M.B. Pedersen's Blog, page 2
May 16, 2017
Tuesday Reviews 1: Ramsey Campbell's Holding the Light
Welcome to what I hope will be the first of many critical examinations of short fiction. So many of us writers get our start writing stories for magazines and anthologies, and there is a definite art and craft to making great, concise fiction. Hopefully, through these analyses, we can all learn a few of those secrets together.
So, tonight we explore a tale of childish dares and what lurks in the shadowed corners of suburbia. I give you...
Ramsey Campbell's Holding the Light
This story, which Campbell mentions was inspired by an irrigation tunnel he walked through in Rhodes, follows two young cousins named Tom and Lucas. Tom, being resentful of having to take of the socially awkward Lucas, decides to spend Halloween scaring him. To do this they go to an isolated tunnel where, years ago, a troubled young couple took their lives.
I'm ashamed to admit that, while I have read several anthologies that were edited by him, this is the first short story I've read that was actually written by Ramsey Campbell. He has great descriptive skill, painting the scene and its characters so that they move vividly through one's mind. He proves equally adept at crafting both the mundane and the horrific.
The characters themselves, while well defined physically, are a little underdeveloped. The story is mostly told through Tom's perspective, and because of this the motivations behind Lucas' decisions are a little hard to read. Tom is, of course, your average 15 year old, IE: myopic and a little self-absorbed. Lucas, meanwhile, is at first depicted as slow and possibly mentally disabled. His actions later on go against this, and lead to the story's climax, which we'll address later. Suffice to say, Tom's character isn't very likeable and Lucas is just plain confusing.
I was a little off put by the dialogue in the story. All the characters present are fairly young, so simplistic sentences and statements are to be expected, but the word choices sometimes tripped me up and took me out of the flow of the narrative. It even somewhat gets in the way of the story's climax, which, other than that flaw, is the story's saving grace.
Honestly, I was going to give this story a low rating until towards the end. For future reference, I shall try to refrain from spoilers in these reviews to encourage those interested to read them themselves, so all I will say is that Campbell's use of emotion and tension building leads to a chilling ending, even if the 15 year old Tom's vernacular is not to my taste.
I also feel it needs to be stated that the concept of supernatural horror lying hidden in the dark corners of our mundane locales, places that could be my home town or yours, is inspired. It's certainly not a new concept, but how many ghost stories have you heard that take place in an irrigation tunnel? Now every time I walk or drive by one I'll take a moment to think, to wonder what could be lurking down there.
As I said before, I wasn't going to rate the story very high. I'm not a fan of teenage angst, you'll rarely see me reading a mainstream young adult novel, not that I'm a hipster. The second half of the story saves the day, and I'll impart a rating that reflects so. So, with my tentative rating system (your standard 1 to 5 stars), I'll give Ramsey Campbell's urban horror piece a 3 out of 5. It wasn't perfect, but I will be actively looking for more of his stories in the future.
Today's story was read from the pages of Best New Horror 23, edited by Stephen Jones.
Weekly Posts Returning... Tonight!
I'm happy to say that I have recently been able to devote more time to my writing, and, as such, I will be updating my blog far more often. So, I am tentatively scheduling weekly posts once more. Monster Mondays will return soon, but for now I'm pleased to announce that I will be posting short story reviews exploring different authors of genre fiction.
As I get more experience with it the reviews will become more in-depth and will connect to previous reviews by similar authors. I may even use them to make a few retrospective articles exploring certain subgenres and literary trends. My life recently has been stressful and I've been facing a few personal problems. With that in mind, the short story reviews will start out as a simple way for me to track my thoughts and bring notice to what I hope will be some truly good short fiction.
I'd also like to tease the new weekly post that will be premiering this Thursday, one that I hope will help provide inspiration to my fellow writers.
Until then,
Best wishes...
April 14, 2017
Another Update: Short Delays
Just leaving a short post explaining the continued delays. I'm finishing up my last few weeks of college, getting my BA in English. While posts may continue to be frozen until then, I can promise that when they start trickling in it will probably start with weekly movie reviews. Depending on how that goes I may revive the Monster Mondays posts to give this blog a little meat.
I'm also interested in approaching independent authors for interviews. If you're a published author, whether its through self-publishing or small presses, please feel free to contact me. I'm hoping to create a place for authors to share their experiences with writing specific subgenres of fantasy, science fiction, and fantasy, as well as different mediums, such as comics, video games, and film.
I'll try to post more often to keep people abreast of what's going on on my end.
January 14, 2017
Update: The Return!
Though, in truth, I never really left...
Hello to you, non-existent following whom I so desperately pursue. It has been quite a while since I made a post at this blog, I apologize for that. A combination of work, school, family, and health issues kept me very busy over the past... year or so. However, I will be making a commitment to getting this page back up and running. 2016 was the year of the Shambone, by which I mean, not very good. Now, 2017, that will be great.
What does all this mean?
Good question. Writing is a passion of mine, obviously, it's how I make my money. Not to brag, but I'm also good at it. To give a brief overview of what's been keeping me so busy, I work for two local newspapers, the Rambler Newspaper in Irving, and the Lewisville Texan Journal. I've also been pursuing a degree in English at the University of Texas at Arlington, with the expectation of moving into the publishing business or pursuing a wider range of journalism jobs. If all goes according to plan I'll be graduating this Spring. I've also done some film critic work that I'm very proud of, and, despite certain road blocks in that career path, I'm looking to expand upon that success.
Storytelling provides us with the tools to explore the human mind and soul without restriction. Philosophical questions can be played out with characters that, with the right skill, can seem as real and vulnerable as the people who read or watch their stories. That, and they can just be enjoyable entertainment, the skill of the writer, who has taken time to learn and master his craft, adding to the ever expanding library of human creation.
All of which is a fancy, rambling way of saying that I take literature seriously. I think the act of reading, whether it's a novel or a manual, allows us to improve ourselves in countless ways. Examining and comparing different stories allows us to make new connections, and craft stories with deeper meanings. Plot, Structure, Dialogue, Description, and Character are all aspects of a narrative, and reading deeply and widely allows writers to hone these skills. Even a poor narrative is valuable when you look at what caused it to fail. So, as I'm a lazy writer who is making a commitment to be more dedicated to being a better writer, I'll be using this blog to delve into my chosen genres. Which brings me to the main point of this announcement.
Weekly posts will resume in a few weeks time
Monster Mondays will continue to be the leading post on this blog, as it ties in with my work in the genres of Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction. Reliquary Tuesdays may be limited to a monthly basis, as I want to expand into more occult items with a proper amount of information and research.
I am also planning on expanding the weekly line up with new posts meant to explore genre fiction by reviewing and examining short stories, novellas, and novels from a diverse host of authors and sources. This may start out initially as simply a weekly short story review, and perhaps a bimonthly or monthly novel review. Eventually I would like to expand upon it, having different weekly posts for works in those separate genres, maybe Horror Thursday or Fantasy Friday, things like that.
There's three reasons I'm wanting to do this. Number one, it's to help me get onto a serious reading schedule. It's easy to avoid reading when you're reading a busy lifestyle, which makes it best to set aside time for it. At least for me, anyways. Two, as a writer I want to expose myself to literature and hone my own skills. Writers get better by doing two things, writing and reading. Finally, the third reason for the upcoming review series, I want to create a sort of living database where people who love genre fiction in the same way I do can explore the ideas, themes, and structures of writers from different times and places. What kind of themes were being heavily explored in fantasy fiction in the 1970's? What kind of science fiction stories are being told by writers from Latin America or Africa? By studying individual pieces and placing those reviews in a single blog I hope to make literary and academic connections that can be applied to my own work. I also encourage others who may read these to share their own ideas, or call me out on any mistakes I may make. The latter is very important, because, being only human, I'm probably going to make some mistakes and I will of course edit the articles to maintain the highest quality.
I may also post the occasional film review on this blog, as I'm trying to break into that professionally and, as stated before, you get better by doing. I can't say whether or not this will be a weekly post, most films would be current releases, though, who knows, maybe down the road I'll start exploring genre films as well.
That's pretty much all the information I have for right now, I'll be working on getting a large enough stock pile of articles written up so the weekly posts can run for several months uninterrupted. If I had to hazard a guess when that would be, I would say about Mid-March to early April. I will of course make an announcement or two before the restart, and will leave a post if delays are expected.
Fingers crossed.
November 30, 2015
Weekly Posts Temporarily Frozen
Hello to my brave, my true, my so few few stalkers. Last week I was forced to quietly cancel the weekly posts Monster Mondays and Reliquary Tuesdays, simply because events of the holidays were keeping me from writing them. Well its time once again for some posts and I have nothing to give, due to my work for the Rambler Newspaper, several anthology submissions, University work, and deal making with publishers. Its been busy, and its gonna get worse in the next few weeks as I attempt a wild pace for myself to practice some new techniques and pump out a few new stories. So I won't be able to attend to my weekly posts for a while. I'll drop a hint as to what's going on behind the scenes of this very inactive page. I'll be making more detailed, more informational Monster Mondays and Reliquary Tuesdays posts. It'll delve into the obscure, the obscene, the occult. There might be some new things coming out as well, we'll have to see if I can slay my personal demons of procrastination and laziness. Let's see how things go
November 17, 2015
Reliquary Tuesdays 9: Witch Balls (European)
This week's relic is a less sinister bauble, a bane to any would-be witches or evil spirits. It is known as a...
Witch Ball
The Witch Ball is a small sphere, often measuring around 7 inches in diameter, of colored or mirrored glass. Within the ball are a number of loose strings or bits of twine. The witch ball is said to repulse harmful spirits and witchcraft. There are many beliefs as to why this might be. Some state that the colorful appearance of the ball is meant to attract the spirits, who then become entangled and trapped in the string. In regards to witches, some believed that witches did not have a reflection and would be exposed by the ball, or that they could not bare seeing their own visage. Another belief is that the ball wards off the evil eye, drawing the attention of the eye's user and thus nullifying its effects. Other materials, such as wood or stone, would also be used, and 17th century witch balls would sometimes be filled with holy water. The European witch ball is not to be confused with the North American witch ball, used by mountain witches in harmful spells (it will be discussed in a later Reliquary Tuesdays post).
Monster Mondays 9: Bloodthirster
An avatar of violence and war, this week's monster rages through the countless battlefields of the 41st Millennium. It is...
The Bloodthirster
The Bloodthirster is the greater demon of Khorne, the Chaos God of blood and war in the background lore of Warhammer 40k. Its appearance is that of a massive winged beast, often with a canine face and cloven feet. While the weapons they wield can vary, most often they are seen using a massive, bronze axe and a vicious whip. This appearance has been described as being closely linked to the true form of Khorne. They are the leaders of their god's armies, commanding great hosts of lesser demons. They originate, like all Chaos born entities, from the Warp, a massive realm that reflects the thoughts, feelings, hopes, and fears of all mortal creatures within the material universe. The effort it takes to summon such a creature is great, requiring costly sacrifices and an experienced sorcerer or psyker. When one is brought to use it can signal the end of a planet, or worse...
November 16, 2015
Late Monster Monday Post
I'm afraid to say that this week's Monster Monday post will be a little late. Some technical issues has made it so I can not finish it tonight, I'll try to have it up with this week's Reliquary Tuesday post. Thank you all for being understanding, I apologize for this oversight.
Late Monster Monday Post
I'm afraid to say that this week's Monster Monday post will be a little late. Some technical issues has made it so I can not finish it tonight, I'll try to have it up with this week's Reliquary Tuesday post. Thank you all for being understanding, I apologize for this oversight.
November 10, 2015
Reliquary Tuesdays 8: Necronomicon Ex Mortis
Inked in blood upon this tome's pages are the keys to the foulest of magics, it is...
The Necronomicon Ex Mortis
The Necronomicon Ex Mortis, also known as the Naturom Demonto or Book of the Dead, is a magical tome within the Evil Dead film franchise. It is bound in human flesh and was written in blood by the Dark Ones. Within its pages are countless prophecies, funerary incantations, and demon resurrection spells. Within the first Evil Dead by Professor Raymond Knowby, who worked to translate its spells and unwittingly unleashed its power.
The spell originally read out loud unleashed a demonic entity known simply as "The Force", a Kandarian demon capable of possessing humans, animals, inanimate objects, and the dead. When something becomes possessed by the power of The Force it becomes what is known as a deadite (which will be explained in a later Monster Mondays Post). Other powers demonstrated by the book include time travel, demon banishing spells, and interdimensional travel. The Necronomicon Ex Mortis is not to be confused with the Necronomicon, another magical tome written by the mad arab Abdul Alhazred within the works of Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos.
