J.C. Michael's Blog

Time To Re-Brand?

I'm generally an honest person, often to the point of bluntness, so I'll be frank; I'm not a very sociable individual. With that in mind social media was something I never had any interest in, nor involvement with. That all changed when Discoredia was released. Suddenly, I needed an online presence. I set up a website, joined Twitter, and signed up for Facebook. It was a big change and, with hindsight, I made some mistakes.

At that time I only had one thing to really shout about; Discoredia. As such everything was done with the emphasis on that particular piece of work. My twitter name? @jcdiscoredia, Facebook page? Discoredia, Website? You know that, you're on it, and even if you weren't it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that it's called... Discoredia.

The thing is, that was three years ago. Fair enough, it's my only novel, but my short stories have done well since and have not just featured in some damn good anthologies but have even been singled out for praise within them. With more releases on the horizon should a three year old novel that still only has a handful of reviews on Amazon remain the focus? I don't think it should. Fine, we can keep it as the website name, and my twitter name, but the Facebook page? That needs to be me, as an author. And the look and feel of the website can also be overhauled regardless of the name.

​So, 2016, time for a change. I guess the only question is how much of 2016 will be gone before I get around to doing it.

Looking back, looking forward

So 2015 didn't work out too badly at all; five short stories and one piece of flash fiction published and all well received. Here Kitty Kitty, a tale based on a genuine legend local to the area I live, was published early in the year in Ghosts: Revenge, from James Ward Kirk Fiction. That was followed in the summer by When Death Walks The Field of Battle which appeared in the Savage Beasts Anthology from Grey Matter Press. The back end of the year then saw three stories make their way into print - Choices in Crossroads In The Dark from Burning Willow Press, and then two stories in 50 Shades of Slay from Alucard Press.

But that's old news, what of 2016? Well, the contract is printed and awaiting my signature for two stories to be published in electronic format as a "double header". The plan is that a selection of authors will have two-story e-books published with a print anthology pulling all of them together to follow later in the year. I can't really say much more than that until I get the nod from the publisher, but let's just say a couple of old "friends" from Discoredia will be putting in an appearance. 

Other than that it's back to the subbing and writing when the mood and opportunity takes me. I've entered the Stephen King Bazaar of Bad Dreams short story competition run by The Guardian, and have a three other subs out there at present. I'm also trying to come up with a couple of pieces for follow up anthologies to Suspended in Dusk, and Crossroads In The Dark which will have an urban legend feel.

Hopefully I can beat 2015's tally of half a dozen pieces published, and I'm already a third of the way there providing all goes to plan. So that's two down, five to go, I guess I should get writing...

Meet Kostas Paradias

As a writer there's quite a bit of waiting involved. Sometimes you have to wait for inspiration to strike and, once it has done, and the piece is written and submitted, you have to wait for the publishers decision, be that a rejection or acceptance. You then wait for contracts, for edits, for second round edits, for covers, for the release, and then for the reviews. There's also something else you wait for when you're accepted into an anthology, and that's to find out who you'll be sharing that table of contents with. Will there be other authors that you know? People you've heard of? People who perhaps you look up to as a writer, or whose work you admire. And then there will be the writers that are new to you.

When it came to Savage Beasts I found that I was sharing the TOC with John F D Taff, one of the first "real" authors I virtually met when his book, The Bell Witch, and my novel, Discoredia, were both picked up by Books of the Dead Press in 2013. John was even so kind as to provide the blurb for Discoredia, something for which I'll always be thankful, and his career goes from strength to strength with the release of numerous novels and short stories. There was also Karen Runge, who I appeared alongside in Suspended in Dusk, and T Fox Dunham whose short story, The Last Elf, I had thoroughly enjoyed in Ominous Realities, a previous anthology from Grey Matter Press. 

The remaining half dozen authors were all new to me, so when it was suggested that we each interview one of the other contributors I thought it would be a good way to get to know a little more about whoever I was selected to interview. So, here it is, my interview with Greek author Kostas Paradias whose story, Killing Noise, is well worth a read.



First off, tell me a little about yourself and your writing career to date.

I remember that I started writing around the time I began to read fiction in earnest. I guess it all began when I was 11 years old and had driven my mother crazy with my hyper-activity, so she decided it was time I got down to some serious reading. She gave me a choice between two books: Huckleberry Finn or War of the Worlds, so naturally, I picked the second one.

After spending a couple of days between terrified of the scene where the first Martian slithers out of its dropship canister, I decided it was time to first, get the book read and then start writing something of my own. My first completed work was about 12 pages long (a massive undertaking by that time) and it was called THE ADVENTURES OF KITTENCHILD, about a massively evil, massively rich anthropomorphic kitten and his score of nephews, trying to do him in so they can get their hands on their fortune.

Fast forward 12 years of frantic writing later and I still haven’t gotten a single word published in any Greek magazine or through any publication. Realizing that I will not be the one to bring old-school space opera to Greek audiences, I decided to try my hand at getting published abroad. Following a bout of crippling self-doubt and two massively unsuccessful pen names, I started writing semi-professionally on February of 2010 and have never looked back since.

I’ve got almost 70 short story publications to my name and have been fortunate to (recently) get a story of mine published in Japanese through Atelier Third, been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and I am hoping I will be able to get my novel off the ground, sooner rather than later. 12 years of constant failure have taught me I need to aim low, while swinging high I guess.

And moving on to your story, Killing Noise, which features in Savage Beasts, what piece of music inspired the story? And what's the story about?

I grew up in a house of music. My mother is a certified pianist by the Conservatory of Athens and was an honest-to-God professional player for a while, before family duties forced her to turn to full-time teaching. My father (a die-hard lover of Greek folk music) learned to love classical music through her.

My brother and I used to love Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and always found a way to include it in our make-believe playtime scenes of the spinoff adventures of Kittenchild. As a matter of fact, it was my brother’s idea that allegro, playful pieces of music should be played during scenes of utter carnage, an idea which we found was shamelessly used by John Woo in his magnum opus, Face-Off. In light of his contribution to the art of filmmaking, we decided not to press charges.   The idea stuck to me, however. Coupled with the masterful synch of pizzicato tones and action in Warner Brothers cartoons and the rise of increasingly powerful car sound systems, I realized that an earthquake set to the tune of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor  was entirely possible. Growing up, I learned about the hidden power of subsonics and their possible use as weapons of mass destruction and I remember thinking:   “What if you cranked up Brahms’ Hungarian Dance no. 5 to 1500 decibels, aimed it at something and pressed play?”   Thus, the idea of weaponized classical music grew in my head. The idea of someone doing just that: creating a silent, utterly destructive speaker that delivered 10 minutes of music by bouncing it off the moon, pulverizing cities as it went. The idea that you could turn the Ode to Joy into the equivalent of the Tsar Bomba, make music that could only do harm.   How long would it take before the world went silent? What would become of the world’s musicians-turned-mercenaries? How long before speech would be considered counter-intuitive, causing our main means of communication to break down? What would become of our vaunted opera houses and symphony orchestras, if their performances ever amounted to a full-fledged war crime?   What would happen if our most prized works of classical music simply became Killing Noise?  

Is taking inspiration from music something new to you? Where do your influences normally come from?   
 
Inspiration from music hasn’t been entirely new to me, just not a route I usually choose to take. I’ve become accustomed to music, which has caused me to miss out on a lot of its subtleties. At this point in my life, I tend to pick favorites based on the sort of stories they tell, from Tom Waits’ Underground to the Tiger Lillies’ Swing ‘Em High to Wilmoth Houdini’s Black But Sweet.   The idea of writing a short story entirely based on music was something that came as a slow process to me, looking for the tones that actually amounted to the equivalent of horrific blows, used in the proper context and with the necessary hardware.   Most of my influences instead come from daily encounters. I used to own a jewelery business, which led me to meet a number of very interesting, unique characters. During the heyday of the economic crisis, I was exposed to tidbits of everyday madness, vignettes of people’s personal dramas and I guess that’s what really got me into the business of writing in earnest.   People like to say that they are inspired by pieces of art, or a good tune, or just a great story. Myself, I like to think that I am caught in the grip of sonder, putting a good (or horrific) spin in the lives of a every single person I get to meet who trusts me with their woes.

Finally, what can we expect to see from you next? Any works in progress or imminent releases you'd like to tell us about?


I am currently in the process of writing my first space opera short story collection for Sybarittic Press, with the working title of EARTH, INC, which I trust should put a new spin to the idea of humanity as a newfangled starfaring species.   In my spare time, I attempt to edit my science fiction novel, THE CHROME HORDE, about the resurrected Mongol Horde in the aftermath of a fossil fuel apocalypse and hope to finally get my hands on a artist willing to help me work on my post apocalyptic comic book graphic novel, titled POST RAPTURE, about a pair of serial killers, working together to kill the world.


Thank you for answering those questions for me, and also for sending across a few of your own for me to answer in return. I thoroughly enjoyed Killing Noise, and look forward to reading more from you in the future.

Crossroads in the Dark cover reveal

The next release to feature my work, 50 Shades of Slay, will include two of my stories. Release should be some time in the next few weeks.

Crossroads in the Dark on the other hand isn't due for release until Halloween, but Burning Willow Press are ahead of the game and have already released the cover. If the stories are as dark and foreboding as the cover art it should be a suitably unsettling collection!

Over two months since my last post?

Honestly, I was quite surprised when I saw the date of the last post. I'm sure I read somewhere that a blog didn't just need great content, but also needed to be regular if people were going to bother with it. However, despite that fact I'm screwed on both the content, and frequency, score I'll carry on posting infrequent updates. I may as well.

So why today? Why is the 11th of August 2015 worthy of my bothering to post? Particularly as I'm on holiday doing this at nigh on midnight on my phone. Because Savage Beasts launched today that's bloody why! I've been waiting for this release for a while now, but it's worth the wait. Grey Matter Press have been great to work with, and hopefully this won't be the last time I work with them.

The anthology features a host of pieces each taking inspiration from music. My piece, When Death Walks The Field of Battle, was influenced by PCP's Zombie; a gabba track (what a surprise) sampling, amongst other things, Zombie by the Cranberries. I think it's one of the best pieces I've written to date, it'll be interesting to see what the readers of the collection think.

Looking forward I'll have two pieces featuring in 50 Shades of Slay from Alucard Press, due for release in the next month or so, and another piece in Crossroads in the Dark from Burning Willow Press, due out on Halloween.

At this rate my author page on Amazon is in danger of making me look like a real author!

7 Up

Some of you may remember my piece of flash fiction, Corruption. Well, the piece has been included in the latest edition of The Haunted Traveler which is not only available for purchase on Amazon, but is also available to read online for free at

http://systmaticwzl.wix.com/hauntedtraveler#!vol2issue1/c1ilo

In other news the final edit has been completed for When Death Walks The Field of Battle. Hopefully Grey Matter Press will be releasing the TOC for their Savage Beats anthology during the next week, as I can't wait to see whose work When Death Walks will be appearing with. Release is scheduled for July / August.

I've also had stories accepted recently by Alucard Press and Burning Willow Press, and I'm looking forward to working with them over the coming months.

As for outstanding submissions I've got four out there at present, with plenty more to work on going forward.

So that's the update. I've also done a couple of interviews lately with Francis Powell, who I've interviewed for this site and will be posting soon, and Suzie Monroe at The Book Nook Diva. Keep an eye on Facebook for more details of those.

Six of the best

Released today Ghosts: Revenge, published by James Ward Kirk Fiction, features my short story Here, Kitty Kitty.

The story is based on a legend local to Ryedale, the area of North Yorkshire where I have lived all my life, and tells of Sarkless Kitty, a vengeful ghost who lured a number of young men to their deaths.

With the release of this story I now have six published works to my name, which isn't a bad tally in my eyes. I've also got the release of my short story, When Death Walks The Field Of Battle, to look forward to in the coming months, plus three other submissions I'm waiting to hear about.

In 2014 I had four short stories published, hopefully I'll beat that in 2015 and I seem to have made a good start.

Bestseller x 2

Over Christmas it was nice to see Suspended in Dusk hit the top spot in the Amazon.com Kindle Horror Anthologies chart. Fair enough, it's still a long way from the New York Times bestseller list, or the shelves right in front of the door when you walk into Waterstones, but I can now legitimately say that I contributed to a best-selling horror anthology on Amazon.

On top of that it was good to see The Dark Carnival anthology doing well with a ranking that hovered around in the top 5 and often hit number 2. Then, today, I received an email from Pen and Muse pointing out that it had hit the top spot!

Now I can proudly declare that I've contributed to multiple best selling horror anthologies on Amazon. Not bad at all.

Of course I've only played a small part in these anthologies, and credit needs to go where it's due - to all the other contributors and also the editors and publishers. Still, I'll take my share of the glory.

So what's next? I need to get my finger out regarding a few submissions, but I have had another piece accepted, this time by Grey Matter Press who I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to work with. The story is for a music themed anthology and I think it's one of my best yet. It'll be interesting, as always, to see if readers agree.

Not Quite Everything Is Annoying

Over recent weeks my work has been published in two new anthologies; Wishful Thinking from Fireside Press, and The Dark Carnival from Pen and Muse.

Wishful Thinking is the first of a trilogy of books to be released over the winter months with this volume focusing on horror, and the subsequent volumes covering bizzaro and erotica. My story, Everything's Annoying, is about an irritable gentleman, much like myself, who wishes for nothing more than peace and quiet, with as few people around as possible. I'm proud of the story as it isn't out and out horror, but has more of a Tales of the Unexpected feel which is something I haven't really tried before. Not only that but I'm doubly proud since the story was selected as the editors choice for the volume which means a nice goody bag will be heading my way in the not too distant future. 

As for The Dark Carnival I've reported on that previously but it is now live on Smashwords for free, and hopefully Amazon will follow suit any day now. Please, don't buy it from there until the price comes down as this is supposed to be a freebie but, if you would rather get it from there than Smashwords, please feel free to click the "I've seen a cheaper price elsewhere" button and then wait for the price to drop.

Counting these two that's four anthologies which now feature my work from three different publishers. I've another submission currently on a short list and a couple more to write so hopefully there will be more publications to come. With work and family as it is the intensity of novel writing is something I genuinely don't feel I can fit in, but the short format provides me with a nice way to keep writing without that all-consuming madness of trying to write anything longer.

Dark Carnivals and Haunted Houses

Last October I contributed a piece to an online project run by "Pen and Muse", otherwise known as Kristen and Jolene. Well, 12 months on, that piece, plus a whole host of others by authors such as Claire C Riley, Julie Hutchings, Ken Mooney, and Mark Matthews, is to be featured in an ebook anthology to be released soon. It's a great collection of stories so keep your eyes peeled for further details.

Not only that but they are also running another series of stories this October, around the theme of "the haunted house" and guess what? I'm going to be featured yet again. I'm really pleased with my submission and will be tweeting and Facebooking the link as soon as it comes out.

Kristen and Jolene deserve a lot of credit for all of their hard work on these projects, and I genuinely appreciate them allowing me to participate.