Thank You

I was working on the next author page for this website and I opened up the book link generator for Amazon.com. (I don't know what they really call it but I plug in an ISBN number for a book they're selling and it generates the proper link for me to use on my website.) It told me that someone or some ones purchased four items from Amazon using my website. I don't know who and I don't know what they purchased, but if they used my website once I'm hoping they'll be back again to see this:

Thank you.

You, whoever you are, were my first real live customer.

I was surprised at the elation I felt. I'm not in this for the money; I'm in it to support a genre I love. But those purchases felt like a confirmation that someone is finding my site useful. That all this work has merit. And that felt pretty freakin' good.

Thank you again to my first customer(s) and thank you to all of you who use my website whether you buy a book from here or not.

And Happy Holidays folks!


(Originally Posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror.)

A Trip to Horror World pt. 2

(Last week we began a trip through Horror World. I intended to finish this article and post it a couple of days later. Unfortunately life got in the way and delayed this post. I offer my apologies.)

Providing a safe environment where you can have a message conversation with your favorite author would be an absolute fantastic accomplishment. Horror World, however, has more -- much more. As the front page says, Horror World is owned and edited by Nanci Kalanta (Remember her?) with help from associate editor Matthew Warner (Yes, the horror writer Matthew Warner). Together they have taken to heart the term "value added".

The Columns

Horror World currently has three columnists who take turns posting a column. For example, this month Matthew Warner (http://www.matthewwarner.com/) in his Author's Notes column writes about obscenity, the First Amendment, and how what happens to porn movies could happen to horror books. The essay was fairly disturbing, especially when you realize that besides writing, Mr. Warner works as a paralegal.

The other two columnists are Will Ludwigsen (http://www.will-ludwigsen.com/) and Lucy Snyder (http://www.sff.net/people/lucy-snyder/). You can find a list of the previous columns in the Horror World Column Archive.

Or you can try one of my favorites:
Matthew Warner: Author's Notes
Will Ludwigsen: Pardon the Entrails
Lucy Snyder: Lucy's Laboratory

The Book Reviews

Nanci Kalanta and Matthew Warner have taken to heart the term "value added"

Each month sees a new batch of book reviews and you can find this month's set here. These are reviews of horror novels and collections by people who know and respect the horror genre. They are short and to the point. They give enough of the storyline to hook your interest and then tell you what the book's strength's are. When there are significant weaknesses in a book, the reviewer points them out but no book review I've read on the site trashed a book.

If you're in need of good recommendations and have a little time to browse, the Horror World Review Archive is a fascinating way to gain a fistful of leads. My only regret about the archive is that there is no search feature or index for the times you want to look up a specific title or author.

The Featured Author of the Month

Each month Horror World has a featured short story. This month's story is Some Dark Hope by Tim Waggoner which can be found on the fiction page. It is a free short story (as always, please respect the copyright) which is made available for your enjoyment. It's a great way to get to know an author. If you like the short story, you can check out his or her other work.

Do keep in mind that a short story can only give you a glimpse of the author's writing style. A published author will have a lot more to offer in a novel, a novella or even a collection of stories.

If you're interested in reading Some Dark Hope you really need to click on the link now because soon, very soon, it will disappear and another story by another author will take its place. Unlike the reviews or columns, stories by the Featured Author of the Month are not archived.

The Interviews

Nanci Kalanta is big on getting the information out there.

Horror World also has interviews. This month Steven E. Wedel interviews Kim Paffenroth, author of the Stoker Award winning Gospel of the Living Dead and the new novel Dying to Live. Steven asks some excellent questions and I found the interview very interesting. I haven't read either book by Mr. Paffenroth -- yet. That will be changing soon, in part because of these interviews.

As with the fiction, the interviews aren't archived and soon another interview will take the place of this one. So hurry if you want to find out how George Romero's zombie movies are like Dante's The Divine Comedy or what it feels like to win the Stoker Award seconds after somebody else's book was announced.

The Announcements

Nanci Kalanta is big on getting the information out there. If you click on announcements in the upper right hand corner of any Horror World page, you'll find a page of links to publishers, bloggers and conventions information. You'll also find a link to Horror World's LiveJournal where Nanci also posts many of the announcements she gets.

And Much Much More

Horror World has a chat room, a library where you can read excerpts of published novels and novellas, a newsletter that you can subscribe to, and a page of links to other websites. Horror World is also the home of The Pod of Horror. But that is a post for another time.

(Originally Posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror.)

Rat's News: A Magazine and Retreat

Noctem Aeternus Debuts in January

Noctem Aeternus: Fiction for the Horror Fan is a free online magazine of horror fiction, interviews and columns. It will be published quarterly and made available for download as a PDF document. For those who don't know, you can read a PDF document using a free computer program called Adobe Acrobat Reader.

The first issue debuts next month in January, 2008. It will have horror stories by Ramsey Campbell, Tim Waggoner, Cherie Priest, Charles Coleman Finlay, and Michael Laimo. It features interviews and quarterly columns as well. And take a look at the beautiful cover by clicking on the Noctem Aeternus link.

Noctem Aeternus is a free online magazine of horror fiction, interviews and columns

The magazine is free but you need to subscribe to get your copy. Subscribing is easy (I did it myself) and painless. However, Noctem Aeternus needs your help to stay free. It needs subscribers. You can check out the Noctem Aeternus home page to get a better idea of what the magazine has to offer or click here to straight to the subscription page.

As Mr. Knost writes on the front page "Help us keep the magazine FREE . . . sign up today!"

The Pen to Press Writers’ Retreat

Are you serious about becoming a published writer? Are you serious about visiting New Orleans, Louisiana? Well, HWA President Deborah LeBlanc has a deal for you: The Pen to Press Writers’ Retreat.

It will be held May 27-May 31, 2008 in New Orleans. 160 people will be chosen from the pool of applicants to attend this 5-day intense retreat. The application process -- a synopsis and first five pages of a novel -- are outlined here. You can register now and get good rates but you don't pay until and unless you've been selected to attend.

Check their website out and see if you aren't intrigued.

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

A Trip to Horror World

Horror world is run by Nanci Kalanta (Remember her?). It clearly states on the front page that it's horror's #1 community on the web and it has won awards to prove it. Horror World is primarily a message board where people can have conversations with other people who love horror as well as many authors of horror. In fact many horror authors and some publishers have their own message boards where you can write to them directly.

Do you have a favorite author or someone you're interested in? Chances are he or she has a message board dedicated to them. The best way to find out it to click on the links at the upper right hand side of the page: Mass Market and Independant Press. Got a favorite publisher? Maybe you can find them under Publishers. Or you could jump the gun and click on the links I've provided here. Just be sure to come back and finish this post later.

About Message Boards

Have you ever joined a message board? If not, keep reading. Those of you who've done this plenty of time, feel free to skip this part.

First you'll want to register. There is a link to register on the left hand side towards the middle. Register is the first option presented. Click on the link and it takes you to the page: Horror World - Registration Agreement Terms which is basically the rules of conduct. Don't be rude or an idiot. It also uses cookies so your computer may have to be set up to accept cookies in order to register. Once you agree to the terms, you're sent to a page where you fill out some information.

On the profile page you put in your information. That includes making up a username and a password. You can add more information such as the URL to your website, your e-mail address or your handles on various chat and Instant message modes or you can leave them all blank. You can even go back in and edit stuff later.

The e-mail is kept private. If I wanted to e-mail, say Nanci, instead of getting her e-mail address, I get a message page where I can put my missive and a button to send it off to her. It shows up in her e-mail account but I never had access to the address. Clever, no?

What's in a Name?

The profile page asks you to make up a user name and a password. May I make a few suggestions. You should consider using your name as a username. If, however, you like to use a handle like I do, think about including your name in the signature. I do. My username is Greg the Undead Rat. I haven't used it much because I'm kinda shy.

Why use my real name? The internet draws a lot of crazy people and message boards seem to be a Mecca for crazy people and people looking for a flight (called a flame war in internet parlance). Unfortunately message boards dedicated to horror literature and visited by horror authors tend to get the meanest and the craziest of the lot. Many authors have been burned badly in such wars. Signing your post with a name is not only polite but it gives ownership to the comment. It also allows readers and responders to begin to trust you. Hiding behind a made up handle tends to inhibit trust and hiding behind Anymonous is much worse.

Try user names like Greg Fisher (the Horror World message boards do allow spaces in the usernames) or GregFisher, Gfisher, GregF, or GregoryF. As I wrote, I use Greg the Undead Rat but I always sign inside my post --Gregory "The Undead Rat" Fisher so that they know who is talking to them.

The Grand Finish

Once you've registered, you can look at the message boards and see what people are talking about. Already from just reading the boards I found out what Gary Braunbeck's next book will be about and one way he tackles writer's block. Now I can drop Teri A. Jacobs a message "Hello" and let her know that I really love reading The Void. Intrigued? Give it a try.

Next time I'll write about some of the other features of Horror World.


(Originally Posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror.)

Rat's News: A Special 2 for 1 Deal

Nanci Kalanta (You'll be reading about her a bit this week) owns HW Press which recently published a collection of short stories by Lucy A. Snyder titled Sparks and Shadows.

Nanci is making an offer too good to resist -- buy a copy of Lucy's Sparks and Shadows and get a free copy of her humor collection Installing Linux on a Dead Badger. That's two books for the price of one, good through December 31, 2007.

I recently had an opportunity to read some of Lucy's writing and I was very impressed. She has a way of drawing you into a story and not letting you go until she's done. Her style was effortless to read and put me in mind of Stephen King or Douglas Clegg. I read until I realized it was 3:00am and I had to wake up at 7:00am for work. If that doesn't sway you then know this: She's an Ohio author -- enough said.

To get this special offer click on this link and place your order for Sparks and Shadows. You can pay by Paypal or credit card on the Paypal page. And before you know it your Lucy A. Snyder library will be complete . . . for the moment.

Disclaimer: Unlike the books you buy off my website from Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble, I receive no money from the sale of Lucy's books through HW Press. I took advantage of this offer last night and wanted to share it with you.

(Originally Posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror.)

Summary: A Choir of Ill Children

A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN by Tom Piccirilli

"We move in spasms.
My brothers because they are conjoined at the frontal lobe, and me -- because for me there is no other way to continue moving."

GENRE:

Horror Fiction, Southern Gothic.

DESCRIPTORS:

Horror, Ghosts, Stream of Consciousness, Granny Witches, Conjoined Triplets, Detectives, Mills, Family, Mysterious Deaths, Relationships, Carnival, Speaking in Tongues, Superstition, Swamps, Epilepsy.



SUMMARY:

Years ago Tom's father committed suicide. Thomas inherited the Mill, making him the town patriarch, filling a role his family has always held since swamp-mired Kingdom Come was founded. It also puts him in charge of his brothers, triplets conjoined at the frontal lobe and constantly facing each other. Now dire portents of strife have appeared and Velma Coots calls upon him to do his duty to the town by providing some blood and vinegar (semen) for a spell to ward off the coming storm. Tom refuses.

Weird things begin to occur: Sebastian, one of the twins, falls in love with a film student named Sarah. A girl/woman of indefinite age is found wearing a child's dress with a lollipop and no memory of who she is. Dogs are turning up injured from severe kicking. Erie ghosts are making their presence felt. Then Tom's best friend Drabs Bibbler disappears after giving a cryptic warning about a carnival.

A terrible storm is brewing that will test Thomas and the inhabitants of Kingdom Come, those who are living and those who are dead.

APPEAL:

This book has been labeled Southern gothic. It is an odd -- almost stream of consciousness tale -- told from Tom's point of view, of his pride (refusing to give of his vinegar) and the consequences. It reminded me of William Faulkner's tales or Flannery O'Connor if they were mixing horror into their stories.

This book is not an easy read, you plunge right in and it takes a while to get your bearings. It is also difficult because of some of the subject matter, especially when it involves the triplets.

I particularly like the character of Thomas. He knows he is the town patriarch -- as his fortunes flow so do those of the town -- which is why his one act of refusal upsets Velma and the "Granny witches". Tom is also on a quest for answers, but the book does not wrap everything in a tidy bow.

Thomas must face the ghosts that come with the storm and those that come with the carnival as well.

READALIKES:

A Choir of Ill Children is off-kilter and engaging with just a touch of grotesque. If you enjoyed this novel you might want to try Flannery O'Connor, William Faulkner or James Lee Burke's David Robicheaux Mystery series.

(Originally Posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror.)

What’s New for December

Each month I list the new booklists that have been added to my horror book website.

Booklists for December:

Authors:
Wrath James White
Sarah Langan


Series:
No new series.

Themes:
African-Americans Writing Horror
Alien Horror — You’re So Strange
Back From the Dead

Updated Booklists for December:

Authors:
Linda D. Addison
Gina Farago
Charlie Huston
Yvonne Navarro
Scott Nicholson
Matthew Warner

Series:
The Cycle of the Aegis
The Ivy Cole Lykanthrop Series
The Joe Pitt Casebooks

Horror Web Resources for December:

Horror Authors Web Resources
Horror Authors Fan Web Sites
Ohio Fear Masters Web Resources
Horror Book Review Web Resources


What do you think?

(Originally posted in Horror Books with the Undead Rat)

Discover a New Writer: Brett Alexander Savory

Guest Blogging and Free Stories

The Canadian Indie magazine called Broken Pencil has enlisted Stoker Award winner Brett Alexander Savory, Editor-in-Chief of ChiZine: Treatments of Light and Shade in Words to be the Indie Artist in Residence for this month's Horror issue.


During November, Mr. Savory is the guest blogger for the Broken Pencil website. The major theme of most of his posts is "Horror fiction that doesn't suck!" and he has given me a number of books I need to pick up and read. I heartily recommend you check out these posts and see if something doesn't appeal to you taste for horror, dark fantasy and excellence in writing.

The Broken Pencil Posts:

Coming soon: Horror fiction that doesn't suck!

Danielewski, O'Nan, Tremblay, Gaiman

Carroll, Davidson, Link, Barker

Savory, Kasturi, Lalumiere signing in Montreal Sadly, I am a little late with the information from this post.

Raw Dog Screaming Press, Night Shade Books, Delirium Books, and PS Publishing

And Now Free Stories:

Mr. Savory with kind permission from Shane at Delirium Books has also made his short story collection No Further Messages available as an Adobe Acrobat download on his website.

This is a rare opportunity to try out an author for free. You owe it to yourself to download No Further Messages, try a few stories and see if he doesn't click for you. Then, if he does, you can purchase the collection, his novel In and Down or one of his other books listed on his author's list.

(Originally posted on . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

On a Personal Note

One of the nice things about having kids, besides taking up all that free time you once wasted on television shows, is that you have a ready made excuse for illness.

You don't get sick because you're getting old and your immune system is crumbling like a sugar cube doused with a cup of water. No, no, no. You got sick because your kids were exposed to the next pandemic at school and brought it home to share with family and friends.

I will try and post content this week but if I don't make it, just hold a candle light prayer vigil in my honor.

Now somebody get me my black-rabid-swine-bird plague flu shot, please.

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

In Remembrance: Ira Levin

Born: August 27, 1929
Died: November 12, 2007

Ira Levin was a novelist and playwright. Although he had many great accomplishments, including the play Deathtrap, he may be best known for a couple of important horror novels:

Rosemary's Baby

The Stepford Wives

He won the 1996 Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Horror Writers Association.

There are many tributes to Mr. Levin by writers far more eloquent than I. Here are just a few to give you a better idea of what the community of horror readers and writers has lost.

Scary Parent by Joe Schreiber

Burlesque of the Damned by Mark Henry

Hellnotes courtesy of Sheila Merritt


(Originally Posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror.)

More About Blogging for a Good Book

Previously . . .

The other day I introduced you to Blogging for a Good Book and talked about how it can help you find your next good horror novel. Today I want to talk about how it can help you find books of interest that are not in the horror genre.

--GASP!--

Has the Undead One gone over to the Bright Side?

An Ugly Truth

This really deserves a post of its own but here is the ugly truth: a steady diet of horror fiction and only horror fiction is the quickest way to burn out on the genre. It's not good for you. Not only will it stunt your literary growth but it will ruin your love of horror. Over time you'll grow to find horror boring and move on to thrillers, mysteries, fantasies or some other genre.

Occasionally cleansing the palate with a fine classic or a brooding piece of mainstream fiction not only broadens your literary horizons but refreshes you, which keeps the horror from growing stale. This is a warning: I nearly burnt out on horror until I began to vary my diet with fantasies and thrillers, sprinkled with a little bit of non-fiction and anything else that caught my fancy.

How Blogging for a Good Book Can Help

How, you ask, can I find something I want to read that isn't horror?

The answer is as simple as it is fun. Randomly or methodically stroll through the summaries of Blogging for a Good Book until you find one or two that catches your interest. You can use the category list on the left hand side to select the type of book you're looking for. You can use the archive list below that if you want to start with the first summaries and work your way up or start with the most recent summaries and work your way down. You can also drop in on a daily basis just to see what's new. I use all three methods.

The idea is to read or skim the summaries until something catches your attention and give it a closer read. Doing this today I found the next book I need to read: The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier. I wasn't really looking for yet another book to read but I couldn't help myself. The summary made it sound so appealing.

The Undead Rat Shows You How it's Done

Here are links to summaries of books that while not horror, still caught my interest. I invite you to take a look at them. You just might find something you'd like to read.

Red Hourglass: The Lives of Predators by Gordon Grice

Last Season by Eric Blehm

Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss

The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade by Thomas Lynch

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

Read On . . . Fantasy Fiction by Neil Hollands

The Triumph of the Thriller by Patrick Anderson

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Vanishing Act by Thomas Perry

Go, check out Blogging for a Good Book and then, if you have a moment, come back and tell me about your experience in the comments. Did they show you a book that caught your interest? What was it?


(Originally posted on . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

Oops - I Missed a Few

I'm way behind on my next blog post and I'm so tired I can't spell straight. I'm pushing today's post to tomorrow. However, while I was preparing to write what will be tomorrow's post, I discovered a few summaries of books that I missed yesterday. These books aren't strictly horror but they do have elements of storytelling that you find in good horror novels. If you're looking for a book to read, check out these summaries provided by the good folks at Blogging for a Good Book.

The Missing Few

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I love Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar.

Tenderness by Robert Cormier. Mr. Cormier's adult novel about a serial killer.

Scavenger by David Morrell. The story that takes place before this, Creepers, won the Stoker Award for Best Novel.

Fat White Vampire Blues by Andrew Fox. It has vampires; need I say more?


(Originally posted on . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

Introducing Blogging for a Good Book

What is This Blog?

Since March 2007, the good folks at the Williamsburg Regional Library have been posting a brief book summary each weekday with few exceptions (author obituaries replaced the book summary for 4 such exceptions).

This is an impressive blog. Usually one staff member from the library takes a week and posts 5 short summaries, each about a book he or she enjoyed.

An Overview

These are not book reviews. They're short, insightful summaries that include information on why a reader would enjoy the book without spoiling the ending. I leave it thinking either 'yes, put this book on the reading list' or 'no, this is not for me'-a valuable when I'm looking for a new book to read on my tight schedule.

Quite the variety can be found here. Blogging for a Good Book provides summaries for fiction in all genres, including interesting non-fiction. Some entries cover kids and teen books that would also be good reads for adults. Once they even posted a week's worth of DVD movie recommendations.

A Closer Look

The blog is organized to easily find the kind of book you want to read. Just clicking on the horror category on the right hand margin yielded summaries of 3 books: World War Z by Max Brooks, Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris, and The Ruins by Scott Smith.

Two graphic novels with a bit of a horror bent were also included: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill which won the 2000 Stoker Award for Illustrated Narrative and Green Arrow: Sounds of Violence by Kevin Smith.

I also found a couple of additional horror title under the category, "Jessica's Picks", including Sunshine by Robin McKinley and The Stand (complete and uncut edition) by Stephen King.

In Summary

If you're looking for a good horror novel--or just a good book to read of any stripe--be sure to stop by this blog and browse to your heart's content. You're practically guaranteed to find a summary that will pique your interest.

(Originally posted on . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

More on Storytellers Unplugged

A Further Introduction:

A few days ago I introduced you to Storytellers Unplugged and created a table of contents to the October stories they posted last month. This was to make it easier for you to find the free stories and read them. The idea was that by reading some authors you've never read before you might find you have an interest in reading more.

However, Storytellers Unplugged actually has more to it than that. For 11 months out of the year, some 30 authors, editors, agents and booksellers take turns posting an essay. The topics can be wide ranging from writer's block to finding an agent to dealing with unfair criticism. Usually the posts have something to do with writing in general but not always.

Who is the Audience?

The people who would be interested in adding this blog to thir list are writers and anyone else in the publishing industry or anyone who wants to be a part of the publishing industry. However, if you are an avid reader of horror, if you the kind of person who always wonders "Where do they get their ideas?" or if you like to see behind the scenes, the Storytellers Unplugged is also for you.

Still not sure if this is the blog for you? Check out these representative samples and decide for yourself. If you like what you read, then save the URL to your bookmarks and visit often. You can subscribe using RSS (see the orange box in the upper right hand corner of their website) and get a copy of the posts in your RSS Aggregate Reader daily.

The Essays:

The First Church of Words and Starry Wisdom is In Session by David Niall Wilson
David Niall Wilson, his ministry and the perils of writing to be a great writer.

It's Hard to Tell the Truth by Bev Vincent
Bev Vincent talks about that old piece of writerly advice: "Write what you know."

What Not To Do With Writer's Block by Sarah Monette
Sarah Monette tackles a mountainous problem for writers and turns it into a molehill.

Autopsy of the Mind by Robert Jones
I originally put this post with the stories, because it starts out with a story. But R. C. Jones' post is more a brief, intense and insightful look at the mind and making of a serial killer. This would be a good place to start your research.

Caveat Author by Janet Berliner
The dark side of a writer's success becomes apparent when "friends" reveal their true hearts.

Thomas Sullivan: Competition and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction by Thomas Sullivan
Taking Janet's post (see above) as a starting point, Thomas Sullivan talks about the value of competition. The lesson here is not just for writers but for everyone.

Repeat After Me: "I (You) Don't (Don't) Write (Write) Mysteries (Mysteries)" by Elizabeth Massie
Elizabeth Massie talks about being branded a mystery writer despite the truth. I saw ways this can be applicable to the horror reader as well.

Is It Really Worth It? by Brian Knight
After all the grief that writers go through to get published, to sell books to get recognized . . . they all have to ask and answer Brian Knight's question for themselves.


(Originally posted on . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

The Lost Storytellers

Okay, I admit it. I am not perfect. Thus it was that my non-perfect undead self accidentally missed two stories from Storytellers Unplugged. In an effort to correct the situation, I will add them into the original post. However, by way of apology I am offering this public separate post.

The Lost Stories:

Storytellers Unplugged by Mort Castle. This is Mr. Castle's clever holiday offering.

On The Importance of Revising - A Horror Story by Gerard Houarner. The horror writer's version of literary journalism -- Truman Capote beware.

Okay, okay, I made my apology. Will you guys stop lobbing those holy water balloons at me? Please?

Introducing Storytellers Unplugged

You know about them don't you?

Storytellers Unplugged is a shared blog with 29 participants each taking a day of the month on which to make a post. As I understand it, 11 months out of the year they're pretty free to post whatever they want, usually something revolving around the writing and publishing business, but when October rolls around, they post stories.

As David Niall Wilson observed, when they started the group was primarily horror writers so the stories in October were horror stories. Since then people have come and gone and now there is some mix. That mix is reflected somewhat in the stories they posted last month.

Still they are free stories and a chance to try out authors you may not have heard of. If you find a story you enjoyed, why not visit your public library and read more stories by them? You might just find a new favorite author or two . . .

The Stories:

Miracles in the Night by David Niall Wilson. Philosophical horror with vampires.

Storytellers Unplugged by Mort Castle. This is Mr. Castle's clever holiday offering.

On The Importance of Revising - A Horror Story by Gerard Houarner. The horror writer's version of literary journalism -- Truman Capote beware.

Glimpses of Horror by Elizabeth Massie. Three short-short tales that really creep up on you.

Extract by Brian Hodge. A story with teeth. Also includes a link to a podcast reading.

Swimming with Sharks by Robert Jones. It's more terrifying than Cthulhu and the insanity . . . oh the insanity of it all . . .

The Gonquin Table: October Surprise . . . by Frank T. Wydra. A story about writing stories? Complete with dead people.

Trick or Treat by John B. Rosenman. This is definitely trick or treating after my own undead heart. John's novel (featuring killer angels, no less) Alien Dreams will be out in e-book format next week from Drollerie Press.

Harming Obsession by Bev Vincent. When you obsess over the possibility that you may have just harmed someone, sending you out for candy during trick or treat is exquisite torture. Includes a link to a podcast reading of the story.

That’s Hardly Possible by Justine Musk. A decidedly creepy ghost story.

Six Six Six by Matt Forbeck. Each of the three stories is exactly six words long. And read the comments as some of the other writers join in.

The Ghost Who Loved Books by Brian Knight. Instead of a short story, Mr. Knight "decided to share an original, unpublished young adult fantasy novelette, The Ghost Who Loved Books." But don't let the YA label discourage you from trying it out. It's in a PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format.

Aftermath by Janet Berliner. An excellent vampire tale set in Jerusalem in 1197. Those of you who played the role-playing game Vampire: The Dark Ages will get an extra kick out of this story.

For The Autumn Queen, Where She Rests Among The Fallen by Richard Dansky. I love how Mr. Dansky opens this story: "Because autumn stories don’t necessarily have to be about Halloween."

The Long, The Short, and The Ugly by Wayne Allen Sallee. A triptych of terror with poetry . . . and a clown.

Requiem for Prey by Sarah Monette. Is she a predator with a conscious or something else?

Phase by David Niall Wilson. The final piece is a subtle story of horror, memory and a road trip.

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

What’s New for November

Each month I list the new booklists that have been added to my website . . . With Intent to Commit Horror.

Here are the new booklists for the month of November:

Authors:

John Everson
Fran Friel
Charlie Huston
Yvonne Navarro
Weston Ochse
Natasha Rhodes
Brett Alexander Savory
Mike Wall

Series:

The Cycle of the Aegis
Final Destination
The Final Impact Duology
The Joe Pitt Casebooks


What do you think?

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

Discover a New Writer: John Everson

Discover a New Writer is a new feature where I introduce you to an author you may never have read before -- usually by way of free online short stories, essays and other writings. My hope is that by giving you a sample of an author's work, you may find that you want more.

I missed all but the last fifteen minutes of last week's chat with horror author John Everson. I didn't mean to, but I had a sick child to take care of. However, Mr. Everson impressed me with the answers to the few questions I did manage to catch.

Particularly interesting was when he mentioned that having children curtailed his writing time. All I could think was "How well I know . . ."

Anyway, he piqued my interest so I visited his website and discovered, after bouncing around a bit, that he has posted several short stories. What a great way to decide if you like an author's writing or not!

In that spirit, I am posting direct links to his stories so that you can easily sample his writing yourself. Read a little bit of background information about the story in the purple sidebar on the left hand side. Note: these links will send you to John Everson's website. You can use the back button to return here to sample the next story or go exploring on his website:

Pumpkin Head

Why Do You Stay With Him?

Hard Heart

Tomatoes

Vigilantes of Love

Only Believe

Christmas, The Hard Way

Please understand: The stories have been posted for you to read for free but Mr. Everson still holds the copyright to them. Please do not steal them. Don't repost them elsewhere without first obtaining Mr. Everson's permission. This is a kind gift and we shouldn't abuse it.

For further reading check out the John Everson Author Page.

(originally posted on . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

Rat's News: Chats and Things

The Halloween season is upon us and many horror writers are getting out there to promote the holiday, their books and writing in general (not necessarily in that order). Call up your local bookstores and libraries and ask them if they have any author readings or author signings schedule for October. You might just get a chance to see a local celebrity.

One nice thing about author chats online is that an author can reach an audience world wide from the comfort of their home. In practice it rarely turns out to be an overwhelmingly full event. I sat in on a chat which drew over 35 people, a record, and yet it still had a greater sense of intimacy than an author reading attended by 15 people.

Two websites are offering a series of chats with authors of horror fiction throughout October and you still have plenty of time to meet them. Reading their books is not a prerequisite to attending the chats. I had fun at a chat with Sarah Langan and I haven't read either of her books yet. It did, however, prompt me to pick up her book The Keeper and move it to the top part of my to-read pile.

The Lost and The Damned Chats

The Lost and The Damned is primarily a bulletin board where one can go to talk about many aspects of the horror genre. However, they do have chats -- lots of chats. You can attend a chat without being a member of the bulletin board.

The Lost and The Damned Chat Room is running full steam in October with a pair of Monday night chats starting at 9:00pm EST and lasting an hour.

Next up is The Haunted Forest Tour on Monday October 22.
Horror authors Jeff Strand and James A. Moore are joined by macabre artist Glenn Chandbourne for a chat revolving around the latest book in the Halloween Series from Earthling Publications titled The Haunted Forest Tour.


Then author Al Sarrantonio and artist/author Alan M. Clark are guests for the chat Monday October 29th. You can see one of my favorite paintings called Mr. Hands here on Mr. Clark's website. Don't forget to click on the link to see the enlarged version of the painting.

The Writer's Chatroom Chats

The Writer's Chatroom is a website chock full of informational goodies and motivational helps for the writer in all of us. However, if you're in writer denial, you can still attend the rest of the chats this month with a pair of noted horror authors.

The Celebrity Sunday guest chats start at 7:00 pm EST, lasts about two hours and don't require any pre-registration. You can enter the chatroom by clicking this link.



Sunday, October 21, 2007 horror author John Everson will be the evening's guest.

Sunday, October 28, 2007 first time horror novelist Mary SanGiovanni stops by for a visit.

The Lair of the Yak

For a change of pace, try a video netcast. Nick Yak (alias Nick Cato) is the co-publisher (along with his wife) of Novello Publishers, a small press specializing in humorous horror fiction. Every Saturday he hosts a video show called The Lair of the Yak.

Episode 8: "Chh Chh Chh - Ha Ha Ha!", Saturday October 19 at 10:00 pm EST, Nick will have the real Jason of Friday the 13th movie fame. Guaranteed chaos and hilarity will ensue. If you have a video camera you can get a front row seat to the event but if you're like me (i.e., no video equipment), you can watch the proceedings and chat with the rest of the audience.

In Summary

There you have it; five opportunities to drop in and see what it's all about. You never know what is going to happen or what question is going to be asked next. Sample one and see if you don't come back for more.

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

Horror for Halloween

This is a booklist for librarians and anyone else interested in good scary reading this Halloween season. I've selected a mix of paperbacks and hardcovers for this list and tried to stay within 2006-2007 publication dates but I wasn't always successful. Feel free to print up this list and use it as your personal checklist or use it to create a display or bookmarks.

African-American Authors:

The Fledgling by Octavia Butler (Hardcover, 2005)

The Wicked: A Vampire Huntress Legend Novel by L. A. Banks (Trade Paperback, 2007)

Within the Shadows by Brandon Massey (Mass Market Paperback, 2007)

Anthology:

Horror: The Best of the Year, 2006 edited by John Gregory Betancourt and Sean Wallace (Trade Paperback, 2006)

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: The Year's Best Terror Tales edited by Stephen Jones (Trade Paperback, 2006)

Whispers in the Night: Dark Dreams vol. 3 edited by Brandon Massey (Trade Paperback, 2007)

Apocalyptic Horror:

The Conqueror Worms by Brian Keene (Mass Market Paperback, 2006)

The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Hardcover, 2006)

Monster Planet: A Zombie Novel by David Wellington (Trade Paperback, 2007)

Ghosts:

Bones of the Barbary Coast by Daniel Hecht (Hardcover, 2006)

Chasing the Dead by Joe Schrieber (Hardcover, 2006)

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (Hardcover, 2007)

Joplin's Ghost by Tananarive Due (Hardcover, 2006)

Golems:

Mr. Hands by Gary Braunback (Mass Market Paperback, 2007)

Historical Horror:

The Queen of Wolves: A Novel of the Vampyricon by Douglas Clegg (Hardcover, 2007)

The Terror: A Novel by Dan Simmons (Hardcover, 2007)

Humourous Horror:

Fangland by John Marks (Hardcover, 2007)

Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez (Hardcover, 2005)

You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore (Hardcover, 2007)

Vamped by David Sosnowski (Hardcover, 2004)

Ohio Horror:

Blood and Rust by S. A. Swiniarski (Mass Market Paperback, 2007)

Darkness Wakes by Tim Waggoner (Mass Market Paperback 2006)

Mystery Horror:

An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris (Hardcover, 2007)

Poltergeist by Kat Richardson (Trade Paperback, 2007)

The Unquiet: A Thriller by John Connolly (Hardcover, 2007)

Wraith by Phaedra Weldon (Trade Paperback, 2007)

Romantic Horror:

Bite Me if You Can by Linsay Sands (Mass Market Paperback, 2007)
Dead Sexy by Tate Hallaway (Trade Paperback, 2007)

The Last of the Red-Hot Vampires by Katie MacAlister (Mass Market Paperback, 2007)

Shapeshifters:

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs (Mass Market Paperback, 2007)

Ivy Cole and the Moon by Gina Farago (Hardcover, 2005)

Kitty Takes a Vacation by Carrie Vaughan (Mass Market Paperback, 2007)

Stray by Rachel Vincent (Mass Market Paperback, 2007)

The Theme Books:

Hallows Eve by Al Sarrantonio (Mass Market Paperback, 2004)

Horrorween by Al Sarrantonio (Mass Market Paperback, 2007)

Things That Go Bump in the Night:

The Hollowers by Mary SanGiovanni (Mass Market Paperback, 2007)

The Ruins by Scott Smith (Hardcover, 2006)

Things Mortal Man Was Never Meant to Chat With:

Brother Odd by Dean Koontz (Hardcover, 2006)

Vampires:

13 Bullets: A Vampire Tale by David Wellington (Trade Paperback, 2007)

Baltimore,: Or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden (Hardcover, 2007)

Bottomfeeder by B. F. Fingerman (Trade Paperback, 2007)

They Hunger by Scott Nicholson (Mass Market Paperback, 2007)

Valentine's Resolve: A Novel of the Vampire Earth by E. E. Knight (Hardcover, 2007)

Vampire Detectives:

The Blood Books vol. 1-3 by Tanya Huff (Mass Market Paperback, 2006)

No Dominion by Charlies Huston (Trade Paperback, 2006)

X-Rated Bloodsuckers by Mario Acevedo (Trade Paperback, 2007)

Worlds With Monsters:

For a Few Demons More by Kim Harrison (Hardcover, 2007)

The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton (Hardcover, 2007)

No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong (Hardcover, 2007)

White Night: A Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (Hardcover, 2007)

Zombies:

Cell by Stephen King (Hardcover, 2006)

Dead Sea by Brian Keene (Mass Market Paperback, 2007)

Dying to Live by Kim Paffenroth (Trade Paperback, 2007)

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks (Hardcover, 2006)







This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

My Kind of Calculator

Maine State Library asks "What is your library worth to you? How much would you pay out-of-pocket for your library services?"

They asked and I had to find out.

Using the Maine State Library's Library Use Value Calculator, I entered a rough estimate of the services I use my library system for and discovered that I and my family use approximately $2276.00 worth of services each month and we get it for free.

Now, realize that I work at the library so the services are right there in my face. Also I spend a lot of time on the computer for library related projects and answering reference questions. But I also have my own reference needs and I use the on-line databases a lot after hours.

Still, if you are a frequently user of the library in your area, this should give you an idea of the value of services provided. It may also give you a sense of how much more your library has to offer that you aren't utilizing.

It's your library. You should use it every chance you get.

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

What is Genre?

I want to talk about the definitions of horror and horror fiction soon. However, before we begin that daunting enterprise, I need to take a moment and get us all on the same page with the word genre.

Some of you don't know what the term genre means. It's not a difficult word but for some reason it seems to frighten people-good people like you and me. It doesn't have to be a scary word. It's my intention that by the end of this post, genre will be your friend.

(If you're already well-versed in the language of genre, go ahead and skip this post, but for those of you who-like me-learned how to pronounce words when you read them, and learned what they mean by figuring it out in context, you might enjoy the rest of this post.)

Genre - Janra - Zah . . . Oh Forget It

Even the sound of it smacks of a language that is not English.

I tend to pronounce it: ja'n'ra. The j slides into an almost z sound, the a is a short a sound, the n is as nasally as you would expect from any French loan word and followed up with a -ra sound to beat the band.

(If you'd like true professional help in sounding out the word try MSN Encarta )

The Definition is . . .

We use the term genre in reference to art or culture. It is a grouping or classifying word. Genre Fiction encompasses all the types of popular fiction that have shared rules or goals-types such as mystery, fantasy, science fiction or horror. Thus mystery fiction is one genre. Science fiction is another genre. Horror is yet another genre and there are many more.

Each genre creates a different kind of expectation in the reader's mind. For instance, in the mystery genre, one expects a crime to be committed and for someone to solve it. This is a bare bones and inexpert description of the mystery genre and there are exceptions but it works for our purpose.

Now this definition covers a lot of ground, encompasses books that have very little similarity with each other. Because of that and because we seem to be a people who love making categories, we have subgenres.

Break it Down Again

For our discussions, categories such as romance, western, mystery and thriller are just a few of the genres that fill our bookstores and libraries. So what's a subgenre?

A subgenre breaks a genre into smaller categories. If a mystery is a story where a crime is committed and someone solves it, then a story where a crime is committed and a cynical detective - at odds with the corrupt system and mean streets, sporting his own code of honor - is duty bound to find out who did it despite the violence and the personal cost, is a hard-boiled detective story.

The hard-boiled detective story is just one of many (I mean ridiculously many) subgenres of the mystery genre. Thus all the stories within a subgenre have more in common with each other than they do with books in other subgenres.

In Summary

As I write this post, I realize that I have a lot more to say about the uses and abuses of genre but I'll save them for future posts. Right now, if the concept of genre is new to you, you'll want to start playing with the idea. When you read a book - or even just look at its cover - try to determine what genre it is. Don't worry about subgenres; we'll come back to them later. You can even play name that genre with movies and television shows.

One other note: you may encounter authors who disparage the very notion of genre. They call it a tool of the marketers. They'll say it's restrictive to the artistic endeavor. They'll say these things and more and they'll be right. But right now we are learning to crawl. Soon we'll be walking and we won't need to think so much about genres and we'll be careful not to assign them too much importance. However we must crawl before we can learn to run.

Trust me; we're going to run. And running rampant through literature you love is a wonderfully heady experience.

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

Context 20: The Convention and my Catastrophe

Last weekend my wife and I attended an Ohio science fiction/fantasy/horror convention called Context 20. Unlike so many conventions that I've heard about, this one is devoted to the literature side of the genre, and only marginally concerned with the movies and television series.

Now, let me state at the onset that Context 20 was a wonderful convention, run by people who have a deep passion for genre literature and have been doing this for years. These people pulled off a great convention; an achievement made even more impressive when I found out about all the trials, the sicknesses, and even the passing of a revered member that beset them.

The word catastrophe in the subtitle doesn't refer to the convention itself but to the myriad of mistakes and blunders I made. I want to talk about what I did wrong, maybe poke fun at myself and start a conversation on what I could have done right.

Two Horror Stories

I have been asked, on a couple of occasions, to talk about the horror genre to librarians who don't normally read horror but want to help their patrons who do.

I started the sessions by announcing that I have two stories to tell. They both happened to me.

The Ghost Story:

This morning I had to travel across Cleveland to get to my library an hour before opening for the Early Bird Meeting. I dashed out into the frigid night air, carelessly shutting the door behind me. I reached the last stair before I froze. Did I lock the front door?

As I retraced my steps back to the porch, a small sphere of light began to glow in the screen door and grew in size as I approached it. A fearful wonder filled me. I'd never seen anything like that in my life except in grainy black and white photos reprinted in children's books about ghosts and haunted houses.

I didn't know my place was haunted

My first thought was I didn't know my place was haunted. I experienced a tingling in my gut which spread throughout my body as I realized I didn't actually want a ghost in my home.

No, I thought. I turned and discovered the culprit - a street lamp across the street was beaming brightly on the glass of my screen door. Relieved, I chuckled as I locked the front door. The fear had been banished and I felt euphoric and energized. I enjoyed the moment of fear and the tingle, as well as the happiness that bubbled up when the moment of fear passed.

I felt these same emotions when I read City of Masks by Daniel Hecht, the first novel in many years to scare me. It's addictive.

The Horror Story:

My family had been invited by my wife's boss to attend an all day staff outing at Geauga Park, an amusement park almost 20 miles from where I live. We got off the highway and hit a long stretch of rural road going 40 miles an hour. We crest a hill and saw the park in the distance. Closer, about 500 feet, was a long line of fifteen cars held up by a police officer citing another driver for a traffic violation.

My family and I were going to crash into the last car in line

We were going uncomfortably fast so I stepped on the brake. Nothing. I tried again. Nothing. I pumped the brake and we slowed a little but not nearly enough. My family and I were going to crash into the last car in line. I swore many profanities.

My stomach turned. I felt sick and scared silly. I pumped the brake quickly, downshifted viciously (to heck with my transmission) and turned the car off. We were still traveling way too fast. I swerved on to the berm which thankfully was a rural road width, so I could shoot past the last car without touching it. I could barely breathe as we passed one car and then another and then another.

By the time we reached the fourth car, we'd slowed to a stop. I had to force myself to breathe and not soil my clothes. My stomach lurched. I was happy we were alive. I was angry that the car was broken. I was afraid of the repair cost and unsure how we were going to get home.

I spent the rest of the day alternating between depression and fearfulness. It was not an experience I could recommend to anyone.

The Moral of the Stories:

The librarians immediately caught the difference between horror as entertainment and horror as a real life experience in a way they'd never understood before. I won't say I converted anyone to horror reading and a life long pursuit of the scare, but I did bring home to each of them the value of the genre and the legitimacy of the reading experience.

Tell me, did this work for you? Did you gleam any insights from it? What were they? Is this something you might be able to use in your own conversations about horror? If this would be helpful to you, you may use it under the rules Creative Commons License below. Click on the graphic to see what you can and cannot do with these stories.





This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

What's New for October

Each month I list the new booklists that have been added to my website . . . With Intent to Commit Horror.

Here are the new booklists for the month of October:

Authors:

Caitlin R. Kiernan

Yup, that's it.

However, this last month was busy in other ways as well:

• The navigation bar (the one under the red stripe) was adjusted to what will probably be its final form.


• I got rid of the second, redundant, blog which looked pretty but had already collapsed under the weight of this website.


• Finally I started posting blog articles on a regular schedule until a computer crash took me off-line for a few weeks. I want to try and resume my schedule.

What do you think?

What's New for September

Each month I list the new booklists that have been added to my website . . . With Intent to Commit Horror. Here are the new booklists for the month of September and then afterwards, a question:

Authors:

Linda D. Addison
Michael A. Arnzen
Gina Farago
Michael Gruber
Tate Hallaway
Kim Harrison
Michael Laimo
Sarah Langan
Sarah Pinborough
Mary SanGiovanni
Joe Schreiber
Tim Waggoner
Matthew Warner

Series:

The Dark Matter Series
Detective Jimmy Paz Thrillers
The Garnet Lacey Series
The Hollows
The Lykanthrop Series
Unto Dust: Tales of Apocalypse

Although I wanted to build the author and series lists first, I've been toying with the idea of working on the theme-based book lists. I really have no idea which you feel is the more important list.

What do you think?

Should I continue building the author and series lists or would you like to see the theme-based lists brought up to speed first? Which one do you find to be the most helpful? Use the comment section to voice your opinion.

Whats New for August

I want to thank the people who have been patient with me as I try to reconstruct the . . . With Intent to Commit Horror website. I think I finally found a stable platform on which to rebuild. For the moment I'm concentrating on bring all the booklists up to speed. The graphics and other eye candy will have to wait for a while.

Here is what is new for the month of August:

I have started rebuilding the author and series lists first. I wanted to keep the information from the theme-based book lists available. Click here to see the old booklists in the old format.

In addition these book lists have been added:

Authors:
Kelley Armstrong
Gary A. Braunbeck
Kealan Patrick Burke
Karen Chance
Cameron Dean
B. H. Fingerman
Daniel Hecht
Teri A. Jacobs
Brian Keene
Deborah LeBlanc
Richard Montanari
Scott Nicholson
Kim Paffenroth
Evie Rhodes
Kat Richardson
Lucy A. Snyder
Carrie Vaughn
Rachel Vincent
Phaedra Weldon
David Wellington

Series:
The Best of Hail Saten
Candace Steele Vampire Killer
Cassandra Palmer Series
The Cedar Hill Story Cycle
Cree Black Thriller
Detective John Salvatore Paris Thriller
Detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano Thriller
The Faythe Sanders Series
The Greywalker Series
Kitty Norville Series
Monster Island Trilogy
The Rising Series
Timmy Quinn Series
The Women of the Otherworld
Zoe Martinique Investigations

Already I have more lists being prepared for your horrific pleasure.

Vampyricon Video Vixens

Years ago, as a thank-you to his loyal fans, Douglas Clegg wrote the first book of a trilogy he'd long been wanting to write and got it specially printed as a collector's item without a bar code or ISBN. It was completely off the radar. It did have a terrific cover by Caniglia.

Douglas Clegg also said that there were no plans to reprint the book in another format. No promises it would ever be available in anything but the limited print run hardcover format.

Years later we are now awaiting the third book in the trilogy. The Priest of Blood did go on to a wide market hardcover and then paperback printing as was the second book The Lady of Serpents. Now the final book The Queen of the Wolves is about to be published. My wait is almost over.

I'm one of those people who loves to have the trilogy assembled so that I can read them all at once. My limited-print Caniglia-covered The Priest of Blood sits on my shelf of honor waiting for me to get my hands on the last book -- waiting for me to pull it down, open its cover and turn to the first page. Once upon a time . . .

Douglas Clegg asked that we bloggers make this video clip available. It's cool. I enjoyed it and I think you will too.


Online Videos by Veoh.com

Subscribe to Douglas Clegg's free newsletter and get screensavers, ebooks, and more at www.DouglasClegg.com

Interim Thematic Book Lists are Here

One of the most powerful tools I had on the older versions of . . . With Intent to Commit Horror was the thematic booklists. Now they’re back.

The books no longer link up to the Barnes and Noble website but the information is still good and the book cover images still show. I plan to overhaul these lists and update them soon but in the meantime feel free to check them out. Maybe you’ll come away with a list of new (to you) horror books to read.

And so the Madness Begins . . .

I ported the new look of . . . With Intent to Commit Horror from a testing subdirectory to the front lines. Next up is transferring all the old pages into the new look. That's hundreds of pages -- a lot of work for one person -- but the end product will be so worth it. In the meantime, I'll do the best I can to keep the booklists that haven't been transferred available to you. It means a lot of the website will retain its old black and red look and the links to Barnes and Noble will be broken. The information, however, will still be good.

Besides changing the look of the website, I'll also be pulling out the material on graphic novels and Ohio authors. Horror graphic novels and Ohio authors who write horror will remain. The rest of the material will hopefully find a new website after . . . With Intent to Commit Horror is finished.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

About Me

I'm going to edit down, severely, my profile blurb about me. It looks horrible in the sidebar. I decided to save the information in a post just in case anybody was interested:

I am a librarian assistant in a large suburban library which means I have a Bachelors degree but not a Masters Degree in Library Science. Still, I have over 15 years of library experience so that should count for something. I am a husband to a beautiful, intelligent and creative woman. I am a stepfather to a grown young man and father to two children. The oldest is a girl in kindergarten who is scarily smart, loves dinosaurs and tells a story about a pretty vampire who destroyed New York City. The boy is a couple of years younger and he is both an albino and autistic. He loves buses, trucks and especially loves trains. Me? I love to read, listen to books and write. Well, okay I don't like writing but I love to create a story.

I Missed the Memo

Four years ago when I began building my website . . . With Intent to Commit Horror, I knew I wanted to have book covers to display when I put the book in a list. Allowing my visitors to purchase the book if they were interested was a bonus. For those reasons, I joined an affiliate program. I did my research and picked Barnes and Noble's program because I found their website easier to use.

Cut to four days ago. I had just updated the front page of my website, adding Richard Montanari as my featured author and Understanding Comics as the featured book. I checked my book links and instead of getting the page at Barnes and Noble, I got the message: The merchant is no longer participating in the affiliate program.

I panicked. At first I thought they meant me. Maybe I'd been expelled from the program for bad behavior or something. Maybe somebody swiped my identity and cancelled my account for fun.

Turns out I'd merely missed the memo. Barnes and Noble left their old affiliate provider and adopted another. Apparently other participants in the affiliate program have been converting their websites so their visitors could continue visiting links and buying books without interruption. Not so me. I'm still getting the book cover images but all my Barnes and Noble links are dead.

I've applied for acceptance into the new affiliate program and am awaiting acceptance. If they take me, I'll still have nearly 300 pages, most with 5-30 links that will need to be converted. This will take some time. And some patience.

From TheUndeadRat.Com

Previously Featured Book:

Writing For Comics With Peter David

There seems to be hundreds of books on how to draw comics but very few are about writing the stories. This is one of the best books on comic writing, especially if you want to write for one of the major comic book publishers. Most books on writing tell you to create one protagonist and follow him or her through the story. However, many times comic books carry a team or family of protagonists. Mr. David does a great job of explaining how you put together an interesting group and make the ensemble work in the story. That alone was worth the price of admission for me.

From TheUndeadRat.Com

Previously Featured Book:

On Writing Horror 2nd ed.

Writing Horror

I'm going to start this feature with a book that taught me a lot about writing horror. When you read these essays you begin to get an appreciation of the work that goes into each novel or short story. The second edition contains all the essays that the first edition had plus a whole lot more and it's better organized.

Angry

My next post was going to be all about what I wanted to do with this blog and with my website: With Intent to Commit Horror. However, as important as that is, it will just have to wait.

The other day I took my beloved wife shopping for her anniversary present: A shopping spree for art supplies. We went to an art store named Prizm and bought many interesting things. Unfortunately we had our youngest son with us. The babysitters were willing to watch our daughter but not so our autistic son.

Aidan loved being in the art store but only because he wanted to finger everything and move them around. We were these over an hour and that was an hour of me constantly thwarting my son so that my wife could find just the right supplies. As you might guess, young pre-school aged children do not take thwarting very well and autistic pre-school aged children handle it with even less grace.

Although he screamed angrily a few times I was fairly successful in redirecting his attention and keeping him walking around the store so he didn’t have much time to touch things.

Our last stop was a mega-sized craft store named Michaels. My wife and Aidan went in alone while I quickly checked out something at a near by computer store. When I found them in Michaels, Aidan was even crankier than before. I took charge of him and eventually found a bench where I could hold him and sing songs. (When he gets cranky, he can sometimes be comforted by being held and squeezed as this reminds him of his physical boundaries and that he isn’t hurt. Other times, it only reminds him to try and head-butt Daddy in the nose.)

Later in the car I described a late middle aged couple who seemed awfully impatient with the time it took for the cashier to ring my purchases up and for me to pay her. Lots of sighs and murmurs about how the other line was already through. I was merely amused by their disposition . . .

UNTIL . . .

Deena told me that they were the couple that seemed very put out by Aidan’s screaming. The woman even “screamed” in a low, mocking tone of voice so that only my wife and Aidan would hear. Luckily Aidan didn’t, otherwise it would have set him off into total meltdown. Unfortunately I had a meltdown.

I saw red. I was filled with road rage and we hadn’t left the parking lot yet. I wanted to smash their car with my tire iron. I wanted the earth to open up and swallow them whole. I wanted to let my dog go potty on their garden.

But what I really wanted was the chance to be there when she gave her “mocking” scream and ask her, “Are you normally this ugly or do you just enjoy making fun of children who are mentally handicapped? My son is an albino which means he can’t see very well. And he’s autistic which means he doesn’t think like normal children and he isn’t as emotionally developed as other children. He can no more help screaming when he’s upset than you can help looking like a dried up stick of asparagus.”

I guess parents of autistic children can have public meltdowns too.

Happy Anniversary

Seven years and two kids ago, I married the most wonderful, intelligent and creative woman on the face of the planet. Since we live in the Greater Cleveland area, this anniversary/Valentine's Day we spent in the house -- the dinner plans aborted and the mail not forth coming -- because the city is pretty much snowed in.

I had plans to take her on a shopping spree for a bit of impulse buying at a local art supplies store while my wife had ordered a book for me from Shocklines -- Your One-Stop Shop for Horror. She ordered a book that I have been saving my lunch money for weeks to purchase.

The book is Prodigal Blues by Gary Braunbeck. You can check out the book here on Shockline's website or on Cemetery Dance Publications website.

Gary writes books that are classified as horror, but here's the secret: they're really stories that, emotionally, gut you like a fish. His most powerful writing draws upon the tragedies of his past and then his craft hones the words to scalpel-sharp edge so you barely feel the cut until you're bleeding. And you love him for it.

I urge you to check out In Silent Graves by Gary if you can. It is a paperback edition, with some revision, of an earlier hard-to-find small press novel called The Indifference of Heaven. Check your bookstore and see if they can get it for you, or your library. If the library doesn't have it see if they can inter-library loan it from another library -- maybe by using worldcat. It's worth searching for. Although Barnes and Noble Online doesn't offer the book anymore, you can sometimes find a used copy through them.


In Silent Graves
You can find out a lot more about Gary Braunbeck in the semi-autobiographical work Fear in a Handful of Dust: Horror as a Way of Life. Not only will you get some excellent reviews of movies and music, you'll get context by way of the life of the reviewer (which is Gary himself) and insight as to why somebody would write horror novels and short stories in the first place.


Fear in a Handful of Dust:
Horror as a Way of Life
Meanwhile, I am waiting with bated breath for my copy of Prodigal Blues. It will be his first non-supernatural horror novel and promises to be his most emotion-flaying story yet.

Did I mention that my wife really loves me?