Daniel Waters's Blog, page 6

A Few Words On Generation Dead Book 4: My Best Friends Are Dead

GD4: My Best Friends Are Dead will be released in about a week if everything goes smoothly. And when, in life, do things not go smoothly? Below is a brief note from the book on a few topics concerning the past, present, and future of Generation Dead.


Thank you for picking up My Best Friends Are Dead, the fourth book in the Generation Dead series. I’m happy to be repurposing the title, which I’d suggested early on as a marketing tagline for the first book (the “dead” was changed to “undead”, which I thought much less provocative). The “friends” refers both to the characters in the books, many of whom are dead yet still walking around, and also to the stories themselves. "How’s Life", "Doll Parts", and "Purpose Statement" first appeared as bonus stories, one each, in the electronic editions of the three novels, and they were collected with "My Dead Heart" and released as an eBook exclusive called Generation Dead: Stitches. "Still Small Voices", "Melon Heads", and "The Pain of Being Alive" are all original to this volume, as is "Passing Swiftly", a Break My Heart 1,000 Times story. Readers of that novel know that ghosts appear with the same frequency as do zombies in the Generation Dead books, perhaps proving conclusively that, in fact, all of my best friends are dead. I’m thrilled that I get to resurrect all of these friends here in this book.

Also included are the collected entries from My So-Called Undeath, a blog I started writing prior to the publication of the first Generation Dead novel. There wasn’t a lot of forethought put into the decision to do the blog; I loved the world I’d created and wanted to try out fictional material that didn’t fit well in the novels. Tommy blogged within the pages of the novel and I thought it would be interesting and fun if his blog was also available to readers in the “real” world.

Most of the blog entries that follow were originally written and published over a couple of hours. I’d have an idea, write it in Blogger, read it through a couple times, run the spellchecker, and press the button to publish. Contrast that with the “traditional” publishing process, which for me involves multiple handwritten and typed drafts, rounds of vetting and editing, and publication dates set months in the future, and you have two distant poles of the publication spectrum.

The immediacy of publishing fiction through a blog was both thrilling and terrifying, especially as my “professional” publications at that point were minimal. What mitigated the terror and enhanced the thrill was the reader interaction. Readers would comment, sometimes as zombie characters, within minutes of Tommy posting a new entry. Tommy would answer back, a dialogue would ensue and often a new idea for a blog would spark. This interactivity was something entirely new to me in the experience of creating fiction, and I wondered if the buzz I got from eliciting and responding to the comments was similar to that of performing improv comedy or playing in a jam band, where the audience often becomes a critical part of the work. I cut Tommy’s road trip from Passing Strange, so why not work some of it out in the blog, and get readers to suggest places for him to go? Colette and DeCayce have an intriguing relationship, but when was I going to get the chance to make them center stage in a book? Margi seemed to be a reader favorite but was never a primary POV character in the novels, doesn’t she deserve a turn in the blog? Using the blog to provide fresh material to an enthusiastic audience, I felt, justified whatever weaknesses therein—Tommy was trying desperately to connect to his readership and draw attention to his cause; I was trying desperately to connect to a readership and draw attention to my work. Sooooooo cathartic!

Fun as it is, interactive art and entertainment isn’t without its perils. Connectivity can become a drug which inhibits rather than enables an interior vision. As much as I enjoyed the collaborative nature of the blog, I was and remain fiercely resistant to the idea of the “main” storyline of Generation Dead being anything but my own. I’ve always known how the series will end. What I often said, truthfully, in interviews was that I wasn’t certain how many books (or blogs, or stories, or multi-media performances) it would take me to get there. I still don’t, but I feel like the horizon is drawing nearer.

I realized that whatever I wrote in the blogs needed to be complimentary to and not in conflict with the novels themselves—and so my hand needed to stay firmly on the narrative wheel if I wanted to reach that horizon. Mainly, that involved not disrupting the continuity of the novels, if I could avoid it—which I couldn’t, really. The events depicted in Generation Dead, Kiss of Life and Passing Strange all occur within a single year despite being published over the course of three years, and I wrote the blog entries before, during and after those publications, trying to fill in gaps and enhance the readers’ immersion and enjoyment of the world. Further complicating things (like Popeye in what might be my favorite single GD story, I can never seem to take the easier path), I was writing short stories that had very specific places in the continuity, some existing in the spaces between the published books and others occurring later and providing momentum for an additional novel. All of the material collected here from Purpose Statement onward occurs after the action of the first three novels. I’ve eliminated the posting dates and, sadly, the comments from the entries. I would have loved to include them here as part of the “story”, but I thought that another 200 pages of blog comments would tax the patience of even the most ardent GD readers (Erica & Yaz, I’m looking at you).  Newlydeads are encouraged to seek them out at MySoCalledUndeath.com, which still inhabits a corner plot of the Internet cemetery.

Working in the Generation Dead world, no matter the medium, was nothing short of exhilarating for those years, even during the times I left the tenuous security of my high-wire and stepped out into open space. Every moment was fun, and when work and fun are one and the same, life is endlessly abundant.

Even creative work, though, can begin to feel like work, and the time comes to take a break. In my experience with writing it is best to do that before the fatigue begins to show up on the page. I’d been thinking about writing Karen’s post-Passing Strange adventures on MySoCalledUndeath.com, but she and I had been through too much together for me to write with only half my heart in her story. I took a break, not from writing, but from writing Generation Dead.

We always return to the things we love, don’t we? Sometimes we may wonder why we ever loved them in the first place, but usually our feelings return in a rush of passion and gratitude. My love for Generation Dead is so passionate and obsessive it borders on the pathological. I’ve begun work on a fifth book in the series, a novel. Provided that my (or Tommy’s) previous readership finds this book, and that the series continues to find a new readership, I’ll write and publish Generation Dead stories until I reach the horizon I’ve envisioned since writing that first scene of Karen walking across the Oakvale High cafeteria. Work and fun are once again united.

As always, I appreciate all that you do to support the differently biotic.

Borderlands 6 Review

Cemetery Dance reviewed the Borderlands 6 anthology and my story therein, "Sinkers".

I assure you that the story is fiction and not autobiography, despite the review's mention of "drunken lowlifes".

Speaking of short stories, GD 4: My Best Friends Are Dead is dangerously close to publication.

Generation Dead Book 4: My Best Friends Are Dead Cover

Generation Dead Book 4: My Best Friends Are Dead

Table of Contents:

The collected My So-Called Undeath blog
Stitches:
1. How's Life2. Doll Parts3. My Dead Heart4. Purpose Statement
New Generation Dead stories:
1. Still Small Voices2. Melon Heads3. The Pain of Being Alive
Bonus new Break My Heart 1,000 Times story:
1. Passing Swiftly
On sale soon.  This will be the first time that any of this material has appeared in physical print.
I am debating including a brief author's note. I always loved when Stephen King kicked off his short story collections with his own introductions. He'd act as his own Crypt Keeper, at times curating, cuing, teasing, and carnival barking not only the work itself but also the process of creating the work. And, often, the impact that the work had on the community at large. It was an essay and not an introduction, but seek out his "Ever Et Raw Meat? and Other Weird Questions" for a great example. I used to dream about receiving correspondence similar to what he mentions in the article, although I no longer et meat, raw or otherwise.
I was always fascinated by how well those intros and essays effectively conveyed the unique experience of being a professional writer while also revealing a complete understanding of what it meant to be a "constant reader", and so the idea of trying something similar is appealing.
Then again, I always hated when just about anyone else tried the same stunt so we'll see.

Borderlands 6

This non-themed anthology of horror features never-before-published works by: M. Louis Dixon, John McIlveen, Jack Ketchum, Rebecca J. Allred, Dan Waters, Michael Bailey, John Boden, Trent Zelazny & Brian Knight, Bob Pastorella, Peter Salomon, Carol Pierson Holding, Steve Rasnic Tem, Darren O. Godfrey, David Annandale, Anya Martin, G. Daniel Gunn & Paul Tremblay, Gordon White, Sean M. Davis, Tim Waggoner, Bradley Michael Zerbe, and Gary A. Braunbeck. Also included, one amazing previously published novelette by David Morrell.

I've a story in the newly released Borderlands 6 anthology alongside the work of some of the heroes & legends of modern horror fiction. Is it a Generation Dead story? Well, there are dead people. And most of the action takes place in the mysterious depths of  Oxoboxo Lake (yes, in the Oxoboxo!). And although I don't mention him in the story at all, Takayuki is watching George gnaw on a deceased opossum just off-camera on page two .Note: this last "fact" is fiction, and as anyone knows a fiction told about fiction de facto becomes fact.

You may have a difficult time finding my story because it is very short and because I used my super secret, non-YA, adult pseudonym: Dan Waters.  Shhh! Don't tell anyone!

Some other clues to help you locate the story: it is called "Sinkers", and it begins on page 41. You won't be able to locate "Sinkers" in Generation Dead Book 4: My Best Friends Are Dead, out from OMZ Press later this summer.

The roster of authors is stellar, as are the stories they've created.  I'm thrilled to be in such company.

Up from the Underground?

Generation Dead, Generation Dead Book 2: Kiss of Life, and Generation Dead Book 3: Passing Strange are now available in print and digital editions.  You can help out by recommending them to readers who missed them or were too young to read them the first time around. Reviews on the new listings would be greatly appreciated as well, as would social media/blog/person you met on the bus mentions.
So would buying one, actually. Click  Danny's Amazon Author Page to find and order.
I hope to have the fourth book available by the end of June. The cover art is completed and is every bit as gorgeous as the others. Generation Dead Book 4: My Best Friends Are Dead will be available in print and digital, and will include (for the first time in a physical edition!) all four stories from Stitches, the  MySoCalledUndeath blogs, and a number of never before seen stories. The new stories set the stage for the next novel in the series, Generation Dead Book 5: Get Animated!, which I'm planning on releasing next year.
Your support is not only appreciated--it is critical! One new reader for each person who read the series when it was originally released will help make GD5 happen, so anything that you can do to  spread the word and bring the next generation of Generation Dead readers into the Haunted House will make a huge difference.

Return of the Dearly Departed?

Back From The Grave?

A Sort of Memorial Day Story

I posted the following brief true tale to Facebook while toasting the dead, war and otherwise, a couple nights ago. People seemed to respond to the sentiments, and seeing those men and thecrowd responding to them certainly left an impression on me, so I thought I'd post it here.
A Sort of Memorial Day StoryA couple weeks ago I was in the dear old BWI airport awaiting my flight, inbound from Maine. The gate attendant let us know that thirty WWII and Korea vets were coming in on the flight, soon to visit war memorials in DC. Could we please give them a warm welcome? Twenty nine men came off the airplane in wheelchairs, smiling and waving to the vigorous applause we provided throughout the terminal. There was one guy--just one--who walked off under his own steam, a large man leaning on a cane but moving at a rapid clip. He also smiled, but maybe his smile was a little tighter than those of his brothers-in-arms, and he didn't have any patience for waving. I found it impossible not to imagine him barking and waving his cane at the attendants trying to ferry him off the plane-- "Wheelchair? What makes you think I need a goddamn wheelchair, you goddamn idjit?"--as he lurched heavily to his feet. I clapped and cheered for all thirty, but I have to to confess I clapped especially hard for him, and I hope that he is as every bit as cantankerous in real life as he is in the fictional one I imagined for him.To quote Bill Callahan, "I never served my country"--but I have enormous respect for those who did and do. Thank you.

A Haunted Book Signing in Connecticut

I will be at the Otis Library in Norwich, Connecticut next Monday the 10th from 6:30-7:30 signing copies of my new ghost story/thriller Break My Heart 1,000 Times, soon to be a major motion picture at fine theaters everywhere. Maybe it will play in less than fine or even disreputable theaters too, who knows. Wouldn't it be cool if it were filmed in Illusion-O, like in the original 13 Ghosts movie? Not the modern one (which I love) with The Torn Prince, The Torso, the Angry Princess (who I also love), and their ten other spectral pals, but the 1960 one by William Castle. Boy, that sure would be swell.

I'll also sign any copies of any of the Generation Dead books you have lying around, too. I suppose I'd sign zombie and ghost books from other authors if you were really insistent about it, just to be polite, although I don't know why you would want me to do that.  It would only embarass us both.

I'm told that books will be provided by Bank Square Books, a very fine bookstore you can visit physically in Mystic, CT or virtually HERE.