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Down the Brink
Group Reads: Guest Author Invite
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January 2019 Group Read #2 with Guest Author, Lisa von Biela
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Kenneth
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Dec 25, 2018 09:05PM
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Hello, Lisa Van Biela! It's good to see you again. :)
Hi Lisa! Am going to look for your book to get on board the 2019 Horror Aficianados readalongs-I get the feeling it is going to be a bumpy,and bloody ride!
Cool. Just got my copy!
Hello everyone! I'm super excited to be here, looking forward to connecting with everyone and discussing DOWN THE BRINK and whatever else. One of the things I miss at DarkFuse was the ongoing online forum/community for the book club members. It was such a great opportunity to stay in touch with readers. So when Ken invited me to guest here, I jumped at the chance!
One word of warning. DOWN THE BRINK is definitely the darkest thing I have ever written. But from what I know of this group, that's a plus, eh? :)
(Hi Char--good to see you again, too!)
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Very nice to have you with us, Lisa! Welcome.*checking out your book now*
Ken wrote: "Hey, Lisa. Can you tell us a little about how you became a writer and who your influences were?"Well, I've always been a voracious reader. I was "that kid" who'd curl up in the library with a book instead of playing outside at recess. And I thought, hey, I love to read, could I write books/stories people would enjoy reading? One summer in high school, I sat down with a manual typewriter and a box of paper and just wrote stuff. Nothing came of that.
In the mid-80s, while heavily under the influence of Stephen King, I got a notebook and started writing down ideas for stories/books. But I didn't know where to go from there, and that fizzled.
In the late 90s, I got serious. Armed with Writer's Digest and the Internet, I set out to write and sell short stories. Greg Gifune was publishing The Edge and Burning Sky in those days, and I stumbled across him. Submitted a story ("99.999") and he rejected it (this was all by snail mail!). But he took the time to give specific reasons and advice (unlike any other editor at that time). I took his advice and wrote a different story. After a couple more rounds of "informative rejection," he accepted it and published it! That was in 2002. I went on to have some shorts published here and there over the next few years.
Then I decided to try writing a novel. Dusted off that first short story, "99.999" (which I finally realized was a novel hiding in a short story) and wrote what later became The Genesis Code. Took 2.5 years. Polished it as well as I knew how and set it aside when I began law school in 2006. I sent it out to a few publishers/agents while I was in school, but honestly, I had no time to deal with it!
Fast forward to 2012. Greg (as luck and irony would have it) had joined DarkFuse and posted on FB that he was looking for novels. Well, I had one ready and waiting, right? Sent it in, he liked it, DarkFuse bought it, and that was the beginning of my time with DarkFuse--and the first of now 10 novels/novellas I have written and have been/will soon be published (one I just turned in to my current publisher Crossroad Press a few weeks ago, and one novella I self-pub'd a couple of years back).
As far as influences, Stephen King originally. Greg Gifune helped me shape my skills, for sure. I love Rod Serling, Richard Matheson, those sort of tales. Robin Cook, Crichton, David Morrell, Dean Koontz, Margaret Atwood, Bradbury...almost too many to mention!
First few chapters in now. Gosh! Only two years in the future and it’s a pretty bleak picture of what is coming to our nation. Pretty bleak indeed.
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I'm with you, Andrew. Although, I have to admit that I don't know how far off we are to that kind of future. The last handful of years, people have turned ugly. Who knows? Maybe they were already that way and we didn't know it and now that ugliness is allowed to be the new normal.
I wish it was otherwise, but I think people has always been ugly and terrible to one another. History shows us that to be largely true. I could say more about the last bunch of years in the US, but I’m sure that would make this discussion turn in a direction where half the people would leave and those staying would stay for all the wrong reasons- ie Twitter and Facebook. Instead, I’m just gonna hang here and enjoy Ms Von Biela’s book for what it is and where it is. It’s a strong start so far and I want to honor her work and write it up when I’m done. And if it’s good (as I’m sure it will be) I’ll copy and paste to amazon and other accounts.
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I could say more about the last bunch of years in the US, b..."
Good call, Andrew. And thank you for that.
Thank you, Andrew. Just to give a little background, I began writing this book in early 2016--a bit ahead of some of the more recent ugliness I think you and Ken are referring to. So it was stuff I made up at the time. If my novels have one thing in common, it's the underlying theme of "follow the money" and self-interest and how these can play out in different scenarios. In BLOCKBUSTER, for example, it was a possible self-interest scenario in the world of BigPharma. (Gee, what if they made their own pathogens--then made the curing medication and made bunches of money?) For BRINK, my BF suggested I take a look at for-profit prisons. And so I did. BRINK was the result of research--as well as a significant injection of fiction.
The thing that scares me is a lot of my novels are fantasy when I actually write them--and then they begin to come true a few years later. I totally made up the brain implant technology in THE GENESIS CODE. And then several years later, I saw an article that DARPA had developed something along those lines--and was testing it out to re-write memories in soldiers, in an attempt to cure PTSD. (Another recurring theme in my novels is that tech cuts both ways. It can be used for the most wonderful things--and it can be used for dark, dark purposes, too!)
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Mainly what a HUGE industry this has become. Huge. These companies are publicly traded, and so they must make a profit to satisfy those investors, right? So I took it from there...all the ways in which they could increase that profit and what that could look like.
The end of chapter 35 – that must’ve been super hard to write, and even harder to write it as well as you did. I am impressed. That is probably one of the best ways I have seen that handled. Kudos.
Andrew wrote: "The end of chapter 35 – that must’ve been super hard to write, and even harder to write it as well as you did. I am impressed. That is probably one of the best ways I have seen that handled. Kudos."Thank you, Andrew! As I was plotting/drafting, I knew that chapter had to be there, but I did NOT look forward to writing it. It was indeed incredibly difficult to write, undoubtedly the hardest scene I've ever written. I'm so glad it worked for you!
Just finished the book. Goddamn that was bleak, bleak as hell. Lisa, I’m curious as to why this book is marketed as horror and not as a triller, or distopian fantasy, or straight up drama? It doesn’t quite seem to fit the horror mold. Admitted it doesn’t fit the others too well either, but it fits them as well as horror. (Not that the ending isn’t thoroughly and totally horrifying, mind you. It broke my heart.)
Andrew wrote: "Just finished the book. Goddamn that was bleak, bleak as hell. Lisa, I’m curious as to why this book is marketed as horror and not as a triller, or distopian fantasy, or straight up drama? It doesn..."Please take this in the spirit in which it is offered: I'm thrilled to hear it broke your heart (broke mine, too)! My work here is done, LOL. On the horror vs. ? genre, I agree. It's being marketed more as a thriller. My novels seem to fit the medical/technical thriller mold better than the horror mold. My novellas are more horror-oriented. This was the most recent/"horrorific" fit I could think of for HA when Ken invited me, if that makes sense.
I finished the book today. I agree with Andrew, “bleak as hell”. I would say I liked it, but I don’t know that “like” is the correct word. I’ve been sitting here for the past 30 minutes or so since finishing it, just thinking about it. I think I will be thinking about this one for a while...
Wow. Unfortunately, I'm not able to join you all, but I do welcome you again, Lisa, and must say thay I'm very much enjoying the discussions.
Amy wrote: "I finished the book today. I agree with Andrew, “bleak as hell”. I would say I liked it, but I don’t know that “like” is the correct word. I’ve been sitting here for the past 30 minutes or so since..."Hi Amy,
Sorry for the lag. We still don't have internet here and we spent 1/2 the weekend without power... I'm tethered to my phone data for the moment.
Thank you! I completely understand what you mean. On a recent vacation, we visited the Manzanar National Historic Site (hadn't previously realized there was a visitor's center and you could go in). We "enjoyed" it and were glad we went, but it was not the usual "fun" visit to a national historic site or park!
I like to write stories that leave the reader thinking "what if?" What if, given the profit motive, a pipeline like that existed? Bleak, indeed!
Dustin wrote: "Wow. Unfortunately, I'm not able to join you all, but I do welcome you again, Lisa, and must say thay I'm very much enjoying the discussions."Thank you, Dustin!
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Now, yes, I agree it was bleak and you don't walk away with puppies and rainbows on your mind. It's an evil reminder of what could happen if our current prison system doesn't get out of bed with the government. I thought it went down some interesting avenues. Light reading? No. Thought provoking? Yes.
As far as was it horror or thriller. I really do hate these distinctions. Horror has always been seen as the ugly stepchild of the literature world. DOWN is a horrific tale, plain and simple. It doesn't use supernatural monsters, it uses the all to real human kind. And while Benetti wasn't taking a butcher's knife and a mask and slashing his victim's throats, he was destroying people and society from behind his CEO's desk. Unfortunately, Barnes and Noble sells more book if they label them Thrillers, so I'm sure the decision was made based on projected sales. I don't know if either label is wrong. I simply wouldn't dismiss DOWN from being horror. It struck all the right notes with me.
What say you, Lisa?
Ken wrote: "I finished this one up last night and I was impressed. The writing was tight and engaging. The characters were memorable and I definitely had a vested interest in Zach and Gil. It was painful watch..."First, thank you for your kind words, Ken! As far as your question, I tend to associate horror with some aspect of the supernatural, always have. When Greg Gifune put out the call for horror novels for DarkFuse, my initial reaction to him was, well, I have a scary novel, all done, but there is not one whit of supernatural in it. He told me to send it anyway (THE GENESIS CODE).
Back when I frequented brick and mortar bookstores, when I wanted something more supernatural, I headed for the Horror section. I also spent a lot of time/money in the Thriller section (love those medical/science thrillers!).
I agree, a lot of it is marketing-driven. I think horror has gotten a bum rap. There is a lot of junk out there, but there is also a lot of brilliant, classic work that both entertains and has weight to it (comments on society, that sort of thing). Drawing the line on the supernatural element seems pretty reasonable, though, IMHO.
I've been pondering why Horror has gotten a bum rap. Maybe it has to do with how much it has been parodied (Elvira's show, that sort of thing). But is that cause or is it effect? SciFi has certainly been lampooned (Mystery Science Theater). And all genres have their share of terrible books that should never have been published, especially in this era of self-publishing. I'm not knocking it per se, but not everyone is good at self-editing, and I think the sheer volume of material out there makes it hard. Hard for readers to sort through to find books they love, and hard for authors to be seen/heard in the melee. How would you classify Dean Koontz? I am curious.
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Horror has always been looked down upon. I equate it to having the same linear path as say heavy metal music. Fans typically gravitate to it because it’s NOT mainstream or accepted by the masses. It’s different. It’s under the radar. It’s just for us and that’s the way we like it. I find that horror fans and metal fans alike are extremely loyal to their artists. I think the challenge for many authors that write horror is how to market to those fans and get your work in their hands.
Ken wrote: "Koontz came out as one of the big guns of horror. In the 80s, he was up there on top with King. Then his stuff diluted down to the quality of Lifetime movies. He lost his edge. For me, I haven’t be..."I hadn't thought of it that way. But if horror is outside the mainstream, what do you say about Stephen King?
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Ken wrote: "Stephen King is a completely different animal. He came out in 1970s when horror had the slimmest of markets. You had Bloch, Levin, Benchley, Beatty, and not much more. Critics tore his work apart a..."True enough. He was definitely my main early influence. I used to read a lot of him, then some of his books seemed like the same ol' thing, and I branched out more. His premise of terrible/weird things happening to normal people certainly runs through a lot of my work. I think it's effective in that the reader can think, hey could that happen to me? Makes it more personal than something happening to some far-out sort of character.
