Horror Aficionados discussion
Group Reads: Guest Author Invite
>
October 2018 Group Read # 2 with Guest Author, Glenn Rolfe
Hi, Kimberly, Kristy, Melanie, and Catherine!Hope you enjoy the heck out of this one.
Pre-order here: http://mybook.to/TheWindow
The book is out Friday! :) I 'm so pysched!
And thanks to Ken for having me back.
Congrats, Glenn! I've got my copy on order; hopefully I can clear the decks quickly enough to start in soon. :D
Welcome Glenn, just pre-ordered
3 more days until it drops! Here's a a post I did today for INK HEIST
Check it out to get some insight before we get this things started.
https://inkheist.com/2018/09/25/the-p...
Looking forward to this Glenn. On another note, I've had Blood And Rain on my TBR for a while now, but it's no longer available, any chance it'll get a re-release?
Melanie wrote: "Looking forward to this Glenn. On another note, I've had Blood And Rain on my TBR for a while now, but it's no longer available, any chance it'll get a re-release?"Awesome! Thanks, Melanie. Check your messages for the top secret info on Blood and Rain. ;)
I just pre-ordered my copy! Looking forward to it!
Kristy wrote: "I just pre-ordered my copy! Looking forward to it!"Thanks, Kristy!
Hey gang, THE WINDOW IS OUT NOW!Check this blog post out. For this weekend only you can also grab my titles LAND OF BONES, BECOMING, SLUSH, OUT OF RANGE, and THE HAUNTED HALLS for 99 cents.
https://wordpress.com/post/glennrolfe...
Glenn wrote: "Hey gang, THE WINDOW IS OUT NOW!Check this blog post out. For this weekend only you can also grab my titles LAND OF BONES, BECOMING, SLUSH, OUT OF RANGE, and THE HAUNTED HALLS for 99 cents.
https..."
Thanks Glenn, but this link is not working for me. Do you have another?
This is my first october here, and my first group read with you, so I'm hyped for this book. I am not familiar with Glenn's work, but it looks great, and I'm sure it will be a blast.
Mod
Mod
Thank goodness I wasn't the only one!!! LOL!
Hey guys, looking forward to getting into this thing. I just added THE WINDOW to Kindle Unlimited, so if you guys wanna check it out there, go right ahead. https://www.amazon.com/Window-Glenn-R...
I'll be in on this in another week or so, got to finish up a couple first then I can get stuck in :)
Loving the book so far! A little over halfway through!
Thanks, Melanie and Bradford. Glad to hear it!I figured I'd share some of who I am with you guys at the start of this thing.
I was born in 1977. Elvis died, KISS was huge, and Bruce Springsteen was finishing up work on one of my favorite records, Darkness on the Edge of Town.
I grew up with my mom and dad and two sisters and my brother in a trailer park in Farmingdale, Maine. Lived in the same place until I was sixteen and life turned upside down. My parents divorced and changed my outlook on life.
I ended up playing in punk bands and living on couches and just trying to survive and make it to the next day. I never got into drugs, but I was pretty self-centered and living to make sure I got by.
My dad passed away at 52. Wow, that was rough,
Met a girl lived in a relationship that was doomed from the start got married and divorced and wound up on couches and in punk bands again for another year.
By this time, I'm 27 and lonely as hell. I started drinking a bit and that ALWAYS helps (yeah, right).
Then, I met my wife.
three kids later, lost my brother to cancer, stopped playing in bands, and started writing.
That's the short version of what got me from 1977 to here.
So, I was about 33 or 24 when I started work on my first novel, BLOOD AND RAIN. I was reading horror books like crazy and really had no idea what I was doing, but I didn't let that stop me. I figured out most of the books I read were about 250-300 pages long, and I jotted the goal of reaching 60K words. If I could get my story there, I'd have a book. It needed a beginning, middle , and end, but if it got to 60-70K words, I'd be successful.
I started my first book in May of 2011 and finished the first draft in the last week of August that year.
I've never looked back since.
THE WINDOW was actually started in December of 2011. I wrote about four chapters and stopped. But this was originally going to be my second novel. Nearly seven years later, I'm just happy it finally made it. ANd I couldn't be any happier with the final product.
I'm looking forward to your thoughts and questions. Nothing is off limits, so ask away.
Thanks for joining me here. Let's go!
Mod
Mod
Mod
What Ken said.. ;)
Mod
Ken wrote: "Glenn. I love the cover of this one. What can you tell us about the artwork?"It's actually a photograph someone took inside an abandoned hospital. A friend of mine sent it to me years ago. I took it through a few programs I use and messed with it until I got this final version.
I love it. And it really does suit this story very well.
Mod
Ken wrote: "It's got kind of a Hitchcockian quality to it. Very cool."funny you mention that. I just watched Rear Window for the first time since I was a kid. Such a perfect movie. My third favorite of his (behind PSYCHO and THE BIRDS).
Great, creepy read...about halfway done. I can definitely feel the confusion and vulnerability in James after his parents' divorce. Then I read your bio. Is James based on some of your own experiences with being a child of divorce?
Karie wrote: "Great, creepy read...about halfway done. I can definitely feel the confusion and vulnerability in James after his parents' divorce. Then I read your bio. Is James based on some of your own experien..."Hey, Karie. Thanks for checking it out. There's a ton of what i think me, my sister, and my older brother went through in there. And it truly was my friends that sort of became my family. I was so upset with both of my parents (my mom even more for deciding to leave). In my case, like James, I got stuck in a town an hour from where I'd lived for 15 years. Eventually, I ended up moving in with my brother back home. That was a trip too, because he wasn't a parent and I was 16. That's where James and I went different ways...oh, and my dad never got possessed by a demon. But now you can imagine if he did.
Sorry Glenn, I'm going to have to dnf this one at 60% due to TW. While I'm loving the whole coming-of-age vibe, the relationship between the kids, and particularly, the (initial) normal, healthy relationship between James and his father (something I don't see enough of in horror) I'm struggling with (view spoiler)Thanks so much for being involved in a GR and enjoy the rest of the month, and thanks Ken for organising it as always, you do a great job.
Melanie wrote: "Sorry Glenn, I'm going to have to dnf this one at 60% due to TW. While I'm loving the whole coming-of-age vibe, the relationship between the kids, and particularly, the (initial) normal, healthy re..."So sorry to hear this, Melanie. I appreciate your honesty and respect your decision. I knew when I sent the demons in to mess with the "dreams" and "visions" of certain characters it wasn't going to be pretty. Some scenes were pretty tough to write, for sure. I do not condone these sorts of behaviors, but I felt it was true to the demonic characters.
I hope you'll give one of my other titles a crack down the road
Abram's Bridge would probably something you'd enjoy.
Again, thanks for joining us, trying out the book, and for being honest.
I hope you have a great Halloween.
-Glenn
Thanks Glenn, I've added it to my TBR. :)
This would probably be a good place to touch on some of the themes in THE WINDOW. Obviously, demonic possession is one, coming of age another, but THE WINDOW also touches on abuse, depression, sex, religion, alcoholism, and as mentioned before, divorce. This is by far he heaviest book I've written and I tried at all times to maintain a hard truth with each of the book's aforementioned aspects.
I've never been one to pull punches. I try, for better or worse, to stay true to each character.
I've dealt with each of these aspects personally, or have had someone very close to me go through them If you've ever lived with an alcoholic, you've probably seen someone possessed. To see someone you love become someone else is a scary thing.
I've witnessed such changes in two of my family members(my father being one of them), and saw them act in ways they would never act were they not under the influence. There's an Ozzy song called, "Demon Alcohol". And that's just how it seems. Certainly a demonic possession of sorts.
It's funny sometimes when we're writing, things are leaking in that we don't even notice. I've had people point out things in my stories that I had to look at again and say, "wow, where did that come from?" It's only after thinking on it that a memory comes to mind and you go, "whoa," and you pinpoint a moment or a time in your past.
Melanie wrote: "Thanks Glenn, I've added it to my TBR. :)"That was my first novella working with my favorite editor, Don D'Auria and Samhain. It will always hold a special place in my heart. Hope you love it.
Just dropped The Window to 99 cents! Sale is good for the next few days. https://www.amazon.com/Window-Glenn-R...
I grabbed a copy last night (finally!) and can't wait to join in with my thoughts. Cheers! Also, Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!! ---Jen from Quebec :0)
Aww, with that invitation I just couldn't resist to join (thanks Glenn!) Actually, I was seriously determined to reduce my TBR stack for the rest of the year, but one more in-between book snack surely can't do any harm! :)Checked out the book and good to go soon!
Elke wrote: "Aww, with that invitation I just couldn't resist to join (thanks Glenn!) Actually, I was seriously determined to reduce my TBR stack for the rest of the year, but one more in-between book snack sur..."Awesome! Thanks, Elke. I appreciate that. Hope you enjoy the book! :)
Jen from Quebec :0) wrote: "I grabbed a copy last night (finally!) and can't wait to join in with my thoughts. Cheers! Also, Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!! ---Jen from Quebec :0)"Thanks, Jen! Happy Canadian Turkey Day!
Hi, Glenn! Thank you for the heads-up mesage. appreciate it. The Wondow sounds great. Welcome back to the group!!😊
Dustin wrote: "Hi, Glenn! Thank you for the heads-up mesage. appreciate it. The Wondow sounds great. Welcome back to the group!!😊"It's great to be back! Hope you enjoy the book, Dustin.
Hope you guys are enjoying the book! I'll be back in tomorrow night to check in if anyone has any questions or comments. Or good chili recipes. :)
In the meantime, check out a couple cool promo posts I've done this week. This one is the soundtrack to THE WINDOW: https://zdubbzattmom.wordpress.com/20...
And this one is an interview: http://kendallreviews.com/kendall-rev...
Cheers!
Horror Aficionados
Books mentioned in this topic
The Haunted Halls (other topics)Blood and Rain (other topics)
Abram's Bridge (other topics)
Welcome to the Show (other topics)
You can download THE WINDOW here:
https://www.amazon.com/Window-Glenn-R...