Horror Aficionados discussion
This topic is about
Midnight in the Pentagram
Group Reads: Guest Author Invite
>
November 2020 Group Read with all 32 authors of MIDNIGHT IN THE PENTAGRAM
message 51:
by
Lisa
(new)
-
rated it 4 stars
Nov 02, 2020 10:38AM
Me too, going to hop on this in a couple of days :)
reply
|
flag
Placed my order and will possibly start tonight - the printed book I'm currently reading is rather chunky and not really suited for reading in bed, so I'm starting with the Pentagram ebook on my Kindle which is much more comfortable.Of course I was lured by a) the great experience I had with the first Midnight book and b) some familiar authors on the list. But I am especially curious about the 'new' authors (at least for me) I will meet in this anthology.
Wow...The Corn Maidens. What a great, strong start to this book. Loved the ending and agree that a sequel is in order :)
Only managed to read the foreword and half of the Corn Maidens before falling asleep (which definitely has nothing to do with the book, but with my current working hours). The foreword was a great appetizer to wet my mouth for all the stories to come, though I feared it might contain spoilers. I will definitely get back to it after reading the stories to compare my impression of it with Mr Malfis.I am curious about the cover done by Mr Burke: did he make the photograph himself? To be honest, I am not a fan of actual people shown on covers, I prefer eerie landscapes and such. But it made me wonder who the woman on the picture is and how much of the surroundings is real setting and which parts were possibly added later, whether digitally or by hand.
But I do love the pentagram pic used to separate stories (fondly named 'Untitled page' by my Kindle) - he has such a mischievous, slightly amused look, maybe because he knows all about the nightmare I'm about to enter next...
Hi, all! Sorry for the late join. The many hands of other work have been holding me back. But I've finally broken free of their icy grip for at least long enough to post this message saying I look forward to hearing what everyone thinks of the witch's brew the Kens put together.
Loved 'The Corn Maidens'. Though it was obvious that there would be some kind of sacrifice, I was still surprised by the outcome. Poor Samson!'Opening the Door' was fun - such a sweet old auntie...
Mod
I’m with you, Lisa. For me, Brian’s writing never disappoints. He’s compiled a nice collection of work over the years and I’ve enjoyed everything he’s written. When he submitted The Corn Maidens for PENTAGRAM, not only did I know it would be included, but I also knew that I had found the story to “lead off” the anthology.
Mod
'Opening the Door' was fun - such a sweet old auntie..."
Aww... thanks Elke! Glad you enjoyed.
Wow just done Father Macleod and Opening the Door.... Really good stuff.
Just finished this wonderful collection of stories. There wasn't a single story that I didn't like, but I think my favorite was "Legion Cast Forth".
Just starting Legion Cast Forth. The other was an interesting read, a different point of view, very good.
The Red Butcher of Wroclaw, that was creative.
Finished Father MacLeod. Good story, I liked it. I didn’t expect the priest to make the decisions he did.
Mod
Brian Moreland, I’ll start with you. Can you tell us how you get the idea for The Corn Maidens?
Mod
A couple of stories further in: 'Legion Cast Forth' and 'What I Wouldn't Give' were both very different from the usual approaches. Oh, and the irony in the end! I loved that.
Mark wrote: "Hi, all! Sorry for the late join. The many hands of other work have been holding me back. But I've finally broken free of their icy grip for at least long enough to post this message saying I look ..."Hi Mark! Happy to see you here too!
Devil's Ink was another great story with a mean ending - those stories with a wink are my favorites. Overall, I enjoy the variety the book offers.I do have some general questions for the authors:
1. Did you use an idea already 'stored' in your mind when you where asked to write a story for this anthology? Or did your brainstorming start only after you knew the theme of book?
2. Do you start with the beginning, like 'what would happen if..." or do you rather have an idea for a nice twist/ending and think of possible ways to go there?
3. How long does a short story approximately take to be written - does it pour out in one sitting or does it take multiple sessions?
Thanks, Elke. I'm glad you enjoyed 'Devil's Ink.'I'm a newcomer to all this but thought I would throw my two penneth in. I never usually write stories with a particular anthology in mind. The idea comes, and I need to get it down, irrespective of what great calls are out there. Midnight in the Pentagram was an exception to the rule, though. I knew it was going to be special and that I had to come up with something.
Great question. I'm a sucker for an old-school twist and like to load most of my stories with a bit of a sucker punch. For these stories, I will tend to work backwards. On the other hand, I also love stories ignited by the flash of an idea and seeing where they go. They're the most fun to write. 50/50 in terms of split probably.
The draft for 'Devil's Ink' took one sitting of ten hours. It was an easy and fun story to write.
Elke wrote: "Devil's Ink was another great story with a mean ending - those stories with a wink are my favorites. Overall, I enjoy the variety the book offers.I do have some general questions for the authors:..."
Hi Elke. Lovely to see you here. Great questions. My story - The Oubliette of Elie Lloyd - came to me quite quickly one day. I had been reading about a haunted castle and its infamous oubliette and the whole image of people being tossed into a tiny, dark, dank dungeon with no hope of reprieve stuck with me. I was thinking of maybe incorporating it into a novel - and then the invitation from Silver Shamrock came along and it got its own (albeit short) story. I can still smell than oubliette...
In answer to your second question - it varies. Sometimes I come up with a title, like it so much I need to write a story to fit it. Other times (as in my novella, Cold Revenge) it was most definitely a 'what if' flash of imagination( as in, 'they say revenge is a dish best served cold. Okay, what if it was?). Other times it can be a setting, a character, or...an oubliette.
Question 3 - that also depends on the story. Usually the first draft pours out of me in a few days, but tat is only the beginning. I then have to redraft, edit, put it away for a while, return, re-read, redraft, edit... That old cliche - stories aren't written, they're rewritten - is true. Short stories demand a disproportionate amount of time relative to their length. As they are short, every word has to work overtime.
Mark wrote: "Thanks, Elke. I'm glad you enjoyed 'Devil's Ink.'I'm a newcomer to all this but thought I would throw my two penneth in. I never usually write stories with a particular anthology in mind. The idea..."
Wow, thanks for explaining, and those ten hours were definitely well spent!
Catherine wrote: "Elke wrote: "Devil's Ink was another great story with a mean ending - those stories with a wink are my favorites. Overall, I enjoy the variety the book offers.I do have some general questions for..."
Thanks Catherine! I have just read the fist few sentences of your story, so now I‘m eager to continue. Is it a real castle you read about?
Btw, I had to look up the meaning of the word oubliette first, as I never heard it before. Another word to add to my constantly growing English vocabulary, even though it‘s French ;)
Re-reading and redrafting sounds like a lot of work, and. It one I‘m fond of. The only stories I ever made up were essays in school and most of the time I didn‘t bother to read them twice - which of course would have benefitted erasing typos and stuff- guess I was just glad to be done with it. So respect to your hard work which I’m sure paid off!
Just finished “The Other” - what a great story with a different approach. As I was reading it, I was wondering what the heck was going on here...very creative, creepy, and poignant. Evokes empathy in the reader in a sort of story where you wouldn’t expect to feel it.
Elke wrote: "Devil's Ink was another great story with a mean ending - those stories with a wink are my favorites. Overall, I enjoy the variety the book offers.I do have some general questions for the authors:..."
1. For this particular anthology, I used an idea I've long had in mind which is a retelling of Euripides The Bacchae and this anthology allowed me to scratch that itch! I studied this text some years back and had an audio recording of the play and the sheer drama and violence of the piece stayed with me. Writing Family Reunion allowed me to bring features of that play into the story and give it a satanic twist.
2. I usually just have an image of a situation in my head and then go from there. With this one, because it's based on an old story, I had the framework already there - I just had to work out how to transform that to a more modern setting. Togas were out! On the whole though, I am a total pantser for both short stories and novels.
3. I can usually get a story down almost in one sitting. If I don't write it all at once, I normally get 1/2 to 3/4 done in a day and then I know exactly what's going to happen and finish it off the next day. After that there's some polishing. If I don't do it in this manner then I find I don't get it finished and faff around for days. It's 'forced focus' you might say.
Thanks for some great questions, hope you enjoy Family Reunion when you get to it!
Elke wrote: "Devil's Ink was another great story with a mean ending - those stories with a wink are my favorites. Overall, I enjoy the variety the book offers.I do have some general questions for the authors:..."
Hi, Elke!
1. When I heard the theme for the book, I immediately thought of a time my friends and I visited San Francisco and passed a homeless man who ranted about the devil's dust. It stuck with me because one, normally the drug is called angel dust so that was weird, and two, the guy really thought he saw demons everywhere and I couldn't help imagining it for myself. And that's where the idea for ANGEL DUST came from.
2. I usually know my endings first but ANGEL DUST came about because a friend of mine made the observation that I always wrote from the male POV. Because of that I knew I wanted to try to write a female character next. Except when I got started, I felt too detached writing in third person. When I tried it in first person, it sounded too much like the voice of my last male character. So, on a whim, I tried the dreaded second person and that's when the idea for the story really came into focus from beginning to end.
3. It took me about a month to write ANGEL DUST. The first week I experimented with voice and once that was nailed down, I got the rough draft out. The next few weeks were spent rewriting, reorganizing, deleting, agonizing, and then seeking out validation and approval from friends until I had enough courage to actually send it in.
These were great questions. Thank you for reading!
Stephanie wrote: "Elke wrote: "Devil's Ink was another great story with a mean ending - those stories with a wink are my favorites. Overall, I enjoy the variety the book offers.I do have some general questions for..."
Thank you Stephanie, now I'm eager to visit the Family Reunion :)
Shannon wrote: "Elke wrote: "Devil's Ink was another great story with a mean ending - those stories with a wink are my favorites. Overall, I enjoy the variety the book offers.I do have some general questions for..."
Wow, that is an interesting story background, and you wove a fascinating story out of it! Throughout reading, I was wondering what was real and what was caused by the angel dust, and right to the end I was not sure whether all would turn out to be 'just' a drug-induced nightmare or some 'real' horror. Well done!
Elke wrote: "Catherine wrote: "Elke wrote: "Devil's Ink was another great story with a mean ending - those stories with a wink are my favorites. Overall, I enjoy the variety the book offers.I do have some gen..."
Thanks, Elke. The castle in The Oubliette of Elie Lloyd is inspired by a number of ancient monuments here in the UK - but I certainly had the incredibly spooky Chillingham Castle in my mind at the time of writing it
Kenneth wrote: "With a collection of authors like this, I’m always curious at what inspired some of these great stories. I’m going to go down through the list from the beginning and ask each individual author if t..."Thanks Ken, my inspiration for writing "The Corn Maidens" started with just the title. I came up with the title a couple years ago while jotting out story ideas, and this one stayed with me long after. An actual story to go with it took longer come to me. I kept getting visions of a teenage girl getting kicked out of her small town, then cornfields in Nebraska during the Great Depression, so I got a sense that would be the setting and time period. When I watched Midsommar and the original Wicker Man movies, I knew I wanted to write a creepy folk horror story. The opportunity to write one for Midnight in the Pentagram is what really made this short story come to life. The theme inspired me to create the characters and fictional world. The deadline gave me a sense of purpose. I wrote the story last March during the pandemic lock-down when all I wanted to do was escape the world and write.
Not knowing where the story would take me, I wrote the opening with Hannah Creed and her goat getting ostracized from her family and fellow townspeople. I had no clue why they wanted her to leave, but it made me curious about Hannah. Then as I followed this teenage girl and her goat on the road through corn country, the story and mystery of Hannah unfolded scene by scene. About midway through the story I explored the folk horror aspect and researched various European pagan festivals. The research helped me define the characters that Hannah encounters, the horror elements, and ultimate climax.
Catherine wrote: "Elke wrote: "Catherine wrote: "Elke wrote: "Devil's Ink was another great story with a mean ending - those stories with a wink are my favorites. Overall, I enjoy the variety the book offers.I do ..."
While the colour photos are harmless enough, the black&white ones have a sinister look and it's easy to picture an oubliette in there. The story had a lot of atmosphere and I especially loved Ëlies's style. While I had a sense what to expect at the end of the stairs it was creepy as hell to go down there...
Further into the book and discovered 'Dog Eat God' was hilarious, what a great idea to come up with!
@Kenneth: Are you a dog or cat person?
'Discovering Mr. Jones' was an impressive surprise, though much more disturbing.
@Cameron: I hope it doesn't sound too rude to say I never heard of you before? What are you usually writing and doing? Any new projects to watch out for?
'The Gods of Our Fathers' is an instant favorite of mine, though it was extremely sad, considering until now I most enjoyed the more humorous stories. I appreciated that neither religion was all good or bad, though one of them was painted preferrable to the other, but just at first glance.
@Todd: While not as extreme as 'Devil's Creek', this story also had a critical view on religion(s). What do you believe in, if at all?
Elke wrote: Wow, that is an interesting story background, and you wove a fascinating story out of it! Throughout reading, I was wondering what was real and what was caused by the angel dust, and right to the end I was not sure whether all would turn out to be 'just' a drug-induced nightmare or some 'real' horror. Well done!Thank you!
Elke wrote: "'Dog Eat God' was hilarious, what a great idea to come up with!@Kenneth: Are you a dog or cat person?"
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the story. I am an animal person in general, though I have some really bad allergies to cats, so we only have dogs (Butterbean is a Catahoula leopard dog and Bodhi is what I think is a Jack Russel/Basenji mix. They're both rescue dogs we adopted this year after our previous two dogs passed.). For a while, I also had several live coral reef tanks, but took them down a couple of years back.
For the previous questions:
1) I don't typically write with a theme in mind. I take notes throughout my day, and so I have thousands of little snippets/half stories/full stories that didn't work. When I'm presented with a theme, I hit that folder and look a solid line for a story.
2) I'm a pantser, so once I have gathered my snippets and such, I sit down and write straight through. If it works, I let it simmer before I start editing. If it doesn't, it goes back to my folder and I try something different. But I rarely know where the story is heading when I begin. This particular story was sitting around in that folder for a couple of years.
3) As for how long it takes to write them, that depends on the story. Some stories come quickly. Others take weeks or even months. For instance, with my forthcoming novel, From Death Reborn, I started that back in 2007, and it's had many revisions since then. It was only 5k words when I started. Now it's near 90k.
Elke wrote: "Catherine wrote: "Elke wrote: "Catherine wrote: "Elke wrote: "Devil's Ink was another great story with a mean ending - those stories with a wink are my favorites. Overall, I enjoy the variety the b..."Thank you!
Just finished reading Night Above by John Quick. This is why I enjoy reading these kind of anthologies, you get introduced to new authors you would have never come across on your own. I am definitely going to look up more by John Quick.
Kenneth wrote: "Elke wrote: "'Dog Eat God' was hilarious, what a great idea to come up with!@Kenneth: Are you a dog or cat person?"
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the story. I am an animal person in general, though I ..."
Thanks for answering! If it was up to my son I guess we had a zoo, first of all a dog, but animals are not allowed where we live. So for now, he has to make do with loads of stuffed animals ;)
Sarah-Grace wrote: "Just finished reading Night Above by John Quick. This is why I enjoy reading these kind of anthologies, you get introduced to new authors you would have never come across on your own. I am definite..."Same here, this story was so awesome! Possibly the first time I felt with the demon.
@John: which of your books would you recommend to read next?
In response to Elke's general questions:1. Did you use an idea already 'stored' in your mind when you where asked to write a story for this anthology? Or did your brainstorming start only after you knew the theme of book?
***I actually had an outline of a story about a witch when Midnight in the Pentagram came along, and I thought it would be a great time to revisit that idea and finally put it to paper. One thing about being a writer - most of us have notebooks filled with story ideas that we keep meaning to get to.***
2. Do you start with the beginning, like 'what would happen if..." or do you rather have an idea for a nice twist/ending and think of possible ways to go there?
***For me, it always starts with the beginning, and then I think about the possibilities - if those seem interesting (or doable), I try to figure out how it should end. If I like that, then it's a matter of filling up everything in between. For "Story of a Lifetime," I got this idea after seeing an article in the local paper about Halloween festivities going on in October, and I thought, some poor reporter has to cover those stories year after year. What if they got assigned to interview a real witch?***
3. How long does a short story approximately take to be written - does it pour out in one sitting or does it take multiple sessions?
***Definitely multiple sessions. For me, each time I decide to take the story in a different way than I originally intended, I create a new file (in case I ever decide an earlier version was better). For a short story, I can end up with anywhere from 3 to 20 versions before it's complete. With "Story of a Lifetime," I think it was version 5 or 6 that ended up being the one I submitted, so I would guess it took me about 2 weeks to write it and polish it.
Latasha wrote: "Opening the door- loved it!"Me too - the ending scene at Aunt Irene's … yow.
Mod
Give us a little enlightenment into how your story came about, inspirations, etc.
I just started Hellseed by Tim Curran. Oh man! What a start to the story! That writing and descriptions! 😍
Legion Cast Forth- I’m still thinking about this story days later! I don’t think I’ve read anything by Robert (Ford) before. I liked it!
Kenneth wrote: "I’ll just throw this out to all the authors: Give us a little enlightenment into how your story came about, inspirations, etc."
In my case, I have always been fascinated by castles - most of them have a ton of history and a lot of it is pretty dark, grim and not a little grisly. I came across a picture of Warwick Castle's oubliette and it sparked off a train of thought that also put me in mind of a creepy visit my husband and I had enjoyed to Chillingham Castle. I was also in the middle of writing a novel set during World War 2 and a major evil character in there shares some similarities with Elie Lloyd. Put it all together and there you have it - The Oubliette of Elie Lloyd
Kenneth wrote: "I’ll just throw this out to all the authors: Give us a little enlightenment into how your story came about, inspirations, etc."
I was doing a lot of research into various cult leaders like David Koresh and Jim Jones for a longer piece I was working on. I came to a fork in the road in that story and veered in one direction there but always with the nagging sensation in my mind what might have happened had I veered the other way. In "Complex", "I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."
A couple more stories read...as I already said before 'A Night Above' was awesome and is a strong candidate for favorite stories (I won't ever be able to name just one for that category).I loved the writing and coming-of-age vibe of 'Flaking Red Paint' but I wonder if I missed something vital, as I did not understand the ending, or rather what really happened...
'Diminishing Returns' turned a very sad subject into something almost light. What a great idea!
I Know He Loves Me was really good
Horror Aficionados
Books mentioned in this topic
Midnight in the Graveyard (other topics)Midnight in the Graveyard (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Brian Moreland (other topics)Graham Masterton (other topics)
Tim Meyer (other topics)
Brian Keene (other topics)
