Posts Tagged ‘authors’

Conversations with Barbara G. Tarn

Posted: September 29, 2015 in Author Interciew, Novel, short story, Writing
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BarbChicon2012

It’s been quite a while since I’ve done an author interview, but hey, I’m glad when I have the chance to do one. Today’s interview is with someone else who’s work is being featured in When The Lights Go Out, which if you haven’t checked out I highly recommend you do.

Barbara G. Tarn prefers the term “world-creator”, which I can understand, seeing as she not only writes but does graphic novels and a few other things too. She’s lives in Italy, which I think is pretty cool, and she’s constantly working on something (boy, does that sound familiar). And apparently I know her husband, as do many other writers. Lots of interesting connections here. Her story in WTLGO is related to her upcoming novel, which sounds very interesting if you read the summary. And speaking from personal experience, her short story is pretty awesome as well.

So without further ado, let’s get into it!

Welcome to the show, Barb. What is your short story about and what inspired it?

The Return of the Crusader is historical fantasy. It’s Halloween – when it was still called All Saints Eve – in 1150 AD Lincolnshire and the lady of the manor is hoping her husband will come back from the crusade… which he does, but as a vampire.

This story was inspired by the fact that Miss Naylor [Joleene Naylor, who helped put together WTLGO] wanted a Halloween story and I thought it was a perfect day for someone to be turned into a vampire! So I wrote this “origin” story for Kaylyn, who is Rajveer’s sister-in-darkness, and next year I will write her full story. For now you can see her in Rajveer the Vampire, out Nov.1st.

I’m a middle ages lovers and my historical novel  The Fern and The Cross is still in the drawer since I’m not happy with it. But all the research I’ve done for it will be useful to tell Kaylyn’s story, from 1150 AD to the new millennium – out Nov.1st, 2016.

Tell us what else have you written?

Star Minds is a science fantasy series. Then there’s Silvery Earth, adult unconventional fantasy. All books are actually standalone in both series, but if you follow the chronological order, you might see a pattern. Both series have lots of LGBT characters. Urban fantasy – Samantha’s body switches – and other contemporary titles are also out now. You can find everything at the Unicorn Productions website (that’s a logo I’ve had since the 1990s, when I did photocopied b&w fanzines to sell at the Italian comicons)

Are you a traditionally or self-published writer?

Indie because I’m scared of the draconian traditional contracts. But I’m submitting short stories to traditional markets – and rejections are piling up. Although I did get a Honorable Mention at Writers of the Future (and then indie-published that novella).

Nice! What got you into writing in the first place?

I’m writaholic. I’m married to Mr Writing. I’m an introvert and hate spoken words. I’d rather be writing than hang out. Should I say more? Okay, I was uprooted at 13, so that kinda shut me off from the real world… That’s when I started writing stories!

What is it about scary stories that you think draw people in?

I don’t read (or write) many scary stories, so I have no idea…

That’s a shame. Now, are you working on anything these days?

Redrafting Daya (another vampire that appears in Rajveer’s novel – probably a novella that might come out maybe at the end of this year or the beginning of 2016)) and Beautiful (a “retelling” of Sleeping Beauty with m/m protagonists).

What is some advice you would give to other writers, regardless of their level of experience or background?

Heinlein’s business rules: 1) you must write 2) you must finish what you write 3) you must not rewrite unless by editorial demand (and I mean editor in New York if you have a traditional contract, not a hired freelance) 4) you must put it on the market 5) you must leave it on the market until sold (either trad or indie). Don’t look for perfection or you’ll be stuck in rewriting hell forever. If you must take a course, go to professional writers such as Kevin J. Anderson, David Farland or Dean Wesley Smith. I’ve taken online and offline classes at WMG Publishing – and I started writing back in 1978. Thing is… you never stop learning.

Finally, if you were stuck on a desert island and could only take three books with you, what would you take?

Aren’t we past this with e-readers? 😉 Without wi-fi the battery would last long enough to read more than three books! I don’t know, I don’t have favorite books at this time… I’d probably spend the time telling stories to myself that I might eventually write…

Thanks for joining us, Barb. If you would like to check out more of her work, head to her blog, Facebook, Goodreads, or Amazon page for more. And make sure to check out When The Lights Go Out or Rajveer the Vampire, out November 1st.

All for now. I’ve got a few more interviews coming up, so keep an eye out for those. You have a great day, my Followers of Fear!

“What’s Write For Me”: The Podcast is Available Now

Posted: September 25, 2015 in Living and Life, Writing
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As you know, two nights ago I was a guest on the online radio show “What’s Write For Me” with Dellani Oakes, which was a lot of fun. We had a good group of guests that night, and some very interesting discussions because of it. Plus the excerpts were very interesting.

As promised, I’m posting the podcast here for your enjoyment. You can listen to it, hear my voice if you’ve never heard it (apparently it comes with an echo, though that may just be my apartment), and just hear what happens when a bunch of authors get together over the Internet and talk about the craft. Plus I try my hand at a Russian accent and apparently it comes off pretty well.

If everything has gone right, the podcast has been embedded below.

http://player.cinchcast.com/?platformId=1&assetType=single&assetId=7891085

Check Out Books Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Red River Radio on BlogTalkRadio

If it hasn’t, and above this paragraph there isn’t a podcast to listen to, you can click here and listen to the podcast on the original website. Enjoy, and let me know what you think. Do you want to read any of these authors now? Does my Russian accent sound convincing at all? Let me know in the comments below and have a great weekend, my Followers of Fear!

“When the Lights Go Out” is Available Now For Download

Posted: September 24, 2015 in Living and Life, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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when the lights go out cover

Well, I didn’t know this was happening so soon, but I guess it’s an early treat, which is always better than an early trick. The latest anthology from the Ink Slingers’ League, When The Lights Go Out (also known as WTLGO for the sake of keeping things short), has just become available for download! This creepy Halloween anthology contains a variety of terrifying stories from a plethora of authors, including yours truly, and I even got to write the introduction and help out with picking a title. Other authors in the anthology include Joleene Naylor, DM Yates, Barbara Tarn, Tricia Drammeh, Roger Lawrence, Adan Ranie, and many more!

If you’re still unsure about whether or not this anthology is for you, here’s the description:

A collection of twenty-five short stories just in time for Halloween. Enjoy thrills, chills, and mysteries. Meet ghosts, demons, vampires, and monsters everywhere from dark city streets to the English countryside. Scares lurk in the most unexpected places and, when the lights go out, no where is safe and no one will be spared.

Doesn’t that sound creepy? And if you need any more incentive to check it out, the entire anthology is very affordable. It’s available for a little under a dollar from Amazon and for free from Smashwords. And as it becomes available on more formats, like Kobo and iTunes, I’ll be posting those links on my Stand Alones & Other Works page.

Once again, thanks to Joleene Naylor for making me part of,this anthology in so many ways. I’ve already started reading it and I’m impressed by what I’ve seen so far. I’m looking forward to reading the rest and I’m so glad you thought one of my works was worthy of this impressive and terrifying collection of tales.

Well, that’s all for now. I hope you decide to check out WTLGO and have a spooky good time with me. Until next time, my Followers of Fear!

Thoughts on Lovecraft: Part 1

Posted: September 21, 2015 in Living and Life, Review, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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For a while now I’ve been reading The Complete Collection of HP Lovecraft on my Kindle. I figured it was about time, seeing as I haven’t been very exposed to his work up until this point, and the man has been a huge influence on greats like Stephen King, Allan Moore, Guillermo del Toro, and quite a few more. And since I am always looking to learn from other authors, I figured I should spend ten dollars of Amazon gift cards and see what happens.

Well, you get what you asked for. I didn’t realize that when I bought the collection, that it was 1112 pages! The length in itself is not such a problem, I’ve read books that long before. The thing is, Lovecraft…well, he’s hard to get through sometimes, and for a number of reasons. For one thing, there’s his style, which goes a little something like this:

And as I treaded up the stairs, filled with an anguish that panged the organs within my bosom to no end, I found my wife waiting for me in her chambers, her frown prominently featured upon her face. And I knew that my life had been transferred into a situation seriously detrimental and quite hazardous to my health, for that face on my wife at this hour could only mean that she had discovered my liaisons with Ellen the hotel maid from down in the village. I had endeavored to keep our trysts unknown from all but the walls of Ellen’s room, however it seemed that I was not secretive enough, as evidenced by the porcelain my wife volleyed at my head.

Okay, that’s a bit of a parody, but you get my point. Who talks like this?

Also, some of his early fiction isn’t that good. “Memory” is just a weird little flash fiction piece about a ruined city and a conversation between two beings about the city; “The Street” is about the houses on the titular street killing Communists after the street goes from a nice neighborhood to a slum; “Polaris” and “The White Ship” are obviously both dreams taken too literally, and “The Tree” is just not scary.

Also I noticed that so far, very few women appear in the stories. Several characters are mentioned as having wives, but so far the only woman who has any actual significance is the titular character of “Sweet Ermengarde”, and that’s a story parodying popular romantic melodramas of the day! But given that Lovecraft had a strained relationship with his mother, a turbulent one with his wife, and was dominated by his aunts in the later parts of his life, maybe that has something to do with it.

Lovecraft makes you wonder if maybe this guy is coming for you.

However, while I have my problems with Lovecraft’s early work, I have to admit that some of his stories do hit the mark, and even are a little scary. “The Tomb” is definitely somewhat chilling, as is “Dagon” and “The Picture in the House” (the former bears resemblance to Cthullu stories, while the latter has implications of murder and cannibalism). And I actually very much enjoyed “The Temple”, which was very strange and creepy.

I can’t say about the rest of his work, but for the early stuff I think what makes the successes so great is that they leave impressions on you. They make you think to yourself, “Imagine if that actually happened. That would be kind of creepy…” And then you take a look around yourself to make sure that a slippery slimy creature or some guy with wicked magic or something isn’t near you. Lovecraft is very good at leaving those sort of feelings with you. He makes you wonder, makes you think that there’s something just beyond the corners of our eyes or in the darkest parts of our world that we don’t understand, can’t understand, and that any interaction with that something or somethings would be very dangerous for us.

So there is definitely a reason why HP Lovecraft has stuck around and become well-known as a writer of weird and terrifying fiction. And as I progress from his early work to the stuff that he’s more famous for, like “Call of Cthullu” or “The Colour out of Space” or “History of the Necronomicon”, I’m sure I’ll find more reasons to like this guy (hence the reason this post is titled Part 1).

In the meantime though, I think I’ll take a break from his stuff. Like I said, he’s great when he’s good and I’m already learning a lot from him and seeing some of his influence on my work already, but he’s dense and hard to get through, and after so much of prose like my parody paragraph, I need a break if I’m going to continue someday. Besides, I finished on “The Nameless City”, which has that famous quote in it. You know the one:

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.

I can’t think of a better stopping point than on a creepy story that has that weird couplet in it. Can you?

I Will Be Guesting On “What’s Write For Me” This Wednesday

Posted: September 17, 2015 in Living and Life, Writing
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Well, as if life wasn’t already busy enough for me. This coming Wednesday, right after Yom Kuppur ends for me, I’ll be participating in “What’s Write For Me”, a monthly online radio show where show hosts Dellani Oakes and Christina Giguere talk to three awesome novelists, who also read an excerpt of their books. And guess what? I get to be one of the authors this month!

I’m very honored that Dellani asked me to participate in this month’s show. From what I understand it gets quite an audience during the live recording and in archived listenings, and I’m very excited to be able to reach a huge new audience. Thanks Dellani!

If you wish to listen to the show, it’s taking place next week on Wednesday, September 23rd, at 4:OO PM Eastern Standard Time (10:00 PM for me. I’m going to be a very tired writer the next day, but for this it’s worth it! Plus I have caffeine in the office, so it works out). You can tune in to listen by following this link. If you are unfortunately unable to listen to it live (like my family), you can listen to it archived by following the same link above.

Well, till the morning. Have a good night, my Followers of Fear, and pleasant nightmares!

When The Lights Go Out: Coming Soon

Posted: September 16, 2015 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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when the lights go out cover

Some of you may remember a previous post where I announced that a short story of mine, “Tigress Lizzy” was going to be published in an upcoming anthology by the same folks who did Strange Portals. I’m very pleased to announce that the anthology now has a name and a cover, and I have more news besides that!

Alright, as the title of this post indicates, this anthology is called When The Lights Go Out, a title I suggested to anthology editor/vampire novelist extraordinaire/indie colleague Joleene Naylor, so I’m very honored that she chose it for the title of this anthology. She also did the cover for this anthology, by the way. And holy shit, is that creepy to behold! It’s like she crossed Ring with Grudge and The Exorcist! I’m getting goosebumps just looking at it!

Or is that the ghost I suspect is haunting my apartment? I’m never quite sure.

Oh, and I have some more news relating to WTLGO (yes, I am starting that abbreviation. You shall use it to save time when referring to this anthology because it is just that much easier). In addition to being the author of one of the twenty-five short stories featured in the anthology, I was also asked to write the introduction. Yes, that’s right. I got to write the introduction! I’m really happy about that, and Joleene tells me she really liked it, which I call very high praise indeed!

Finally, WTLGO will be coming out sometime early next month from e-book retailers everywhere. As soon as it comes out, I’ll be posting links so you can check it out! The anthology will be free of charge, so if you’re of little pocket money but still have a device to read this on, you won’t have to miss out.

Though if I were you, I wouldn’t read this one right before bed. You might never sleep again…

I’ll post more when I have more. I’m riding a huge high right now, so I’m going to ride that high right to bed (it’s nearly ten at night here in Germany and I have early mornings!). I’ll celebrate with you guys in the morning. You have a great one, my Followers of Fear!

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: September 11, 2015 in Living and Life, short story, Writing
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Ah, the weekend! It’s finally here. Or it will be, once work’s over for the day. But first thing’s first, you know how I start my Friday mornings! It’s #FirstLineFriday! And guess what else? I’ve been hearing about other bloggers who are getting into this as well. Very excited and happy to hear that the trend I’m trying to start is trending, at least a little bit.

Okay, so here are the rules. On Fridays you write a blog post titled #FirstLineFriday, and then you post the rules (which I’m doing), followed by the first or first two sentences of a potential story, a story-in-progress, or a completed/published work. Then you ask your readers for input, and that’s #FirstLineFriday.

Today’s entry is from a short story I’m working on now. I don’t always have time to work on it, what with my busy life, but when I do, I find the story just flowing out of me and onto the page like a river. I even read a bit from this story to my boss when she asked to hear some of my fiction, and she really enjoyed it, so I guess it must be very good despite still being a first draft. Anyway, enjoy:

Molly ran, heart pounding as she heard the sounds of her pursuers’ boots getting closer and closer behind her.

Thoughts? Critiques? Grammatical or spelling errors? Let me know in the comments below.

That’s all for now. My Internet access may become limited soon due to reasons beyond my control, so I apologize for that and promise I’ll be looking for ways to get online as much as possible, so be patient with me.

Also, this weekend starts Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Around this time of year, it’s traditional to ask for forgiveness for past wrongs and forgive in turn, so if I’ve done anything to you in the past year, I ask for your forgiveness. And if by chance you’ve done something to me, I forgive you with all my heart.

Have a great weekend, my Followers of Fear, and a sweet New Year!

Twenty-Five Hundred Comments!!!

Posted: September 9, 2015 in Living and Life, Writing
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I’m pleased to announce that as of this morning I’ve passed another blogging milestone. I now have twenty-five hundred-plus comments on my blog. Thank you to Joleene Naylor whose comments on some of my most recent posts helped me get to this point this morning (check out her blog here by the way, because it is awesome).

I say this every time I reach a milestone, but I remember for the first year or so of this blog, I rarely got any views, maybe one or two every other day, if I was lucky. A comment was even rarer. At times I was tempted to shut down my blog. I had gotten into blogging to build an audience for my books, and yet I was finding it difficult to get anyone to read my work when it was free. What was the point?

But as time went on, I got better at blogging, I blogged more often, and more people started finding me.The number of people reading my posts grew, as well as the number of people subscribing, liking, and of course commenting on my blog. Do I have a ravenous fan base who is begging for my next book every second of the day? No, but I’m happy for the audience that I have and I think I’m getting there anyway.

Anyway, I’d like to thank everyone who has been helping me and supporting me this whole time. It means a lot to me and I can’t show my gratitude enough for how much you’ve helped me along these past four years. I hope that you continue to support me in the future as I work hard to become a great and terrifying (and possibly full-time) novelist.

Cheers!

Self-Pub Authors: When Should You Release a New Book?

Posted: September 1, 2015 in Journalism, Reflections, Writing
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My latest post from Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors is out. This time, it’s When Should You Release a New Book? No seriously, when should you? I pondered that question, so I went to find out the answer myself. And this article is the result of what I found out. So if you’ve ever wanted to know when you should release your new book, this might help.

If you like the article, read some of the others on the site. Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors is full of helpful advice on writing, editing, publishing, and marketing independently and doing it well. I should know, I’ve benefited from it in many different ways.

All for now, my Followers of Fear. Things to do, people to scare. Bye!

Doubt: An Unusually Powerful Weapon

Posted: August 25, 2015 in Living and Life, Novel, Reflections, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Lately I’ve been reading Stephen King’s Revival on my Kindle, and I have to say, while a bit more on the science-fiction side and a bit less creepy than other King novels like The Shining, Misery, or IT, I find Revival to still be a very interesting read and I’m looking forward to seeing how it ends.

While I do believe Revival’s not as creepy as other King novels, there is one part of it that is very unsettling: early in the book a lot of time is spent on the question of whether God exists or not. I’m not going to say what any of the main characters decide one way or another in case you haven’t read this one and want to read it sometime soon, but the way they question their beliefs in God and some of the conclusions they come to, coupled with King’s ability to immerse us almost completely in the minds of the narrator, causes us as the reader to question our own faith in whatever god or gods we choose to believe in, if we do.

Doubt. In some ways, a little bit of doubt in our strongest-held beliefs can be one of the most anxiety-inducing things in the world. All we’ve known or believed is called completely into question, and the power of that can send us completely reeling, make us terrified of the possibilities if we come to the conclusion that our beliefs are as false as a three-dollar bill. Even worse is that this doubt is housed entirely within our own minds, so outside attempts to erase that doubt are not always very effective. It’s like standing on the very tip of a structure that until now you thought was completely solid, but suddenly you discover cracks there and that the structure is in danger of caving in on itself. Your friends, your family, your religious leader, and even your favorite YouTube stars (why not?) can put some wood beams under the stones and put sand in the cracks, but they’ll only last so long. Fixing the structure, or letting it fall to ruin, has to come from within.

This makes me think of the lengths people will go to silence doubt. Anyone doubts America’s exceptionalism in the world (which I admit is a philosophy I find silly, seeing as many nations have said the same things about themselves and have later lost power or disappeared from the face of the Earth), those in favor of the philosophy will shout out those who oppose it and say they are un-American or even trying to ruin the country. A parent thinks their kid doesn’t believe in the religion that will get them into heaven, they will surround them with prayer and texts and church music until those kids sing with joy of God. Someone suspects their partner is being unfaithful to them, they will go to any lengths to either prove or disprove this theory, sometimes to the point of paranoia. A member of a secret group or spy ring thinks another member might be disloyal, they make that member go through some sort of bizarre and often sadistic test to ensure loyalty to the cause (at least in espionage novels; I have no idea if this happens in real life, though I wouldn’t be too surprised if it did).

What doubt can do to you.

What doubt can do to you.

Doubt is powerful, its effects on us are powerful, and our efforts to eradicate doubt can border on the extreme sometimes. You can see why a writer like King would use it in the first part of a story. He knows how scary it is, the effect it can have on people. And over the years and through age, experience, and reading, I’ve come to the realization of how powerful doubt can be as well. I even have an idea for a novel where religious doubt plays a major role. I have a feeling it’s going to be quite the unsettling story, whenever I get around to writing it. I doubt it’ll be anytime soon though.

Yeah, I went there.

In any case, it’s pretty obvious that doubt might be as much a part of the horror writer’s toolbox as any of the other fear-inducing tools and devices we have on hand. In a way, it’s also much stranger, because unlike the other fear-inducers, you can’t fight it or flee it for survival. After all, doubt is a product of the human mind, it exists within you. And you can’t outrun your own mind, can you?

And that, my Followers of Fear, might be the scariest part of all.

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