Alan Baxter's Blog, page 27

February 16, 2016

Nominated for a Ditmar Award!

I’m very behind on blogging about stuff, but that’s because Chinese New Year has been kicking my arse. But I’m finally back at my desk and catching up, and I’m very happy to report that my story from Fantasy & Science Fiction last year, “The Chart of the Vagrant Mariner”, has been nominated for a Ditmar Award in the Best Short Story category. What a treat! If you’re a member (full or supporting) of this year’s Contact in Brisbane, or you were a member of Swancon 40 last year, then you’re eligible to vote in the Ditmar Awards. Of course, I’d love your vote if you think my story is worthy. I’ve made it available to read here:

“The Chart of the Vagrant Mariner” (6,500 words), from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2015 issue. Click here (or Right Click and Save As) for a PDF: http://bit.ly/1JUyVCY

And of course, if you’re eligible to vote, please please please get involved and do so. The more people voting, the better the awards are.

Congratulations to all the nominees! You can find them here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ditmar_Award_results#2016.2C_Contact2016.2C_Brisbane

And as I write this, the Aurealis Award finalists have also just been announced. Congratulations to everyone listed there too! You can find that set of shortlists here: https://aurealisawards.org/2016/02/17/announcement-2015-aurealis-awards-shortlists/

Isn’t award season an exciting time!

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Published on February 16, 2016 16:34

January 27, 2016

Research: Even if it Might not be Apparent to the Reader, It’s Still Important

Today I’m hosting a guest post from SF and fantasy author, Terry W Ervin II. I think this is great – I hope you enjoy it.

Research: Even if it Might not be Apparent to the Reader, It’s Still Important
When a reader decides to pick up and read one of my novels, he or she is committing both money and time—valuable commodities that could easily be spent elsewhere. Because of that, I strive to tell the best story I can, which includes doing the necessary research. To me necessary means getting the big things right, along with the small, peripheral ones.

For example, in my debut novel, Flank Hawk, one of the factors that led to the post-apocalyptic setting was a handful of nuclear warheads penetrating the U.S. ballistic missile defense systems and detonating. Pulled from two chapter starts:

Nestled in Cheyenne Mountain, NORAD had been on full alert. Coordinated satellites viewing the earth in the infrared part of the spectrum recorded the demise of one ballistic missile while radars, including the Cobra Dane early-warning in the Aleutian chain and the X-band floating on a nearby platform, tracked the two surviving sub launched missiles as they climbed…

…A battery of six interceptor rockets from silos at Fort Greely in Alaska and four more from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base raced skyward. An experimental tracking and intercept aircraft from the Vandenberg base was already aloft. While it strained for altitude, airmen activated its advanced tracking and targeting systems, and prepared its powerful laser should any warheads survive the kill vehicles housed in the interceptor rockets.

To get it right required hours of research, learning the basics of the US missile defense systems and equipment, capabilities, and locations along the West Coast. Only a fraction of what I dug up and organized actually made it to the pages of the novel, and only to a few paragraphs on a few pages, but the point of research isn’t to show off all the work I did. It’s to incorporate only the necessary details that enhance the story.
Crax War Chronicles RT and RH
As an author, I strive to get it right for the reader, not only for the story, but because the readers out there have varied knowledge and experience. I’d be embarrassed to get an email from a disappointed reader, telling me I’d gotten it wrong—especially something that I could’ve gotten right.

Another example comes from Relic Tech. It’s a science fiction novel that involves some interstellar space travel. One of the things I incorporated was time dilation, which is a phenomenon that occurs as a ship travels through space. The closer a ship comes to approaching the speed of light, the greater the time variation there is between those aboard the traveling ship as compared to planet side individuals.

In Relic Tech, the time dilation was along the lines of minutes and hours, rather than months and years. Still, Security Specialist Keesay (the main character) uses a 20th century watch not controlled by the ship’s chronometer to track the phenomenon. It’s only a minor point in the plot, as Specialist Keesay attempts to predict when the civil transport Kalavar will actually emerge at its destination, as opposed to what’s been told to the crew.

Not only did it take considerable time and effort to research and calculate the time dilation based on the Kalavar’s rate of travel, but it was also important to remain consistent with the distances between the star systems and exoplanets, (only a few fictional) incorporated into the storyline, and how long the actual travel between them would take based on a ship’s speed.
First Civilization Legacy Series FH BS SF

Speaking of exoplanets, for my most recent release, Relic Hunted (the sequel to Relic Tech), I had to do a fair bit of calculation with respect to the distances between star systems, some with exoplanets. The light years from Earth? That information is readily available. The light years between various star systems? Not so readily available information. So, high school trigonometry to the rescue. Find the distance from Earth to one star. Then find the distance from Earth to the second star. Get out a star map, draw lines from Earth to the two stars, measure the angle formed using a handy protractor, and all the data is there to determine an approximate distance between the two stars. Not an exact science, but far better than a random guess and, within the novel, it keeps the time to travel between specific stars and distant solar systems consistent.
All of the above examples (and more) took time, a lot of time—time that some might argue wasn’t really necessary. Nevertheless I did it, the reading and cross referencing, all the charts, figures and calculations, and had some of it double-checked by my former college roommate, who majored in physics and minored in astronomy, and is now a math professor.

Would the reader know if I made it all up? If I remained orderly and consistent, but sort of played a little fast and loose with the rate of travel and distances, and ignored the relatively minor time dilation? Probably not. Would they have cared? Maybe not. After all, I don’t write what might be termed hard science fiction. Nevertheless, I owe it to the reader, to get as much right as I reasonably can. Even the little things, because I believe they add up, giving my novels, such as Relic Hunted, depth, authenticity, and consistency.

Readers willing to invest time and money on my novels? I owe them at least that much.

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Bio Pic Terry W. Ervin II for 2015Terry W. Ervin II is an English and science teacher who enjoys writing fantasy and science fiction. His First Civilization’s Legacy Series (fantasy) includes Flank Hawk, Blood Sword, and Soul Forge.

The Crax War Chronicles, his science fiction series, includes Relic Tech and Relic Hunted (his most recent release from Gryphonwood Press).

In addition to writing novels, Terry’s short stories have appeared in over a dozen anthologies, magazines and ezines. Genre Shotgun is a collection containing all of his previously published short stories.

To contact Terry or learn more about his writing endeavors, visit his website at www.ervin-author.com and his blog, Up Around the Corner at uparoundthecorner.blogspot.com

 

 

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Published on January 27, 2016 15:00

January 24, 2016

The Balance Omnibus Edition is out now

Balance Omnibus Front FinalSo those fine folk at Gryphonwood Press have put together a pretty sweet deal here. They’ve made an Omnibus Edition of my Balance Duology and thrown in a couple of extra short stories too. So this is a single volume (in ebook and paperback) that contains both novels, RealmShift and MageSign, plus two short stories, “Running Wild With The Hunt” and “Stand-Off”, which both feature Isiah, the protagonist from the novels.

The first of those short stories was originally published in the Seven Realms anthology, The Game, with yarns riffing on that famous short story, “The Most Dangerous Game”. The other short included in the Omnibus was originally published by Wily Writers. Neither of those yarns have been much in circulation for a quite a few years now, so it’s nice to have all the Isiah stuff in one place at last. Especially with such a damned cool cover on it!

And before the message start, I’ve been asked a lot whether there will be a third Isiah novel. Will The Balance duology become a trilogy, or even a longer series? I know there’s a fair few Isiah fans out there and that makes me happier than you could ever imagine. But the answer is a bit vague: Never say never. I don’t currently have plans for a third Balance book, but it is possible. I have a thing on my wall in the BaxCave with a list of projects on it – all kinds of books that I plan to write. On that list is “Balance 3?”

I’d need really good ideas and a strong plot to go ahead with it. I do have some inklings, but I plan to let them percolate for the foreseeable future and we’ll see what happens. So it’s possible, but in the meantime, The Balance Omnibus has all the Isiah goodness in existence right now. The ebook is pretty much everywhere already and the paperback edition will be out any day now. Get it wherever you usually get books – any problems, give me a shout. Meanwhile, here are the links for the major ebook stores:

AMAZON | AMAZON UK | AMAZON AUS

KOBO | SMASHWORDS | B&N

iBooks US | iBooks UK | iBooks Aus

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Published on January 24, 2016 03:36

In Your Face! Ten days to go.

IMG_9056So this is still a campaign you totally need to get behind. It’s got ten days to run, has already hit triple its target, but more funding will only make it better than ever. And by supporting the crowdfund, you get discounted pre-orders for a fantastic book (plus loads more perks if you want to kick in extra). I really think this book is going to make waves. Here’s the blurb:

In Your Face will be made up of original and reprinted speculative fiction stories that deal with very provocative themes. These stories will be provocative and/or confronting but with a firm purpose – they are pieces that will perhaps make readers uncomfortable because they are a bit too hard-hitting or close to the bone, but which interrogate these themes and ideas, and make a point about the world we live in.

The Table of Contents can be found here:

http://fablecroft.com.au/books/in-your-face/announcement-table-of-contents-for-in-your-face

And a whole load of blog posts with the authors talking about the inspiration behind our stories can be found here:

http://fablecroft.com.au/publications/in-your-face/in-your-face-blog-tour

So go on, get in on the action. Click here to join in with the Pozible campaign.

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Published on January 24, 2016 03:20

January 11, 2016

International Cover Reveal for BOUND!

So for people who have been paying attention, the Alex Caine train is still rolling strong. All three books in the trilogy (Bound, Obsidian and Abduction) are being re-released by HarperVoyager in Australia and New Zealand, with new covers, in July this year. That means people in the ANZ region will finally be able to have all three books in print on their shelves. I can’t wait to show you those covers, hopefully sometime very soon (they’re fantastic!).

But meanwhile, the series is being published around the rest of the world by the brilliant folk at Ragnarok Publications. Things are running a bit later there with publication, but Bound will be released before the end of 2016, with Obsidian and Abduction hopefully not too far behind. Ragnarok have a whole new swanky website coming up soon, so I’ll shout about that on social media when it’s up, but in the meantime, they’ve revealed to authors the covers for all their northern Fall new releases. That means we have an international cover for Bound, by the fantastic Shawn King. And I get to reveal it here today. So here it is, in all its muscly, magical glory! (And I do dig that review quote in the top right.)

bound-ragnarok

So what do you think? I hope you like it – I certainly do. It captures the gritty, urban, magical, violent nature of the series beautifully. I’ll hopefully be able to give you guys an actual release date very soon. And watch this space for the ANZ covers soon.

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Published on January 11, 2016 14:21

January 10, 2016

Obligatory Ditmar and Stoker Awards eligibility post.

It’s award season again and when this time of year comes around there’s always varying degrees of discomfort in how we make our eligible work known without acting like car salesmen or insecure hermits. And everything in between. However, I’ve long since come to be comfortable with the idea that writers should make clear what their eligible work is and where to find it. I wish more writers would do it in order for me to not forget good stuff I’ve seen, or for me to find good stuff I may have missed. And I always encourage more people to get involved so the awards are a better reflection of fandom, as they should be. The juried awards look after themselves, but the fan awards need loads of participation. So get on board.

The Stokers can only be nominated by HWA members and they know who they are, so anyone reading this with the ability get involved there can skip straight down to the stories I’ve listed.

The Ditmars can be nominated by “natural persons active in fandom”. That means we can’t just get all our family and friends to nominate, as the committee will check who’s nominating. But if you are a fan, you can use the online form to nominate and to give a referee for you eligibility to nominate. If you’re a blogger, a convention attendee, an avid reader, active in any way in fandom, you qualify. The nomination form is here and all the relevant details are on it. So if you’re allowed to, please get involved. There’s a massive (though not exhaustive) list of eligible work here. I have two things that I think are my strongest works of 2015, and that I’d like to see attract more attention. They’re listed below and I’ve made a PDF of each available for you to read and consider. If you think they’re worthy of your nomination, I thank you in advance.

In the Best Short Story Category, I think my best this year was “The Chart of the Vagrant Mariner” (6,500 words), from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2015 issue. Click here (or Right Click and Save As) for a PDF of that story: http://bit.ly/1JUyVCY
In the Best Novelette/Novella Category, I have one eligible work: “In Vaulted Halls Entombed” (9,100 words), from the SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest anthology, from Cohesion Press. Click or Right Click here for a PDF of that one: http://bit.ly/1MQalTLAnd whether you think them award-worthy or not, if you read them, thanks! I hope you enjoy them.Now other writers need to post their eligible work. And they need to nominate their favourites. And all the fans need to get nominating. Use the links above and GO!.

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Published on January 10, 2016 20:34

January 1, 2016

In Your Face – the genesis of my story, “Bodies Of Evidence”

One of the best things about slowly and steadily building a writing career is that you get to a point where editors come to you and ask for stories, based on their experience of your previous work. It’s incredibly cool, and really helps to remind a writer that all the hard work is worthwhile. Of course, there’s no guarantee that said editor will buy the story you send them – you still have to write something that blows their socks off. Well, in 2015 I was commissioned by three editors for stories, and I managed to sell to all three. I couldn’t be happier! In this post, I’m going to talk specifically about one in particular, a story for editor Tehani Wessley of Fablecroft Publishing, for her forthcoming anthology, In Your Face. A bit further down I’m going to talk about my story, but first you need to understand the idea of  the book.

In Your Face will be made up of original and reprinted speculative fiction stories that deal with very provocative themes. These stories will be provocative and/or confronting but with a firm purpose – they are pieces that will perhaps make readers uncomfortable because they are a bit too hard-hitting or close to the bone, but which interrogate these themes and ideas, and make a point about the world we live in.

The book is happening hopefully by April, and it’s going to be amazing. There’s a pozible campaign though, which aims to raise more money in order to buy more stories for the anthology and then, if it meets its stretch goals, pay its authors more. So that’s pretty awesome. The modest original target was met in less than twelve hours! But you can still get involved and use the campaign to pre-order your ebook or print copy at a discount, and claim other rewards. All the details here: http://www.pozible.com/project/202670

Now my story that will appear in In Your Face is a very personal one. When Tehani explained the book to me, I realised this was the opportunity to write a story dealing with something I’d avoided until now. I had an older brother, Steven, who was a great guy. But he was born with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, the most aggressive form of this progressive neuromuscular disorder, and he died when he was 18. I was 16. My entire youth was one where disability was front and centre of my life.

I knew I would address disability one day in a story, but not simply the nature of disability itself – I knew I needed to explore parallels between disability and deliberate body modification. The things people willingly do to themselves and the things people wish they could do. I knew it would be a difficult story to write and a difficult one to sell. When In Your Face came along, I realised the problem of selling it might be taken care of if I could do a good enough job of writing it. So that’s what I did.

It was one of the hardest things to write I’ve ever taken on. The framework is a cyberpunk noir story, with a protagonist who’s a career detective on a strange murder case. Her brother has a debilitating disease and not much longer to live. I don’t specify in the story that he has MD, but that was my model for the character’s situation. I’m not going to say any more about it, but now you know the genesis of the story. It’s called “Bodies Of Evidence” and I really hope people enjoy it. Well, maybe “enjoy” isn’t the right word. It’s an uncomfortable story to read, I think, but that’s the point really. I just hope I’ve done the subject justice. Time will tell. Tehani, at least, thinks I have, as she bought the story, so I’ll take that encouragement. And I really want to thank my friends Rob and Julia for their invaluable help beta reading this story for me.

There are some amazing writers lined up for In Your Face, so get over to the Pozible page and reserve your copy now. I think it’s going to be a very important book.

1200_650_1000

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Published on January 01, 2016 18:08

December 31, 2015

Some writing facts and figures for 2015

As much for myself as anything else, it’s nice to look back on a year and see what’s been achieved. Given that I’m always striving for more, it’s good to stop and remind myself what I have managed along the way. So here are some writing facts and figures for 2015.

I had no new books out this year, but I wrote some – more on that below.

New short fiction publications this year were:

“How Father Bryant Saw the Light” – Blurring the Line anthology (ed. Marty Young, Cohesion Press, November 2015)

“Reaching For Ruins” – Review of Australian Fiction (ed. Matthew Lamb, Vol. 16, Issue 3, November 2015)

“Old Promise, New Blood” – Bloodlines anthology (ed. Amanda Pillar, Ticonderoga Publications, October 2015)

“In Vaulted Halls Entombed” – SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest anthology (ed. Geoff Brown & A J Spedding, Cohesion Press, September 2015) (Novelette)

“Beyond the Borders of All He Had Been Taught” – Insert Title Here anthology (ed. Tehani Wessley, Fablecroft Publishing, April 2015)

“The Chart of the Vagrant Mariner” – The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (ed. Gordon Van Gelder, Jan-Feb 2015 issue)

That last one, selling to F&SF, is a real career high point for me. It’s my holy grail of sales and I finally nailed it. I’ve loved that magazine since I was a kid and seeing my name in one was mind-numbing. Plus, it’s just been listed on the Tangent Online Recommended Reading List, so that’s a nice bonus. Now to beat my best by selling to F&SF again.

As for the business of submissions, I made 37 short fiction submissions in 2015, so fewer than normal. But I got 8 acceptances, a couple of them pro, which is a higher ratio than normal. A few of those were solicited, so the strike rate is always higher that way than cold subs.

As for new writing, I wrote about a dozen new short stories, all of which are either sold or (four of them) out on submission.

I finished a novel that I started in 2014, which is now with my agent.

I wrote a whole new collaborative novel with David Wood which is now out on submission.

I wrote a novella of about 30k words that’s also out on submission.

And I’m halfway (about 50k words) through a new novel that I hope to have finished in first draft by the end of Feb.

Also in 2015, I won an Australian Shadows Award, for “Shadows of the Lonely Dead”, and was nominated for a second one for “Mephisto”, both short stories. And I was nominated for a Best Novel Ditmar Award for Bound, a Best Novella or Novelette Ditmar Award for “The Darkness in Clara”, and a Best Horror Novel Aurealis Award for Obsidian. And the Shadows Award winning story was reprinted in Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror. Not actual writing stats, but fucking significant writing achievements in the year.

So while there’s only been six new stories published this year (my lowest count since 2011), and no new books, I have nonetheless been very busy. That’s the business – nothing happens fast. But you have to work like a pro 100% of the time to see results. And they do come if you never quit.

Hopefully I’ll land a new book deal or two in 2016 – cross your eveythings for me.

How was your year? Productive, I hope. Let’s all try to beat our best in 2016. Happy new year!

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Published on December 31, 2015 19:28

December 23, 2015

Blurring The Line: Rena Mason

12003146_879319075487621_892517258321694034_nBlurring The Line is the new anthology of horror fiction and non-fiction, edited by award-winning editor Marty Young, published by Cohesion Press. You can get your copy here or anywhere you normally buy books (the print edition is coming any day now).

To help people learn a bit more about it, I’ve arranged for each fiction contributor to answer the same five questions, and I’ll be running these mini interviews every weekday now that the book is available.

Today, it’s:

Rena Mason

Rena Mason Bio PicRena Mason is a two-time Bram Stoker Award® winning author, as well as a 2014 Stage 32 / The Blood List presents: The Search for New Blood Screenwriting Contest Finalist. She’s a member of the Horror Writers Association, Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and The International Screenwriters’ Association. She writes a column for the HWA Monthly Newsletter, event write-ups, and occasional articles. Rena has served as a Literary Chair Committee Member for the Las Vegas Valley Book Festival and Co-Chair on the StokerCon2016 Event Committee.

A Registered Nurse, and an avid SCUBA diver since 1988, she has traveled the world and enjoys incorporating the experiences into her stories. She currently resides in Reno, Nevada with her family.

For more information about this author, visit her website: RenaMason.Ink

1. What was the inspiration/motivation behind your story in Blurring The Line?

Because of the shortage for nurses, as an R.N. I often found myself working side by side with traveling nurses from abroad. It takes a strong personality type to come from another country and be able to provide such a diverse range of care in a foreign land. Travelers who specialize in medical/surgical care get scheduled to work on whatever floor they’re needed, which can span from specialties such as cancer to post-op patients. It’s something I personally wouldn’t want to do.

A few traveling nurses I’d worked with told me that life in the states wasn’t what they thought it would be like, and that they’d return home after their contract was up. They complained of being homesick, missing their families, the people, and familiar foods. So I took the culmination of all those things, amplified them a notch or two with locale, added more distinctly mixed cultural diversities in a city’s population, taking the horror to a level that would push my main character over the edge.

2. What does horror mean to you?

It’s anything that makes me feel fear, uneasy, unsettled, or disturbed.

3. What’s a horror short story that you think everyone should read?

“The Old Nurse’s Story” by Elizabeth Gaskell. A classic, chilling ghost story.

4. What horror novel should everyone read?

Hell House by Richard Matheson.

5. Name something that you think just might be real, or might not…

The Loch Ness Monster.

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Previous posts in the Blurring The Line interview series:

Marty Young
Tom Piccirilli
Lisa Morton
Tim Lebbon
Lia Swope Mitchell
Alan Baxter
James Dorr
Peter Hagelslag
Gregory L Norris
Steven Lloyd Wilson
James A Moore
Alex C Renwick
Lisa L Hannett
Kealan Patrick Burke
Brett McBean
Kaaron Warren
Paul Mannering
Charles L Grant
Patricia Esposito
Rena Mason

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Published on December 23, 2015 15:00

December 22, 2015

Blurring The Line: Patricia Esposito

12003146_879319075487621_892517258321694034_nBlurring The Line is the new anthology of horror fiction and non-fiction, edited by award-winning editor Marty Young, published by Cohesion Press. You can get your copy here or anywhere you normally buy books (the print edition is coming any day now).

To help people learn a bit more about it, I’ve arranged for each fiction contributor to answer the same five questions, and I’ll be running these mini interviews every weekday now that the book is available.

Today, it’s:

Patricia Esposito

promotion photo 2015Patricia J. Esposito is author of Beside the Darker Shore and has published numerous works in anthologies, such as Main Street Rag’s Crossing Lines, Anna Purna’s Clarify, Undertow’s Apparitions, and Transmundane’s Distorted, and in magazines, including Not One of Us, Scarlet Literary Magazine, Rose and Thorn, Wicked Hollow, and Midnight Street. She has received honorable mentions in Ellen Datlow’s Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror collections and is a Pushcart Prize nominee.

Find her at: http://patricia-j-esposito.blogspot.com/

1. What was the inspiration/motivation behind your story in Blurring the Line?

My story “A Distorted and Holy Desire” came out of my need to explore the mystery of music’s deep effect on us. Sometimes we experience art that transcends, that takes the pain of life and lets us experience it and yet, through art, come out of it. Art as catharsis. In the few times I saw the band Beautiful Collision (BeCo) play, I felt that transcendence, and yet the singer/guitarist would say, almost shyly, a very simple, “Thank you.” Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that so much passion and beauty can come from a mortal human form. Sometimes emotion is so great I wonder how we survive it. I wrote to see how I survive it, though I’m not sure I do.

2. What does horror mean to you?

Horror can range from stories that elicit heart palpitations to cringing and nausea to an unease that won’t let go. Horror that makes me jump and then laugh at the adrenaline rush can be fun, and I can appreciate the imagery of a well-done slasher scene—both designed to shake us, give us a quick thrill?—but I generally seek out horror that evokes that unnameable unease, that makes me think and wonder and try to establish how the horror might fit in myself or the world I’m part of. I think the unknown plays into most horror; however, I’m drawn to horror that remains a bit of a mystery, that entails the ambiguous, something that might lie within us if not without, or that we finally perceive with a sense of near awe because it is beyond our control and yet part of this world, not to go away.

3. What’s a horror short story that you think everyone should read?

I had trouble with this because I’ve read a number of excellent short stories from recent years, in magazines and anthologies, and I always wonder what will stand the test of time. I’m a fan of Michael Kelly’s work, which combines the imagistic language I love with the psychological aspects of our inner fears. I’ll offer one of his, “The Woods,” because I think it’s an example of how subtle horror can be most powerful at times. Two old men sit across from each other in a cabin that’s suffocated in snow. We never learn of the crime and no one is accused outright, and yet the tension that builds from what is not stated and from the images of isolation that Kelly conveys so well left me more uneasy than if we’d learned the truth. The chill is in what we know is potential!

4. What horror novel should everyone read?

Here I turn to my personal taste for psychological horror and recommend a classic, Henry James’s Turn of the Screw. I first read the novella in high school, and it remained with me ever since, obviously influencing my own horror. I like when barriers between worlds seem to be breaking, and yet it could be what our own minds and distressed subconscious have done. How often and easily we scare ourselves by letting the imagination go; yet usually something keeps us over the edge. I like to explore going over that edge. (I’d also always recommend Ray Bradbury for the experience of his imagery that makes us thoroughly feel the world and the characters and for the elevated nature of what he proposes we can be.)

5. Name something that you think just might be real, or might not…

When it’s quiet and I’m absorbed in my writing, I wonder if all that had faded around me was ever real, or if we design the tangible in a collective effort for sanity.

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Previous posts in the Blurring The Line interview series:

Marty Young
Tom Piccirilli
Lisa Morton
Tim Lebbon
Lia Swope Mitchell
Alan Baxter
James Dorr
Peter Hagelslag
Gregory L Norris
Steven Lloyd Wilson
James A Moore
Alex C Renwick
Lisa L Hannett
Kealan Patrick Burke
Brett McBean
Kaaron Warren
Paul Mannering
Charles L Grant
Annie NeugeBauer

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Published on December 22, 2015 15:00