Loren Rhoads's Blog, page 19

Never Enough 2019

Every year I recap the writing triumphs and disappointments of the previous twelve months. Every year I feel like I haven’t done enough, but that was especially true in 2019. The year started strong, then I got consumed with revising Angelus Rose. I wish I’d had the energy to hustle more. Hopefully 2020 will be more productive.

Book publications:

[image error]Tales for the Camp Fire: An Anthology Benefiting Wildfire Relief came out on May 2, 2019. Since then, it’s raised $2200 for survivors of the Camp Fire, which devastated Paradise, California in November 2018.  Every aspect of assembling the book — from the glorious cover art to the stories donated to the events the local Horror Writers Association did to promote it — exceeded my expectations. I am extremely proud of this book. If you haven’t gotten a copy yet, pick one up at Amazon: https://amzn.to/35h9yMy.

Short fiction publications:

[image error]“Something in the Water,” an Alondra DeCourval story set in San Francisco’s Academy of Sciences, appeared in Occult Detective Quarterly #5, published January 15, 2019.

“In the Pines,” inspired by the blues song of the same name, appeared in The Siren’s Call, published on February 26, 2019. You can read the whole issue for free here: http://www.sirenscallpublications.com/pdfs/SirensCallEZine_February2019.pdf

“The Arms Dealer’s Daughter,” featuring Ariel Shaad and Raena Zacari from my space opera trilogy, appeared in Space & Time #133, published on March 20, 2019.

A new version of “Still Life with Shattered Glass” appeared in Tales for the Camp Fire, published by Tomes & Coffee Press in April.

[image error]“Silence of the Sirens” appeared in Shallow Waters, Volume 1: A Flash Fiction Anthology edited by Joe Mynhardt, published by Crystal Lake Publishing on June 24, 2019. Check the ebook out on Amazon: https://amzn.to/37vtwF9

“Rock Faces” appeared on the Ladies of Horror Flash Project on October 29, 2019. You can read it for free at this extremely long link (sorry!): https://spreadingthewritersword.com/2019/10/29/ladies-of-horror-flash-project-horror-author-loren-rhoads-morbidloren-sotet_angyal-loh-fiction-3/?fbclid=IwAR0etgf1Gr-qxdieJN1ILk2Xe5vEorBdza5DxV3PQpLNLQLfxXmbbM7j8No

Short fiction sales:

Nothing upcoming. I wasn’t great about sending stories out in 2019. I only got 4 rejections last year, but I’ve got 5 stories out that I haven’t heard back on yet. Hopefully one of them will land.

Short Nonfiction Publications:

Mental Floss was so happy with how many of you read my 2-year-old cemetery travel piece that they published a new & improved version on October 10: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/504942/5-cemetery-road-trips-ultimate-taphophile

My essay “Fire Season,” about my brushes with wildfire in California, was published on Hook of a Book to promote TALES FOR THE CAMP FIRE on June 28: https://hookofabook.wordpress.com/2019/06/28/loren-rhoads-talks-about-california-wildfires-and-the-charity-horror-anthology-to-raise-money-for-relief-tales-for-the-campfire/

My essay on “What Every Writer Needs” was published on No Wasted Ink on May 17, 2019: https://nowastedink.com/2019/05/17/what-every-writer-needs-by-loren-rhoads/

My essay “Overlooked Elements of Promotion” went up at the HorrorAddicts.net Online Writers Conference or #HOWConference on February 24, 2019.

I only managed 4 columns for the Horror Writers Association newsletter in 2019. I tried to quit the column, but the editor is very persuasive (read: extremely complimentary). I really should give it up since I continually miss the deadlines. Maybe this year.

5 Questions for Juliette Wade

[image error]Juliette Wade and I keep running into each other at our local genre conventions. We’ve been on panels together a couple of times, even shared the table of contents of the Strange California book, but we never sat down to chat until last FogCon, when I asked more about her work.  She told me about her amazing book Mazes of Power, which will be out next February. You can preorder it now. I’ll put the link below.

Juliette Wade never outgrew of the habit of asking “why” about everything. This path led her to study foreign languages and to complete degrees in both anthropology and linguistics. Combining these with a fascination for worldbuilding and psychology, she creates multifaceted science fiction that holds a mirror to our own society. The author of short fiction in magazines including Analog, Clarkesworld, and Fantasy & Science Fiction, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her Aussie husband and her two sons, who support and inspire her. Her debut novel, Mazes of Power, will come out from DAW in 2020.

[image error]The cavern city of Pelismara has stood for a thousand years. The Great Families of the nobility cling to the myths of their golden age while the city’s technology wanes.

When a fever strikes, and the Eminence dies, seventeen-year-old Tagaret is pushed to represent his Family in the competition for Heir to the Throne. To win would give him the power to rescue his mother from his abusive father and marry the girl he loves.

The struggle for power distorts everything in this highly stratified society and the fever is still loose among the inbred, susceptible nobles. Tagaret’s sociopathic younger brother, Nekantor, is obsessed with their family’s success. Nekantor is willing to exploit Tagaret, his mother, and her new servant Aloran to defeat their opponents.

Can he be stopped? Should he be stopped? And will they recognize themselves after the struggle has changed them?

Did something in the real world inspire Mazes of Power?

Mazes of Power itself was not inspired by anything in the real world, but I can track the origins of the world of Varin back to a trip that I took to France when I was twelve years old. I had a chance to drive and camp around France at that time. We went to visit a place called the Gouffre de Padirac. It’s an underground cave system. You climb stairs down and down through an enormous sinkhole, and from there enter an extensive system of caverns where you can board a boat and continue your tour along an underground river. At one point, the ceiling is 110 meters above the surface of the water. I was absolutely awed by the place — and a year later, I invented a world where people lived in high-tech underground cities.

What is your favorite scene in the book?

I went back and forth on this question for a long time, because there are so many scenes I love in this book. In the end, I went with a scene that I love because I’m a geek who loves scenes of interpersonal interaction between people with very different cultural backgrounds. There’s a scene where Lady Tamelera, a kind noblewoman, invites her manservant Imbati Aloran to play a game of keyzel marbles with her. Keyzel marbles is somewhat similar to the game Halma, in that you have a round board with cradles in which colored marbles sit. Keyzel is a two-player game where people attempt to move blue or green stone marbles step by step across an obsidian board. Tamelera’s home has a gaming table and chairs made of inlaid wood — a rare and expensive substance in Varin. Aloran, having sworn himself to Tamelera’s service, truly wants to grant her wishes and play the game with her, but can’t bring himself to sit down in the extravagant chairs, and can’t wrap his mind around the idea that in order to play fairly, he would have to attempt to defeat her.

What was your writing process like as you wrote the book?

My general writing process is to outline as far ahead as I can, usually several chapters ahead, but then to start writing the book from the beginning and continue in chronological order until I reach the end. In the case of Mazes of Power, I attempted to write it once and my momentum petered out at about the 40% mark because the outline was so long and unwieldy. At that point, I took a step back and realized that I had made the wrong person the primary protagonist. Mazes has three point of view characters: Tagaret, Nekantor, and Aloran. The first draft that didn’t work had been treating Aloran as the main character, when in fact it needed to be Tagaret. Once I had rewritten the book so that Tagaret’s was organizing its structure, everything fell into place. I was able to outline it all the way to the end, and able to write it in a way that worked.

What was the best thing that happened during your promotion of the book?

The best thing that happened was that I learned I had sold audiobook rights for both Mazes of Power and its sequel. The reason why this was awesome – besides just that audiobooks are awesome — was that I was able to stop teaching part-time and concentrate fully on my work on the novels.

What do you have planned next?

I’m currently writing the contracted sequel to Mazes of Power, entitled Transgressions of Power. This book also takes place in the world of Varin, and many of the characters from Mazes appear in it. However, it features all new points of view and goes to many places we’ve never seen before. I’m especially excited to be exploring the world of the Arissen officer caste in this book, given that I spent so much time with the Imbati servant caste in Mazes.

Preorder a copy of Mazes of Power on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2IRRccX

Check out all the books Juliette has had stories in: https://amzn.to/31jNW0i 

Or visit her website: https://juliettewade.com

And read her blog: https://dive-into-worldbuilding.blogspot.com/

5 Questions for Sheryl R. Hayes

[image error]I met Sheryl R. Hayes at BayCon, my local SFF convention that takes place over Memorial Day weekend each year.  Sheryl usually has an amazing crocheted dragon perched on her shoulder or some fabulous handmade dress.  She’s also an author. Talk about triple threat!

Sheryl R. Hayes can often be found untangling plot threads or the yarn her cats have been playing with. In addition to writing, she is a cosplayer focusing on knit and crochet costumes and works full time at a Bay Area water company.

Her latest book is called Chaos Wolf:

Bitten by a werewolf. Taught by a vampire. At this rate, she’s going to start a war.

Literature major Jordan Abbey ordered a double mocha latte, but it wasn’t supposed to come with a side order bite by a love-sick werewolf. When a vampire comes to her rescue, gut instinct tells her he has questionable motives. But he’s the only one she can trust to help get in touch with her inner animal.

Within a week, her smart mouth lands her in trouble with the hostile Alpha of the local pack and the stiff-necked vampire Elder. She now has less than a moon cycle to master shape changing… or else. And the besotted werewolf who started this whole mess is stalking Jordan and killing her friends. He won’t take no for an answer.

In the Northern California town of Rancho Robles where the children of the Wolf and the Bat share an uneasy coexistence, one woman makes an epic mess of the status quo.

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  Did something in the real world inspire Chaos Wolf ?

Chaos Wolf is the book I wanted to read, but wasn’t able to find. In most of the urban fantasy stories I read, werewolves hated vampires and vice versa.  The explanation given was it is how it had always been.  I wanted to delve into the why, and if the rift between them could be healed.

What is your favorite scene in the book?

After Montgomery disappears and is presumed to be kidnapped, Jordan goes to Marcus, Elder Vampire of the Rancho Robles Conclave for help.  She doesn’t know that Alpha Shane of the Black Oak Pack is there to discuss Jordan’s latest indiscretion. When they start arguing over who is the cause of her poor behavior, Jordan forgets herself and chews them both out. She storms out, then immediately freaks out over what she did. It was fun to write the emotional whiplash she experienced when she realizes she’s mouthed off to the two most powerful supernaturals in the city.

What was your writing process like as you wrote the book?

I had a strong idea of how the book end and rough steps about to get there, so I wrote up an outline to help keep me on track. But I left in enough flexibility that if another idea popped into being, it could be slotted in.

Then it was a matter of finding times to write.  I can’t tell you how many nights I spent transcribing scenes from scrap paper I had scrawled dialogue on during breaks at my day job.

What was the best thing that happened during your promotion of the book?

With the help of several friends, I threw a launch party at BayCon. It started around 9:00 PM and I thought I’d be lucky if we had a few people show up. I spent the evening chatting until things died down for the first time in the evening.  That was when we checked the clock and realized it was 2:00 AM.

What do you have planned next?

Chaos Hunt, the sequel will be out in October 2020. Keep an eye on my blog (https://www.sherylrhayes.com/blog) or my newsletter (www.sherylrhayes.com/subscribe) for the official release date.

You can check out her website at https://www.sherylrhayes.com

Buy yourself a copy of Chaos Wolf in paperback or for the Kindle on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Rm3LlC

5 Questions for T. Thorn Coyle

[image error]I met Thorn Coyle years and years ago, through Borderlands Bookstore. Although I barely knew them, Thorn contacted me just after my kid was born and told me that they were going to start writing in a cafe every week — and that kind of structure was exactly what I needed, so they would expect to see me there.  I was a little taken aback and didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but to be honest, those writing dates saved my sanity.  I plunked the kid in the stroller, hopped on BART, and wrote my way out of postpartum loneliness and depression. Thorn may not even know they saved my life, but I’m grateful nonetheless.

Officially, T. Thorn Coyle is author of two contemporary fantasy series, The Witches of Portland and The Panther Chronicles. They have written multiple books on magical and spiritual practice, including Sigil Magic for Writers, Artists, & Other Creatives, Kissing the Limitless, and Evolutionary Witchcraft. Thorn’s short fiction, poetry, and essays appear in many anthologies, magazines, and collections such as Fiction River, Pulphouse, and Fantasy in the City. 
Thorn has taught globally for decades and currently teaches online at Lifelong Creative.

An interloper to the Pacific Northwest, Thorn likes long walks, trees, and tea. They’ve been arrested at least five times.

Their most recent book is By Dark, the 8th book in the Witches of Portland series. If you like fast-paced plots, real-world issues, and a dash of romance, then you’ll love this magical series.

A witch with a bad feeling. A partner facing her own challenges. With the help of the ancestors, can they stop danger in its tracks?

Alejandro has it good, except everything in his life feels wrong. But when his partner challenges him, and a possible new love interest comes knocking, the last thing he wants is to face another challenge, this time from a long-dead family member. As this ancestor desperately tries to communicate the danger targeting Alejandro’s friends, he gets the sense there’s more to the situation than meets the eye.

With the help of his coven, Alejandro must uncover the deep secrets of his family’s past, and the secrets Portland holds. To protect his relationships and his life, he must risk everything he knows before death strikes yet again…

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Did something in the real world inspire By Dark?

The whole Witches of Portland series is inspired by real world problems and events: police violence, greedy real-estate developers, the sweeps of homeless camps, violence against women, fascism…

Plus, By Dark includes navigating queer, polyamorous relationships, which is a real world thing that doesn’t often get written about. At least, not in my experience.

Still, despite a grounding in the real world, the paranormal elements are key to the plot, as they are in the entire series.

What is your favorite scene in the book?

There are two scenes I particularly love, which are diametrically opposed. The first is when Alejandro flashes back to an ancestral memory and realizes he’s in real, personal danger. I felt a lot of tension in my body as I wrote that scene. It gets a bit hairy.

The second scene is the meet cute with his new lover, Thomas. It’s both delightful and a bit awkward, as so many meet cutes are. It was so refreshing to write a bisexual poly meet cute!

What was your writing process like as you wrote the book?

I brainstormed the whole series while flat on my back, laid out with my chronic illness, barely able to work. I let my imagination run wild with images of a coven of witches fighting for justice in the streets of Portland, Oregon. I couldn’t be out in the streets myself, but with Arrow and Crescent, I could imagine all sorts of exciting scenarios: Avenging Goddesses. Insistent ancestors. Ghosts. Black-clad anarchists. Magic. Love. During every phase of the moon and every season of the year, the witches were busy.

These books were fun to write because—unlike my previous series, The Panther Chronicles—they weren’t research heavy. After I pick the two central POV characters, which are Alejandro and Shekinah in By Dark, I jot down loose scene brainstorms onto 3×5 cards and then let the characters lead me further and further into the story. They characters are always changing things around, which is why I’m not a heavy plotter.

I use a combination of dictation and typing, of scene cards and writing into the dark. It’s a pretty loose, organic process. Every book is slightly different.

What was the best thing that happened during your promotion of the book?

There was no one thing, other than the ongoing positive response. People have become attached to Arrow and Crescent coven, which is great. It’s always a wonderful feeling when people relate to something you’ve written. I’ve had a few people tell me they’ve already read the series more than once and are waiting for Book 9, which is the conclusion!

One piece of feedback I’ve gotten on By Dark in particular is that folks enjoyed seeing the challenges a stable couple go through, even while they are both involved in romances with other people. Since I enjoyed writing it, it was great to hear that people resonated with that.

One thing that didn’t happen during promotion, but was a bit of delightful synchronicity, happened around book one: By Earth. There’s a café that figures largely in the series, based on one of the places I regularly write. In By Earth, Cassie—a witch with curly red hair—works in that café. Months later, I walked in for a writing session and there was a new barista. She had curly red hair. Her name was Cassie.

That was pretty cool, and the café owner—who loves the series— was very excited!

What do you have planned next?

Witches of Portland Book 9 launches in mid-December, completing the series. I’ve been brainstorming and world-building a new series for months now. It’s a post-apocalyptic epic fantasy called The Steel Clan Saga. I’m really excited by it. It’s been great to research different technologies and explore some of the characters, plus, I’m working with an amazing artist on original art for the covers.

It’s always great to stretch myself. I try to learn something new with every new series. Epic fantasy is something I’ve enjoyed reading, but this will be my first time writing it. I look forward to the challenge.

Other than that, I write essays and short stories regularly for my Patreon folks, teach online creativity classes, and go for long walks in Portland, dreaming up new ideas. Walks, tea, whiskey, and story. That’s what’s always next.

Get to know Thorn at www.thorncoyle.com

Pick up a copy of By Dark on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/2PddFn1

Or explore the whole Witches of Portland series: https://amzn.to/34QEbcu

5 Questions for R. L. Merrill

[image error]I met Ro Merrill last year at the Author Day at the San Mateo Public Library — and I immediately adored her.  She has bright pink hair, plenty of tattoos, and loves cemeteries.  We’ve run into each other a couple more times at the Library and I’ve discovered that I love to hear her read her work in public.  Plus, she always has the most amazing dresses!  I asked if I could interview her, to get to know her better…and she has a holiday romance out, so it seemed like kismet.

Once upon a time… A teacher, tattoo collector, mom, and rock ‘n’ roll kinda gal opened up a doc and starting purging her demons. Several self-published books and a debut gay romance with Dreamspinner Press later, R.L. Merrill is still striving to find that perfect balance between real-life and happily ever after. She writes stories set in the places she loves most: Hollywood, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Iowa, and Northern California. Ro also loves connecting with other authors online, as well as at the annual Romantic Times Booklovers Convention and chapter meetings for the Romance Writers of America, of which she’s been a member since 2014. A sucker for underdogs, Ro has adopted a wide variety of pets including cats, dogs, rats, snakes, fish, and a chameleon named Godzilla. Her love of horror is evident the moment you walk in her door and find yourself surrounded by decorative skulls and quirky artwork from around the world. You can find her lurking on social media where she loves connecting with readers, or educating America’s youth, being a mom taxi to two busy kids, in the tattoo chair trying desperately to get that back piece finished, or head banging at a rock show near her home in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Dover Billings sold his handcrafted wares at the Dickens Fair in San Francisco for over twenty years. He’s not as outgoing as the other artisans at this yearly Victorian celebration and prefers to observe the festivities from the shadows. That is until a new corset-maker moves into the booth next door and unsettles his carefully constructed life. Landry Malcolm is handsome, well-dressed, and the life of the party… one Dover wants no part of. Too bad he’s attracted to his confident younger rival.

Landry desperately wishes to get through to the beautiful artist next door, but every move he makes seems to be the wrong one…until a drunken kiss seems to break through Dover’s serious demeanor. Miscommunications plague attempts to find common ground, leaving Landry wondering what—if anything—he can do to make things right. Will a custom-made peace offering open the door to friendship, cooperation… and maybe more?

Did something in the real world inspire A Peace Offering?

I shared a classroom for years with a teacher friend who is an actor/participant at the annual Charles Dickens Family Christmas Fair and Holiday Party. The fair has been a huge part of her life for decades. For the weeks leading up to the event every year, I’d hear about her massive preparations: sewing a new dress or undergarments, creating hairpieces, all the building and workshops that would take place. I went to visit her several years at the fair and the transformation of the San Francisco Cow Palace into Victorian London never ceased to amaze me. The fair was fabulous for the actors, the scenery, and the food, but it was the artisans there that I looked forward to seeing every year. I did a lot of my Christmas shopping there, as a matter of fact. So when my publisher put out a call for holiday stories with the theme of “homemade,” I thought what if a smoldering and serious artist was vying with the new corset-maker for the best retail spot at the fair? What kind of sparks could fly at this unique event? A Peace Offering was born. I’m so very proud of this story.

What is your favorite scene in the book?

The drunken kiss in the men’s room at the planning meeting.

What was your writing process like as you wrote the book?

I actually used a tool this time. Amy Lane, authoress extraordinaire, let me look at an early draft of a craft book she’s putting together on writing category romance. She had so many helpful hints, it made the story that much stronger.

What was the best thing that happened during your promotion of the book?

Having folks who attend/work Dickens Fair say they loved it!

What do you have planned next?

SO MUCH WRITING! I’m working diligently to have at least book two in the Summer of Hush series out in 2020, plus there will be more paranormal silliness as part of the Magic and Mayhem Universe PLUS I’ll be featured at Book Lovers Con in Nashville as a hostess of the Rustic Prom and I can’t WAIT! I’ll have goodies for everyone who gets to join me in the VIP room.

Scope out A Peace Offering for the kindle at Amazon: https://amzn.to/35N0lw8 or pick it up direct from the publisher: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/a-peace-offering-by-rl-merrill-11548-b or find it at your favorite ebook retailer: https://books2read.com/u/4AxDRK.

Link up with R. L. Merrill on social media:

www.rlmerrillauthor.com

www.facebook.com/rlmerrillauthor

www.instagram.com/rlmerrillauthor

https://www.amazon.com/R-L-Merrill

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/r-l-merrill

5 Questions for Emmy Z. Madrigal

[image error]I’ve known Emmy a couple of years and count her as a role model. She is one of those people who lifts everyone around her up. She’s also relentlessly creative: writing stories, editing books, making crafts, setting up author events.  Her energy is really inspiring.

Emmy Z. Madrigal is the author of the Regency novella, Lord Harrington’s Lost Doe.  Her previous works include the Sweet Dreams Musical Romance series and the novelettes Anime Girl and Anime Girl 2.  Emmy has been praised for her realistic portrayal of modern female characters and their will to survive in a world of adversity, prejudice, and economic hardship. To find out more, go to: EmmyZMadrigal.com

Teen life sure sucks when you’re half-octopus.

Living on land with her mortal mother seems safe for octo-gal Tealy McKracken until she comes of age and inks herself in front of the town’s mean girl. It doesn’t help that her childhood crush is dating the annoying fashionista werewolf. Disturbing dreams of singing sea creatures aren’t helping.

Can Tealy possibly control her inking, stay away from an evil vampire witch, and win the heart of the vampire prince? Find out in this tentacled love story.

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Did something in the real world inspire Ink Dreams? 

This story is actually quite a departure for me. I write romance and I write horror (under the name Emerian Rich), so when I was approached to write a supernatural creature story, I initially said no. I didn’t think I could feel comfortable writing a supernatural teen romance. It wasn’t in my wheelhouse. But then, Tealy came into my mind and she wouldn’t let me be. I fleshed out the story in about a week. Although the initial story project never came to fruition, Tealy still demanded her story to be heard.

What is your favorite scene in the book?

I really like the relationship between Tealy and Kingston. For romance, those are the bits I’d choose. However, my favorite scene in the book has to do with her coming of age. She has a horrible nightmare and wakes to find she’s “inked” herself. At first, she doesn’t know what’s happening and it’s scary (like when a human girl first gets her period) but her mother gives her a book from her father that explains all about her octo nature and helps her through it. Receiving the book not only helps fill in that part of her that she’s always been a stranger to, but it also brings her closer to the father she remembers very little of.

What was your writing process like as you wrote the book?

This one was written in crazy-fast handwriting in a journal I happened to have in my bag that day. What usually happens is… I will get the majority of the tale in my head–bothering me to the point of distraction–and have to scrawl it all out before I forget or lose the passion for the tale. Then I will go back through, filling in any gaps and shaping the timeline. I often find myself spiraling down the research rabbit hole while checking facts, but it’s an important step that almost always adds depth to the story.

What was the best thing that happened during your promotion of the book?

I’ve just started, so I’ll have to let you know.

5 Questions for John Urbancik

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John Urbancik and I met years and years ago at one of the World Horror Conventions. So many years ago that I can’t even tell you which one it was. The first of his books I read was Necropolis, a thoroughly addictive little book of stories set in graveyards.

John, author of Stale Reality, DarkWalker, and The Corpse and the Girl from Miami, is about to release his first nonfiction book, InkStained: On Creativity, Writing, and Art. His business card proclaims: “Writer. Photographer. Adventurer. Man.” Born in Manhattan, and living as far afield as Sydney, Australia and Madrid, Spain, John can’t be easily found. He’s currently wandering the United States in parts unknown.

 

[image error] So what is InkStained: On Creativity, Writing, and Art?

John Urbancik has written an exploration of our personal creativity that intends to inspire, encourage, and challenge. Part autobiography, part conversation, part field guide to creativity, part treatise on writing — and filled with exercises and explorations — InkStained, taken from the InkStains project and podcast of John Urbancik, is at times humorous, at times brutal, and always honest.

Did something in the real world inspire InkStained: On Creativity, Writing, and Art?

The book was inspired by the podcast. The InkStains podcast ran for 100 episodes. I would read stories and I talk about – well, creativity, writing, and art. The podcast was inspired by the project, InkStains, where I wrote a story a day every day for a year. By hand. I took one day off a month, and I did the project three times.

What is your favorite scene in the book?

I can’t spoil a nonfiction book – which is good, because I don’t enjoy spoilers. I spent almost 100,000 words trying to encourage you, and to enlighten you – not to tell you what to do because this is the path to success, but to tell you how I, and others, did those things. So some of my favorite parts are where I talk about my processes, which are a little unorthodox, and how they work for me. I talk about the birth of some of my novels – for example, how I spent a few night in Boston specifically so I could finish the dark fantasy novel, The Corpse and the Girl from Miami — which does not take place in Miami; and also how I scribble random words in notepads until one pops up and demands to be part of a story.

What was your writing process like as you wrote the book?

The process for this one was a little unusual. I either took scripts from the podcast or transcribed the things I talked about, and put these all together as a massive 175,000-word file, then went through to eliminate duplication, and to excise the things that strayed off topic, then divided what was left into the three sections that eventually became the book. I combined pieces that were about the same topic, and I tried to put them into some sort of order. I think I succeeded, and the early responses suggest I have, but I guess I don’t really know yet. It was different than any other project I’ve worked on, in part because I had to spend so much time listening to myself speak. And the way I speak, while some people may think it’s great, doesn’t translate into the written word without quite a bit of work.

What was the best thing that happened during your promotion of the book?

I’ve reached out for blurbs and reviewers and early readers more for InkStained than I ever have before, and it’s been exciting to see some sort of momentum build. Promotion is the part of the process I’m least comfortable with. I’m a writer. It’s normal for me to lock myself in a house or apartment or cabin or something and scribble, type, and stare down walls until I work all the way through the book. It’s also normal for me to wander outside, through the woods and through cities, into places I’ve never been, seeking new experiences I can incorporate into whatever’s coming next. To be doing that now, finding those new experiences, and hearing back from so many people excited either in anticipation of my first nonfiction book or because they managed to get their hands on one – that’s the best part.

What do you have planned next?

I will continue to wander across the United States for the remainder of 2019, visiting friends in cities I’ve never seen or, in some cases, ever dreamt existed. I’ve just delivered a dark fantasy manuscript to my agent. My horror-SF novel Stale Reality will be released in Russian in 2020, my first ever translation. And I’ve been putting together a book of poetry, with some of my photography, and I’m really excited by that project – but that would require a separate interview to fully explain.

You can pick up a copy of InkStained from Amazon: https://amzn.to/32TEC41

Take a look at all of John’s books here: https://amzn.to/2lc2BeN

Check out John’s home page at www.darkfluidity.com

You can also support his writing at www.patreon.com/Urbancik.

 

5 Questions for John Everson

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I met John Everson through the zine Cyberpsychos AOD and the Death Equinox conventions at the end of the 90s.  We used to run into each other over the years at the World Horror Conventions. John gave me my first big break in publishing, when he asked for four short stories for an anthology he wanted to assemble called Sins of the Sirens.  He’s also the author of a book that scarred me more than any other, his novel NightWhere.

John Everson is a staunch advocate for the culinary joys of the jalapeno and an unabashed fan of 1970s European horror and giallo cinema.  He’s also the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Covenant and ten other novels. Over the past 25 years, his short stories have appeared in more than 75 magazines and anthologies. He has written novelettes for The Vampire Diaries and Jonathan Maberry’s V-Wars universe, which has since been developed into a Netflix series. For more on his obsession with jalapenos and exploitation cinema, as well as his fiction, art, and music, visit www.johneverson.com.

John’s latest book is The Devil’s Equinox:

[image error]Austin secretly wishes his wife would drop dead. He even says so one boozy midnight at the bar to a sultry stranger with a mysterious tattoo. When his wife later introduces that stranger as Regina, their new neighbor, Austin hopes she will be a good influence on his wife. Instead, one night he comes home to find his wife dead. Soon he’s entranced with Regina, who introduces him to a strange world of bloodletting, rituals and magic. A world that puts everything he loves in peril. Can Austin save his daughter, and himself, before the planets align for the Devil’s Equinox?

Did something in the real world inspire The Devil’s Equinox?

Not overtly. I haven’t seen any news stories about real demonic cults that want to sacrifice a baby to get unearthly powers…though I suppose there has to be one out there somewhere.  Certainly there are touches from the real world that don’t involve the fantastic element. The idea of a young couple who have grown to resent each other over the isolation that having a baby can bring…that happens. The opening scene, where Austin is getting drunk at a bar and wishing his wife was dead…that kind of post-fight angst happens in most relationships at some point.  The guy who is lured by the quiet sexuality of a mysterious, Bohemian woman…absolutely!

What is your favorite scene in the book?

Well, my favorite scene is probably the end, so I’m not going to give that away. But I am proud of some other moments.  There is a scene when Austin’s girlfriend  introduces him to a strange, underground club filled with erotic and demonic rituals by his new girlfriend where he sees “nuns” wearing transparent habits. He tries to play nonchalant, but then in a “club within a club” room called “The Cloister,” he is faced with a menu of drinks that include ingredients that seem…unsanitary at best:

Selene’s Spell:  Lavender-infused Three Women Vodka with 7 drops of aged Blood Orange aired for power beneath the light of the last full moon. Sensual and serene.

Red Tide: Three Women Vodka aged with Samsara rose petals and shaken with crushed raspberries and 3 drops of Sister Evangeline Lust Oil and one splash Coitus Burgundy wine. Prepare to be naked.

He looks for the beer menu, and it gets worse:

Seminal Milk:  Cask-conditioned Irish stout brewed with vanilla beans used in the Dark Night Festival and semen spilled on the Venus Altar. Drink the milk of life.

Bitter Love: Mosaic Hops steeped in the gold of the Cloister Servants during the Maypole Celebration. Steam-brewed for clarity. Earthy, bitter, and bright at the same time.  See with the clarity of lust.

But the drinks are just the faintest hint of the obscenities he will soon witness.

I just love this whole scene because it’s the first introduction of the naïve innocent to the secret society. And as such, he’s both repelled and fascinated by elements.  As I think most with a little prurient interest and a touch of curiosity about “the dark side” would be.

What was your writing process like as you wrote the book?

This is a novel that I’ve wanted to work on for a really long time.  I first brainstormed and jotted down ideas for it 13 years ago. That same brainstorming session also generated the original idea that would become my eighth novel, The Family Tree.  I wrote a nine-page synopsis for The Devil’s Equinox 11 years ago, right after I signed with Leisure Books. At the time, after writing three “demon” books in a row, my editor and I opted to table this one at that time in favor of a couple books that were a bit different.  After doing a handful of other books, it seemed like the time was right to come back to it finally last year.

The writing process itself was actually pretty calm. A lot of my books have a kind of “travelogue” behind them, which has always been fun to summarize after the fact.  For a lot of years, I traveled a lot for my day job, so each book’s preface listed a half dozen cities and bars where I worked on the novel at hand.  (I hate sitting in hotel rooms, so I tend to write in Irish pubs — good music, good food, good beer!). I also have a few local haunts that I’ve spent many hours in working on books after heading home from my day job. Last year, however, I didn’t travel much and I put in long hours at the office, so I didn’t even go out to write at my local pubs after work. So aside from a couple nights with my laptop at local bars, I really wrote nearly all of The Devil’s Equinox at the oak bar I built in my basement, or at the glass-topped outdoor bar that sits on my patio, with a steady soundtrack of Elsiane, Delerium, Cocteau Twins, and other dreampop artists. This novel was probably written more at home than any other.

What was the best thing that happened during your promotion of the book?

I wish you had asked me that LAST year!  For my novel The House By The Cemetery (which was set in a real, historical haunted cemetery that I grew up near called Bachelors Grove) I ended up going to Book Expo in New York City for a special pre-release book signing in the spring. The book was one of the “lead off” books for a new imprint and thus got a lot of attention. That’s the first time I’ve ever gotten to go to Book Expo. My publisher actually brought me in to do it. Then in the fall, the publicist for Flame Tree Press got me interviews not only with the Chicago Tribune, but with FOX-TV in Chicago, who did a live broadcast with me about the book on location at Bachelors Grove Cemetery. THAT was probably the “promo moment” of my career thus far.  I also stopped in at my local FM rock radio station (95.9 The River) to do an interview about it on the morning drive show. They’ve had me in before, but not for a few years.

The Devil’s Equinox has had a much quieter launch, since the imprint is more established now and the book didn’t have the “local  Chicago-area haunted place” tie-in to raise area media  interest.  I also had to skip going to Book Expo this year because it was the same day as my son’s 8th grade graduation.  I did, however, “debut” it at the venerable Flashback: Chicago Horror Convention held here every year and do a couple of fun signings at Chicago-area Barnes & Noble stores. As I write this, I’m looking forward to signing in Chicago at Bucket O’ Blood Books and Music, an awesome store that has always been supportive. (It’s scheduled for October 24.)

What do you have planned next?

I’m currently working on a novel called Voodoo Heart.  It’s another book I’ve actually wanted to do for a long time. It’s based on the title story to my second short fiction collection, Vigilantes of Love, and revolves around a detective and a voodoo curse that is claiming more and more people every month on the night of the full moon. I’m hoping to finish it be the end of the year (my editor would likely suggest that “hoping” is not the right operative word here. I will. I will finish it by the end of the year!) It’s due out from Flame Tree Press just in time for Halloween 2020.

Thanks for asking me to do this, Loren! Really appreciate it!

Pick up a copy of The Devil’s Equinox for yourself: https://amzn.to/2P0vZBv

See all John’s books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2nTGCLd

Follow John:

Facebook / Twitter / Instagram /  BookBub / Goodreads / Amazon

Check out his homepage: www.johneverson.com

 

Vicious (Villians #1)

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This may be the angstiest book I’ve ever read, but for me, that’s a good thing. One of the characters says that there are no good guys in this story, which proves to be true in surprising and shocking ways. I didn’t find either of those things to be a drawback at all. In fact, I was impressed with how interesting the author made these broken, violent people out to be.

Of all V. E. Schwab’s books I’ve read (6 so far), this one has the best pacing. Three nights in a row, characters killed themselves right before I turned the light out at night, so I was hooked. Beyond that, this may be one of the most unusual examinations of “superheroes,” since it doesn’t have any actual heroes in it.

One of my criticisms of A Gathering of Shadows (Book 2 of the Shade of Magic series) was that it ended on an entirely unnecessary cliffhanger. Vicious comes to a very satisfying ending and stand entirely on its own. That said, I’m glad that Vengeful, the second book in the series, comes out in paperback in January. I need to read something a little lighter — probably cemetery history — before I dive back into this world.

You can get a copy of your own on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2N5f3rU

View all my reviews on Goodreads.

5 Questions for Martha Allard

[image error]My friend Martha is crushing it this year.  She’s already had a collection of short stories published (I interviewed her about it here) but now she’s got a novelette out called Speak My Name, which picks up on characters from some of her short stories in her Psychic Surgery collection and expands their stories.  Your Cruel Fingers Will Close My Eyes and Speak My Name, Part 2 will follow soon.

Martha J Allard is a writer of contemporary and dark fantasy. Her short fiction has appeared in magazines like Talebones and Not One of Us.  She was the editor of Nice Tattoo, the Magazine of Shadow Fiction, and co-edited the anthology Out of the Green: Tales from Fairyland. Her nonfiction has appeared in the anthologies Lend the Eye a Terrible Aspect and Death’s Garden. Her novel Black Light is a tale of love, sacrifice, and rock and roll in the 1980s. Her short stories are collected in Psychic Surgery. You can find her blog at Martha J Allard.com.

About Speak My Name:

[image error]Before time began, Frank was an Angel who followed his beloved Lucifer into battle. They were defeated. Frank lost his wings and was cast downward. He’s been falling ever since. Now he’s the sole tender of Dark’s, a bar at the edge of reality that is owned by hell. He longs for the company of his brother demons, the scorch of Lucifer’s heat. Instead he spends his nights serving drinks, tempting souls. Every night that passes is the same night. Each human that stumbles in is the same. Lost. Desperate.

Mica is neither of those things. Human, but able to see through Frank to all his true forms. Mica seems sure of what he wants: not a savior, not an annihilator of souls. He wants Frank.

But Frank is still tethered to Lucifer and Hell and he knows that demons are made for destruction, torment, not love. Until Mica touches him, he’s never wanted for more. For Frank to find the humanity he needs to return Mica’s love, he must travel back to the depths of hell to break the bond Lucifer set in his heart. But when he gets there, Lucifer has already released Frank. Now his attention is fixed on Mica’s soul.

Did something in the real world inspire Speak My Name?

I’m pretty sure it started when I was a kid. I very seriously told my mom that I would have an easier time believing in God if there was a Devil to believe in.  She was horrified and explained that our church taught that the Devil was a concept. I thought: but a really interesting concept. Angels also got short shrift, relegated to Christmas or Easter stories, or gazing down from the stained glass windows. And I thought, what story are you not telling me?  There were lots of other influences, including your As Above, So Below books with Brian Thomas, both Lost Angels and the next one, Angelus Rose. But I think that childhood conversation was the start of it.

What is your favorite scene in the book?

There are a couple. First, I think, is when Frank wakes up after the first night with Mica. He thinks, this must be what mortals feel like when they fall in love. Then he thinks, I can’t have this, I will break it and I will break him. I felt terrible for him when I wrote it.  The other scene I really love is when Mica meets Lucifer for the first time, in a comic shop. It dawns on Mica slowly who this stranger is with the stained-glass eyes. Lucifer’s the bad guy, but he’s also pretty fun.

What was your process while writing this book?

I worked on Speak My Name and Your Cruel Fingers Will Close My Eyes at the same time, so it was a matter of shifting between two really different tones and voices.  I had more rewriting to do on Speak My Name, since it’s been rolling around for a while, so that takes different muscles. I’d like to say I had a hard and fast schedule, but that’s hardly ever true for me.  But this is the first book I’ve put up for preorder, so it gave me deadline to contend with.

What was the best thing that happened during your promotion of the book?

I did a reading in mid-October at the Witchtober Fest in Flint, Michigan. Also, as I said, I did a pre-order for this book, which is a new thing for me. We will see what happens with that.

[image error]What do you have planned next?

Oh, so many THINGS. Next is the prequel to Black Light, Your Cruel Fingers Will Close My Eyes, which will be out in November. It’s about Albrecht Christian and his first true love, the Loch Ness monster. Then part two of Speak My Name, which will be out at the beginning of December. It’s called Breaking Heaven. Early next year I will have my full-length neo-Victorian novel, The Night Was Not, done. Finally.

I can’t wait!  In the meantime, you should pick up a copy of Speak My Name: https://amzn.to/2MfwmGi

Or see all Martha’s books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/31jL9nQ

Coming soon:

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