Posts Tagged ‘horror’

“Within These Walls” by Ania Ahlborn

I’m honestly surprised I haven’t heard of Ania Ahlborn before. I got a recommendation from Audible a couple of months ago to try one of her books, and I ended up getting the paperback version after I finished A Storm of Swords. I’m glad I did, because Within These Walls is one of the scariest books I’ve ever read, on par with the likes of Stephen King.

Within These Walls follows Lucas Graham, a true-crime writer whose career has reached its peak and has since spiraled down into the dust. He gets a letter in the mail from Jeffrey Halcomb, an incarcerated cult leader whose followers killed themselves back in the 1980’s, offering to give Graham his previously-unheard story if Graham promises to live in the house that Halcomb’s followers killed themselves in. With his marriage on the rocks and no other options, Graham and his teenage daughter pack up and head out to the house in Washington, where they find that Halcomb’s promises to his followers of eternal life might be more than just talk.

It’s going to be hard to summarize all that I loved about this book, but I will try. First, it’s hard to put down. The story twists and turns, making you guess where Ahlborn is taking her book every moment. I also liked how she could capture the voices of each of her different POV characters. Lucas comes across as both desperate and obsessed, consumed by the promise of Halcomb’s story and what it could do for his life. Flashbacks told through the eyes of Audra Snow, one of Halcomb’s followrs, really break your heart as you see her fall under Halcomb’s spell. But best of all are the chapters told through the eyes of Jeanie, Graham’s teenage daughter. Teenage logic and thought processes are contradictory, ruled by emotional swings, and not always bound by the rules of the real world, and Ahlborn captures that so well with Jeanie. It actually taught me a couple of things about writing for that age group, something I’ll hopefully keep with me in future stories.

But really, the best part is the scares. Every scare is perfectly done, like something out of a horror movie. In fact, this would be a great movie. Why isn’t this a movie yet? From the initial move-in to the house, to the powerful, climactic end, every spooky scare will chill you and make you worry for the characters and for your sleep. It’s just wonderful.

The one problem I had was that I would’ve liked Graham to maybe investigate some of the house’s history as well as Jeffrey Halcomb and his followers. There’s documents in between a few chapters that go over the house’s history, among other things, but I think it would’ve been interesting if Graham had read some of those and had been affected by them. But it’s a small point, so whatever. I still enjoyed the book.

All in all, Within These Walls a 4.8 out of 5. It’s scary, it’s exciting right till the end, and I will definitely be checking out Ahlborn’s work in the future. If you like a good horror novel, this might be the one for you.

Oh by the way, after I finished this book, I watched a movie over dinner called The Veil about a cult with strange, supernatural happenings, which I only found out after I started watching it. And both the book and the movie were probably inspired by Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre, which I read up on this afternoon after I heard the new Outlast horror game was inspired by the happenings at Jonestown. That’s like four Jonestown-related things in one day. I seriously hope that’s a coincidence and not God giving me a sign for what I should do with the rest of my life.

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday!

If you’re new here and don’t know what #FirstLineFriday is, let me start by telling you that it’s a fun weekly ritual to take up (and it’s a lot less costly than animal or human sacrifice. Also requires less clean up). So here’s how it works. On Fridays, you:

  1. Create a blog post with the title #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing.
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a potential work, work-in-progress, or completed or published story.
  4. Finally, ask your readers for feedback and encourage them to try it on their own blogs.

This week’s entry comes from an idea I had a few weeks back for a novel that might be classified as science-horror. I’m not sure, it’s got some elements that could be classified as horror, but at the same time part of the conflict of the story involves a science-fiction plot device, so it kind of straddles the two. I’m not making any sense, am I? Well, whatever. Here are the lines that would start this story. Enjoy:

Catherine had been working at the Warner-Marigold Motel for three years, and she was on track for a promotion in the next year or so. Of course, that might only be because she was the only one on the cleaning staff who was willing to clean Room A16, known among the staff as the Suicide Room.

Thoughts? Errors? Let me know in the comments below.

And while you’re at it, why not do #FirstLineFriday on your blog? It’s great fun, and for writers it’s not only good practice, but it’s a great way to test different openings for various stories. I’ve certainly enjoyed doing it, and I started doing this on my blog nearly a year ago.

That’s all for now. If I have somethig to blog about, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, I’ll see you guys around. Have a great weekend, my Followers of Fear. I know I will.

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Yesterday I went to meet with some folks who I know through MAX, a program that helps and supports young professionals in my area. MAX has regular meet ups and events throughout the week, and on Fridays we meet at the local Starbucks to have coffee (or in my case, hot chocolate) and talk. This week’s meeting was especially interesting though, because someone brought a copy of The Quiet Game.

Now if you’re unfamiliar, The Quiet Game was the first book I ever published, a collection of five original short stories I wrote in late 2012 and early 2013. The woman who runs the MAX program, Angela, has been reading some of my work and brought the copy of The Quiet Game she borrowed from my sister (she’s part of MAX too). She also brought her laptop, because Angela wanted to leave a review on Amazon but had never done one before and she wanted me to show her how.

After solving some Wi-Fi problems (honestly, for a major coffee shop chain, Starbucks has some really terrible wireless service), I showed Angela how to leave a review, which she did right there and then in the coffee shop, giving The Quiet Game a five star review. Here’s what she had to say:

Addict is insanely AWESOME! The use of 2nd person language convicts the reader. One second you are relaxing with a short story, the next moment you are engaging in explicit sexual addiction… whoa!
Rami has a way of writing perspectives that is wise beyond his years…

“Addict” is a short story about a man with sex addiction trying to go clean. It’s told in the second person, so that’s why you’re the one who’s engaging in explicit sexual addiction.

I also noticed during this time that I had a review from September that I’d totally missed (how did that happen?) from someone named SavoirNoir, who gave The Quiet Game four stars and titled her review Decent collection of tales. Here’s what this reviewer had to say:

This is a serviceable set of stories. The best one is not the titular title story. I only really have two issues with the collection. One of them is the notes after the story. I never really liked the self-indulgence of the writer explaining afterwards. To be fair, that could be just me.

The best story in my opinion is the Lady Orgres Den. That one had great tension.

This reviewer is talking about “In The Lady Ogre’s Den”, about an autistic boy’s terrifying stay in a hospital after an accident. And speaking of that story, Angela, the very same woman who’d brought my sister’s copy to Starbucks with her, asked me to do a reading right there and then for the entire group.

Well, you know me. I love an audience and I love opportunities to get more people to read my work, so I agreed and ending up reading “In The Lady Ogre’s Den” to them. So for about the next twenty minutes or so, I read them the story. And you know what? Most of them listened. They were actually rapt with attention, making comments or praising my writing style or how I get into the mind of an autistic child. I don’t know if any of them will end up getting the book or any of the other books I’ve written, but by the end of it they were very impressed.

Which is my goal, of course. As you know, the subtitle of this blog is “Scared yet? My job here is done.” I also put that on my business cards, because it’s the truth. I want people to be scared and entertained, to enjoy my work and be enchanted and thrilled while reading it. Getting feedback like that is very gratifying for me, and while my throat was dry from non-stop talking by the end of the reading, I was very glad I’d agreed to Angela’s request and been able to pull these folks into a story for a little while.

And if reading this post made you want to check out The Quiet Game, by all means please do so. It’s a fun, creepy collection of stories, and it’s short too, so if you don’t want a long book this might be up your alley. You can get it both in paperback and in e-book by check it out on Amazon, Createspace, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. And if you enjoyed reading the book, please let me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love feedback, and I would love to hear yours.

That’s all for now. I might take a few days off to just do stuff other than blogging. However, if anything worth reporting comes up, you can expect me to let you guys know as soon as possible. Have a good day, my Followers of Fear!

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday!

Now if you don’t know what #FirstLineFriday is, let me break it down for you. On Fridays you:

  1. Write a post on your blog called #FirstLineFirday, hashtag and all
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing now
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story-in-progress, or a completed or published story
  4. Ask your readers for feedback and encourage them to do their own #FirstLineFriday on their own blog.

This week’s entry comes from a short story idea I’ve been hanging on for a while now, but haven’t written yet. It’s got a very interesting premise, if you ask me, and part of that premise is explained in the first couple of lines. Enjoy:

Some famous guy once said, “I think, therefore I am.” To that, I would like to add, “I imagine, therefore I can become.”

Thoughts? Errors? Let’s discuss in the comments below.

And if you enjoyed reading #FirstLineFriday, why not try writing #FirstLineFriday? Trust me everyone, it’s a lot of fun coming up with the beginning lines of a story each week. Sometimes it can actually get ideas flowing in your head and help you come up with new stories. So why not try it?

That’s all for now. If I have anything else to talk about this weekend, I’ll be posting it here. See you later, Followers of Fear!

As you know, I’ve got a billion different projects going on all at one time. I mean, I’ve got four books at various stages of the editing/compilation process, and I know that some of you are very interested in getting your hands on at least one of these books. So here are some updates on a few of the projects I’m working on getting out to you, the Followers of Fear.

Video Rage

I already mentioned this on my Facebook page and Twitter feed (which, if you are not on, I suggest you check out), but as of last night the third draft of Video Rage, the follow-up to my debut novel Reborn City. As many of you know, I had an editor, Britney Mills, help me look for any problems that I’d missed while working on the second draft. I’m pleased to say that after all the work on this draft, VR looks even better than before and may soon be ready for publication.

But first, I’m sending the manuscript back to Britney for another look over. Together we’ll catch any other problems we might’ve missed, and after all that’s been taken care of I can start working on getting this book out to you guys.

In the meantime, why not check out the first book, Reborn City? It’s the story of a Muslim teenager forced to join a street gang in a dystopian city-state, and the strange connection between the gang’s leaders and a shadowy organization that rules over the city. It’s also currently my most popular book. which I guess means I did a good job writing it. Anyway, if you’d like to check out Reborn City, it’s available in paperback and e-book from Amazon, Createspace and Smashwords. Happy reading, and let me know what you think when you’ve finished reading it.

Teenage Wasteland

No, that’s not a song by the Who. The title might be similar, but it’s not the same thing. It’s also not about teenagers high on acid at Woodstock, but my upcoming collection of short stories revolving around teenagers. And I’m happy to say that I’m making good progress on the collection.

As I’ve stated in previous posts, I’d like for TW to have at least thirteen short stories. So far, there are seven confirmed to be in the collection. Some, like Buried Alive or Travelers of the Loneliest Roads, have already been published and are just getting touch-ups. Others are originals that haven’t been published anywhere else (yet), such as Cult of the Raven God and A Project in Western Ideals. Some of those are getting touch-ups as well, but others, such as Project, will require more extensive editing.

Anyway, I plan to get through the last two short stories of those seven, and then I’ll take a break to get through another big project that needs some work. And after that, I plan to work on the other stories in TW until it’s time to prep for National Novel Writing Month (more on that when we get closer to November).

Rose

That big project I just mentioned? This is it. And if you don’t know what Rose is, it’s a novel I wrote as my thesis project during my senior year of college. The story follows a woman with amnesia whose body is undergoing some strange changes and her relationship with a strange young man who says he loves her. The story is pretty dark and strange, and I’m quite proud of what’s been done with it so far. However, there’s a bit more work to be done, so I’ve got at least one or two more drafts to go on this, and I plan to get started on the next draft after I finish with the stories from TW. Hopefully I’ll be done with it by the summer.

 

That’s all for now. If I have any more updates, I’ll make sure to let you know. Have a good rest of your day, my Followers of Fear. I know I will.

 

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday! One of the highlights of my week. I’m not sure what that says about my life, but there you go.

So if you’re new here and don’t know what the heck this is, here are the rules of #FirstLineFriday:

  1. On Fridays, write a post on your own blog titled #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing now.
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a potential story, story-in-progress, or completed or published story.
  4. Ask your readers for feedback and encourage them to try it on their own blogs.

This week’s lines come from an idea I had earlier this week. Interesting story behind this idea: I was out to dinner with my folks, and my mind started to wander. I started to think about the new episode of Family Guy that was going to air that night, and then I thought of an episode of that show that aired back in October, where the guys tried to come up with their own horror movie (men after my own heart!). The episode only showed ideas for horror films from two out of the four guys, so I started thinking about what the other two, Joe and Quagmire, would come up with for a horror movie. This idea sprang from what the character Joe would probably base his horror movie came from. So if you have any idea who Joe is, you can probably guess what sort of story this is about.

Yeah, this is a weird, twisting origin for an idea. When I told my dad the idea and how I got it, he had this look on his face like, “Interesting idea, but that is such a strange way to come up with a story.” Would you expect anything less from me, Abba?

Anyway, here are the lines for the story. Enjoy:

Becca’s blood still stained the stall door. Sophie sat down on the toilet and tried to look anywhere but at the large, red splash in front of her.

Thoughts? Errors? Guesses about what Joe is probably afraid? Let’s discuss in the comments below.

And if you liked this week’s #FirstLineFriday, why not try it on your own blog? It’s fun and easy to do, and quickly becomes a habit. I’ve been doing it for a little over nine months, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

That’s all for now. I’ve got a crazy weekend ahead of me, but if anything worth writing about comes up, you can expect to hear about it here. Have a good one, my Followers of Fear!

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday! And if this is your first time joining us for this most fun of traditions, here are the rules.

  1. On Friday, write a post on your blog titled #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
  2. You explain the rules like I’m doing now.
  3. You post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story-in-progress, or a completed or published story.
  4. You ask your readers for feedback, and then encourage them to try #FirstLineFriday on their own blogs.

So this week’s entry comes from an idea I had for a novel about two weeks ago, inspired by the season premiere of Ghost Adventures (people can trash that show all they want, I don’t care. I love it, I believe in what Zak Bagans and his team are doing, and I get so many ideas from it. How can that be bad?). It’s definitely a weird and creepy story, to say the least. Enjoy:

The house didn’t seem to have changed a bit since she was last here. Indeed, Anna almost expected to hear Pinocchio come running up to greet her with his wagging tail, and Miss Myrtle to call to her from the kitchen and ask her how her day at school was.

Thoughts? Too wordy? Does the story intrigue you? Let me know in the comments below.

And if you enjoyed reading this post, why not give #FirstLineFriday a try on your own blog? It’s fun coming up with new lines every week, and you get such great feedback from your readers. Plus as an author it gives you an idea of how people might respond to certain story ideas, which is always nice.

Anyway, that’s all for now. If anything comes up–and knowing my life, that’s a definite possibility–you’ll probably hear about it pretty quickly. Have a great weekend, my Followers of Fear!

I would like to blame thank my good friend Kat Impossible from Life and Other Disasters for tagging me in what clearly looks to be a ton of fun. It’s the Burn, Rewrite, or Reread Book Tag, which doesn’t actually involve burning but is like a book version of Kiss, Marry, Kill.

Alright, here are the instructions:

  • Randomly choose three books.
  • Choose which of these three you would burn, rewrite, or reread.
  • Do three rounds of this, and then tag someone to do the book tag as well.

Alright, here I go. Let’s see what I come up with:

ROUND ONE

Burn: Day Four by Sarah Lotz. Oh my God, what a book that promised to be good but ended up being a great waste of time. Sure, it started out okay: cruise ship stalls in the middle of the ocean, everything’s in chaos. Quick pace and lots of interesting stuff going on. But then when it slows down after the initial chaos (because things can’t always be quick-paced after a ship breaks down), it just gets boring, with little to no clear direction of where the autor wants the story to go and an ending that is just bizarre (and not a good way). It’s enough that I probably won’t ever read a book by Sarah Lotz again (and considering the reviews online, I’m better off not).

Rewrite: A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay. If you read my review of that book, you know that I liked it but I wish it could’ve been a bit scarier. Especially since Stephen King recommended this book to me (why, Your Royal Scariness? Why did you say it was so scary? It wasn’t!). Anyway, if I could I’d rewrite this one and maybe make it a bit more on the scary side. How? I don’t know, some changes in atmosphere, a few more parts where the older sister acts like a creepy possessed girl. It’s a thought.

Reread: Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. You know what I just realized? All the books in this round I’ve listened to as audio books. Also, I’ve actually reread Battle Royale already, but that’s because it’s one of my favorite novels. The language is flowing, nearly every character in the fifty-or-so large cast gets really fleshed out, and it really makes you think on a while bunch of different levels. Plus it does in one book what the Hunger Games wishes it could do in three. So I’ll probably end up rereading (or re-listening to) Battle Royale again someday.

ROUND TWO

Burn: The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah. No offense to Sister Souljah, I admire her work, but I did not enjoy her debut novel, about the daughter of a big-time drug king who suddenly finds herself without money or connections and tries to come out on top as her world falls around her. Not only was the main character totally unsympathetic (imagine a novel narrated by an even more annoying Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and you have Winter Santiaga), but it’s basically one big morality tale about why you should walk the straight and narrow and stay away from drugs and hustling and all that or it’ll come back to haunt you. Yeah, I think there are a few memoirs out there that told that story better.

Still, I will say that the book’s language influenced me when I was writing Reborn City and I wanted to really show the dialect of West Reborn. That’s one thing I’ll always be grateful to Sister Souljah for.

Rewrite: Destroyer of Worlds by Mark Chadbourn. This was the last book in a trilogy, the trilogy itself being the third trilogy in a trilogy of trilogies that took our modern world and placed it into a mystical universe mixing Celtic mythology with Eastern philosophy. It’s a wonderful series, but the last trilogy had its problems. Especially the last book, which felt rushed to the point that characters who should’ve gotten some character development got none at all, barely a mention in one case. I really think this book could’ve used a hundred or so more pages to really tell the story the way it should’ve been told, and if I could I might help out with that.

Reread: The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud. If you liked Harry Potter, you should love the Bartimaeus trilogy, which is kind of like Harry Potter but is told in three books (plus a prequel) and is slightly more grown up than HP. The story of a magician’s apprentice who summons a demon to help him get revenge on another magician and the mayhem that ensues when he and the demon get embroiled in a plot against the British government is pure fun, with a wisecracking demonic narrator and a world that is beautifully constructed and mirrors our own in interesting ways. I’ve reread the trilogy before, and I’m always entertained when I do. Check out the first book. You might just find the same gem I found as a kid.

And finally…

ROUND THREE

Burn: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Honestly, I’ve had to read this novel twice for classes, and each time I wasn’t at all surprised that Emily needed a review by her famous sister Charlotte to get this book noticed by people, because it sucks! Not only is the narration and style annoying, but the story drags, and a lot of what happens makes you scratch your head. Seriously, did the Lintons never consider calling the local sheriff when Heathcliff kidnapped his niece and tried to marry her off to his sickly son? Like I said, I’ve read it twice, and I don’t plan to read it again. It may be a classic, but it’s a classic that never should’ve been one.

Rewrite: Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz. Koontz has written some great novels–I love the Odd Thomas series, though I’m behind on the books, and The Face would make an amazing movie, it’s that good–but this one really got me angry. It started out with promise: guy who made money off the Internet needs a heart transplant, but he’s very low on the donor list. His new doctor gets him put high up on another list, and he gets a new heart. Thing is, the person who gave up their heart for him might be coming back for it. Yeah, sounds like a ghost story, but it turned out to be some weird spy thriller tied up in a Christian morality tale. I kid you not, if Koontz had stayed with the ghost story element instead of switching things up about two-thirds in with the spy twist, I might’ve really liked this novel. And now you know how I’d rewrite it.

Reread: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. This is a wonderful novel about following your dreams and fulfilling your personal destiny in this grand world, as told through the eyes of young shepherd Santiago as he goes on a journey to Egypt after having a dream about finding treasure at the pyramids. I read it as a teen and it blew me away. If given the chance, I’d love to reread it again, because it’s such a beautiful story that gets you on so many different levels. If you haven’t read it, this is definitely one you should check out, especially since it’s been translated into so many different languages. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

And now, the people I tag:

Have fun! And make sure to link back to me when you post these.

That’s all for now, I’ve got a busy day ahead of me and I’m going to get to it. Wish me luck, my Followers of Fear!

It’s Friday, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday! As always, I’ll be laying out the rules, while reminding everyone that you can do #FirstLineFriday too on your own blogs. Trust me, it’s a ton of fun and you don’t want to miss it.

With that being said, here are the rules for #FirstLineFriday:

  1. You type up a post with the title #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all
  2. You explain the rules like I’m doing
  3. You post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story-in-progress, or a completed or published story.
  4. You ask your readers for feedback on the line or lines you’ve posted.

Everybody got that? Good! On we go. Here’s my entry for this week’s #FirstLineFriday, a possible beginning for a novel I had an idea for earlier this week:

The stormy waves rose higher and higher, sometimes slipping over the side of the ferry and onto the deck. Yet despite how angry the sea was right now, it seemed too much to hope for that the ferry would capsize and they would all drown.

How do you find that? Should it be shortened? Anything I could leave out? Let’s discuss.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ve got a busy day planned for today, so I’m going to get right on it. Wish me luck, my Followers of Fear!

Norman Bates, a prime example of a man with a mental illness in horror fiction.

I’ve been wanting to do a post for a while now that examines horror or literature but wasn’t my usual Reflections or Writing post. And then I read this article not too long ago on how mental illness is portrayed in anime (surprisingly anime takes a very honest and powerful take on the subject) and it got me thinking. It’s no secret that mental illness—or its more common designation, “insanity”—has been a huge part in horror fiction since the earliest days. The problem is, most of it tends to be pretty negative portrayals.

This is actually pretty sad, to say the least. Approximately one in three people worldwide will show enough symptoms to qualify as having a mental disorder at some point in their lives. In the United States alone, that number is nearly is nearly one in two. And a majority of these people are nonviolent. I should know. I’ve known various people throughout my life with some form of mental illness, both family and friends, and I have been open in the past about being on the autism spectrum myself. None of these people I know would hurt a fly, and I could never hurt anyone outside of one of my own stories.

This is quite different from horror fiction, where we have a variety of characters with all sorts of mental illness–Annie Wilkes, Norman Bates, Jason Voorhees, etc.–who are as violent and dangerous as they come. What gives?

So I’m going to do a series of posts, over the many months, about how mental illness is portrayed within horror fiction. Now, I’m not a psychologist or psychiatrist. I’m a horror novelist. And God knows I haven’t seen or read every horror story out there. Not even some of the classics. But like I said, I will try my best to go over this subject with the respect and care it deserves. I will do case studies, maybe make some recommendations, and maybe even ask the question: is the portrayal of mental illness in horror fiction good or bad.

And if one can write characters, particularly villains, with mental illnesses. And by one, I might mean me.

In the meantime, if you, my Followers of Fear, can give me any recommendations to help me write this series of posts–whether it’s films or books to check out, articles that have already gone over the subject, etc.–let me know. I could use all the help I can get for this massive undertaking.

Heck, if you’d like to write a guest post, I’d be more than willing to consider it.

That’s all for now. In addition to this series, I’ve got a bunch of posts I plan to put out over the coming days and weeks, so keep an eye out for them! Have a good week, my Followers of Fear.