each other, but what I love most about their relationship is that the closer they become, the more dangerous it is for Iris. At the end of the day, he is a slayer, and how will he react when her secret comes out?

Who do you think will enjoy Beauty Is for Suckers? Why?

I think most people have struggled, at one time or another, with what they see in the mirror. The pressure to look or act a certain way by peers or the media can be hard to ignore. Beauty Is for Suckers is a comedy, and anyone who enjoys a laugh will get a lot out of it, but it’s also a story of self-confidence. It’s about being yourself and loving the mirror, even if you don’t have a reflection.

This is the first book in a series. What sort of adventures do you think Iris will encounter in later books?

The world becomes bigger and more complicated for Iris and Nolan. The next book takes place six months after the events of the first, and both characters are finding a lot of success in two very different jobs. Because of her success, Iris is given the opportunity to change the way society views vampires forever, but, despite noble intentions, the consequences of this decision will send her on a globetrotting adventure to save the ones she loves. Characters from the first book return in a big way going forward. And one woman in particular becomes the chief antagonist of the entire series. I won’t go into specifics, but let’s just say, you should never trust a housewife of Beverly Hills.

Interview with Kenneth Johnson Author of Unbroken Circles for Schools

Bio: Ken Johnson is better known as "America's Culturalist." He is a Social Scientist (a.k.a. Culturalist) as well as a Collaborative Justice professional with numerous op-ed columns and articles to his credit. He has special training as a Restorative Justice facilitator through the University of West Florida's College of Professional Studies. He also holds special certifications through the Florida Supreme Court as a Certified County Court Mediator as well as the US Department of Agriculture as an agricultural services mediator. Starting college at the age of 16, he has a BA in Social Sciences from the University of West Florida as well as an MBA from Saint Leo University. Presently, he is reviewing options to possibly apply to a doctorate program. Community and culture are important to him. In addition to being heavily involved in his tribe, as the Principal Chief to the Florida Tribe of Cherokee Indians, he has served on numerous non-profit and governmental panels and boards. For his good works, Ken Johnson was commissioned as a Colonel of Kentucky. Collaborative Justice is a passion for him. By using his knowledge of culture and conflict, he works daily to better the lives of our nation's children while also consulting with churches, businesses, schools, and civic groups to understand and overcome conflict-based obstacles.

1 Tell me a little about Unbroken Circles, what makes it a good guide for building a better behavioral program for kids?

First, I just want to thank you Amanda for having me here. Venues, such as this one gives authors a rare opportunity to connect with potential readers in a meaningful way.

One of the first things the reader will notice is that it’s full color and loaded with charts, diagrams, and other resources. My publisher, Southern Yellow Pine Publishing, knew that this book needed these premium extras not typically found in most books on this subject.

A lot of detail has been added to the book to give contrast and meaning. I start with simple concepts and then build up to more complex ones. For instance, Chapter 1.2 gives a history of conflict that one would only find at a course offered at only a few universities. Role playing scenarios reinforce this knowledge and offers a safe way to apply the skills taught in a safe and controlled setting.  Meanwhile, the second half of the book offers tremendous insights and guidance as to best run and manage a system once it has been adopted by a school or district.

The key to it all is that the program I showcase is free to use and it is malleable to the needs and demands of the user base. It uses prove,, research-based tactics to improve grades, improve civic behavior, and increase a sense of community-mindedness while lowering absenteeism/tardiness and reducing violence. Best yet, it keeps the children in the schools with overlapping circles of care.

We find that each time a child endures an out of school suspension/expulsion their chances of dropping out goes up by 50%. Every school day, some 7,000 students drop out costing us taxpayers over $209,000 per student in social services payouts. Each year we incarcerate over 2 million youths for trivial offenses – most charged for misdemeanor and felony offenses that no adult would ever be arrested for. And, the problem is that no one benefits. The child is not made better. The community is not made safer or stronger. Ultimately, every facet of our society is torn down by this catabolic conflict. Unbroken Circles for Schools works to fix these issues – not just in our children but also in our communities.

2 Where do you draw your knowledge on behavioral and corrective programs from? Have your years working in the system changed since you first started with them?

It was only by fortune that I happened to get into this field that I am now in. The Supreme Court of Florida was kind enough to train me in mediation. I now hold certification from them as a Certified County Court Mediator and I am also certified and registered with the USDA as a mediator provider as well. During my training to become a mediator, an instructor told me about Restorative Justice. The local university had a professor there who was into that and so I enrolled in a Social Sciences undergraduate program to learn more about this new paradigm of transforming conflict. Part of the advanced Restorative Justice training that I received involved being at a maximum security prison in Alabama that had successfully implemented an RJ-based honor dorm. These experiences became the basis for what would later become Unbroken Circles for Schools.

In my nearly 17 years’ worth of experience working in the Criminal Justice system, we are using the School Resource Officers as the primary source for dealing with issues of conflict and student disobedience. Rather than a 100 sentences we not give a child 100 days behind bars. Pre-K children in New York are being suspended and expelled just because they have bathroom accidents while children in Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and other states are being arrested and charged on felony firearms violations for using a french-fry as a toy gun. The madness of it all is stranger than any fiction presently in print.

3 What changes do you feel need to be made in corrective programs or conflict dynamics?

It all begins and ends with what I call a “community of care.” The old paradigm of “community” used to be based off of a similar race/ethnicity, shared history, shared beliefs, similar levels of income, etc. But, today, we are nomadic with many Americans not staying longer than five years at a given location. So, the community of care gives to today’s students what we used to enjoy as children. This ultimately makes them more accountable and more attuned to social protocols.

The programs that I discuss also forces the schools to look at contributing issues. For instance, is there abuse/neglect at play? Does the offender have the means to make amends in his/her current state? Are there resources outside of the schools, and in the community, that can be used as a catalyst for positive change? By addressing these issues, in addition to the initial offense, future harms might be stemmed.

Best yet, what I discuss in my book deals at length with atonement for one’s actions, forgiveness, and reassimilation once a harm has been rectified.  We use too much stigmatic shaming in our society – telling children that they are bad people who will never amount to anything. I show a way to use non-stigmatic shaming that teaches the child that they have tremendous value and it is their wrongful actions that need correction. I contend that you can be tough and still loving. Unbroken Circles for Schools shows how to do this safely and effectively.

4 What inspired Unbroken Circles? Would you say that writing the book gave you any new perspectives on your existing ideas?

I grew up a child of the 90’s. More students were arrested in the 1990s than all previous years of US history combined. As I got older, society became more and more oppressive towards our youth. It was only by providence that I didn’t end up like many of my fellow classmates. Instead of dropping out of school, which was my plan, I ended up going to college at age 16. Then I was later made and ambassador to the college where countless applicants were barred from enrollment because of their convictions as a juvenile. Afterwards, I took up the substitute teaching  job and saw things were only getting worse. Then in the court system, having to see former students being led away in shackles and chains. It all got to me!

The Supreme Court of Florida’s Dispute Resolution Center and the Restorative Justice program at the University of West Florida gave me focus and insight.  They challenged me in ways that I had never dreamt while also offering common sense alternatives to the strife I was seeing daily.

The writing of the book only affirmed feelings in me. The more I wrote about my program, the more I knew that I needed to write about it. Right now, the need for it has never been greater!

5. Who do you hope to reach with Unbroken Circles and its new methods? Is this a program that schools can readily invest in without a large cost?

First and foremost, I want to reach the communities with this book. Unbroken Circles for Schools really was written with a mindset that any meaningful change will have to come from a community that is fed up with what has been happening and wants true change for the better.

An average plan, like what I propose, would typically cost a school system millions of dollars. These costs would have to be paid out to a specific company owning the program, their trainers, etc. However, what I showcase in Unbroken Circles for Schools is free. Aside from any minor royalty payment from the book being sold, I don’t benefit in any other way. From firsthand experience, I knew that schools are always strapped for cash and so this was my gift to America’s future by taking away the millions of dollars that would typically bar a school system from changing over to a less retributive system of handling wrongful behavior. What little startup costs there are to the program involve in-house training – which is often the cheapest and most effective training possible.

In the end, improved grades and civic behaviors in students lowers the operating costs of schools. This puts money back into programs meant to enhance education rather than being siphoned away to handle issues of conflict. So, all in all, the program more than pays for any outlay of cash put into it with immediate returns on investment often seen within the first year.

6. Do you think this program can help at risk kids who may already be facing major criminal charges?

At risk children especially can benefit from Unbroken Circles for Schools. Think about it – they are about to be thrown away by society. If your life, as you know it, was about to be permanently changed for the worse – wouldn’t you be exceptionally attuned to the caring, understanding, and reassimilation that this program espouses? Once you show that you care, once you show that they have to be accountable, and once you show that they can be extended mercy – children pick up on this and become meaningfully transformed.

7.Will there be other books on this and other programs from you in the future?

By nature, I am a writer on culture and conflict. For me, the two are inseparable. So, my readers should expect to see future works talking about these two topics in a myriad of ways. Many people may not realize it but I also have an MBA degree under my belt. Lately, a lot of need for a similar program has arisen in the business world. My colleagues have especially latched onto my ideas of anabolic (good) conflict acting as a catalyst for growth and using organizational architecture as a way to create a community of care.


https://www.facebook.com/AmericasCulturalist
https://twitter.com/KenJohnsonUSA
https://www.goodreads.com/Author_Ken_Johnson 
https://www.linkedin.com/profile/public-profile-settings?trk=prof-edit-edit-public_profile
http://www.crokes.com/kenjohnson/
http://kenjohnson.americasculturalist.tripod.com/

Author Interview with Christopher St. John Sampayo

Bio: 
Author Christopher St. John Sampayo grew up in Louisiana in the Toledo Bend area. He now resides in San Antonio, Texas. Christopher started writing and directing plays in San Antonio and eventually started his own theatre company. After spending several years writing and directing short films he had his first novel Haunting of Rosehaven published through J. Ellington Ashton Press in 2013. He currently has two additional novels available. They are titled Ghosts of Glass and Fields of Frozen Stars. His fourth novel will be available in 2015. 


Read more about Sampayo and his books at his website: http://christopherstjohnsampayo.weebl...





Your books contain elements of supernatural horror, science fiction, and urban fantasy, you have a very nice literary storyteller’s tone. Do you know where some of this voice comes from?

I was a kid who got dazzled by movies. I like that idea of being carried off to magic places. Horror, Science Fiction, and Urban Fantasy all have elements of this. I also love words. I’ve always been fascinated by theatre and narration. I try to find those kind of tones in my writing. I think there’s something interesting in the idea of being carried away by words.

Do you any major influences? What elements from these influences do you draw from?

Probably the two biggest influences for me as a writer are Clive Barker and Neil Gaiman. Their work has a very modern day fairy tale like quality to it and I love that. I like the idea of telling stories about everyday life with something just out of the ordinary.

Your first book, Haunting of Rosehaven, is based on your hometown in Lousiana, what elements made it into the book? Do you have a favorite part in the book?

The area I grew up is near Toledo Bend in Louisiana. That plays a very important role in my story. In Rosehaven I started to find my voice as a writer. There are sections where I talk about the beauty of the moment and I think that’s something I focus on a lot in my work.

You’ve said in past interviews that you really have to feel invested and influenced by an idea to write it, does this ever leave you feeling adrift in between books?

I’ve been very lucky that the ideas just kind of keep coming lately. I think a lot of that has to do with my publisher J. Ellington Ashton Press and their tremendous support. Knowing that you have a publisher willing to invest in you really allows you to keep running with your ideas. There’s now a good reason to get creative and keep pushing the ideas where they may go.

You have a strong background in theater and plays. Do you think that this helped you to be more relaxed and open to critique as a writer? If so, what elements helped you to develop?

Life is a learning process. I think with writing it will be a continuous process of hopefully progress. I want to get better and better. I also want my work to get more ambitious in the sense of creative ideas. I want to try to always think outside the box with my work. So with that as my goal having constant critiques help you to get better. That’s how I look at it.

Ghosts of Glass is a bit more fantasy than your other two books. What inspired it and was it a difficult book to write?

With Ghosts of Glass I was just like…screw it. What have I got to lose? I’m gonna throw everything I’m interested in all into one book and see what comes out. I just wrote things I wanted to talk about. In hindsight…I’m actually surprised it worked out. It was basically one big story blender. Luckily the readers have enjoyed the concoction.

You have a unique link with your fans and interact with them regularly. What do you think this offers to you as an author and to your fans as readers? Does it influence your writing in any way?

I recently told someone that as a writer “words are given their vibrancy by the reader.” I find this very true. What would be the point of having the best hundred thousand word manuscript if you didn’t have 1 reader? I feel very fortunate that people are willing to spend their hard earned money on my work and their time reading it.

Tell me a little about your latest book, Fields of Frozen Stars, where did the idea for the book come from? Do you think the ideas you started with came through in the finished book?

The idea that was the primary basis for Fields of Frozen Stars involves what I think is a very important question in 2015. That question is what is a connection and what can we label as friendship. I have met a lot of great people through the internet and developed what I consider good friendships. These are not friendships in the traditional sense. I’ve never met most of these people. But I interact with them very regularly. So I think in this internet age we have to ask ourselves what do we define as real “friendship?” Is it day to day interactions? Even if these interactions are just
Facebook posts and emails? I think the book does a good job of making the reader ponder that question. At the end of the day that’s all I can really hope for. To raise the question in a person’s mind resonates more than me giving them my answer.

Many writers focus on building a brand with an eye toward marketing to readers rather than directly addressing them, do you think your style works better? If so, what have your learned that made this true for you?

I can’t say my style “works better” than any other particular style. I haven’t cracked the New York Times Bestsellers list yet. I think though a lot of it has to do with personal philosophy for life. I think some might think fans are fortunate to have them. I feel that I’m fortunate to have fans. I’ve worked in music, with film, and now I’m a writer. There were periods where I was eager to have anyone listen to or see my work. Now that I have people who are willing to spend their time and money on my work I appreciate it and never take it for granted. I want my fans to know that.

Do you have any books in progress at the moment? What sort of stories can we expect to see in the future?

I’m currently in the final editing process of my fourth book. I’m kind of patching together ideas and questions for the fifth book. When it comes to my future work I’m obsessed lately with coming up with ideas that aren’t lazy. I need to feel that I’m working hard to be able to think outside the box and push myself. I never want to feel like I’m phoning it in, so to speak. If I ever reach that point where I feel I’m just being lazy and writing just to write then I will be very let down.

Interview with Ash Hartwell Author of Zombies, Vamps and Fiends

Zombies, Vamps, and Fiends is a short story collection that gathers several of your stories together. Were they ever published before?

A couple are re-writes of previously published stories but the others are completely new and unpublished. I wanted to write a collection of fresh material so the reader didn’t feel cheated. There’s nothing worse than buying an anthology and finding you’ve already read half of it. The two that have been re-written are stories particular favoured by family members and are therefore there almost by request.

This is a story about monsters, what inspired you to write it?

I didn’t write them as monster stories and never considered them as such until you asked me about it. They’re stories about society and the monsters that lurk there, not the monsters themselves. Is Frankenstein about the monster or Dr Frankenstein’s obsession with creating (re-creating) life? The first story involves zombies, but they are not the horror. The horror is the never-ending war and a teenage girl’s survival in the trenches. The zombie simply depicts the inhumanity of war.

As for the inspiration, I wanted to create an anthology that crossed styles and genres to give the reader an insight into my writing. I think there’s something for everyone in here, but hope the reader enjoys all the stories. If the stories make them think a little about what’s between the lines, then so much the better.

Do you have a favourite monster?

What in this collection, or generally? I’ll give both answers, Amanda. In this collection, I have two. The voices inside Marianne’s head, and the Biogulag’s official. Both represent something intangible, yet powerful, twisted and seemingly invincible.

My wife, Nicki, on the other hand, has a soft spot for the zombie, Pendragon.

My favourite monster is probably Dracula. He is the personification of evil, yet somehow a small part of you wants him to triumph. I must also give an honourable mention to The Blob from the original Steve McQueen film. Probably the first horror I saw and the alien goo was also symbolic of the fears of American society at the time.

While there are several straight horror tales in ZV&F, there are a few satirical and humorous ones, do you enjoy writing these as much as the horror titles?

Yes I do. I think mixing humour, especially dark humour, and horror gives each element more strength. Referring you back to my previous answer, then horror and comedy are all part of the rich blend that is ‘life’ and the society in which we live those lives. I think the particular story you refer to as satirical gives a gentle rib-kicking to the world of dog shows and beauty pageants. Yes, I did enjoy writing that one, and yes, they do deserve it. Some pageants are nothing more than modern-day freak shows.

Do you have a favourite story in the collection? What do you like about it?

It’s hard to pick just one because they are all so different, but The Serpent’s Charm holds a special place for me as I wrote it in homage to Arthur Conan Doyle who was a particular favourite of my late father. The story has an emotional edge over the rest for that reason.

There’s a classic horror tone to the book, is this your preferred horror style or just the tone for ZV&F?

Good question. I have no idea. I wrote each one differently with a different style and genre. Apocalyptic(ish), Gothic, sci-fi, splatterpunk and Psychological featuring Zombies, depression, deranged killers, bi-polar disorders and more. I think to a degree I was experimenting with my own style, a voyage of discovery with the reader coming along for the ride. If it turned out to be classic then I guess that’s how I wrote, but I wouldn’t like to pigeon-hole myself. I write what appeals to me at the time in the style I feel comfortable with for that particular tale.

What other projects do you have in the works or are hoping to begin in the near future?

I’m slowly writing a novel length story, my first, which is terrifying (the writing off it, not the story itself) It’s an alternative history story based on one of the initial stories submitted to JEA but not included in Zombies, Vamps, and Fiends. I have just begun editing anthologies for 13 O’Clock Press, at Horrified Press and I’m still writing short stories for various anthologies.

I already have notes for my second novel so I’d better get back to writing the first.


Links: 

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ash-Hartwell/221249414606956?ref=bookmarks 

Amazon: 
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00L0FET0G

Website: 
http://79.170.44.151/ashhartwell.co.uk/


Bio: Ash Hartwell was born in Maine but grew up in England where he still lives with his wife and four children. Having spent over a decade working in customer service he enrolled in University and trained as a nurse, spending a number of years working in an intensive care unit just outside London. He now breeds Cavalier King Charles spaniels with his wife, while writing his tales of horror. He is currently working on his own novel as well as writing short stories for a number of anthologies.
Ash Hartwell is a Fictioneer and member of a number of horror related Facebook groups, he is also a supporting member of the Horror Writers Association

Please Join Us for JEAPalooza January 5th Through the 11th!

We have a charity glass auction with 20% going to The Trevor Project, suicide prevention and support for LGBT teens, we have a Rocky Wood memorial page where you can donate the the ALS foundation and there is a kissing booth for donations to St. Jude. We have the ApocaCon pannel with David Forsyth tuesday, Haunted Nights Live on Thursday, and, between all participants, there are 37 giveaways, lots of blogs and more fun things! Well worth attending!

The Story of The Last Lonely Christmas

Its been about a month since I posted anything new and I was thinking I should rectify that, but until a little bit ago I wasn't sure what I should talk about. Then I got it. I'll tell you about the first story I ever wrote, which also happens to be the first attempt at a novel I ever worked on. 

Now I've mentioned "The Last Lonely Christmas" a couple of times in author interviews in the past, that it was my first story and that it got my 6th teacher invested in getting me to write more, but I never really go into either the story or the novel I attempted to make of it a year or two later. I think a lot of authors have that one story that got them going but didn't really amount to much after that, in a lot of ways TLLC is one of those and I can be a bit self-conscious about it. The thing is its also a little chunk of me that nobody really saw because I was still very uncertain about whether or not I could really write anything, but trying very hard to prove to myself that I could. 


"The Last Lonely Christmas" came easily enough, it was an assignment for my 6th grade teacher Mr. Flener, one of my my very first favorite teachers who did quite a lot to get us motivated, Flener bucks and a morning ritual of listening to "Eye of the Tiger" among them. He captivated me by being himself, a diminutive guy with curly dark hair, corduroy pants, and a mustache who had come out of retirement to teach my class. He also showed me many things that came to captivate me like Ladyhawke, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and last but not least my own ability to write stories. He asked us to write a story around Christmas time, I can't remember if it was before break or after, but I thought it would be fun as I'd enjoyed writing the shorter little themed essays and almost stories we did in 3rd grade and missed doing that. I set out to do something that might be interesting and pull off the Christmasy tone he was asking for and thought of A Christmas Carol which set me off. 


"The Last Lonely Christmas" tells the story of a little boy and his family at Christmas, they are homeless and have nowhere to go, worst of all, not long after the story began, one of the kids (its been long enough I can't remember if it was the boy or the girl) break their leg falling from a shopowner's doorstep, from which they'd been thrown by the shopkeeper himself. No one is around and with only the parents and their sibling to help they stumble down the street knocking on doors and looking for someone who can help. It looks bad for our little family, the weather is getting worse and their injured child isn't looking so good, they're beginning to give up a little and hope is about all they have. Then they come upon the right house and the right people, who not only welcome them into their home and get them the help they need, but give them a full Christmas dinner and feast as well. Heartwarming silly stuff when you get down to it, and this version is probably a lot better written than that story was, but my teacher loved it and I was proud of it 'cold that went through the holes in his shoes and froze the soles of his feet" (or something like that, again memory isn't perfect) and all. I had an audience and they were quite captive whenever I made something up and read it out loud to them at the talent shows we had in class every so often (of course, it had to be interesting hearing stories about teachers being massacred at a hotel and some crazy apocalyptic cult taking over the gym and such).


Then Jr high hit and, oh man, did it eat me alive. I hardly had friends in elementary school, and as I soon found out, most of those were either eaten alive by their own troubles or were outright fakes who made a point of breaking that news to me in the most direct way possible. I didn't have much besides reading and then, when I got it in mind to try, writing. Beats warbling along to pop music, lets just say that. I'd recently read my first couple of Stephen King novels and owned the first of them I would ever get, Insomnia. I had also found my dad's college level writing course book and was working with the exercises in that as well as absorbing all of the info I could on writing and submission. I had decided at the young age of 13 I was going to be an author because it was the only thing I had any really talent for, if I had nothing else, I had a vivid imagination from birth. 


With that in mind, I set out to make the first big story into a real book. It wasn't easy to go from story to novel and there were growing pains involved just getting to anything like a chapter or a while, but I was doing it. Instead of some nameless homeless family I had a guy named Ben Towner and his little down on their luck family and the guy that eventually gets them off of the street was actually an old college friend of Ben's who recognized him. They went to law school together and he lost track of Ben a while back, but wanted to do all he could to help once he saw what happened. So he did, trouble was not everyone agreed with him helping the guy out and taking them into his home, trying to get the word out about the homeless. A bomb goes off in the kitchen one day when they're making cookies and some of the kids and the wife of the lawyer got killed in the explosion, leaving the two men to handle the loss and sort out what to do after. 


I never got much further than the morgue scene, which was a scene I was pretty proud of, and another scene where the lawyer was dealing with his own loss. It had gotten pretty dark and I wasn't sure where to go from there. I also lost some of the pages and, in a fit of adolescent frustration, I threw the rest of the pages into the trash fire one evening, sending it to an early grave. I went on to write other stories, a lot of them odd little things influenced by my loneliness as much as my reading material at the time, gory little horror stories and historical romances, some of which I still have, but most of which are only memories at best. 


Sometimes I think about going back and rewriting the story that once was, tackling it with my better writing skills now that I'm an adult and I can hack it a little better than that 13 year old. Some of those old stories have merit and I just might, but "The Last Lonely Christmas" and the novel it had become seem like the stuff you leave as memories and maybe cannibalize for other work. It sure made for a hell of a start though and I'll always appreciate that. 

Seeking A Few Good Reviewers

Hello, it's been a bit since I posted a new blog and I'm sorry for that, it's been pretty busy for me with editing and life eating up a lot of time. I'm writing this now because I'm looking for some good bloggers and reviewers who would be interested in reading the first two books in my Shades of Midnight series Eyes Like Blue Fire and Water Like Crimson Sorrow. 

Shades of Midnight is a gothic vampire series dealing with vampires who are reminiscent of authors like Anne Rice, but a bit more human and individualistic. Here the vamps' personalities and abilities go hand in hand with each other, the vampires feed through sex and create other vampires in this way as well. Some of the old rules are there: holy water and sunlight are poison (holy water from spring water and due to a sensitivity to minerals, not religion btw) mirrors are unpleasant and they must feed to survive. 

 While, yes, the central story revolves around the romantic relationships of the main, Katja, this is not Paranormal Romance, nor is it strictly a horror novel full of grue and gore (though there are a few instances of this nonetheless). This is a gothic horror series, it involves mystery, horror, the supernatural, humanity's darkness, sadness, self-destruction, self-discovery, romance, ghosts, horrible pasts, monsters both human and inhuman, heroes and heroines who are damaged and imperfect, loss and grief. 

I'm interested in finding reviewers who might enjoy this sort of novel and would like to give mine a go. I want honest reviews and I could use them anywhere on the internet you can post them because Eyes Like Blue Fire was originally self-published and I don't  have new reviews up since it came out from my publisher. The third book, Cool Green Waters, will also be coming out early in 2015 and I would love to have readers ready for it and invested in the series. I can provide PDF copies to reviewers and, if you are doing a feature about one or both of the books on your blog, I can provide you with information like author photos, a bio and cover jpgs as well. Please e-mail me at nightshade44637@gmail.com to request a copy and let me know whether or not you're a blogger or a regular reviewer as well. 

Why Rejected for Content is Well Worth Reading

In case you were wondering if you should check out my story in Rejected for Content: Splattergore: 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N...

All That Remains - Amanda M. Lyons

Next up is All That Remains; another story of realistic horror. The mood is dropped somewhat as the story heads down a more emotional path, one that some of us may be familiar with. The narrator of the story is in the shower when she hears some commotion from her room mates bedroom. On investigation, she finds her female room mate murdered on her bed. Cue a harsh emotional breakdown. It's then revealed that the narrator was in love with her room mate and was never able to confront these feelings...

Now, some people reading this will be like 'so far, so romantic lovey dovey Mill & Boon slush.'. Not so. This is a horror anthology. What follows is a stark, emotionally engaged, and mentally exhausting mental breakdown on the part of the narrator. She brings us into her mind and takes us for a dark, traumatised journey into her ever disintegrating world. Her journey is one of dignity shredding sexual gratification, emotionally empty lust filled one-night stands, and something a little darker...something I will leave for you to discover. Dark, scarring and real, you'd think Lyons is putting experience to page. If so, bravo for facing your demons. If not, well, it's a testament to the authors ability to step into a damaged mind and provide a story so engaging and horrifying, you can't help but feel the characters loss. A wonderful, if slightly harrowing, character study. 

Verdict: Depressing and harrowing; an unflinching look at a fragile, traumatised mind. Loss; none of us can cope with it. Never has it been so gritty, realistic or poignant in this dark tale of grieving for a loved one. Horror at its finest. Well done, Amanda.


                                                                                     -from a Goodreads review by Stuart Keane