Archives (page 94 of 465)

November 6, 2018 / 17 Comments

Alan Baxter: The H-Word

As someone who essentially secretly writes horror novels without them being called that (ahem), I’m definitely excited to see author Alan Baxter address exactly this phenomenon.

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I often used to have conversations that went something like this:

Some person: So, what do you do?

Me: I’m a writer.

That person: Oh, cool! What do you write?

Me: Horror, mostly, usually mixed up with a lot of crime and thriller stuff.

But they already narrowed their eyes at the first word. Everything I said after “horror” was a blur to them, and I just know they’re visualizing The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Freddy Kruger, slicing knives and gouting blood. They’re checking the room for exits, wishing they hadn’t asked the question. They’re probably thinking, “Why the fuck couldn’t this guy have been a plumber or an accountant or something? Why do I always get the weirdos?”

And you know what? Fair enough. People like what they like and a lot of people hate slasher movies. I really dig them. The good ones are really good and the terrible ones are a shitload of fun, so they all have a valuable place in our culture. But that’s not what I write. And it never ceases to bug me that so many people hear the word “horror” and think immediately of those movies without ever considering that the genre could be far more vast, varied and amazing than they ever knew.

I’m a horror writer, but I don’t write the novel equivalents of slasher flicks. For that reason, the conversation I described above often doesn’t go that way any more because I hide the word “horror” in euphemisms, like Grandma talking about sex when the grandkids are around. More often than not now, that conversation will go something like this:

Some person: So, what do you do?

Me: I’m a writer.

That person: Oh, cool! What do you write?

Me: Supernatural thrillers mostly, often mixed up with a lot of crime and noir stuff.

Me: Dark fiction, thrillers with weird supernatural and crime elements.

Me: Sorta dark weird shit.

I just nudge the genre description a little to the left, saying essentially the same thing without the H-word. And it bothers me that I have to do that. It seems like such a strange dichotomy anyway. You go into any bookstore and you’ll see Stephen King shelved in the general fiction section among all the serious literary books, and he’s the biggest horror writer of all time. I sometimes say that I write “Stephen King type stuff”, just to see what the reaction will be, when my stuff isn’t actually all that much like King’s. But everyone knows who he is, right? He’s one of my favourite writers, certainly a big influence on me, but by far the biggest influence on my work is Clive Barker. My stuff is way more The Great And Secret Show or Weaveworld than it is It or Carrie, and therein lies a perfect example of the breadth of horror fiction. Then take those two authors and compare them to H P Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, and Edgar Allan Poe. Then add in Caitlin R Kiernan and Kaaron Warren, mix in a dash of Laird Barron and John Langan, a pinch of Gemma Files and Nadia Bulkin, a dose of Victor LaValle and Paul Tremblay, garnish with Cassandra Khaw and Angela Slatter. I could go on and on, but it already sounds delicious. Just that list of names above is a massive cross-section of what horror can be. And incidentally, if there are any names up there you don’t know or haven’t read, unfuck that situation forthwith, as there’s a world of delights awaiting you there. And none of them are anything like slasher flicks. Of course, there are plenty of writers making fantastic novels that are a lot like slasher flicks, and those books are great too.

Those of us into horror know the intricacies and variety to be found in the genre. The sheer scope of supernatural elements, from the most subtle to the brutally face-consuming, is vast. And beyond that, often the most visceral, disturbing, thought-provoking stuff is completely secular. One of the most affecting and distressing horror stories I’ve ever read is the section in Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell, where the old man is committed to a care home against his will. His loss of agency and the indignities visited upon him are utterly the stuff of horror, and there’s nothing supernatural or fantastical anywhere near it. Another truly gut-wrenching horror is Margo Lanagan’s short story, “Singing My Sister Down.” It’s set in a fantastical world, but there’s no magic, no supernatural element, yet it is among the most beautiful horror you’ll ever read. And yes, horror can be gorgeous even as it tears your nerves out at the roots.

Often, when discussing these kinds of stories, people will still use the H-word, but they’ll qualify it. They’ll say a book is powerful quiet horror, or literary horror. These descriptors can be useful, but they’re usually there to soften the blow as people don’t want to alienate readers by calling it what it really is – a horror novel. And I think we need to work on claiming that back.

There certainly seems to be a horror renaissance happening. Get Out winning Oscars, horror novels hitting mainstream bestseller lists, TV shows like Stranger Things and The Haunting of Hill House catching widespread audiences, stuff like that. There’s been the suggestion that the trash fire in a bowl of shit that is the world right now might be at least partly responsible. When things are awful, we look to horror to show us how much worse it could be, and perhaps more importantly, to show us the monsters can be beaten. We can slay the beast, cure the infection, lance the fetid boil of hateful pus (yes, I’m most definitely talking about Donald Trump, but it all applies in the broader spectrum too.) I say we need to use the momentum that’s building right now to reclaim horror as an acceptable and respected genre to write, not one that has people looking for the nearest exit when you proudly announce, “I write horror!” And for my part, I have a new horror novel out on November 6^th called Devouring Dark.

Alan Baxter is a multi-award-winning British-Australian author who writes horror, dark fantasy, and supernatural thrillers, rides a motorcycle and loves his dogs. He also teaches Kung Fu. He lives among dairy paddocks on the beautiful south coast of NSW, Australia, with his wife, son, and two crazy dogs. His latest book is the horror novel, DEVOURING DARK, which explores death, guilt, and redemption, set against a backdrop of crime and corruption in modern-day London. Read extracts from Alan’s novels and novellas, and find free short stories at his website – www.warriorscribe.com – or find him on Twitter @AlanBaxter and Facebook, and feel free to tell him what you think. About anything.

Find DEVOURING DARK in paperback or ebook wherever you usually buy books, or order it at your local bookstore or library. Here are a few direct links:

Amazon B&N iBooks Kobo

November 5, 2018 / 4 Comments

Macro Monday Exhorts You To Participate In Your Democracy

HELLO, FRANDOS.

Hey, guess what? Tomorrow is most likely the most important election you have yet met. A great many things are at stake, and further, we have an excellent chance to provide some vital balance to countermand the current power bloc dominating policy and discourse in this country. Which means it is essential to vote blue, across the board, in every election. (Don’t believe me? Believe nearly-life-long Republican, Sully Sullenberger.) If you have not voted early or absentee, tomorrow is your day (as it is for me here in PA). It also means helping others get to the voting booths, and means asking your friends and family about them getting out to vote — sometimes that gentle nudge makes it likelier they’ll go, either as an act of social camaraderie, or, if necessary, an act of social pressure. We need to return to this country the idea that it is normal and expected to vote — part of a tradition of participating in our democracy rather than simply letting it float down the river, out of our control, like a little paper boat.

So, that’s my sales pitch.

Go vote.

It won’t automagically fix everything. But it might just turn this boat off its current course, which is presently headed right for an iceberg.

Here, listen to this weird little birb, who is yelling at you to go vote.

(It is, I believe, a Carolina Wren.)

Let’s see, onto some quick news blips.

As I noted, Zer0es is $2.99 right now on e-book. And Invasive has dropped in price, too, for e-book, to $4.99. (Note: Invasive is not a sequel to Zer0es, but is set in the same world. Mostly a new cast of characters, with a few crossing over. You do not need to read one to understand the other.)

If you require good NaNoWriMo story counsel, Damn Fine Story is your friend.

It’s nothing I had any part of, but the gorgeous special edition of D&D: Art and Arcana is like, 50% off now at Amazon.

New Ragnatalk.

I just finished page proofs for Wanderers, so that goes out soon to potential blurbers and review places — though the book doesn’t arrive until July! It’s nice though that the publisher is really pushing the book early to build some momentum.

And that’s it.

Here is a photo of an Eastern Phoebe, and then some Halloween pumpkins, and then a frozen-ass American flag, which is hopefully not a metaphor for anything.

November 2, 2018 / 6 Comments

A Nibbling Of Numptious News Nuggets

IT’S FRIDAY so apparently that means I have more cool news to share. Which is nice! It’s nice to have things to talk about sometimes. So gird your loins, buckle your belts, and don’t forget to wash your hands with soap and water. Oh and get your damn flu shot.

Here are the quicky news bits —

• Zer0es is totally Sword and Laser’s book club book this month, so feel free to go and get in on that action — it’s got hackers and trolls and self-aware surveillance programs and body horror and other fun stuff. And if you haven’t read it yet, Harper Voyager did a wonderful thing and dropped the e-book price to $2.99 if you wanna grab it.

• Wanderers gets a shout-out at The Mary Sue, “A Unique Look At A Potential Armageddon.” I’m glad the excerpt at EW seemed to resonate with people. I’m very excited for you to read this book. As some have asked, yes, this book is in past tense, not present, and no, it’s not my first to do so — Double Dead, in fact, is in past tense. (Point of trivia: I get no royalties if you buy Double Dead and Unclean Spirits, by the way, as some have also asked that question.)

• And finally, it’s Episode 5 of Chuck & Anthony: Ragnatalk, in one of our favorite eps, this one titled: IT’S KORG O’CLOCK. Okay, the episode isn’t all about Korg — it’s also about Jeff Goldblum and Betty Crocker and Kite Man and Greg Pak and so on and so forth. GO LISTEN TO IT. Otherwise, PISS OFF, GHOST.

Don’t forget this weekend is Daylight Savings Time, where at 2AM we open the Time Jar and release the hour we’ve been keeping hostage for the last several months.

And also, come Tuesday —

Don’t forget to vote.

Your country, your democracy, and maybe the world literally counts on it.

November 1, 2018 / 26 Comments

Here Is How You NaNoWriMo, You Ruinous Monster, You

First, you get your coffee.

You sip it. You listen to it for ideas. It has no ideas, because it’s just coffee, and coffee is idea fuel. So you drink the coffee. Or tea. Or gin, I dunno. Hell, drink some water. Just drink something. YOU NEED TO HYDRATE that is just NaNoWriMo Law right there. You let the idea ghosts enter you. And percolate. And whisper their ways.

Then —

You open a Word document, or a Scrivener page, or a plain notebook.

You regard the open expanse.

The empty white.

It is perfect as-is.

It is pure and untouched like a newborn baby. (I mean, okay, that metaphor only works if you’ve never seen a newborn baby, who look like a bag of prunes that just crawled its way out of a burlap sack full of ambrosia salad. Those things are like Toilet Ghoulies.)

You have a choice —

You can leave the page as is, open, unscathed, unmarked, a snowy expanse after a fresh winter storm.

Or you can ruin it.

You can start putting crass LANGUAGE MARKS across it: clumsy, dirty scrawl denoting the gabble-gibber of humantongue. You can write words into sentences into paragraphs. You can stomp your muddy boots all over the damn thing. You can shit it all up. What once was an innocent tract of unbroken order is now a landfill of chaos.

So, that’s your choice.

Keep it perfect and pure.

Or ruin it.

My money’s on: ruin that motherfucker.

That, I think, is the guiding principle of National Novel Writing Month: you are here not for purity, not for innocence, not for perfection. You are here to ruin a perfectly good empty page. And that isn’t just the purview of this month — but it’s writing any story, on any day.

You do this.

And then you do it again.

And then again.

And again and again and again until you have something finished. And even then that finished thing isn’t finished, because you’ve got to rip it apart once more and stitch it back together again. Repair through destruction. A near-constant act of ruination.

Now, a word on ruination:

It sounds bad.

Ruin.

A mouse turd ruins an apple pie. Cockroach eggs ruin a perfectly good ear canal. A Trump supporter ruins any party. (Sorry, it’s not Halloween anymore, sorry for the scaaaaary stooooories.)

But ruination has value, too.

Think of how ruination contributes to the act of making a beautiful balsamic vinegar, or soy sauce, or whiskey. Cooking any meal is an act of ruining the thing again and again — chopping it, skinning it, cooking it, reducing it down and breaking it apart with knife and fork and later, teeth. Communication is the act of ruining silence. Having children is the act of ruining your ability to binge watch Netflix. You gotta ruin an acorn to make an oak tree. Gotta ruin a caterpillar to make a butterfly, who in turn must one day be ruined to make more caterpillars.

The act of creation is always paired with the act of ruination.

And so, in this National Novel Writing Month, you’re gonna do exactly that. You will make a story by destroying the space of the page and your own peace. It’s easier not to do it. It’s simpler to simply let your time and your world be unperturbed by the pyroclastic act of making cool shit, but I suspect you are not the kind to go comfortably unperturbed.

Today, you’re going to ruin one page. You’re going to fill it with words. Some will be amazing words. Some will be brutally inefficient. You will string them together and when read aloud, they will make music just as often as they make the sound of a tuba kicked down a set of steps. And you’re not going to care, because that is what it takes: the willingness to do a thing poorly, the eagerness to ruin an uninterrupted space, the sheer bloody-minded delight of carving your ideas down into rock even though the only desire of the rock is to be left the hell alone.

You’ll do this day in and day out until you have a finished thing.

Maybe it fits neatly into the box marked “November.”

Maybe it takes you into December and January.

Maybe it takes you twelve months instead of one, or three weeks instead of four.

Doesn’t matter.

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

Ruination is the best friend to creation.

So get to ruining.

Your month begins now.

* * *

DAMN FINE STORY: Mastering the Tools of a Powerful Narrative

What do Luke Skywalker, John McClane, and a lonely dog on Ho’okipa Beach have in common? Simply put, we care about them.

Great storytelling is making readers care about your characters, the choices they make, and what happens to them. It’s making your audience feel the tension and emotion of a situation right alongside your protagonist. And to tell a damn fine story, you need to understand why and how that caring happens.

Whether you’re writing a novel, screenplay, video game, or comic, this funny and informative guide is chock-full of examples about the art and craft of storytelling–and how to write a damn fine story of your own.

Indiebound / Amazon / B&N

October 31, 2018 / 21 Comments

Wanderers: Cover Reveal And Excerpt!

IT’S HERE IT’S HERE OMG IT’S HERE

*blows apocalyptic tuba*

*a blood rain gently falls*

Hey, if you were maybe thinking there’d be a Wanderers cover reveal before too long — well, you ain’t wrong. Because here it is, over at Entertainment Weekly. You’ll also find an excerpt from the book, and for extra fun, I’ve got some pre-order links should you be so inclined to get in on this epic journey. (Seriously, the book is like 800 pages in hardcover. It’s a bison-bludgeoner.)

Pre-order for print or e-book!

Note: the print pre-order is Indiebound, but certainly you can check with your own local indie store to nab a copy that way, and I’m sure as time gets closer I hope to visit some stores to sign books and shake babies or whatever it is us author-types do.

Here’s the cover copy —

A decadent rock star. A deeply religious radio host. A disgraced scientist. And a teenage girl who may be the world’s last hope. In the tradition of The Stand and Station Eleven comes a gripping saga that weaves an epic tapestry of humanity into an astonishing tale of survival.

Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and are sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other “shepherds” who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.

For on their journey, they will discover an America convulsed with terror and violence, where this apocalyptic epidemic proves less dangerous than the fear of it. As the rest of society collapses all around them—and an ultraviolent milita threatens to exterminate them–the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart—or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.

And again, you can find the cover and a full excerpt at EW.

Wanderers releases July 9th, 2019, from Del Rey Books.

October 30, 2018 / 12 Comments

I Can Fly Twice As High — AKA, My HalCon 2018 Recap

I AM BACK FROM THE FOGSOAKED WILDS OF COASTAL ATLANTIC CANADA, FROM THE LOVECRAFTIAN REALM OF DONAIRS AND POUTINE AND LOBSTERS.

Halifax was great.

Hal-Con, in particular, was sublime.

It’s one of those “just right” cons — not so big it’s a soul-crushing meat-grinder, but not so small where you’re not really sure the juice was worth the squeeze. It had tons of local vendors, ace cosplay, and a really nice spread of great people — both fellow guests and fans. (Bonus: got to hang with my Sister from Another Mister, Delilah S. Dawson — whose newest, Treason of Hawks, is out in both print and e-book, and it completes her excellent Shadow series.) They also treat their guests like fucking royalty. I had a personal assistant! His name was Spencer and he looked like a young Matthew McConaughey? (Sidenote: why the fuck don’t I have an assistant?) It’s nice. It was all nice.

Nice as cookies.

I mean, except for the flight back, to which I say:

EAT SPECTACULAR SHIT, AIR CANADA.

This is the third time I’ve traveled with them.

And the third time they’ve canceled a flight right out from under me.

Like, you get to the airport.

You wait until approximately the boarding time.

And then the flight is just — boop! It’s fucking gone. It never existed, maybe. It was a collective hallucination borne by the ticket-holders, who knows. Either way: this happened again yesterday and they were like, “You can go home tomorrow instead.” And I was like, “There are no additional flights?” They said there was one, but it had no seats. And they were going to give me a hotel room but they didn’t have any hotel rooms and I was gonna have to wait. And technically I had to be back here today because I have child-entangled things to do, and then also Halloween tomorrow, so my kid was crushed I wasn’t coming home. While waiting, I toodled around the Internet for about 17 seconds and found out hey yeah there are too seats available on the next flight?

The Air Canada person told me (in what I am to understand was a lie) that she couldn’t rebook me on that one For Reasons, and I could book it and they’d just fix the difference later? Ugh. So I did that.

That flight was to leave at 9PM.

And ended up not leaving until after 10PM.

Which meant I didn’t get home until after 1AM, which is not fun.

But I got to gently wake up B-Dub and give the kid a hug, which was honestly the best reward at the end of such an irritating kidney stone of a journey.

Oh also, another thing that makes it all worth it?

Yeah, that’s right.

That’s Levar Burton.

One of the actual architects of both my childhood and, one could argue, my very career. Inspiring me then, and inspiring me now because this dude is as kind as any. He walks into a room and introduces himself to everybody, warm and smiling. He is pure cool and total comfort. (Bonus: to my great shock, he knew who I was, which pretty much completes Life Bingo, I think. I won life. I have conquered the summit. If I perish here, know I am satisfied at having made it.)

So: if given a chance to go to Hal-Con?

Do it.

(Just don’t fly Air Canada.)

Let’s see, what else is up?

Big announcement tomorrow, I think.

The Mega Ultra Super Big-Ass Book Bundle is still on sale for another day, 50% off with coupon NANO2018 — you can click here to grab a shitload of writing books and a couple novels.

One more deep-dive on the bots-and-puppets phenomenon surrounding, well, me. This time over at Vox-dot-com, so give a click and have a read. I don’t agree with every assertion made, and I think there might be some context missing, but it will be a fascinating read for you just the same.

You Might Be The Killer screened at Toronto After Dark, and it think won some cool audience awards? It’s also still showing on SyFy now and again, including via on-demand.

I’m working through Wanderers page proofs at a furious pace.

And I think that’s it for now.

See you soon, my sweet babbies.