William Malmborg

The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

2012-02-01T12:41:00.002-06:00

Have you ever felt dirty after watching a movie? Not physically dirty, but mentally dirty. I feel this way from time to time, usually after watching movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer. The subject matter of such films is part of it, but not the overall reason. Instead the biggest reason I feel dirty after watching these is due to the look of the film. Both these movies have a rough almost grainy bleakness being projected that, when coupled with the disturbing elements within the tale, just soils the mind. The Hills Have Eyes, which I watched for the first time last night, managed this ‘dirty after viewing’ feeling as well. In fact, the soiled sensation was so powerful that I just had no choice but to jump into the shower afterward, my mind needing the physical bombardment of hot water against my flesh to symbiotically cleanse the movie from my pores. I also texted my brother and told him we had to buy a copy of this one so we could watch it together in the future, though not right away. After viewing a movie like this I always have to put some space between it and the next viewing. The other two movies I mentioned above and the amount of times I have viewed them are perfect examples of this. Despite being listed amongst my all time favorite movies I have only watched them three times apiece during the last decade. Mentally this is all I can handle. Also, this one will never be on the favorites list, so my futures viewings of it will be even more distanced from each other.

The Hills Have Eyes is the tale of the Carter family and the mistake they make in attempting a detour on their trip to California in order to see an old abandoned silver mine. Well, ‘supposedly abandoned’ is probably a better way of describing the mine because a group does live in the area. Ignoring the warning by an old weather-beaten gas station owner, the family soon finds themselves stranded near the hills where the mine is located, a freak accident with the map having caused the vehicle to go off road. Realizing they are miles away from civilization, and that chances are good no one will pass by that area to help, the father of the family heads back to the gas station while the son-in-law goes further down the road. What none of them realize is they are being watched from the hills by a savage cannibalistic family, one who has been on the verge of starvation for a long time and will do anything to bring some meat home from the stranded family. Caught off guard by the savages, but able to repel them -- though not without some losses -- the Carter’s do everything they can to set up a defensive perimeter around their car and trailer. Unfortunately the baby of the family was taken in the first raid, and fearing for its safety a rescue attempt is made. Will it and the defensive perimeter succeed, or will the Carter family soon find themselves the main course of a long awaited meal in the desert hills. Only time will tell.

Disturbing and somewhat shocking in its depictions (though not overly so in my opinion) The Hills Have Eyes is a decent little horror movie that has the ability to startle audiences. Unfortunately one thing it lacks is sympathy for the victims. I may be unique in this thought, but I couldn’t wait for several members of the family to die, not because I’m sick and twisted, but because I just couldn’t stand them. Everything they did just seemed ridiculous and, at times, overly stupid. The hysterics many of them displayed were also mind numbing. The worst by far, however, was the mother of the family. Now, maybe at the time of this films creation that was the norm for women in her position, but to me she seemed a ready-made helpless victim, which is something I just can’t stand. Fortunately, given how horrible and grotesque the hill people were I had no choice but to root for the Carter family. Given the actions of the crazy hill people, I not only wanted the Carter family to win, I wanted them to brutalize their attackers. I wanted them to make them regret everything they ever did even though such regret in people like that probably isn’t possible. All in all, not a bad movie, but at the same time not one I will watch over and over again, not when I felt so detached and disgusted by just about every character on screen.

Stephen King’s Most Frightening Book: Still Accepting Guest Posts

2012-01-29T09:55:00.004-06:00

The other day I received an email from a fellow horror blogger and Stephen King fan asking if I was still interested in receiving guest posts focusing on what one felt Stephen King’s Most Frightening Book was. The answer: YES. I would love to get more guest posts on this topic. In fact, I have only received one so far, which kind of surprised me given how popular such a subject is in many of the online forums and groups I belong too. I also want to reassure people that no criticism will arrive based on their book choice. I may comment on the selected title (see an example of this on the guest post here), but I won’t criticize the choice. I also don’t think any of the readers who comment on the post will criticize the choice either, but if they do, well, that’s just silly. So, if you are interested in sending me a guest post on the topic above please do so. All I ask is that they be either a word attachment, or embedded in the email sent to me. I also ask that the email have the subject Guest Post: Stephen King so it doesn’t get marked as spam, and that it be sent to wlmalmborg@gmail.com. One other thing, I’m still without internet in my apartment so it may take a day or two for me to respond to the email, and another day or two to post it. Hopefully this situation will change in the near future. If interested here is a link to the original blog post that sparked this topic and my asking for guest posts

Does The E-book Crowd Prefer Shorter Books?

2012-01-25T11:31:00.000-06:00

Let me start this quick post by stating that I have no idea what the answer to my title question is, nor do I know of any research that has gone into looking at this. Instead I’m just speculating on the question based on what I’ve seen in customer reviews from people on Amazon, some of which I noticed with my novel JIMMY. The customer reviews, while positive and while claiming enjoyment, sometimes stated that the reader felt the book was too long. Now, if they had disliked the book I could understand such a comment because any book that one doesn’t enjoy will seem long, however, to like a book but then to still state this throws me for a loop. Equally puzzling is that my novel JIMMY, as I’ve mentioned in the past, is actually on the shorter end of book length when it comes to what is considered standard in the traditional publishing world (88,000 words). In fact, one of the reasons the editor at Dorchester wanted me to rewrite the book before an offer of publication was given toward it was due to it being nearly ten thousand words below their minimum novel publishing length (at that time it was 72,000 words I believe). JIMMY is also not alone when it comes to receiving customer comments like this. Several times now I have stumbled upon such statements while browsing through possible Kindle buys, yet when I look at the file size of the book in question, and do a little calculation in my head, I come to realize the book is quite small. Because of this I wonder if e-book readers now prefer shorter works of fiction? I also wonder if novelist will be able to get away with offering shorter works under the NOVEL category without worry of customers feeling misled? I would never actually do this, but if I offered a piece of fiction that was only 25,000 - 40,000 words long as a novel rather than a novella, would people realize and complain about the mislabeling, or view it as a novel? Also, do you think not having a book size judgment from seeing a printed copy of the novel before reading it plays a part in deciding whether or not the story was told at the right length? For instance, if one goes and picks up a printed copy of Stephen King’s IT right away they are going to understand that it is a long book and therefore will go into reading it with this knowledge in their head. However, if they go into reading an e-book of the same length that they have never before heard anything about and have never seen in print, will they eventually think it too long even if they liked the story simply based on the fact that they were unprepared for this going in? On the flip side would anyone ever actually state that a novel like JIMMY or any other novel of that length were too long had they first seen it in a print edition and realized it was a tiny little thing that was just shy of 300 pages? I have no answer for this, but it is something I would be interested in knowing.

Facebook, Yes; Twitter, No

2012-01-24T11:01:00.001-06:00

Something interesting has been occurring these last few months, that being a huge increase in notices in my email inbox about people having joined my Twitter account. I even saw someone mention in a customer review on Amazon (see it here) who said they were going to start following me on Twitter so they could know when my next book would be released. The thing is, I don’t Twitter. I tried, but it just isn’t something I ever got the hang of. Instead, I use Facebook, and my profile can be found here. Please feel free to send me a friend request if you wish to follow me there and communicate. I welcome them all. Just be warned, I have several very interesting groups of people that I’m friends with, the two biggest being Civil War Reenactors and Crohn’s Disease Patients. All of the people within these groups are very friendly, but I feel the need to issue a warning so that when you see a post that says something like ‘that was an amazing death this weekend’ or ‘would you recommend eating more yogurt or less yogurt during a never ending week of gastrological distress’ you aren’t caught of guard. Also don’t be surprised if you ever see a post where friends are talking about me having green urine every now and then, or ticks on the dick. Both topics seems to come up from time to time amongst my Civil War Reenactor friends because during one major event in 2011 I tried taking a new combination of vitamins that turned my urine green for a while and mistakenly told them about it, and during another major event I ended up with two deer ticks on the very tip of my penis and was screaming at them to help me get them off (instead they took pictures of me hunched over -- after spraying their own crotches with heavy duty bug killer). Of course my writing is also a huge topic and something I post about regularly. I also created a Facebook Page for each of my Kindle projects, all of which are linked on my main profile page. At the moment none of them are very active, but I think that may change.

Puppet Master by Barry T. Hawkins

2012-01-21T10:40:00.002-06:00

A serial killer preying upon children. Few things in life have the ability to send shockwaves of terror through a community. Even those without children, and therefore an odd sense of certainty that the crimes won’t hit them personally, would probably be hard-pressed not to feel a sense of anguish over the situation. Such things are just too heartbreaking for people to go unaffected by them. Add in a gruesome nature to the crimes and things get even more horrifying, especially for those that have to investigate the crimes. After all, it is one thing to learn about the taking of child in the daily news, but it is another to be on the front lines of that crime. Seeing the results of a failed recovery of a child, one who might still be alive if the task of investigating the disappearance had played out differently, followed by the understanding that the small mutilated body beneath the sheet could be replicated over and over again in the coming days and weeks is beyond most people’s ability to comprehend. Imagine coming home from a work day like that.

Gil Beach, a New York City Homicide Detective, doesn’t have to imagine it because he is living it. A child killer is preying upon the children in his jurisdiction -- and occasionally short adults who he mistakenly believes to be children -- and it is Gil Beach’s job to stop him. Nothing seems to be shedding light on the crimes, however, until finally a clue points to the art of ventriloquism. Realizing such abilities may be a talent of the killer, and slowly but surely piecing together the disgusting reason for finding headless bodies, Gil Beach dives into the world of the ventriloquist. As intended this line of investigation gets him close to the killer, but unfortunately it also allows the killer, who already wants Gil Beach dead for a very different and odd reason, to uncover information about him -- information that could prove a weakness. Add in the intelligence of the killer and the frightening ability to change their voice so they can impersonate other people on the phone, and Gil Beach might soon find himself standing over the sheet covered bodies of his loved ones, their features having been brutally disfigured by the wood carving knife one uses to create the ventriloquist dummy.

Puppet Master by Barry T. Hawkins was an exciting, but incredibly disturbing read, especially during the scenes that take on the point of view of the killer who has no remorse whatsoever for the brutal crimes being committed. Equally disturbing are the moments when the killer reminisces about his past and the abuse that unfolded while in the care of those who should have protected him. The only downside to the book, in my opinion, was the overly detailed background information that was often narrated to the reader as characters were introduced. Don’t get me wrong, I love back story and learning who the characters are and what shaped them into the person on display, but such information should be layered into the story in a way that doesn’t impede upon the forward momentum of the tale itself. Thankfully this is the only real flaw of the book in my opinion, a book that I would highly recommend to horror fans, especially if they are the type that enjoys going in pursuit of an incredibly sick and twisted killer whose only purpose in life seems to be to cause others misery. Equally enjoyable is the information one gets on the art of ventriloquism, which, in my opinion, is a very creepy yet incredibly fascinating form of entertainment.

Random Update

2012-01-18T18:02:00.001-06:00

Things have been a bit quiet here so I thought I’d post a few words so everyone knows I’m still around. As for the lack of posts I blame a struggle with a novel I was working on that was tentatively titled NIKKI’S SECRET. It’s a project I actually started working on a year ago before getting started on the rewriting of a 2007 novel titled TEXT MESSAGE that I thought showed promise but needed some work. Once finished with that rewriting (I saved maybe ten to twenty percent of the book and rewrote the rest), I went back to NIKKI’S SECRET but couldn’t really get into it for an unknown reason. Then the holidays hit and I decided to take a two week break from it. After that things began going smoothly, and then, well, not so smoothly. I have no idea why but nearly two hundred pages in, and with a clear vision of where the novel will go, I can’t move the story forward. Because of this, and because of my distaste for staring at a blank screen for several hours every morning I decided to switch gears and start work on a detective novel that has been bouncing around within my head. This was last Sunday. Now I’m a little over fifty pages into the novel and loving every minute of it. Hopefully this will continue. Hopefully it will also make it easier for me to write posts on the novels I have read so far this year but haven’t written about yet; those novels being Puppet Master by Barry T. Hawkins, Watchers in the Woods by William W. Johnstone, and The X-Files: Antibodies by Kevin J. Anderson. I also want to start writing posts about the movies I’ve been watching, a list which has grown pretty large thanks to the amazing gift my brother gave me for Christmas (a streaming player for my TV and an external hard drive with nearly fifty B horror movies on it). Oh, I’ve also been watching about three to four X-Files episodes every night while waiting to fall asleep (The X-Files is my solution to insomnia).

In other news I’m happy to report that my novel TEXT MESSAGE made two top 100 lists in the UK last Friday and has pretty much stayed on both since then (it fell off the top horror list on Sunday but bounced back onto it on Monday). This, in addition to my novel JIMMY being listed as a top ten read for 2011 by the Ric’s Reviews website, and the continued steady sales of all my kindle works has made for an enjoyable month thus far (its nice to know I’ll be able to pay my rent and food expensive for the next few months). Actually, I had my first ever success celebration the other day, one that saw me making myself a delicious hamburger helper meal, and my cats two small personal hamburger patties. I followed that up with a trip to the candy store where I bought some chocolate covered oranges, which I love, and then considered, but ultimately decided against, the purchase of some much needed bookshelves. Hearing this, my parents ordered me to come out to them the next day and have a real dinner celebration at a restaurant, which was wonderful.

So, there you have it. That is what I have been doing these last two weeks. Oh, I’ve also started making plans for having an artwork header created for this blog. Last month I removed the header that displayed a picture of some of my magazine publications because it was showing up blurry for unknown reasons.

The Pet by Charles L. Grant

2012-01-08T12:30:00.002-06:00

Senior year of high school, it can be a very trying time for a young person. So many decisions have to be made, decisions that many adults try to input their own thoughts into even though it isn’t their life that is taking shape. Then there is the stress of relationships, and the seemingly contradictory attitude the public has of such things when at that age. On one hand everyone makes those involved feel like adults, especially when prom starts to near. Stories of romance fills the air and the inevitable swooning over how perfect the couples look together followed by the silly touchtone idea of high school sweethearts getting married and living the perfect life for ever. On the other hand the adults fear the fact that the young people’s bodies are in an adult state and might have biological urges. Their answer to this is one of simple suppression followed by threats and silence, none of which works and just makes life that much more difficult for the growing teens.

In The Pet by Charles L. Grant Don Boyd faces these struggles and more, the fact that his father, Norman, is the principle of the school he attends pushing the stress factor to a level that no one should be asked to handle. Making it worse is that the teachers are threatening to strike and are taking out their anger toward Norman Boyd’s refusal to support them on Don. Tests that he should pass with flying colors are scored at a level that drastically lower his grades, and whenever some sort of prank happens within the school the teachers target him as a culprit -- something his classmates know about and use against him when conducting their own pranks. One teacher is even having an affair with his mother, which in turn makes the home life stressful because he can tell his parents marriage is about to fall apart. They refuse to talk about this with him, and even punish him for bringing it up. They also don’t support his choice in future career goals -- he wants to be a veterinarian -- and do everything within their power to dissuade him from it. Topping off all this, a serial killer named Tanker Falwick, dubbed The Howler by the media, has come to town.

Thinking himself to be a werewolf due to his fascination with the moon -- and an odd sense that it protects him when full -- Tanker Falwick wanders the streets of Ashford, New Jersey with little hesitation, and kills without much planning or care. Falwick is not a werewolf, however, nor is he invincible. Don Boyd proves this when he himself is targeted during a nightly stroll. The question is, did Don really do all the damage that Falwick body sustained in the attack, or is there something out there watching and waiting to protect Don? If so how far will this protection go? Will it simply stop those who want to do him physical harm, or will it also target those that are doing psychological harm? If the latter how will it judge the psychological harm and whether or not it needs to put an end to those that are causing it? For instance, if Don begins to have mental struggles over the unspoken message behind a girl’s words, will it view that as a type of psychological harm that needs to be ended? If so the bodies this creature will produce will far exceed the amount of bodies Falwick could, because everyday ones mind is bombarded by issues that could cause distress.

The Pet was my first venture outside of Charles L. Grants’s Oxrun Station novels, and I must say, aside from a bit of a slow start, the book was spectacular and makes me want to seek out everything Grant has written. All the elements within it just felt so real, especially the inner struggles that the teen high school students faced. Ten years have passed since my days within such hallways and classrooms, yet several times I felt myself put back into those situations, my mind able to remember what it was like with great clarity once the sentences initiated such memories. I also was able to recall the mental anguish one faces as they try to prove to the world that they are an adult, yet still are viewed as a kid, and the fine line one must walk. The horror of the novel was perfectly handled as well, both it is real life ‘this could happen’ moments and its supernatural moments. The only thing that was lacking in my opinion was an explanation for why things were happening. How was this creature able to be a part of this world? Nothing was really discussed in this matter and if it was suggested or hinted at it was done in a way that didn’t work because I completely missed it. Aside from that, however, this was an excellent read and one that every fan of horror should seek out.

TEXT MESSAGE Free For Five Days

2012-01-07T09:19:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that my kindle novel TEXT MESSAGE will be free on Amazon for the next five days. After that it will go back to its price of 3.99 per download. If you're a fan of horror and suspense, and like ruthless serial killers that show no remorse whatsoever, you might want to give this one a try. Also, if interested, here are two reviews that have been posted about the novel: Midnite Media and Ric's Reviews.

JIMMY a Top Ten Read of 2011

2012-01-06T14:20:00.003-06:00

Just a quick little update here to let everyone know that my novel JIMMY made the Top Ten Reads of 2011 list on the Ric's Reviews website. Needless to say I'm really happy and honored to see JIMMY on such a list. I also really enjoyed the review that was posted about JIMMY last fall. Like most authors I sent out several copies of JIMMY to bloggers and websites hoping to gather some feedback. Ric's Reviews was not one of those sites, however, simply because I never had seen it before. Instead I discovered the review one day when doing a Google search to see if anyone was saying anything about the book. Since then it has been a site I check every couple of days, and not only because they enjoyed my book. It is a great site, one that fans of movie and book review sites should visit often.

The Difference Between A Fiction Anthology and Collection

2012-01-03T10:57:00.002-06:00

I may be wrong but I have always felt that the difference between a fiction anthology and fiction collection is this: an anthology is a selection of stories by different authors chosen by an editor, and a fiction collection is a selection of stories by a single author chosen by the author and editor. Is this correct? A debate about this was sparked on the Amazon Kindle boards; one that I didn’t get involved in, yet still found my interest piqued upon seeing the thread (I don’t really comment on the Amazon Kindle boards anymore because I have found them to be pretty much clogged up with self published or ‘independent’ authors publicizing their own works, which drives me crazy because it isn’t the right way to go about making a name for yourself). Anyway, a Google search didn’t really provide the answer I was looking for, so I thought I’d share the question here. I also thought I would share some examples of each using some of my favorite anthologies and collections.

Anthology Examples:

Outsiders edited by Nancy Holder and Nancy Kilpatrick

Christmas of 2005. That’s when I received this anthology of original horror tales. As always it was a gift from my mother, one that I pretty much gobbled up before the month of January was complete. If memory serves me correctly the stories within were pretty shocking and gruesome, yet also incredibly readable and, to me, enjoyable. That said I don’t really remember any examples of stories in particular that stood out to me, but that isn’t due to any fault of the stories themselves. Instead it’s simply because I’ve read so much since then. 2006 was also a very intense year for me given the surgery I under went, and my marriage. Somehow it was also one of my most prolific publishing years, and the year that saw my first story acceptance for an anthology, that being the Love and Sacrifice Anthology published by Zen Films. Anyhow, Outsiders is an anthology I would highly recommend to fans of horror fiction. It is also one I plan on re-reading in the near future so I can familiarize myself with the stories once again and, hopefully, relive the pleasure they gave me back in January of 2006.

Horror Library: Volume One by Cutting Block Press

I have to admit, one of the reasons for my first buying of this anthology, and subsequent Horror Library anthologies by Cutting Block Press, is because of how close I used to come to having stories accepted into them, the rejection letters by editor RJ Cavender always very positive and encouraging. Sadly I never did break into print with these anthologies back when I was submitting regularly, but hopefully that will change in the future as I once again begin to pen short stories. In the meantime I always enjoy reading the anthologies Cutting Block Press puts out and try my best to order them whenever my funds will allow. Horror fiction fans should always keep their eyes out for these volumes, the stories within representing some of the best modern horror fiction to be published.

Dark Delicacies edited by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb

When it comes to short story anthologies and collections I rarely read all the stories within them back to back. Instead I usually pace myself and read one or two stories after completing the reading of a novel, my mind not really to dive into another longer piece of fiction right away. With Dark Delicacies this wasn’t the case. I read the entire collection in one sitting. It occurred when I was working as a security guard. My assignment at that time was to guard a parking lot at a factory, one where the owners’ cars were seeing quite a bit of vandalism due to disgruntled employees -- the factory was moving to Mexico. On Labor Day of that year the factory was closed, but I still had to watch the parking lot since the factory hadn’t specified my not being there for that fourteen hour shift Knowing I would be bored I brought a dozen different anthologies to bide my time, but only ended up reading Dark Delicacies. The stories within were simply amazing. One by one I read them all, my shift passing by quickly as the stories filled my mind. A more enjoyable day of work I have never had. Even better I was paid double time since it was a holiday, all to read the stories within this fine anthology. Since then I have bought each volume issued, though my favorite is still the first one. This isn’t to say the others are lacking in any way. They are all great and should be read by anyone claiming to be a horror fiction fan.

Collection Examples:

Night Shift by Stephen King

Of all the collections of short fiction I have ever read Night Shift by Stephen King has to be my favorite. The stories within that collection are simply amazing, as is the story behind the creation of them. Being a writer myself I am always fascinated by the ‘behind the scenes’ elements that make up other writers lives, and having ready many biographies about Stephen King, I just can’t help but be impressed by the determination the young writer displayed in the penning of these tales. The knowledge that each story often provided some much needed money to the King household as they struggled paycheck to paycheck also amazes me. Of the stories within I think my favorite would be “Children of the Corn” followed closely by “Graveyard Shift”, “Quitters, Inc”, “Sometimes They Come Back”, and “Trucks”. The others are wonderful too; however, it is the ones listed here that I find myself reading over and over again. They are also the ones I wish I could find in original form, my Stephen King collection desperation wanting the old men’s magazines he published most of these in. Such a quest is not easily accomplished, though and will be a long time in achieving.

The Barrens and Others by F. Paul Wilson

If I were to ever make a list of my all time favorite single author short story collections The Barrens and Others by F. Paul Wilson would have to be near the top. A gift from my parents during Christmas of 2009, I read the first seven stories pretty much back to back in the days following the holiday, and continue to read the story introductions over and over again. As noted above in the Night Shift paragraph I love reading about writers, and with this collection (and his other two Soft and Others and Aftershock and Others) F. Paul Wilson included tons of information about what was going on in his life and career at the time of writing each story. I love stuff like that and never tire of reading it. Of the stories my favorite within this collection is “A Day in the Life” featuring Repairman Jack. I’ve always said Repairman Jack is one of the coolest fictional characters ever, so any story that focuses on him always goes right to the top in terms of enjoyment for me. After that it’s a tie between “Feelings”, “Tenants”, and “The Barrens”, all three of which I have read several times. If forced to choose one of those three, however, I would settle on “Feelings” simple because the last line of the story was perfect. That’s all I can say without ruining it though. One needs to read the tale to understand.

Twisted by Jeffery Deaver

In addition to horror I love mystery and suspense tales, especially if they actually catch me off guard. With the stories in Twisted by Jeffery Deaver I was caught off guard several times. I was also blown away with the writing abilities shown within each tale, an ability that caused me to sit and read the entire collection in one day (all while waiting for my copy of 11/22/63 by Stephen King to arrive in the mail -- so, needless to say a very enjoyable week as far as reading material went). Every story within the collection was impressive; however, the one that stood above all the rest in my opinion was “Triangle”. Never before have I been so utterly fooled by a story. The entire time I was convinced I knew why the killer was going about the murder he wanted to commit, but then, the last few lines completely twisted everything around. After that I just starred in amazement for a long time, my mind needing time to process what I had just read. Then I called my Mom and told her she had to read the story as soon as possible, that’s how good it was. Jeffery Deaver does have another collection of stories I plan on reading soon, one that is appropriately titled More Twisted. I can’t wait to get my hands on that one and hope the stories within are as impressive as the ones in Twisted. I’m also looking forward to reading his novels.

There we have it, my thoughts on the difference between an anthology and a collection, and three examples of each. Now, by no means should one think that these are the only anthologies and collections I like. If I had enough bookshelves for all my books two entire shelves would be set aside just for the anthologies I have collected over the years. I also always buy and read every collection put out by the authors I enjoy. Listing all of them would have been too much. Chances are this post is already too long and very few readers will make it this far. Such is the reading trend when it comes to things posted online. For those who have made it this far I have just one more thing to say: if you are a fan of horror fiction and are looking for new authors to read, go out and buy some new anthologies because the stories within can be a great introduction to authors you may never have heard of before.

My Amazon Publishing Experience: December 2011

2012-01-02T10:53:00.000-06:00

Looking back at my posts for each month of my Amazon Kindle adventure I see a trend. Every month the sales on my first novel JIMMY got better and better. With December that trend came to an end. This isn’t to say the month was a bad one, because it wasn’t. In fact, I made more money this month with my novels than any of the previous months due to having three works out and a price change on two of them, but over all sales were down. I believe the holidays were to blame, mostly because there was a trend in the decline of sales as Christmas neared. With JIMMY it went like this: fifteen to twenty sales a day on average in the beginning of the month; ten to fifteen sales a day on average in the middle of the month, and five to ten sales a day on average in the week leading up to Christmas. Once Christmas hit, however, the sales jumped back up, most likely due to the Kindle being a popular gift. Now I just hope they stay steady, or, better, yet, begin that upward climb again month to month to month.

The up and down sales pattern of JIMMY was only one aspect to the month of December. As many of you probably know I released my third Kindle project on December 21; that project being a collection of short stories titled SCRAPING THE BONE. Releasing a collection was something I knew I was going to do fairly quickly into my Kindle adventure because it seemed silly to have all these stories just sitting in a folder on my desktop, especially considering the praise many of the stories received from editors and, when some of them were originally published, from reviewers and readers (“Code Blue” published by Zen Films in the anthology titled Love and Sacrifice comes to mind, as does “Jacob’s Gift” published by Black Petals in the fall of 2004 -- both were included in SCRAPING THE BONE). At one point it was actually going to be my second release on the Kindle, but then my rewriting of TEXT MESSAGE, which was originally written in 2007, just exploded in late August and September. Thinking it would be better to release another novel rather than a collection, I got TEXT MESSAGE ready for an October publication, my thinking being that I would release something every two months, and that SCRAPING THE BONE would come in December. TEXT MESSAGE got pushed back, however, due to some cover art issues. For a while this led to think that pushing SCRAPING THE BONE back would be a good idea as well, but then I once again thought why have it sit on my desktop when it was ready to go? Thus, the reason TEXT MESSAGE and SCRAPING THE BONE came out pretty much back to back.

December also saw my new price plan put into place. It was a plan I came up with a while ago, one that would see novels priced between $2.99 and $4.99, novellas at $1.99 to $2.99, and collections at $0.99 to $1.99. Each price is based on the label and length of the project. Novels, which typically are categorized as anything above 80,000 words, will always be somewhere in the $2.99 to $4.99. Novellas which are anything below 80,000 words will be priced depending on if they are over or below the 50,000 word mark. Collections will be priced based on whether or not they are above or below the 25,000 word mark. To me these prices seem fair, both for readers and for myself. I do, after all, need to make a living from my writing, so pricing everything at $0.99 or $1.99 is just not realistic. At the same time I have always felt it is crazy to ask someone to pay hard copy prices on something that isn’t a hard copy, so my work, as long as I’m in control of it, will never cost the same as a hard copy work printed by a publisher.

Now, for those of you who may be wondering how TEXT MESSAGE is doing, the answer is, fair leaning upward a bit. Unlike JIMMY it isn’t yet a book that has been selling consistently in the top 10,000 on the Kindle, but for the most part it has stayed in the top 50,000. The only exception to this was during the week of Christmas. Everything suffered that week. Thankfully the feedback on TEXT MESSAGE has been positive (several friend requests on Facebook came my way from people who read it and liked it). It also received its first review from the Midnite Media website. Hopefully more will follow as it goes into it second full month of being available. With JIMMY it took three months before it really took off. Now it will be interesting to see if TEXT MESSAGE and SCRAPING THE BONE follow the same type of patturn.

What Book Should I Start The New Year With?

2012-01-01T10:13:00.005-06:00

Christmas morning was pretty exciting for this horror fan. First my little brother gave me a streaming video player for my TV, and an external hard drive with fifty B horror movies and several seasons of Mystery Science Theater 3000 on it. Second my parents had nearly thirty used horror novels waiting beneath the Christmas tree when I woke up, my mother having used an Amazon wishlist that I had created during the fall to easily order a selection of titles she knew I would enjoy. Now, however, I have a dilemma: I don’t know which book to read first. I’ve narrowed it down to five choices, my fingers pretty much choosing a title from each of the authors I opened. Here they are:

The Pet by Charles L. Grant:

My introduction to Charles L. Grant was with his first Oxrun Station novel The Hour of the Oxrun Dead, and while I wasn’t really all that impressed by the book I decided to read more by the author due to all the praise he has received over the years by other authors that I love. Given the enjoyment I have now gotten from his works, all of them Oxrun Station novels, I’m glad I decided to continue reading him. I have also grown curious about his other stand alone tales, all of which I have heard great things about. The Pet is one of those stand alone tales (if everything I have read about it is correct). Because of this, and because of the description on the back which sounds exciting, I am eager to read it. I would also love to get my hands on some of the anthologies he edited and am looking forward to diving into the two The X-Files novels he penned: Goblins and Whirlwind. The only downside to enjoying Grant’s work is the knowledge that there is a limited selection of titles, therefore I am pacing myself.

Torment by Stephen R. George:

My first experience with the novels of Stephen R. George was with the title Nightscape, which I loved. After that I read Grandma’s Little Darling, which, sadly, didn’t really work for me (I loved the first half but found the second half lacking). One less than satisfactory read is not enough for me to call it quits with an author, however, especially after enjoying one of their books; therefore I added every Stephen R. George book I could find to that Amazon list. Four of those titles were waiting for me come Christmas morning: Torment, Bloody Valentine, Brain Child, and Dark Miracle. Of those four Bloody Valentine is the one I am the most eager to read, but, given the title, I’ve decided to hold off on it until February. From there I narrowed down the next three choices to Torment both because the description on the back sounds intriguing and because I really like the cover. I know, I know, don’t judge a book by its cover. I think it’s time we all admit that we do this. If readers didn’t there wouldn’t be countless examples of authors who have had failed novels suddenly spring to life once the cover art was changed.

The Monastery by J.N Williamson

Many, many years ago while in high school I read a J.N. Williamson novel in pretty much one sitting, yet for the life of me can not remember what the title was. I also don’t remember what the novel was about, not because it was unmemorable, but because I was reading two to three books a week back then. Actually I was reading so many books that some of my teachers told my parents I was reading too much. In this day an age I’m guessing that the amount of times a teacher has made such a complaint can be counted on one hand. Anyway, I’ve always wanted to read more J.N. Williamson novels but never really came across any in the used bookstore I frequent, and always forgot to search his name was making a mass order from Amazon. With The Monastery all this will change. Even if I don’t enjoy this one -- though based on the description and what others have said about it I think I will -- more of his titles will be appearing on my bookshelf in 2012. By the way, if anyone has any suggestions on titles by J.N. Williamson that I should look for, please speak up. I love seeking out suggestions by readers of this blog.

Watchers in the Woods by William W. Johnstone

Believe it or not most of the titles I received on Christmas morning were from an author I have never before read: William W. Johnstone. I also have never really heard much about him in the blogging world or from other horror novel fans. At some point, however, I must have added all of his books to that Amazon wishlist because nine of them were waiting to be opened that morning. I’m sure the covers had something to do with this. When adding books to an Amazon wishlist one is given several suggestions based on what other people have bought. Needless to say most of those suggestions are by the same author as the one being added, and given how eye catching the covers were (to me at least) I must have just checked them all off. Now I just hope I like the writing within those covers. If not I will still read them all, but I’d rather do this with enjoyment than with disappointment. Who wouldn’t? Of all the William W. Johnstone novels I received Watchers in the Woods had the most intriguing description -- I always love stories about campers in the woods being stalked -- thus I selected it a first read of 2012 contender. Anyone out there ever read any of the novels by this author? If so which ones would you recommend?

Puppet Master by Barry T. Hawkins

Like the author above I have never before read anything by Barry T. Hawkins. Unlike the author above I only received one novel by this author, that being Puppet Master. I have no memory of adding this novel to the wishlist, nor any memories of reading anything about the book or this author in the blogging world. At some point the cover must have caught my attention, however, so I added it. Even if that wasn’t the case the cover certainly caught my attention on Christmas morning and therefore it has ended up in the choices of first reads for 2012. Another reason for it ending up in this selection is the title. As mentioned during my review of Child’s Play by Andrew Neiderman last year, I love finding novels that have the same title as classic horror movies, especially when the book and movie have nothing to do with each other. Having read the description, Puppet Master falls into that category. Now I just hope I like it better than the novel Child’s Play. As always if anyone has read this book or this author please feel free to share your experiences either as a comment below or as a guest post. Both are always welcome.

So, there you have it. Of the near thirty used horror novels I received on Christmas morning, these are the five titles I have narrowed my selection down to. I have no idea which one to read first. Not listed within the authors above were also several F. Paul Wilson and Joe R. Lansdale novels. Both of those authors fall into my favorite authors category, but were not added above because I have already decided upon the time and place where I will read those novels. Many thanks for helping me decide, if anyone comes forward. If no one does I will just randomly select a title once I finish with the non-horror novel I am currently reading.

Seed of Evil by Edmund Plante

2011-12-30T10:50:00.003-06:00

Imagine taking a guy home from a bar to a quiet apartment where, once sex begins, he turns into a hideous creature whose penis becomes so big that it begins ripping apart your insides, a sudden cold ejaculation mixing with the warm blood that oozes within. Then imagine waking up in a hospital and finding out that the police have nothing to go on, the man / beast having somehow disappeared from the apartment without a trace. Then imagine realizing you were pregnant and that the growing child is the result of that horrible night. What would you do?

Patty Thompson, a divorced mother of two, decides to keep the baby, her catholic upbringing and disgust with abortion pretty much making the decision for her. Protests are made, the most adamant coming from her own mother who, having seen the man beast ravaging her daughter, fears what the child could be. Patty doesn’t give in, however, and soon delivers a seemingly healthy normal baby boy. Normal the baby is not, however, and right away Patty realizes she will never be able to love him. It isn’t just the memories of his conception that plague her. Something about the baby isn’t right. It is his eyes. Every time he looks at her Patty can sense intelligence in them. She also always feels an odd love and warmth oozing from him when she holds him, but a cold rage and bitterness directed toward her whenever she has him taken away. Never before has she experienced anything like this with a newborn. Even so her determination to be a mother to the baby eventually overcomes the fear she harbors, and amid the continued protests from her mother she brings him home to be part of the family.

Richard is the baby’s name and within him a war rages. On one side is the evil of his father who was obviously not human; on the other is the kindness and compassion of his mother. Unfortunately this inner war has consequences, especially when someone triggers a rage within Richard that gives power to the evil side. When this happens people get hurt and sometimes, if Richard is unable to get control back, die. In some households this easily triggered rage wouldn’t be a problem due to the love and compassion everyone treats each other with. In the Thomson household it is a problem, the open hostility shown toward Richard by his grandmother and older brother constantly providing the fuel the evil side needs. It also spurs a desire to find his father, so at the age of five Richard leaves his mother’s family behind. Eight years later he returns, a decision on the life he wants to live having been made. The question is will his mother’s family be able to provide him with what he craves or will they once again cause the rage to boil over to the point where Richard can not control his actions?

Seed of Evil by Edmund Plante is one of the best horror novels I read this year. Its brutal yet gripping tale never let up and kept one guessing as to what the eventual conclusion of the story would be. The characters also felt real. With Patty you could constantly sense the struggle taking place inside of her on whether or not she wanted to love Richard, the horror of his birth and of the events that unfold around him butting up against the fact that he is her son and should have a mother’s love. Equally compelling is the struggle Richard faces, especially after returning from living with his horrible father for eight years. His character could so easily have been cliché, yet Edmund Plante gives him such depth that it is impossible not to feel empathy toward him. At one point I even began hoping that things would work out despite all the horror he had caused. The reason for this was my realization that he wasn’t to blame for his state of being. One also couldn’t really put blame on Patty for the turmoil she felt toward him, not after what she went through during his conception, though one does have to ask why she never considered setting him up for adoption. Had she done this all the terror her family faced might have been adverted. Or maybe it wouldn’t have been. Maybe Richard would still have found his way to them, his desire to be loved by the mother that gave birth to him guiding his actions.

Now, lastly, I would like to set something straight concerning this book and Edmund Plante’s later book Garden of Evil, which I read last month. Given the two titles one can’t help but wonder if the two books are connected in someway, especially if one reads Garden of Evil first because there are many questions one may have as to the origins of things within the book that are never answered within it. Doing a search online gives the answer of YES thanks to several websites that list the two books as belonging to a two book series, the order being Seed of Evil followed by Garden of Evil. Unfortantly these sites are incorrect. The two books are not connected in any way and anyone who lists them as being connected obviously didn’t bother to read them and just concluded it based on the titles.

My Haunted Apartment - Footsteps

2011-12-27T10:44:00.000-06:00

As many of you may know the various events that used to spook me within my apartment in DeKalb seemed to have stopped a while back, something which made me wonder if the haunting here had ended. Things were so quiet for so long that I actually didn’t even think about it all that much, my mind only drifting that way when my friends or blog followers would ask me questions about it, or when I was awakened in the middle of the night by something that I couldn’t put my finger on. Last night this all changed. My downstairs neighbors were the reason for this. They knew I was gone for a week, my empty parking spot in the house driveway proof of this. What they didn’t know were the details of my time away, our paths not crossing enough for me to tell them what my plans were going to be on a daily basis. While I was gone, however, things had occurred at my place that caused them to ask me a question upon my return, that question being whether or not I had had someone staying at my apartment during my absense, someone that would have been watching my cats for me. My answer was no, I had brought the cats with me to my parents house. Hearing this they asked me if everything was as I had left it, meaning, had I been robbed while gone. Again the answer was no, I hadn’t been robbed. Everything was as I had left it. “Well, that’s weird,” they finally said, “because someone was up there while you were gone.”

For those of you who don’t know, my apartment is in an old house that was divided up into apartments. Each floor is its own apartment. Such setups are pretty common in college towns. My neighbors live on the first floor, and I live on the second floor. When home we can hear each other pretty well because there isn’t much separating us when it comes to the floor beneath my feet (in normal apartment buildings there is usually some attempt at creating a setup that will muffle sound, but not in houses that were built before World War II). Anyway, almost every night while I was away my neighbors heard someone walking around in my apartment. Sometimes these footsteps woke them up even, which made them curious on whether or not someone was actually staying there with the cats or just coming and going at odd times -- their car apparently parked somewhere unseen. Upon hearing all this I informed them that the cats had come with me to my parent’s house for the holidays so there was no reason for anyone to be up there. Naturally this left them speechless.

This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. After I moved in last year the people that lived downstairs at the time told me that I was right, my cats could be pretty noisy at night when playing because they had heard them several times, their tiny paws running back and forth across the floor. The thing was the cats were still living at my parent’s house at that time because I wasn’t going to be bringing them into the house until my weekends away for that reenacting season were complete (I had informed them of the potential for noise, however, just so they would know). Making that even creepier was that these noises of something running back and forth across the floor had occurred while I was sleeping, which meant something may have been walking around within reach of my bed. Anyone who claims not to be chilled when in such a situation is lying.

Silent Night, Bloody Night (1973)

2011-12-24T09:01:00.002-06:00

Watching a new holiday themed horror flick in the days leading up to Christmas has become a new tradition in the Malmborg household, though one that only two to three members of the family actually take part in. Normally this movie watching event takes place sometime between the twentieth and twenty-second because on the twenty-third the family watches a special episode of The X-Files. This year the horror movie had to follow the viewing of The X-Files due to it only having arrived that morning. Silent Night, Bloody Night, released in 1973, was the movie of choice. My little brother and I stumbled upon it while browsing websites last week, our realization that we were not going to be able to find a copy of Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) or Don’t Open Till Christmas (1984) in time having spurred us into a holiday horror movie seeking frenzy (we really want to see those two movies for some reason, but completely struck out this year). From what we read about Silent Night, Bloody Night, it was supposed to be a pretty good little holiday horror flick -- a forgotten horror gem is what many said on the various ‘buy it here’ websites -- one that had a impenetrable mystery and creepy vide throughout. Both terms were pretty accurate, and could honestly have made for a great viewing if it weren’t for the ridiculous plot twist at the end, and the expressionless voicing of the lines by several of the actors.

Silent Night, Bloody Night is the tale of a house that has a dark past, one whose mysterious owner wants to sell to the town officials so they can finally wipe the landscape clear of the horrid structure. The owner’s name is Jeffery Butler. He is the grandson of a man who was burned to death many years earlier after returning to the house after an odd absence that no one fully understood. Having never actually seen the house, and not really wanting anything to do with it it, Jeffery sends a lawyer to sell the place on his behalf, his asking price incredibly low so that the town will hopefully take it without much thought. Even with the low price, however, the town officials hesitate, a strange unspoken concern about the place obviously present within them. Waiting for their reply the lawyer and his girlfriend go stay at the house, their lives quickly cut short by an ax carrying stranger who was already within the house. After that the town officials are lured to the house one by one by a mysterious caller from within, one who seems to want vengeance on these officials, the motive unknown. For some reason Jeffery also decides to head to the house despite his desire to sell it through a lawyer. Hooked up with a girl whose house he pretty much walked into, the two start to investigate the strange events taking place at the house, the reasons behind them quickly coming to light as Jeffery reads the diary of his grandfather. With that everything comes together and the final bit of horror is unleashed.

Ridiculous plot twist and expressionless acting aside, the movie did have a creepy unsettling vibe running throughout it. Sadly this wasn’t enough to make the movie a worthwhile viewing. It was just too slow, and watching the actors go through their lines made it feel like one was viewing a simple read through of the script rather than the final product. Seriously, there was no expression whatsoever when it came to the dialogue between the characters. Everyone just talked at each other while staring straight ahead, which, while creepy, was also annoying. Another creepy, yet annoying feature was what my brother called the ‘wax museum’ scenes. These moments were found throughout the film and featured actors who didn’t move at all, almost as if the audience was looking at a photograph rather than actual film. Now, I’ve heard some reviewers compliment his because it added a level of madness to the people, one that went well with the twist in the story. To me, though, the twist was so ridiculous and unbelievable, that it made those ‘wax museum’ scenes pointless. In the end this is a movie I would only recommend to those who want to see everything that is out there in terms of holiday horror, one that I hope they won’t spend too much money on because it most likely won’t be something that will be watched over and over again.

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

2011-12-22T07:21:00.003-06:00

Ever since reading I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson I have always wanted to see what it looked like on screen. This desire comes from my love of apocalyptic films, especially those that show someone living in an empty world. I have no idea why such images intrigue me, but they do. I also know I’m not alone in this. A part of me would love to live in such a world to, though not for the long term. It’s more of a ‘try it out’ thing just to see what it would be like. Same thing with living on a deserted island like Tom Hanks in Castaway, just, um, come and get me after a couple months please. Anyway, back then I had no idea film adaptations had already been created, the use of search engines like Google still a thing of the future. I then pushed the book to the back of my mind as other books filled my head, my mind not really thinking about it in any detail until the 2007 Will Smith I Am Legend movie came out. At first I enjoyed the film, but then, once the cgi vampires / zombies appeared I shook my head. The change to the story and why he was considered a legend also irritated me.

Several years passed and I read the book again, my familiarity with the story having faded to the point where it felt fresh during the second experience. Afterward I wrote about the book on this webpage and voiced my thoughts about the 2007 movie. Well, what do you know, some of my wonderful readers informed me that a few adaptations had been made, ones that stayed a bit truer to the book. The Last Man on Earth released in 1964 and starring Vincent Price was the one I sought out. Eventually I will also grab a copy of The Omega Man, which many said it loosely based on the book, but that will be a future viewing and post.

At this moment in time, since I don’t have the Internet at home and can’t go in search of the answer, I have no idea why the film didn’t use the I Am Legend title, but feel using The Last Man on Earth worked just as well given the subject matter. Does anyone know the answer to this? Was there even a reason? If I were to speculate on this based on what I saw during the opening credits, it didn’t seem like the film made a big push to show audiences what the storyline source material was. In fact, looking at the credits, it seems the filmmakers made the statement about the film being based on the novel needlessly small, especially when compared to the other credits. I have no idea if this really means anything, but if so it would be interesting to know.

The movie itself was pretty faithful to the book and seemed to follow the narrative flow of the source material really well -- up until the ending where things were changed up slightly. For those who are unfamiliar with the storyline, the book and this movie are about a man who lives in world where the population has been destroyed by a virus, a vampire virus. Our main character, Robert Neville (book), Robert Morgan (movie) is immune from the virus, his theory being that a bite from a vampire bat in South America having caused this. No one else is, that he knows of, and slowly but surely everyone is wiped out, their bodies systematically destroyed in a giant burning pit by the authorities due to the fear that they will rise up after death. Robert doesn’t believe in the rising up part until his wife, who he buries illegally, comes back to be with him. After that he knows the importance of destroyed the bodies of the dead, and continues the process long after civilization has fallen. Being a scientist he also tries to find a cure for the vampire virus, one that he might be able to use on the infected who torment him nightly so that he will no longer be the last man on earth. Such a discovery is his only real reason for living. Will he be successful?

For the most part I enjoyed the movie The Last Man on Earth up until the ending which somehow felt rushed yet dragged out. In the book there was a nice flow and balance to everything, but with the movie the people who want to kill him appear suddenly and you get the sense that the spy sent in to learn about him served no purpose whatsoever since they were going to attack that night anyway. In the book the spy was there to learn about him and eventually report back. That was the rushed part. The chase then dragged on and on, but maybe this is because I knew how it was going to end. Another aspect that kind of left me hanging was the vampires themselves. They didn’t seem all that menacing in the film, their bodies incredibly slow and unable to do much. Because of this Robert didn’t need to do that much to secure his house, a few boards over the windows, a single board across the door, some garlic and a mirror. In the book his work to protect the house, and his generator, seemed much more impressive and necessary. I also was disappointed that the use of the stopped watch never played role. That was one of the best parts of the book, in my opinion, but it was dropped from the movie. Even with these disappointments the movie was still good, especially if one was looking for a pretty faithful adaptation from the book.

Scraping the Bone: Ten Dark Tales - Now Available

2011-12-21T11:27:00.004-06:00

My short story collection Scraping the Bone: Ten Dark Tales is now available as Amazon Kindle Ebook. Priced at only $0.99, this would be a perfect introduction to the types of fiction I write. Everything from ghosts, to serial killers, to zombies can be found within, along with several little unclassifiable oddities. Included in that bunch is a story titled "Sunburn" that actually caused some drama in a creative writing group I used to read stories too. Never before had I realized how upset some people could become from the descriptions I penned. I also never dreamed that a fellow writer would try to get restrictions put in place on what I was allowed to read to the group. Thankfully they were overruled by the rest of the group. Other tales included "Red Pickup" which was my first ever published story, "Jacob's Gift" which may spawn a series, and "Code Blue" which fictionalized some of my experiences living with Crohn's Disease and a wife waiting for a lung transplant.

House on Haunted Hill (1959)

2011-12-19T10:20:00.003-06:00

Okay, I’ll admit it; this movie scared me when I was younger. I don’t remember exactly how old I was when I saw it, but do remember getting a chill while viewing it in my parent’s bedroom with my mom (anyone familiar with this blog will know that several of my first horror movie experiences occurred in that bedroom due to my dad laying claim to the house’s main TV). I think it was the black and white haunted house atmosphere that got me, along with the knowledge that it was a “horror movie” we were watching. Such elements had the ability to terrify me back then. Watching it during October as Halloween drew near also played a part. I don’t know why, but back then the Halloween season always seemed creepy to me, and added a level of terror to the things I watched. Of course this isn’t to say I didn’t get a chuckle or two out of the film. To this day I can still hear my mother and me laughing at how ridiculous the witch lady in the basement looked as she supposedly floated across the floor while locked in an angry snarl, both of us knowing she was simply rolled or pulled across the floor by the movie people. Terror, however, was the dominating emotion when viewing the film and thus is one of the reasons I look upon the movie with such fondness as an adult.

House on Haunted Hill, directed by William Castle, is the story of five strangers who are invited to stay overnight in a supposedly haunted house by millionaire Fredrick Loren and his wife Annabelle. Played by Vincent Price, Frederick Loren is the perfect host for such a party -- rich and eccentric -- but any sense of control one would project into him over the situation is quickly dismissed as the evening hours settle in. Watson Pritchard, owner of the house, is certain that the ghosts are on the hunt and that they have chosen one of the guests, Nora Manning, to join them. Ruth Bridgers, a newspaper writer, has also been marked by the ghosts, blood having fallen on her from the continuously dripping stain that appears in a hallway. It is Nora, however, who seems to be the main focus, first while in cellar, and then in her room. In the first incident a witch like figure appears to her in a doorway and then again floating right next to her. In the second incident the decapitated head of a past victim of the house is found in her room. Naturally it disappears before anyone else can see it. Not long after that Annabelle is found hanging in the stairway. Thinking a murderer is amongst them, the guests all agree to stay in their own rooms with the guns provided them by Fredrick and Annabelle. Once again Nora is targeted, this time by the ghost of Annabelle who appears outside her window, the rope she was hanging from slowly slithering into the room. This incident pushes the fragile young woman over the edge and she hurries from the room and goes into the cellar, a location where the final showdown between the evil within the house and some of the guests unfolds.

As an adult I laugh frequently when watching this film, and never experience any terror or chills, yet still enjoy my viewings of it. Nostalgia plays a big part in this, as does the terror it once created. I also love Vincent Price. I’m not sure what it is about him but his appearance on screen always keeps me in a chair, my eyes glued to the screen. It doesn’t matter how silly or ridiculous the role or movie, I will watch it and like it. The same is true of William Castle films. The history of his career as a director is great. All the gimmicks he played on audiences, and the way he advertised his films fascinates me. The fact that he was also a pretty good filmmaker adds to the enjoyment. Sure, the movies are often severely dated, both in storyline and special effects, but they have a sense of flow that engages the mind. The overly elaborate scenarios that are featured in many of his films, House on Haunted Hill being an example, add to the fun. I mean, seriously, a house that locks itself down every night that also just happens to have a huge acid pit in the cellar? And how about the skeleton that sports an acid proof wire that can only be seen clearly after the drama has concluded or the rope that comes into the window to wrap around Nora’s legs that is proven to be non-supernatural once the story unfolds? Stuff like this would never happen or work in a real life, yet for me, doesn’t mare the film at all despite how critical I am of such unrealistic events in most films.

Amazon Kindle And The Estimated Print Length of Ebooks

2011-12-19T10:19:00.002-06:00

I have no idea how long Amazon has been posting an estimated print length for the books that are only available as Kindle downloads, but noticed that my novel JIMMY is now displaying a print length on its page. Not TEXT MESSAGE though. Having seen this I’m curious how Amazon goes about making this estimate. My guess is that they base it on 300 words per page standard since JIMMY was just shy of 90,000 words. If so that would mean the estimated print length of TEXT MESSAGE should be somewhere around 350 pages given that is word count was about 106,000 and that SCRAPING THE BONE (being released this Wednesday) would be at 66 pages given its word count of 20,000.

Now for those of you who are curious the manuscript page numbers for these novels were as follows: JIMMY - 444, TEXT MESSAGE - 565, and SCRAPING THE BONE - 104. Also the page number total that seems to be most agreed upon these days by publishers when labeling something as a novel seems to 80,000 words. Anything below that is often considered a short novel, though this isn’t always the case and can vary from publisher to publisher. The original length of JIMMY when I submitted it to Dorchester Publishing in 2009 was somewhere around 70,000. In the summer of 2010 Dorchester’s Editor Don D’Auria wrote back asking for rewrites and a word count increase so that the novel would be at least 80,000 words. Obviously I went over this word count goal because there were some parts of the story that really blossomed during the rewrite, most specifically the drama between the Tina character and her mother, and some of the escape attempts that one kidnapped character engages in. On the flipside of this I have heard some first time novelists who were asked to cut down their novels so that they were below 100,000 words, the reason often being due to the shelf space the novel would be given at the bookstores. Simply, if the novel was too big it will be given less shelf space because each copy would take up more space. The opposite fear is true when a novel is too small because its narrow spine might not be as easily seen by customers (I read that this was one of the reasons Clive Barker’s Books of Blood was originally released in thee volumes all at once rather than each volume separately, so that it would be given the perfect amount of space on the shelf). None of this marketing strategy really applies to Amazon Kindle books, however, because there seems to be an unlimited amount of space for such items.

Personally, I think it’s good that Amazon is putting up these estimated print lengths because, given some of the customer feedback I have seen on other titles, I don’t think people really are really paying attention to the file size that is displayed. Several times I have seen people voice a complaint at how short a story was, which means they didn’t realize they were buying a short story or novella despite being able to see the file size of the item being purchased. Now I just wish those estimates could come in right away on things. For instance, when uploading a novel or collection or short story to the Amazon, Kindle authors should either have to put in a word count into the form or Amazon should count it themselves so that it is there from the beginning. This way, when buying a short novel that is priced the same as a full length novel people might not feel like they were misled into thinking it was a longer piece of fiction. With my work one of the ways I was going to combat this was with a difference in price. Novels would always be priced higher than collections and novellas, the latter two being priced on their length. I also would have a standard that said any of my novels that was over 80,000 words would automatically fall into the 2.99 to 4.99 price range (I’m starting this after Christmas for JIMMY and TEXT MESSAGE) and that novellas in the 50,000 to 80,000 range would be 1.99 to 2.99 (depending on what I eventually do set the novels at), and anything below that would be 0.99 to 1.99 (again depending on what the novellas are at). To me this sees fair. I would hate for someone to have to pay the same price on SCRAPING THE BONE that they pay on JIMMY or TEXT MESSAGE even if the price is still lower than what retailers would be charging. It just doesn’t seem right to me.

TEXT MESSAGE - The Blizzard -- I’m Not a Very Good Weatherman

2011-12-17T08:08:00.001-06:00

Anyone who has read my new novel TEXT MESSAGE might realize that it kind of takes place today (December 17, 2011). I say ‘kind of’ because no date is ever really mentioned in the novel (at least I don’t think one is -- sometimes writers grow fuzzy on their own works despite how recently it was written), but it is noted several times that it takes place during the last shopping weekend before Christmas. Helping to triangulate the date is the mention of an epic February blizzard that the Chicago area saw earlier that year, and the inner thoughts of a character who is hoping that the speculation that the world will end the following year comes true. Also, while writing it earlier this year, I pretty much always visualized this weekend as being the date for the novel, though for some reason I never really realized that I was incorrect in marking it as the final shopping weekend before Christmas, not if one considered Christmas Eve, which falls on a Saturday this year, as a shopping day. Personally, I don’t (Christmas Eve if for family gatherings in my book), which is why it never occurred to me. Anyway, none of this really explains why I claim myself to be a terrible weatherman. The reason for this is simple: during the novel TEXT MESSAGE the Chicago area gets hit by a record breaking blizzard, one which pretty much shuts down the fictional mall that the novel takes place in. Those living in the Chicago area for real, however, will notice that we didn’t get any snow today, nor have we gotten any significant snowfall at all during this new winter season despite the promise from the weather people that this would be one of our snowiest years ever. Oops. Such is one of the risks of setting a novel in the near future, especially when the weather plays a part -- not a huge part, but still a significant enough part that it affects the characters, and shapes certain elements within the novel. Hopefully readers will forgive my inability to clearly see the weather of the future. If not, I promise to try harder next time. I have several books on the occult that I’m sure will help me get a better idea of what the weather will be like for the characters within my story, as well as any really big news stories that may be talked about amongst the characters. Also, having to see into the future won’t be an issue for the next book because it takes place during the late summer and early fall of 2011 -- in the DeKalb area actually, which, readers may note, had somewhat of a significant roll in TEXT MESSAGE. Not that the novels are connected in a ‘read this one and then that one’ way, just in a ‘characters from that novel were from this area and mentioned some of the events that are talked about now’ way. As a reader I used to always love it when authors did such things, so it is only natural that similar things happen within my different pieces of fiction.

UPDATE: Well, I wrote this piece yesterday and set it to post today -- no Internet at home so I sometimes schedule things to update a day or two in advance if the posts are ready. At the time of writing this there was absolutely no snow forecasted for the Chicago area (that I know of). In fact, I was joking around with a friend last night who read TEXT MESSAGE a few weeks ago about the lack of snow. His answer to it was: what if it does snow, wouldn’t that be spooky. Well, sure enough, the land was all white upon my waking this morning. How crazy is that? Now the question is will a freak blizzard hit later today?

One Cover, Two Books?

2011-12-16T10:37:00.001-06:00

Readers of this blog might recall a post I made a while back that featured my thoughts on a book I had just finished titled Garden of Evil by Edmund Plante. At various points within the ‘review’ I posted a question / speculation on whether or not the book was actually a sequel to the book noted on the cover, one that bore the title Seed of Evil. The reason for this was twofold. First, I felt like something was missing within the story, something that was hinted at within the prologue and various back-story segments, but not really displayed in detail. Second, having noted that I felt something was missing, I thought about the title Seed of Evil being promoted on the cover, and, given that it had obviously come before Garden of Evil, theorized that it might have told a story that was further played out in Garden of Evil. Seemingly cementing this theory was the sharing of a link by Will Errickson from the Too Much Horror Fiction site that listed the two books as being the first and second within a two volume series. Now, however, having just gotten the book in the mail, I’m pretty certain that listing the books like this was a mistake by whoever added the listings to that website. Nothing about the detailed description on the back leads me to think the two books are connected. Instead it just looks like they each tell separate stories, the only connection being the link one could mistakenly create given the similar titles and idea that the word ‘Seed’ could easily be a precursor to the word ‘Garden’. Not that I’m disappointed by this; Seed of Evil sounds pretty good, better than Garden of Evil, actually. Speculating on this before reading the book is not my reason for posting though. Instead it was my viewing of the cover. Anyone recognize it? A few weeks ago I posted an entry on this blog titled Surprise - Six Horror Paperbacks. Garden of Evil was one of those six books. Another was one called Deadly Friend by Keith Ferrario. Both were published by Dorchester; Seed of Evil bearing their Leisure imprint, and Deadly Friend bearing the name Book Margins, Inc, which, I’m guessing was either an imprint of Dorchester or a paperback house that leased titles from them. Both also, I believe, shared the same cover artist. Now the question is, did any other books from this company get dressed with this cover? Also, will the cover image actually play a part in both these novels, or was it more a case of ‘we need a horror cover and since people love creepy kids let’s use this?’ Each book does hint at the possibility of an evil child. Descriptions can be misleading, though (remember my post on Daddy’s Little Girl by Daniel Ransom), so only reading the books themselves will answer the question.

The School by Ed Kelleher & Harriette Vidal

2011-12-13T11:41:00.003-06:00

Have you ever started reading a book that was incredibly exciting, the story completely engaging you as the first hundred pages flew by, only to have it dry out and wither during the second half, your mind forced to continue out of sheer determination to finish rather than a desire to see what eventually unfolds? This pretty much sums up what happened to me with The School. I don’t know why, but the first half of the book absorbed me completely, my fascination with the strange school and the characters that were enrolled within pushing me forward. I enjoyed just about everything that unfolded during that part, the only exception being the seemingly insatiable drug and alcohol use by the girls at the Hanley School. Now, I am not ignorant to the fact that drug and alcohol use occurs with minors, and that no school, no matter how strict or how prominent, will have issues with such things, but to have just about every student consuming such things repeatedly . . . well that just didn’t ring true to me. At first, however, I was able to let this slide, my mind thinking the authors, like most adults looking at the latest generation of kids, probably read too much into the sensationalized incidents of such things that plague the media. But then the drug and alcohol use started to increase, the justification being that the evil school was driving the students to behave this way. Again, I could understand this. What I couldn’t understand was the need to beat the drug and alcohol use into the reader. Every couple of pages we were again brought into a scene where some of the female girls were mixing drinks, snorting cocaine, smoking ‘marijuana cigarettes’, or popping Quaaludes. Sometimes everything was mixed together too. It just got so old, and every time a scene like this began to unfold I wanted to reach across space and time to the authors as they worked on the manuscript and say, “Okay, I get it, the evil school has taken whatever addiction the girls suffer, or whatever fear they harbor, or whatever odd sexual tendency they have, and increased it to the breaking point, but instead of focusing on that over and over again can we get a layered reasoning of why the school is doing this?”

Reasoning did come eventually, but it was so cliché and so sudden, that it wasn’t worth the continued buildup that was seen in the ever increasing delinquent behavior of the students. Also unnecessary was the gradual shift of the drama teacher from a conservative and always modestly dressed young lady to sex crazed hooker-dressed individual. The explanation for this was that she had been chosen as the future caretaker of the Hanley School by the current Satan worshipping caretakers, both of whom knew the school had been built on ground chosen by Satan. Why Satan would chose a New England setting when for most of human history the area was unpopulated and therefore free of the mental destruction and blood it always craved was a mystery that went without explanation. Also unclear was why the story kept pointing toward a climax that would occur during the school play, one that had been written in 1931 by a student named Lisa King who then went on to murder the headmaster and the two students he was sleeping with after its opening night. All through the book it felt as if everything was pointing toward the opening night, and something that would occur with the leading lady who was also the main character of the story. But then, without warning, the drama teacher was brought down and forced to perform a sexual satanic ceremony that made her the new caretaker of the school the night before the play. Disgusted with herself, she jumped from the top of the school, at which point the leading lady, Vanessa, became Lisa King and went and killed the headmaster and the two girls he was sleeping with, just like Lisa King had done in the prologue. It was then told to readers that the drama teacher had been the chosen one, but that Vanessa had saved the day at the last minute by taking on the role of Lisa King and serving up the required blood. WHAT? If the drama teacher had been the chosen one all along then why was Vanessa seeing things all throughout the semester and always encouraged by her boyfriend Dennis (also a member of the satanic group) to stay until opening night? And why was opening night so important if everything was going to happen the day before. Had some odd and unforeseen circumstances forced the ceremony to be a day early then I would have accepted this, but in the eyes of the caretakers it appeared as if this was how everything had been planned out from the beginning.

All in all, despite how enjoyable and intriguing the first hundred pages were, this was not a very good read and one that I wouldn’t really recommend. It just wasn’t structured well, the misguided focus on the drug and alcohol use being at fault, as well as the sudden and out of place ending that occurred. The worst part of all, however, was how much potential there was within this novel. All the elements were there for a fantastic little horror story, but never got used, or, at least, they weren’t used properly. Of course my thoughts on the matter might not be shared with the majority out there, and I respect that. If anyone enjoyed this novel I would love to hear from them. Also, are their any novels by these two authors that you would recommend to me? I rarely ever give up on reading an author after just one book, and would love to hear some suggestions. If not I will probably just go with Madonna or The Breeder given that those are the only two titles I saw mentioned on the cover of The School.

Scraping the Bone - Coming Soon!

2011-12-11T15:40:00.006-06:00

Scraping the Bone - Ten Dark Tales. My first short story collection will be released shortly before Christmas as an Amazon Kindle Book. I don't have the exact date yet since I'm still awaiting word from my editor, but rest be assured it will be ready soon. The stories chosen for the collection span my entire writing career; the earliest story being my first ever published piece "Red Pickup" which was written in 2002 and appeared in Black Petals Magazine in 2003, the latest being "The Other Side" which sees publication for the first time.

More information, including pricing, will follow. Also, for those interested, my next novel will be titled Nikki's Secret, and should hopefully be ready for publication this spring.

As always, special thanks to the artist Eric Kiszenia of Phobic Photography Creations for creating such a beautiful cover. His work on this and on Text Message is simply spectacular.

Garden of Evil by Edmund Plante

2011-12-10T10:12:00.000-06:00

The seeds had been planted - the harvest would be hell. Seeing the cover and reading this blurb I couldn’t wait to get started on this 1988 novel by Edmund Plante. The description on the back only added to my excitement. An innocent nine year old and her family, a huge seventeen century house, black magic, evil seeds, and a garden of terror -- how could someone like me pass this up? Finding old out of print horror paperbacks like this is what I live for, not because I’m a collector of books (though I do display them), but because I love getting beneath the surface of what the bookstores and publishers tell us to buy. Sure, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Dan Simmons, Clive Barker, F. Paul Wilson, and Brian Lumley (to name a handful of bookstore regulars) are great, and I’ll pretty much gobble up everything they ever write, but it isn’t all that’s out there. For every bestselling title there are hundreds of other lesser known works, some of which are good, some of which are bad, all of which help make up the genre we love. It’s only right that each is given a fair chance by a reader like me. Plus discovering an amazing author that never really got discovered by the public at large yet published dozens of books during their career as a mid-list writer is always fun. It also makes one often wonder how, when the writing is so well done, could an author go unnoticed while others reach celebrity status?

Now I know what you’re probably asking: is Edmund Plante such a great storyteller that he should be ranked amongst the greats I named above? My answer: I don’t know. One book isn’t enough to decide this in my opinion. What I do know is the book kept me entertained throughout and therefore Edmund Plante is an author I would like to read more of. I’m also curious to know if this book was connected to the other advertised title Seed of Evil or was it a stand alone story? Either way I will be taking a look at Seed of Evil as soon as I can get my hands on it, which, naturally, means I will once again be at the mercy of my mailman. Tormenting me without book deliveries is his specialty, but I won’t get into that now. Instead let’s take a little look at Garden of Evil.

Molly Ludden is a smart, but quiet, nine year old, her deafness making her shy due to the cruel jokes fellow school children make at her expense -- jokes that she can’t hear with her ears, but can read upon their lips with her eyes. Actually, Molly is so good at reading lips that her mother, Lana Ludden, often has to look around just to make sure Molly isn’t watching if she ever wants to communicate something in private to her husband Steve. Happy and successful, the family enjoys their life together until one fateful day when Steve learns from his estranged sister Shelly that their mother is dying. Knowing he needs to be at her side for this, Steve takes the family to his childhood home. There his mother informs him that she is leaving the house to both her children, a decision that causes turmoil because Lana and Shelly get in a pissing match over the place. Had it just been Steve he would have sold his half to Shelly without any questions, his hated of the house, and the long commute from it to the restaurant he owns, making the decision a no brainer. Lana wants it, however, and, wanting to make her happy, Steve agrees to stay. In the midst of all this Molly has planted four gardens from a box of odd seeds she discovered in the basement. Unfortunately Molly doesn’t realize the horror she and her family will face because of this. The first victim is her cat, but it won’t be the last. An evil greater than anything nature could ever create was lying dormant within those seeds and now that it is free it will do everything within its power to survive.

A fast and easy read, Garden of Evil by Edmund Plante is a novel I would recommend to horror fans, though only to the type who don’t require a full and detailed explanation for why certain things happen. The reason I say this is because several little things occur with the various flowers that seem important at the time, but then just kind of get left behind once the final horror of the garden is revealed. With that final horror there is a brief explanation as to why everything was happening, but it still left several questions unanswered. For instance why did ravenous maggot-like insects appear in one garden? Why did the overwhelming aroma from another garden’s flowers cause some people to hallucinate that they were being killed? Why and how did a plant subdue a person enough to suck blood from their face? Why did some flowers grant wishes at night? And why, by god, did each garden grow at a different time, almost as if each one was a step toward the final garden unleashing its ultimate horror? If there was a reason for this I would have liked to have known what it was, because without an explanation, or a real solid connection, it kind of felt like a cheap filler to beef up the total page number of the novel. Like I said, though, it was still entertaining. It also kept me guessing. For those that can’t enjoy something that doesn’t have a full explanation, however, this probably wouldn’t be a good choice. Last but not least, if you don’t like a book that depicts a seemingly smart woman making really stupid decisions that puts her family in jeopardy -- even after realizing something horrible and unexplainable is going on -- then this wouldn’t be a good selection. At one point I actually tossed the book onto the coffee table in disgust because of this woman, the words what an idiot leaving my lips.

Oh, one last thing before I close. Does anyone know if the novel Seed of Evil is some sort of prequel to this book, or if the two are connected in anyway? Nothing on or in this edition of the book suggests that, but given the two titles, and the sense that there could have been a bigger back story to the evil, I feel the possibility of this being the case is pretty strong. If so this wouldn’t be the first time a publisher has failed to note this with books I have read despite the greater level of understanding that would have been had if the books were read in the correct order. Any insight into this would be much appreciated.

TEXT MESSAGE - Book Cover Changes

2011-12-09T13:19:00.010-06:00

The other day my book cover artist, Eric Kiszenia, made some small changes to the TEXT MESSAGE cover. These changes came about as I was discussing ideas with him via Facebook on what the cover of my newest writing project SCRAPING THE BONE would look like. Together we decided the title of TEXT MESSAGE and my name needed to be closer together. He also went ahead and made both bigger in size and added some white beneath the letters of TEXT MESSAGE to make it look like the title was being projected outward a bit. All in all I think the changes look really good and hopefully will be a bit more eye catching as readers browse the Amazon horror and suspense sections. Of course this isn't to say I was unhappy with the original cover -- I was actually blown away with how good it was when the first draft was sent to me back in November -- but the more I looked at it the more I felt something was a bit off. Now, I don't feel that way. It looks perfect to me. What do you all think?

OLD COVER NEW COVER

Now, for anyone that is interested in TEXT MESSAGE it is the tale of a girl named Mallory who goes to a Chicago area mall with her little sister a few days before Christmas for some last minute boyfriend shopping. Not long into the shopping Mallory gets a text from her little sisters phone that reads: I HAVE YOUR SISTER. DO EXACTLY AS I SAY OR I’LL KILL HER. After that Mallory must do everything within her power to find her sister, a task that grows more and more dangerous as the day turns to night and the mall's closing time gets closer and closer. The question is will the "game" continue after the mall shuts down and if so how will Mallory go about being unnoticed by security as she attempts to hide herself within?