World Horror Con
This last weekend was World Horror Con and that first time I've gone to a professional convention vs. a fan convention. Much smaller, less programming, and a lot more drinking/socializing. Had a great time, listened to lots of other authors, made a few contacts, drank [the bar is the natural habit of writers], bought a books, and focused some ideas for future projects. That's the high level view.
Thursday.
Programming didn't start until late Thursday evening, so most of the day was spent setting up the exhibit booth, eating at Big Ass Sandwich [totally a meal in and of itself], and making introductions. My friend, Christine, took me along and began the long series of meeting folks. These are people I've heard of, read, and otherwise gotten to know via the internet. Now in person and quite amusing. Did I mention the hotel bar? They had one guy running the bar. I dunno if the Doubletree had ever hosted a convention of writers, but they needed another bartender.
Panels started late, the first one at 8, with two more following. Unlike the fan convention, the panels were pretty highly focused and not plentiful. Radcon by contrast is a fan convention and has upwards of dozen things going on at once. You have to choose panels and often miss one or two that interest you. The "What Editors Want" panel turned out to be the most interesting, as editors gave advice on what they look for. Some advice was pretty basic [don't send fantasy to a horror call] or got really specific [Deadite Press goes for high concept writing, not normal or mainstream in any way]. It did congeal an idea, which needs to be written up, and then pitched at the next BizarroCon in November. The "Writing Characters" panel didn't add much and I'd been better off at the bar, stalking other writers for advice.
Last panel was "Horror from the Page to the Silver Screen" and included F. Paul Wilson. He wrote a story called "The Keep" which was made into a film in the mid-80's. A terrible, terrible film. Recently, he had another story, "Pelts", turned into a film and had nothing by glowing praise for the director on that one. Found out that movies are strictly the domains of directors and that writers are treated like crap. Bad movie? You're seeing the directors "take" or "vision" on the script. Script could be a work of art, but in the hands of a director? Good luck. On the other hand, writers rule TV programming. The director is their bitch and needs to follow what they've put down. I must look into this TV business more, but only if I don't have to move to California.
Friday
And now we get busy. Many panels, author signings, and socializing [aka parties]. Did I mention drinking? I keep coming back to this, because a] writers start early and b] many of those drinks were being taken out of the bar and into the panels. Would have thought the hotel might raise up objections, but didn't even blink an eye. Sadly the bar's tap list was pretty pedestrian, but we're in Portland and there's no end of good beer just a stone's throw away.
"The Short Form" panel covered horror and how well a short story can convey it more effectively. Get that punch in and convey the emotional impact. The panelists pointed out that you got a better payoff in a shorter amount of time. Next panel talked about HP Lovecraft and his influence on Modern Horror. Lots of good historical information and how there's something of a renaissance of his writing. In the next year, there's 3 or 4 complete sets of his works by different publishers coming out, including one that will have original drafts and corrections. From personal experience, I've seen calls for many, many Lovecraftian themed anthologies lately and they've been doing exceptionally well.
'F'd Up and In Love" had 4 writer couples talking about their relationships and how they approach their craft. A fun panel and shows that things can work out, just takes a lot of communication and understanding. "Coming Together" covered the topic of writing for yourself and your audience. Do you write just to please yourself, the audience, or both? The panels had diverse opinions on the subject, comparing it to masturbation [naturally] or performance art. I liked the idea that you're writing for yourself and knowing that somewhere [hopefully] there's an audience for it. If you aren't writing for yourself, you won't be happy and then it just becomes a chore.
"Hardcore F'ing Horror" covered just what you think it would. The violent, extreme end of the genre. What is and isn't taboo. Turns out that many subjects are okay if done correctly. The exception seems to be the Holocaust and 9-11. A few of the authors pointed out that they've had hard times writing some of their stories as they push their limits. One of the things that I took away from this is that authors are normal people, we just happen to write our nightmares from time to time. Also, someone brought their kid to the panel and left about 20 minutes in. The moderator was like WTF? Who brings an 8-9 year old kid to a panel about shock horror? Really?
Next came the Grandmaster award ceremony to Brain Keene. He made a great little speech and then posed for pictures. After meeting up with a buddy and dinner, went back and attended the Deadite Press party, chatted with folks, met more editors, and drank beer. Finally turned in around midnight cause I'm old.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
World Horror Con
World Horror Con starts tomorrow in Portland and I have to admit to being a bit nervous. This is a con with some moderately big name attending and while I'm not going as a professional, I'm definitely going to network and learn. These are people I've read and followed and heard about for the past couple of years, but meeting them in the flesh is whole different situation. Am I going to be too big a fanboy or say something stupid or any number of things that might alienate them. Nerves. More than when I toss out a story for a call or review.
Nerves aside, I'll get to meet Brian Keene and his wife. The crew of Deadite Press [Jeff Burk, Shane McKenzie, Carlton Mellick III, and more] and hang out at their press party. I'll freely admit that I can't write bizarro horror, but I've read enough to make me admire those folks that can and make it entertaining. Some professional editors will be attendance and I get to thank one personally for looking at my novella. There's panels to attend, a live body piercing show, the gross-out contest, and lets not forget food. Portland is famous for all the foodcarts and there's many to be sampled.
April produced only a single story and could not be considered a fruitful or productive month. It did spawn a new character and some ideas how to use her in future projects, including a call that surfaced a couple of day ago. On top of that, the Fossil Lake anthology got a reprint and the dead tree editions should be here today in time to take to World Horror Con.
I'll do a debrief once I get back and gush about people more then.
Nerves aside, I'll get to meet Brian Keene and his wife. The crew of Deadite Press [Jeff Burk, Shane McKenzie, Carlton Mellick III, and more] and hang out at their press party. I'll freely admit that I can't write bizarro horror, but I've read enough to make me admire those folks that can and make it entertaining. Some professional editors will be attendance and I get to thank one personally for looking at my novella. There's panels to attend, a live body piercing show, the gross-out contest, and lets not forget food. Portland is famous for all the foodcarts and there's many to be sampled.
April produced only a single story and could not be considered a fruitful or productive month. It did spawn a new character and some ideas how to use her in future projects, including a call that surfaced a couple of day ago. On top of that, the Fossil Lake anthology got a reprint and the dead tree editions should be here today in time to take to World Horror Con.
I'll do a debrief once I get back and gush about people more then.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Of Dragons, Elves, and Freedom
This struck me as I sat pondering things and watching Top Gear. Not sure if I'd use it for a novel, short stories, or an RPG campaign. But it's out of my head, on paper, and ready to be revisited in the future.
Of Dragons, Elves, and Freedom
It began with the elves and the dragons. Two races of immortals fighting for dominance in a world populated by mortals and the short-lived. A millennium of stalemate that saw minor changes of territory at the expense of the short-lived. No winners, only those who suffered and died. By chance and fate, a boy escaped elven servitude and returned with a story. The elves kept a great weapon, one of terrible power that they dared not use against the dragons. It would, he said, surely destroy their ancient foes but only at the cost of their immortality. Mutual annihilation, an unthinkable option for a race that had existed since the first days of the world.
But the short-lived acted. A great army formed and marched upon the Elven kingdom, intent on bringing down their oppressors and freeing themselves from the yolk of tyranny. This so amused the dragons, that they helped a small group to infiltrate the great sky-city where the weapon lay dormant. Beyond all expectations, this small group succeeded, as the elves distracted themselves by annihilating the approaching army. Even the dragons, no longer thinking it a grand jest, warned the elves. Too little, too late.
The last of the intruders gave her life to activate the great weapon, devastating the seat of the all draconic power and sole nursery of the race. Less than a handful of eggs survived the strike, while the great dragon stone cracked and shattered. In an instant, the dragons fell from the sky, unable to resist the sudden absence of power that they held their life-force. Those that remained, the youngest, fled to the wastelands, no longer protected against the arrows and swords of the short-lived.
For the elves, their demise came slower, making the death of the dragons a mercy. Time took its revenge, aging the former immortals. Each day, they aged a year. In a rage, they attacked the short-lived only to find they too were susceptible to the sword and the axe and the arrow. Elven magic failed, drawn into the great weapon for fuel. The elves withdrew to their sky-cities to preserve their race and find a way to halt the march of time. In a year, they watched half the population die to the short-lived, accident, or suicide. At the end of the second year, less that a quarter of those remained, fleeing the failing cities and disappearing into the wild. None were seen again.
The short-lived races returned to their lands and sought to rebuild. Peace lasted for a time, until memory faded and old grudges resurfaced. Common ties frayed and armies once again marched. War and expansion became the norm. A few tried to keep the peace, only to fall to the sword or ignored. The brave and curious sought out the lost dragon lair and the fallen cities of the elves. Few returned with tales of danger and terrors that guarded treasure and lore beyond imagination. Magic returned to the short-lived races, a fraction of power wielded by dragons or elves, but a power to be reckoned with.
Rumors persist of elves and dragons in the deep and dark places of the world. But those are tales of fools and bards. Thus you know the tales of the elves dragons, as it was told to me by my grandsire, from his grandsire, from his grandsire. Someday, you'll tell it to your grandchild, young one. Now go and remember.
Of Dragons, Elves, and Freedom
It began with the elves and the dragons. Two races of immortals fighting for dominance in a world populated by mortals and the short-lived. A millennium of stalemate that saw minor changes of territory at the expense of the short-lived. No winners, only those who suffered and died. By chance and fate, a boy escaped elven servitude and returned with a story. The elves kept a great weapon, one of terrible power that they dared not use against the dragons. It would, he said, surely destroy their ancient foes but only at the cost of their immortality. Mutual annihilation, an unthinkable option for a race that had existed since the first days of the world.
But the short-lived acted. A great army formed and marched upon the Elven kingdom, intent on bringing down their oppressors and freeing themselves from the yolk of tyranny. This so amused the dragons, that they helped a small group to infiltrate the great sky-city where the weapon lay dormant. Beyond all expectations, this small group succeeded, as the elves distracted themselves by annihilating the approaching army. Even the dragons, no longer thinking it a grand jest, warned the elves. Too little, too late.
The last of the intruders gave her life to activate the great weapon, devastating the seat of the all draconic power and sole nursery of the race. Less than a handful of eggs survived the strike, while the great dragon stone cracked and shattered. In an instant, the dragons fell from the sky, unable to resist the sudden absence of power that they held their life-force. Those that remained, the youngest, fled to the wastelands, no longer protected against the arrows and swords of the short-lived.
For the elves, their demise came slower, making the death of the dragons a mercy. Time took its revenge, aging the former immortals. Each day, they aged a year. In a rage, they attacked the short-lived only to find they too were susceptible to the sword and the axe and the arrow. Elven magic failed, drawn into the great weapon for fuel. The elves withdrew to their sky-cities to preserve their race and find a way to halt the march of time. In a year, they watched half the population die to the short-lived, accident, or suicide. At the end of the second year, less that a quarter of those remained, fleeing the failing cities and disappearing into the wild. None were seen again.
The short-lived races returned to their lands and sought to rebuild. Peace lasted for a time, until memory faded and old grudges resurfaced. Common ties frayed and armies once again marched. War and expansion became the norm. A few tried to keep the peace, only to fall to the sword or ignored. The brave and curious sought out the lost dragon lair and the fallen cities of the elves. Few returned with tales of danger and terrors that guarded treasure and lore beyond imagination. Magic returned to the short-lived races, a fraction of power wielded by dragons or elves, but a power to be reckoned with.
Rumors persist of elves and dragons in the deep and dark places of the world. But those are tales of fools and bards. Thus you know the tales of the elves dragons, as it was told to me by my grandsire, from his grandsire, from his grandsire. Someday, you'll tell it to your grandchild, young one. Now go and remember.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Unseelie & Seelie Goodness
Here's the latest anthology that includes one of my stories. In the beginning, the anthology would be a flip book with Seelie & Unseelie stories. The response led them to split into separate books. Mine, "The Tamer of Beasts", is in the Unseelie anthology, while my friend, Christine Morgan, has a story in the Seelie book. Pick them up in the format of your choice. You won't be disappointed.
A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Chimeric
Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/bo
Print: http://www.amazon.com/Chimeric
A Chimerical World: Tales of the Unseelie Court
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Chimeric
Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/bo
Print: http://www.amazon.com/Chimeric
A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Chimeric
Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/bo
Print: http://www.amazon.com/Chimeric
A Chimerical World: Tales of the Unseelie Court
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Chimeric
Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/bo
Print: http://www.amazon.com/Chimeric
Monday, February 17, 2014
Fitting the character
More of an idle thought as I was tossing and turning last night. My current list of calls is 16, two are due at the end of March and a novella synopsis to submit for a linked trilogy. A future call was announced and that got some ideas stirring. Looking at my current "cast" I can easily fit characters into these calls and all of them have been supporting characters in the past. Except the novella. That's all Theo.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Beauty, Beast, and a Rose
Today's post is inspired by a Facebook group I belong to and the current thread about blogs and a reference to fairy tales. Thanks Liz!
Of late, I've been writing a lot of urban fantasy and dark fairy tales. For some reason, it's struck a cord with me and the words have come easier than other projects. Another reason is that I love the various characters that I've come up with during the process and want to explore them further. During the last NaNo, I wrote a side story using three of those characters for the fourth time. This morning as I was being bothered by one of the cats demanding pets, the thought hit me on how ideas come to me based on a someone's throwaway line or idle comment. One such occasion brought to life those three characters.
In the "old days", fairy tales weren't not all brightness, sunshine, and happy endings. Many were dark, brooding, and violent. In a conversation with a friend, we talked about reading them as kids and the sort of inspiration that we pulled from them and how tales are being retold from different POV's or with a twist on the setting. Beauty and the Beast came up and how the POV is one of them for most of the time. My friend mentioned that it would be interesting to see the POV of the rose. That's the comment that sent the wheels in motion.
What about the rose? What did it feel? How did it "see" the events? Did it lure the father to pluck it, knowing the consequences? What if it was holding Beauty and Beast captive, toying with them at a whim? I loved the notion that the rose was the antagonist of the story and what if? That's was the genesis of The Flowering Princess of Dreams, The Tamer of Beasts, and Justin [aka Beast]. To date, the stories "The Flowering Princess of Dreams" and "The Tamer of Beasts" have been sold and published. Tamer was written first, but FPoD got the glory of seeing print first. The other two stories are hanging around, waiting for calls or revisions. Not a conscious effort, but I've noticed that my fairy tale stories get titles referring to characters and it seems to work so far.
In the process of spinning stories, I've come up with a nice dynamic on how they interact with each other and what I hope is a different spin on a familiar fairy tale. The stories in question are in "Someone Wicked" by Smart Rhino Publications and "A Chimerical World: Tales of the Unseelie Court." by Seventh Star Press.
Of late, I've been writing a lot of urban fantasy and dark fairy tales. For some reason, it's struck a cord with me and the words have come easier than other projects. Another reason is that I love the various characters that I've come up with during the process and want to explore them further. During the last NaNo, I wrote a side story using three of those characters for the fourth time. This morning as I was being bothered by one of the cats demanding pets, the thought hit me on how ideas come to me based on a someone's throwaway line or idle comment. One such occasion brought to life those three characters.
In the "old days", fairy tales weren't not all brightness, sunshine, and happy endings. Many were dark, brooding, and violent. In a conversation with a friend, we talked about reading them as kids and the sort of inspiration that we pulled from them and how tales are being retold from different POV's or with a twist on the setting. Beauty and the Beast came up and how the POV is one of them for most of the time. My friend mentioned that it would be interesting to see the POV of the rose. That's the comment that sent the wheels in motion.
What about the rose? What did it feel? How did it "see" the events? Did it lure the father to pluck it, knowing the consequences? What if it was holding Beauty and Beast captive, toying with them at a whim? I loved the notion that the rose was the antagonist of the story and what if? That's was the genesis of The Flowering Princess of Dreams, The Tamer of Beasts, and Justin [aka Beast]. To date, the stories "The Flowering Princess of Dreams" and "The Tamer of Beasts" have been sold and published. Tamer was written first, but FPoD got the glory of seeing print first. The other two stories are hanging around, waiting for calls or revisions. Not a conscious effort, but I've noticed that my fairy tale stories get titles referring to characters and it seems to work so far.
In the process of spinning stories, I've come up with a nice dynamic on how they interact with each other and what I hope is a different spin on a familiar fairy tale. The stories in question are in "Someone Wicked" by Smart Rhino Publications and "A Chimerical World: Tales of the Unseelie Court." by Seventh Star Press.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Looking Ahead in 2014
This is going to be a bit of ramble.
We're a month and change into 2014 and I finally have a chance to breath. Last two months have been busy with another project and my chances to writing has suffered. I don't regret it, as I was helping someone with their dream and that makes things okay. Now it's time to get back to writing and taking stock of what I've got pending.
NaNo left me with three finished short stories, a hefty partially-complete novella, and a smattering of ideas that need to be expanded upon. I just finished taking two of the short stories and pulling them out of Scrivner and into a file for submission. They were destined for calls, but those have passed, so now I'm working on finding them a new home. Each needs a complete edit pass on them and then shipped them off to beta readers for review. More of my urban fantasy faerie tales, including Tamer, Beast, and The Princess from previously published stories.
The past two months has seen five short stories go into print, either dead tree or e-book. That brings the total to eight since I started this back in February 2012. Two years. It's been an interesting haul, but I want more. "Fire and Frost" went to a professional for editing and review. I got a lot of good praise and a dose of good advice. Now I've got to take it all, revise the story, add more words, and then send it out. I can do this. I can get it published. That's the next milestone for me and time to get serious about it. That also leaves my 2013 NaNo effort, Oath of Fire, which needs at least another 10-15k words to complete. I've got the ending written for once, even if it's not a whole story.
Another bit that's spurring me on is all the stuff in my head. It wants to be told. All the characters are asking for screen time to tell their tales and the queue gets longer each week. "Oath of Fire" is the origin story for my main character, who features prominently in "Fire and Frost", which is eleven years in the future and there's a handful of tales that have been published that fit between those points of time [Broken Horn, The Dank, Knife's Edge]. Add to that is the Tamer/Beast/Princess stories [The Flowering Princess of Dreams, The Tamer of Beasts] which are nominally set in the same "universe". Yes, there's a chance of a cross-over, but its not joined in queue yet just loitering in the background. Then there's "The Crew", which got rejected on one hand, yet possibly accepted on the other hand to a different, yet related, publication. I sent out a query again to see if the offer is still open. If so, that means a reformatting of the story, but no major edits, just tweaks.
So, here's the list of current stories in publication which can be found on Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes & Nobles. Theses are in no particular order. A special mention to Weldon Burge of Smart Rhino for taking a gamble on an unknown author with a story about a boy and his ax. Thanks for the acceptance.
"The Dank" in Fossil Lake, An Anthology of the Aberrant [Daverana Enterprises]
"GRONK!" in ATTACK! of the B-Movie Monsters [Grinning Skull Press]
"The Tamer of Beasts" in A Chimerical World: Tales of the Unseelie Court [Seventh Star Press]
"The Flowering Princess of Dreams" in Someone Wicked [Smart Rhino Publications]
"Broken Hron" in Astrologica: Stories of the Zodiac [Alchemy Press]
"Knife's Edge" in 66 Sex Club [Scarlet Petals Press] [NSFW]
"Perfection" in Zippered Flesh 2 [Smart Rhino Publications]
"Madame" in Uncommon Assassins [Smart Rhino Publications]
We're a month and change into 2014 and I finally have a chance to breath. Last two months have been busy with another project and my chances to writing has suffered. I don't regret it, as I was helping someone with their dream and that makes things okay. Now it's time to get back to writing and taking stock of what I've got pending.
NaNo left me with three finished short stories, a hefty partially-complete novella, and a smattering of ideas that need to be expanded upon. I just finished taking two of the short stories and pulling them out of Scrivner and into a file for submission. They were destined for calls, but those have passed, so now I'm working on finding them a new home. Each needs a complete edit pass on them and then shipped them off to beta readers for review. More of my urban fantasy faerie tales, including Tamer, Beast, and The Princess from previously published stories.
The past two months has seen five short stories go into print, either dead tree or e-book. That brings the total to eight since I started this back in February 2012. Two years. It's been an interesting haul, but I want more. "Fire and Frost" went to a professional for editing and review. I got a lot of good praise and a dose of good advice. Now I've got to take it all, revise the story, add more words, and then send it out. I can do this. I can get it published. That's the next milestone for me and time to get serious about it. That also leaves my 2013 NaNo effort, Oath of Fire, which needs at least another 10-15k words to complete. I've got the ending written for once, even if it's not a whole story.
Another bit that's spurring me on is all the stuff in my head. It wants to be told. All the characters are asking for screen time to tell their tales and the queue gets longer each week. "Oath of Fire" is the origin story for my main character, who features prominently in "Fire and Frost", which is eleven years in the future and there's a handful of tales that have been published that fit between those points of time [Broken Horn, The Dank, Knife's Edge]. Add to that is the Tamer/Beast/Princess stories [The Flowering Princess of Dreams, The Tamer of Beasts] which are nominally set in the same "universe". Yes, there's a chance of a cross-over, but its not joined in queue yet just loitering in the background. Then there's "The Crew", which got rejected on one hand, yet possibly accepted on the other hand to a different, yet related, publication. I sent out a query again to see if the offer is still open. If so, that means a reformatting of the story, but no major edits, just tweaks.
So, here's the list of current stories in publication which can be found on Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes & Nobles. Theses are in no particular order. A special mention to Weldon Burge of Smart Rhino for taking a gamble on an unknown author with a story about a boy and his ax. Thanks for the acceptance.
"The Dank" in Fossil Lake, An Anthology of the Aberrant [Daverana Enterprises]
"GRONK!" in ATTACK! of the B-Movie Monsters [Grinning Skull Press]
"The Tamer of Beasts" in A Chimerical World: Tales of the Unseelie Court [Seventh Star Press]
"The Flowering Princess of Dreams" in Someone Wicked [Smart Rhino Publications]
"Broken Hron" in Astrologica: Stories of the Zodiac [Alchemy Press]
"Knife's Edge" in 66 Sex Club [Scarlet Petals Press] [NSFW]
"Perfection" in Zippered Flesh 2 [Smart Rhino Publications]
"Madame" in Uncommon Assassins [Smart Rhino Publications]
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