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?