Author Archives: gwendolynkiste

Strange Musings: Interview with Giovanni Valentino

Last week, I wrote about my short story, “Lemonade Séance.” This week, I would like to introduce the editor of the Hysterical Realms anthology, Giovanni Valentino. Giovanni is the founder of Strange Musings Press, which produces a series that spotlights humorous speculative fiction. Between fielding submissions for his latest anthology, Weirder Science, he was kind enough to answer a few questions about what it’s like to balance roles as an editor and a writer and how he got into this crazy literary world in the first place.

A few icebreakers to start: when did you first decide to become a writer?

I guess I’ve always wanted to be a writer but I was held back by my dyslexia. It’s hard to get your vision down on the page when you can’t write a simple note. Now with modern medicine and the wonders of technology, I can express myself in words and get my grand visions into print.

One of the meds I take for depression has the strange side effect of lessening the symptoms of my learning disability. Spell checker helps a little; strangely enough Google is a better spell checker than Microsoft Word. The Microsoft Office function of Speak, which reads your words back to you, helps tremendously. I can’t see the mistakes on the page but I can hear them. Of course, it doesn’t help with homophones, here or hear.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

All the greats in humorous speculative fiction, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and Robert Asprin.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy changed my life. It was great to know that I wasn’t the only one that saw the world in an off kilter way like that. So Don’t Panic and Always remember your Towel.

You’ve written a combination of memoir and genre fiction. How is your process different for each (or do you approach all your writing in a similar way)?

The memoir process is easier in some ways and harder in others. I don’t have to craft things like worlds or characters in memoir pieces but I do have to build a believable narrative. With memoir, that sometimes involves adding things that didn’t really happen or that you’re guessing about to connect up scenes. Sometimes, you have to drop things from the story because life doesn’t happen at a well-timed pace. If it isn’t important to the story you’re telling or it’s breaking the story stride, you might need to leave it out to help things along.

The other thing with memoir is sometimes you’re tempted to leave things out. Some things are too painful to revisit or don’t paint you in the best light. It might be better for you to exclude it but not better for the story. When I wrote “Sometimes, It’s OK to be Nice to People,” a story about my relationship with my grandmother, I struggled over whether I should include a domestic violence scene between my grandfather and myself. I didn’t want to deal with the pain of it but it was important to the story. As I edited the piece, my wife told me she could tell every time I hit that scene. I’d choke up.

How does being an editor affect your writing and vice versa?

One thing about being an editor that helps your writing is you get to see other people make the same mistakes you make in your writing. It’s easier to see these bad habits clearly not working in other people’s stories. You’re not invested in their story like you are invested in yours.

One thing that being a writer and an editor can help with is understanding the process. I am very good at writing a query letter or cover letter because I’ve seen so many of them, both good and bad. Also, I have a better handle on talking with editors because I understand what they go through.

Have you ever considered giving up one to pursue the other full-time, or do you enjoy them both equally?

I like both equally but I’d give up editing in a second to be a full-time writer with a successful epic fantasy series or best-selling humorous science fiction series.

What is it about humorous fantasy and science fiction that made you want to launch the Alternate Hilarities series?

It was my love for the great humorous, speculative fiction authors that led me down this path. I didn’t want to wait for their next book. I wanted more now. Alternate Hilarities was originally a small press fanzine in the 90s. I produced 6 issues. I gave up after that because printing costs were too high back then and I was losing money.

A few years ago, I was researching self-publishing for a friend. She’d just sold a romance novel to an ePublisher. They didn’t do print editions but they let the author retain the print rights. Between ePublishing in general and the amazing invention of print on demand, self-publishing is very affordable now especially if you can do some of the work yourself. I can’t line edit because of the dyslexia but I can typeset the print edition and eBook. After I helped my friend get her print edition out, I brought Alternate Hilarities back to life.

If forced to choose, which part of the writing process is your favorite: developing characters, plotting the story arc, or establishing setting?

Plotting. It’s what I am best at and I can do it while I’m running. I’ve crafted some complex story lines on a treadmill or running around a track.

I also have strange, heavily detailed dreams. Sometimes, I wake in the morning with a full novel outline in my head. Not all of them are publishable but I can always get a few bits and pieces out of them.

Honestly, I have more novel outlines than I’ll ever have time to write.

Out of your published pieces so far, do you have a personal favorite?

“Mystical Redemption,” which ran on Sorcerous Signals web site in the May 2014 issue as well as the May 2014 print issue of Mystic Signals. I also reran it in Alternate Hilarities 3: Hysterical Realms.

Not only do I think it’s one of my funnier stories but it was the first story I ever wrote for a market. I needed a funny fantasy story for a call to submissions and I racked my brain for an idea. I was watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer at the time and it was the season where Giles ran the magic shop. The shop sold real magic for practitioners and for the tourists. I started thinking about my own experiences in retail and wondering what could go wrong in that situation. My first thought was coupons.

In “Mystical Redemption,” a down-on-his-luck wizard running a similar type of shop runs a coupon in the paper for a “Free Reading”. The ad salesman tries to punch it up by changing it to “Free Summoning”. The troubles starts when another wizard comes in to redeem that coupon.

Any links you’d like to share?

If there is one real life issue I would like to help eliminate, it would be domestic violence. There are some great causes out there to help victims of domestic violence like Vera House. They need your support.

Thanks so much to Giovanni Valentino for being part of this week’s spotlight. Be sure to check out the Strange Musings Press website which features bios and interviews with many more authors!

Happy reading!

Speculative Superstar: Interview with K.Z. Morano

Welcome to this week’s Author Spotlight! Today, I am thrilled to present the talented K.Z. Morano. Ms. Morano is a speculative fiction writer whose fantasy, science fiction, and horror stories have been widely anthologized. Her book, 100 Nightmares, features–you guessed it–100 microfiction stories based on her own bad dreams. This is one writer who’s driven, prolific, and ready to take on the world. In between writing her super cool fiction, she was kind enough to answer some of my questions about how she became an author and where she plans to go from here.

A few icebreakers to start: when did you first decide to become a writer, and who are some of your favorite authors?

I used to work as a ghost writer. I used to write articles about fashion, beauty, health, and other lifestyle topics. Seeing my work out there with other people’s names and bios attached to them kind of made me sad and then I told myself that someday, I’m going to get my work and my name out there. And then I started a blog, The Eclectic Eccentric. It was meant to be a fashion blog, really. But then it ended up being something else. I posted everything there—photography, poetry, haiku, anything that I felt like publishing. That was when I encountered writing prompts.

The photo prompts got me started. It’s easy for me to find inspiration in photographs. I started writing fiction and shared my stories on my blog. I started getting some positive comments from readers and blog followers. The support that I received urged me to keep writing. They told me to send my stories to a publisher or to a magazine and so I did.

I’m an eclectic reader and my list of favorite authors ranges from Clive Barker to Jane Austen. My favorite horror authors are H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, and Neil Gaiman. I love authors like Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. Le Guin, and F. Scott Fitzgerald and their readgasm-inducing prose.

What drew you to speculative fiction, and do you often find inspiration in sources beyond literature (e.g. film, television, or art)?

I’ve always been a bibliophile—ever since I was a little girl. My nose was almost always buried in books. When I was younger, I used to read a lot of romance novels and when I say a lot I mean boxes and boxes of them! I also read a lot of whodunits by Agatha Christie. Apart from horror, fantasy is also one of my favorite genres. Speculative fiction not just provided me with an escape from the mundane aspects of life. It also provided me with a way to see the world through a different pair of eyes.

I find inspiration in everything. Most of my writing inspirations come from everyday life. I could be doing something utterly boring or something totally exciting and then the idea will just hit me. One of the stories in my book, 100 Nightmares came to me while I was doing the laundry. That story was aptly titled “Laundry”. LOL

Your book, 100 Nightmares, is a fascinating concept and quite an impressive work in terms of breadth. What was your inspiration behind the book, and what was the most surprising aspect of writing it?

First of all, thank you so much for reading the book. I’m glad you enjoyed it. As for the inspiration, I’ve always loved writing micro-fiction. It’s where and how I started. In fact, my very first published story is a 100-word tale in Popcorn Horror Presents. Popcorn Horror hosted a writing contest, I sent in my very first horror piece, and I ended up being one of the finalists. So my drabble got published in the book.

I used to post a new 100-word story on my blog every single week. I started getting supportive feedback from readers and fellow writers from a group called Friday Fictioneers. The support and even the friendly competition helped a lot. Someone told me to compile a few of my stories and get them out there. So I did. Also, even though my stories have appeared in various anthologies, I wanted to do a solo project.

I had a blast writing 100 Nightmares but that didn’t really come as a surprise. The most surprising thing about it all was the reception. I really had no idea that it would be so well-received. I just wanted my stories to be read and they are! Another pleasurable surprise was the illustrations. I worked with the artists closely but I really had no way of knowing how they were going to interpret my written words and embody them with their art. In the end, all four artists involved did a fantastic job with the drawings.

Micro-fiction is a growing field in genre literature. Why do you think both writers and readers are drawn to these pithy tales?

Because it goes straight for the jugular. It’s not because the readers have short attention spans or because their lifestyles are too busy. It’s more because micro-fiction has this amazing capacity to capture and hold the readers’ attention from beginning to end. With micro-fiction every single word counts. There’s no space for anything unnecessary, no room to bore the reader out of his/her wits. Some people think that micro-fiction has no depth but that isn’t true. When done correctly, it can have everything that a story in a traditional length can possess, even the occasional surprise ending. You think there isn’t going to be a twist. It’s impossible. There are only 10 words left. But at the final sentence, the conclusion is revealed, the entire story changes right in front of your eyes, the blow is delivered, and then you are left utterly horrified.

If forced to choose, which part of the writing process is your favorite: developing characters, crafting dialogue, or establishing mood?

I’d say establishing the mood. The most challenging part in writing micro-fiction is setting the mood and then getting to the point in just a few words. But that’s also the most exciting thing about writing it.

Out of your published pieces so far, do you have a personal favorite?

My personal favorite would be my most recently published piece, “The Ghost in the Freak Machine” in the Undead Legacy anthology. It’s my very first zombie story and it delivers a fresh take on the living dead. It’s violent, it’s hardcore, it’s transgressive, and it’s real. I love it when editors don’t have too many crazy rules on what’s “appropriate” and what’s not.

Big thanks to K.Z. Morano for being part of this week’s author spotlight. Check out her Facebook site as well as her Amazon Author Page.

Happy reading!

Abrielle the Fearsome: Crafting Characters for the Long Haul

Last month, my comedic fantasy story, “Lemonade Séance,” was released in Hysterical Realms, a new anthology from Strange Musings Press. Here’s the quick promotional blurb, which will explain the tale in pithier terms than I otherwise would:

Invoking the powers of hell is never easy, especially for an eight-year-old girl looking for revenge. Fortunately, for Abrielle, she has the perfect secret weapon to court demons from beyond: a fresh pitcher of homemade lemonade. Now if only she can keep her parents from discovering she’s messing with the dark forces again…

The release of “Lemonade Séance” is a bit of a hallmark for my writing career, seeing that it is the first of the Abrielle stories to make its way in the literary world. Who’s Abrielle, you might ask? She’s a pint-sized, hell-raising character I created last fall–almost by accident–and she’s since appeared in three of my stories (technically four, but I’ll explain that in a moment). Although it’s the first to be released, “Lemonade Séance” is chronologically the second Abrielle tale with the first being “Miniature Home,” a darkly funny coming-of-age, complete with thunderbirds, that will make its debut later this month on the newly revamped site and podcast for The Breakroom Stories. The third story is still out in circulation, diligently seeking a home, so I am hoping to have some announcement on that front in the coming months.

Still, as excited as I am about Abrielle now, I never had any intention of creating a character who would make repeated appearances in my fiction. It seemed like a lot of work that could cause potential confusion among readers who were unfamiliar with previous installments. Thus, as a writer, you’re tasked with making something succeed as a standalone piece while simultaneously incorporating elements from previous stories (as well as establishing the groundwork for future tales). If that’s not daunting, especially for a writer who’s only been in the professional short story business for about a year, then nothing is.

But as characters are wont to do, Abrielle forced her way into my life, first appearing in a story I wrote last November. In that yarn, which never quite earned a title, Abrielle was only a supporting character, the niece of the protagonist. Ultimately, the untitled tale simply fell apart, lacking any sense of cohesion and miring itself in too many scenes and too many characters. As a writer, it can be a great disappointment to admit defeat, but when you know a story isn’t working, sometimes the best thing to do is retreat for the moment. Maybe some day I’ll get back to it. Or maybe I won’t. That’s part of the business, albeit one of the more disappointing parts.

However, out of that defeat came Abrielle. She’s a sprightly little thing, undaunted by supernatural forces or her alternatively neglectful and overprotective parents, which means she’s certainly not scared of being born from a story that never went anywhere. I don’t write comedy nearly as often as I’d like to, but Abrielle gives me the inspiration to do it a little more often. I can’t say that I know quite where she’ll take me, but I do know that I’m eager to go along wherever she and her atlatl-toting goblin pet take me.

So after a rocky start, it’s a real honor that Abrielle and her foray, “Lemonade Séance,” found a home in Hysterical Realms. Editor Giovanni Valentino gathered stories from some of the best genre writers out there, including Deborah Walker, Ken MacGregor and Gerri Leen who was featured on my Author Spotlight series last month. Sharing such a storied table of contents is quite an achievement for a pigtailed character who almost never existed in the first place.

Happy reading!

Writer of the Weird: Interview with Nathan Hystad

Nathan Hystad is an author of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and other weird fiction. He and I have been crossing paths, albeit virtually, since last fall when Whispers from the Past: Fright and Fear was released through North 2 South Press. His story, “The Attic,” appears in the horror anthology as does my tale, “Black Door.” But that’s not the only time we’ve shared fiction space. We corresponded after he read one of my stories on Saturday Night Reader, an online magazine where he’s been published multiple times. For anyone who’s had the privilege of reading his work, it’s clear Nathan Hystad is a serious up-and-coming writer, and I was quite excited to talk with him about his craft early last month.

A few icebreakers to start: when did you first decide to become a writer, and who are some of your favorite authors?

I think I have always wanted to be a writer, ever since I was a little kid. I have a box full of stories I wrote when I was 6 or 7 years old. Maybe one day I will share with the world these hilariously awful adventures. My mom was a reader, so I picked up on it at a young age. When I was around 15 or 16 I was introduced to Raymond Feist, and my love for the genre never looked back. These days I would say Robin Hobb and Brandon Sanderson are the two authors I am the most excited to see new books by, if that is an indication of my favorite authors.

Many of your stories have dark elements. What made you want to delve into the world of horror, and how has your perception of the genre evolved as you’ve continued to write?

It’s actually kind of funny. When I was a teenager I had started a few projects and they are long buried, and for the next fifteen years, life got in the way of that dream. It wasn’t until about three years ago that I decided I wanted to give it a go again. I started a fantasy novel…it was horrible. Okay no problem, I thought I would try some short stories to improve and practice. Most of the calls I saw were for horror or science fiction. I tried a couple horror pieces and found myself really enjoying them. I have a tendency to go to that place first when working on a story. I want to be writing and giving myself the creeps as I do it.

My perception has changed a lot. Horror is hard to write because there are only so many themes out there, and you really want to tell a story that hasn’t been told before. So if you are writing a ghost story, you have to ask, what can I do differently? I have had three ‘ghost stories’ published, with two more due out this year and they are all so different than each other. Whether that is from setting, characters, motivation, you just have to have a new take on it each time.

Whispers from the Past As a horror, paranormal, and science fiction writer, do you ever find yourself looking to films or television for inspiration? If so, what movies or series in particular have stayed with you over the years?

I am sure films and TV do influence most authors whether we want them to or not. I will create a character and have a vision of an actor/actress who would play the role. It helps visualize your story and characters as your write them (or they write themselves)

Sometimes I see a great character on a TV show and grab a couple traits that I like for one my stories.

For my short stories, I think, would this make a good Outer Limits episode?

Out of your published works so far, do you have a personal favorite piece?

That’s a tough one. I have a soft spot for most of my stories and I am so happy when any of them find a home out there. My first published piece was “Central Park in the Dark,” and I wrote this after a trip to New York. I loved Central Park and had an idea to write a series of stories set there. Kraxon Magazine picked it up and for a new writer, it was amazing to see something I wrote out there.

Then I got a yes for “A Haunting Past” for an anthology and it has some amazing stories from many great published authors. So to be part of that was so great.

But my favorite piece is coming out this year in The Ghost Papers. (See below)

What upcoming projects are you working on?

I’ve been busy working on year one of a three-year designation program for work. My writing time has been almost nothing, so when I have a chance to spend time on it, I’m working on my novel Sleepy Grove. It started as a short story and I loved the idea and character so much that I wanted to keep it going. Writing a book is so much different than doing shorts, but it’s a very fun challenge. I hope to make enough time to complete the first draft by the end of the year, and with the help of the awesome beta’s I know, I think this book can be something I’ll be proud of for a long time. The short story, which has basically become Chapter One is in the Upcoming Emby Press anthology, The Ghost Papers Vol 1.

Other than that, I’ve started a short story from an idea that my neighbor sparked last summer. She collects storage unit’s contents, kind of like Storage Wars, and she told us she had just found an urn with ashes in it. So that is a story that needs to be written!

Big thanks to Nathan Hystad for being part of this week’s author spotlight! Be sure to check out his blog where he spotlights his writing process as well as cool interviews with other writers. You can also follow him on Twitter at @NathanHystad.

Happy reading!

Genre Warrior: Interview with Ed Grabianowski

This week’s featured author is Ed Grabianowski. Like Lee Forman who I interviewed in March, Ed is a competitor in David Wellington’s Fear Project. And quite a formidable competitor at that. After weeks of writers duking it out, he’s one of the final four left in the competition. Between Fear Project challenges, Ed was kind enough to answer a few of my questions. His responses shine a light on the day-to-day rigmarole of being a writer as well as why it’s such a coveted profession.

A few icebreakers to start: when did you first decide to become a writer, and who are some of your favorite authors?

I remember always enjoying writing as a kid, but as far as a career, I was never sure how you made a living at it. But then I sort of blundered into some newspaper jobs and some freelancing gigs, and I’ve been a professional freelance writer for more than ten years now.

I actually read more fantasy than horror. I’ve been a massive Tolkien fan my entire life. In more contemporary terms, I am a huge fan of Scott Lynch’s Gentlemen Bastards series, and I could talk your ear off about how much I love China Miéville.

I grew up on Stephen King, like a lot of horror writers, and I’ve been on a King kick lately, working my way through some his earlier novels and anthologies. The StephenKingRevisited.com blog got me started down that path. I love Poppy Z. Brite’s early works, and all the pulp greats, Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and I love Leigh Brackett and CL Moore.

How did you get involved in The Fear Project, and what has been the most interesting part of the experience so far?

It turned up in my Twitter feed at some point, then I lost the link and had to track it down. I submitted my entry just before I left for a New Year’s Eve party, right under the deadline. Found out I made the cut a few weeks later.

There are two things I’ve found interesting — one is how incredibly valuable the process of creating and refining a story every weekend has been. Just doing it week in, week out, there’s no time for bullshit. You just write, and then you revise, and then revise some more. The tight word limits have helped there too. You’re just putting that story to the grindstone, making sure every single word is pulling its weight. Which is how all fiction should be, but man, flash fiction really drives the point home. For instance, if this interview was a Fear Project story, I’d definitely go back and fix that mixed metaphor I laid down a few seconds ago.

The other interesting thing is how many of the authors on the Fear Project are becoming friends through social media. We’re competing, but we’ve all been really supportive of each other the whole way. We’ve been concocting rough plans to maybe get together at a convention at some point this year, which would be really cool.

My personal favorite of your pieces for the competition was “Dolls.” It was among the best modern horror stories I’ve read in years. Tell me about the process behind that one.

I’d been reading John J. Adams’ Apocalypse Tryptych, a set of three anthologies he edited featuring stories set before, during, and after the apocalypse. The first book is called The End is Nigh. Anyway, I knew I wanted a type of apocalypse I hadn’t read about before. I had this weird idea that, if you consider all the toy stores, all the warehouses, all the dolls in people’s homes, they probably outnumber humans. Creepy Doll stories are usually personal, claustrophobic stories, so I thought it would be fun to open it up, have them overrun the world.

Most weeks I write two stories for the Fear Project, then see which one is working better (and I’ve ended up using two of the “b-sides” for later changes). But “Dolls” was the only story I wrote that week, and it required the least revising. It just worked for me right out of the gate. I’m glad to hear you liked it so much!

Which Fear Project prompt has been your favorite? Which one was the most challenging?

I definitely enjoyed the apocalypse challenge. Just a big fan of apocalypse stories in general. The “taste of fear” challenge was also a lot of fun, although it was difficult since I was traveling that weekend and didn’t have a lot of time to work on it. But I had so much fun with the Victorian epistolary form and a pretty gross ghoul.

The horror/comedy one was really hard for me. It’s not that I don’t think they belong together, because the contrast can amplify both aspects. But it’s so hard to just sit down and go, “OK, time to be funny.” I’ve got to credit my brother for suggesting the stand-up serial killer idea. That was a week where I wrote two stories, and I stuck them in front of some people to see which they liked better. I still like the other story better, even though I won that week. Good thing I trusted my friends! And I can save the other story for another day.

In what direction would you like to see your writing career go? More short stories? Novels? Nonfiction? All of the above?

I’ll always write non-fiction, if only because it’s steady work that helps pay the bills. But I’d love to stop being a non-fiction writer who also does some fiction, and become a fiction writer who does non-fiction on the side. And that’s on me. I’ve got to carve out that place for myself in the world. I think there are some horror film scripts congealing in my brain too, but…that’s a whole other place to carve out.

What upcoming projects are you working on?

I think all of us competing in the Fear Project want it to be a gateway to bigger and better things, whether we win or not. With that in mind I figured I’d better have a bigger and better thing ready when someone comes along and says, “What else ya got?” So I’m working on a supernatural horror novel about a U.S. tank crew, set during the Cold War. I guess the elevator pitch would be, “Fury meets Pan’s Labyrinth.”

Any links you’d like to share?

Well, my own site is like that old car in the garage that doesn’t run — I’ll fix it one of these days. But I like to hang out and talk about horror on Twitter, so that’s the best place to find me: http://twitter.com/therobotviking

Big thanks to Ed for being part of this week’s author spotlight, and we wish him luck as he competes in the Fear Project!

Happy reading!

For the Love of Language: Tingo and Other Cool Words

I love words. Since I’m a writer, this probably sounds obvious. However, it’s more than simply enjoying little squiggly lines that come together to form thoughts and speech. I love reading and creating (or at least trying to create) fun wordplay and unusual metaphors and similes. Alliteration is practically my best friend, and from Lord Byron to Shirley Jackson, striking imagery in poetry and prose inspires me again and again. But those aren’t the only ways language can be fun and surprising. Another aspect of literature that has long fascinated me is how many certain words from other languages have no equivalent in English. Embracing my German roots, I’ve always harbored a particular fondness for the ridiculous ‘schadenfreude’ or the reveling in the misfortunes of others. German nincompoops notwithstanding, there are plenty of other cool words out there that don’t get their due in the English language. Tingo
Last year, I came across an article on the Huffington Post that appealed to my inner word lover: 28 Genius Depictions of Words with No Direct English Translation. Artist Anjana Iyer crafted a series of pictures that highlights those elusive words that the English-speaking world is missing out on. A couple of standouts are Backpfeifengesicht, German for “a face badly in need of a fist” and Shlimazl, Yiddish for “a chronically unlucky person.”

All of Iyer’s artwork is unbelievably lush and gorgeous. But one word struck me more than the rest: ‘tingo,’ a concept meaning “to gradually steal all the possessions out of a neighbor’s house by borrowing and not returning.” While the “split screen” of this piece has Iyer’s characteristic whimsy, the horror writer in me couldn’t help but envision something a bit more malevolent. In under a minute, I had designed an entire story concept revolving around this heretofore unknown word.

Earlier this month, the Indiana Voice Journal published my story, which is titled simply, “Tingo.” It follows a woman named April who must deal with a neighbor that asks to borrow more than the proverbial cup of sugar—she wants April’s whole life, starting with the paintings on the wall and ending with her husband and son. It’s a definite psychological horror story with tinges of the supernatural, one that’s short and not-so-sweet, so check it out in the current issue of Indiana Voice Journal if you feel so inclined.

While preparing this blog, I couldn’t help but feel that it wouldn’t be complete without including Anjana Iyer’s original depiction of tingo. After all, that was where I found my initial inspiration. So I contacted Ms. Iyer, and she was gracious enough to give me permission to use her illustration. Can I just admit I basically squealed like a total fan girl when an artist whose work I’d been admiring from afar responded to me? Yes, I will admit that.

So please visit Ms. Iyer’s site here. She’s an incredible artist, and everyone should know her work. Plus, I can guarantee you’ll learn a few new words along the way. If nothing else, her artistry will provide you the most enjoyable vocabulary lesson of your life. And from a word lover like me, that’s really saying something.

Happy reading!

First image copyright of Bill Homan. Second image copyright of Anjana Iyer.

Fantasy Maven: An Interview with Jill Marcotte

For this week’s author spotlight, it is my pleasure to introduce the fabulous Jill Marcotte. I recently discovered Jill’s work through the Women in Horror Issue of The Sirens Call. I was impressed with her command of language as well as her ability to establish a haunting mood in very few words. Naturally, I was eager to feature her on my blog. Earlier this month, Jill was kind enough to answer my questions about her fiction writing process. Her responses are as revealing as they are enthusiastic.

A few icebreakers to start: when did you first decide to become a writer, and who are some of your favorite authors?

I was one of those creepy stair goblin kids who always wanted to be a writer. Of course, I also wanted to be an astronaut, an exotic dancer, a firefighter, an assassin, an Animorph, and a nun, but the writing stuck. Now I get to bypass all the training and working out and trespassing in construction sites looking for downed alien spacecraft, and just write about all those people instead. It’s really the best of all possible worlds.

That said, I’ve still got a loooong way to go, and what is an aspirant without her idols? I’ve always admired Terry Brooks for his prolificness, and Brandon Sanderson for his ability to blow my mind. Shakespeare, for his sass and dirty jokes. I love the crazy creepy worlds of Neil Gaiman and China Miéville. And I will always hold a special place in my heart for the writers of the classics: Bram Stoker, Henry James, Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, and lots of others. This is hard to narrow down! There’s so much to love out there.

You write in a variety of genres, including horror, science fiction, fantasy, and even children’s books. Do you have a favorite genre, or do you enjoy the flexibility of writing so many different styles?

I love having a genre for every mood, and when I get my hot little hands on some delicious new concept, there’s no denying that siren song. And I dearly love to twist and tweak tropes from one genre into another. There are very few genres that I haven’t dabbled in at least once, although I definitely have a better feel for some than others.

Epic fantasy, however, is the ex-husband I keep remarrying. I just can’t keep away from it for long. I might get distracted by a shiny new idea, and I might work on other stuff for weeks, even months, but I always come back. Love me some epic fantasy.

Since Alaska is your current home, does the often harsh climate there ever impact your story ideas, or have you become so accustomed to the weather that you don’t even think about it anymore?

Most definitely it impacts me. In fact, I was just thinking this morning about how I usually write in season—that is, the things I write are very often set in the season I am currently living in. For me, in real life and in my writing, nature is practically a living creature. It moves and breathes and loves and kills. It’s wild and shifting and everywhere. I cannot fathom living in a place wherein it doesn’t matter if it’s summer or winter. Where I live, that can be a temperature swing of a hundred degrees F or more.

I love Alaska. It is indescribably glorious year round, from the stark, brutal beauty of an endless night to the bright, bursting exuberance of summer, where every growing thing is desperate to get twelve months of life and activity into three months beneath an unsetting sun. The funny thing about Alaska is that it’s too extreme to ever get used to. Summer Alaska and Winter Alaska are two different places, with spring and fall just a hiccup in between.

As a member of your local NaNoWriMo, what advice do you have for other writers interested in getting involved? Also, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned from the NaNoWriMo experience so far?

My best advice for getting involved, in just about anything, is to dive in and do it! The great thing about NaNo is that there’s something for everyone. Are you a social butterfly delighted to meet other writers? Go to write-ins, show up at planning meetings, check in with your accountability buddies. You’d rather hide in your closet and spend that time writing? That’s fine, too. Just sign up, make your goal, and hit the road running. And if you’re like me and fall somewhere in between, there’s plenty of online engagement available so you can egg on your writing buddies from the safety of your Batman print snuggie.

NaNoWriMo is, admittedly, kind of stupid. I mean, who blocks off one month to write an entire novel? FOR FUN? Well, I do, and I love stupidity! You know what else I love? Accountability. And creativity. And neat little graphics that show my progress. But I think the most important thing I’ve gleaned from NaNoWriMo so far is that drafting is just that- drafting. It’s not a finished product and it doesn’t matter if it’s utter poop. Keep. Moving. Before NaNo, I spent years editing the same one book. Over and over and over. NaNoWriMo jolted me out of the editing rut, and that has been of incredible value. Now I know how to draft and how to edit, and how to hold the two apart. And even more important, how to move on.

Out of the stories you’ve written, do you have a personal favorite piece?

I have an epic fantasy series that I am absurdly in love with. I daydream about these places and make up grammar rules for their dead languages. I make physical copies of the games they play and have been known to call my children by characters’ names. If I were to suddenly be transported to this world, I would have about twenty minutes to be absolutely elated before something horrible killed me.

As far as published works go, I believe I am currently proudest of my most recent one, The League of Draven, about a girl who learns the hard way to believe in fairies. Check it out in Issue 19 of The Sirens Call eZine.

What upcoming projects are you working on?

Last year, I drafted several new novels, so this year I’m focusing on cleaning them up. I especially look forward to polishing The Sad, Sad Tale of Dead Timmy, a supernatural tragicomedy about a prince who dies, and then the real trouble begins.

Any links you’d like to share?
Don’t mind if I do! I’m big into literary camaraderie and can attribute a lot of my successes to digital high fives (and butt kicks) from other writers. If you’re just starting out, having writing buds can make a world of difference–as sounding boards, as beta readers, as cheerleaders/drill sergeants, etc. Here are just a few of the fertile fields of friends:

NaNoWriMo–If you’re still on the fence, consider this a loving shove.
Camp NaNoWriMo— For those of you who can’t get enough of a good thing.

Twitter — This is hands down the best place I’ve found for surrounding myself with fantastic writers from all walks of life.

Local writing groups- I’m involved in a couple writing groups, as well as just people I like to informally write with. (Okay, person. HI, MARY!) Join a group in your neighborhood, or start your own!

And of course, everyone is always welcome to pop over to my blog to say hello and read the doofy things I say. I’d love to meet you!

Major thanks to Jill Marcotte for this fun interview!

Happy reading!

Pass the Arsenic: The Best Weird Families of Literature

Last week, my story, “The September Ceremony,” made its debut in Danse Macabre’s Rendezvous issue. This autumnal tale follows a macabre family that resides away from the world in a merrily decrepit mansion. Naturally, a bevy of supernatural shenanigans ensue.

For all you fans of weird fiction, you already know I had quite the hallowed footsteps to follow. Literature has no shortage of oddball families that revel in the otherworldly. This made the task of creating my magically-inclined mother and her three in-training daughters both exciting and daunting. From Poe to Bradbury, I found myself drawing again and again from the works of the greats.

So here are my picks for the four best weird families of literature. Beware bats in the belfry, dragons in the attic, and for the good of humanity, bring your own sugar. You can’t trust that secret ingredient.

The Addams Family
Since Morticia, Gomez and pals mostly appeared in comics, calling them a literary family might be a bit of a stretch. Then again, they often graced the pages of the New Yorker in its heyday, and if that’s not literary, then nothing is. This gang of oddballs remains the go-to when it comes to bizarre familial antics. I adore the Addams family so much that I pay homage to them in “The September Ceremony”: the three daughters are named Carolyn, Anjelica, and Bebe after the actresses who famously played Morticia on television, film, and stage respectively.

The Elliott Family
Interestingly, at the same time Charles Addams was creating his offbeat literary family, pal Ray Bradbury was crafting a motley crew of his own. Debuting in the short story, “Homecoming,” the Elliott Family have an undaunted sense of belonging all while not quite fitting in with the world at large. Over the course of his prolific career, Bradbury crafted numerous related tales, including “Uncle Einar.” Eventually, the Elliott Family received their own novel, From the Dust Returned, a “fix-up” of short stories that went on to become Bradbury’s only bestselling book.

The Blackwoods
At the opening of Shirley Jackson’s seminal We Have Always Lived in the Castle, most members of the eccentric Blackwood family are already dead. But that doesn’t mean a sense of family isn’t pivotal to this hauntingly lovely tale. Sisters Merricat and Constance Blackwood along with their Uncle Julian must band together if they’re going to survive the dangers and prejudices of the outside world. I’ve heard this glorious novel called “a paean to agoraphobia,” and as someone who happily lives in the country on a secluded property, I couldn’t agree more.

The Ushers
Edgar Allan Poe took sibling rivalry to a whole new level in his celebrated short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Roderick and Madeline Usher are quite the ill-fated duo, but that doesn’t stop them from cementing a strange legacy all their own. Like the other families on this list, the gothic estate on which the Ushers reside becomes a character unto itself, the hallways and curtains and corners speaking to the reader just as eloquently as every line of dialogue. Dull, dark, and soundless day or not, the eponymous home is one place every weird fiction fan would love to visit.

Who’s your favorite weird literary family? Let me know in the comments!

Happy reading!

Halloween in April: Interview with J. Tonzelli

For this week’s author spotlight, I’ve got a special treat for all you fans of fall. My writer today is J. Tonzelli. He’s the scribe of End of Summer: Thirteen Tales of Halloween, a book that might have the coolest creepy cover ever. But this author has even more to offer than one (completely awesome) collection of short stories, and he was kind enough to share his experiences, inspirations, and advice for other horror and fantasy writers out there. Halloween in April indeed.

A few icebreakers to start: when did you first decide to become a writer, and who are some of your favorite authors?

I’ve been writing since I was fairly young, so I guess I’ve always had the itch to do it. When I was young, I read mostly horror-centric stuff: R.L. Stine, and the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books. I read In a Dark Dark Room over and over. I was really infatuated by this notion that you could be in a room by yourself reading only someone’s words, and that someone still had the power to scare you. This wasn’t someone sneaking up behind you and screaming, “boo!” or a scary movie on the television in front of you. It was just words, and they were terrifying, and I loved that.

I matriculated from Stine to Stephen King in the summer between fifth and sixth grade, when I read IT, but then eventually I began reading all genres both fiction and non-fiction. My go-to authors are Ray Bradbury, Dennis Lehane, Per Petterson, and Norman Partridge. I love David Sedaris. I’m also really digging Jonathan L. Howard’s Johannes Cabal series right now.

Halloween plays a major role in your fiction. What is your earliest Halloween memory, and do you think that formative experience shaped your love for the holiday?

I actually share this memory in the foreword for “The End of Summer,” but one of my earliest Halloween memories was being puked on during a Halloween party while I was in elementary school. Some kind of flu or nasty bug had been spreading slowly around the school that month and making all the kids sick. I guess it was her turn. Ironically, she was dressed as a witch, and I was dressed as the devil. Talk about mutiny!

To offer up a more serious answer, I think it’s because I’d always been into horror even at a young age, which sometimes made me feel like an outcast. I didn’t share the same interests a lot of the other kids did – sports or video games, for instance; wrestling was big at that time, but I wasn’t interested. So I sometimes felt isolated because of it. I’d hide the covers of books I was reading so the other kids couldn’t see them. If I was watching a horror movie at home, and my parents or brother came into the room, I’d turn it off real quick. I hated being judged or ridiculed for my interests. But Halloween was that one time of year when everyone was into that kind of stuff, so it always felt like a safe day where I could sort of live vicariously through all of these people having a good time wearing the scary mask and watching the scary movie and not feeling weird for enjoying it. I sometimes felt like a horror cheerleader, trying to make my friends realize that this kind of stuff could be fun all year. It hardly ever worked – my schtick probably got old pretty fast. Some of that carries over into The House on Creep Street.

Your book, The End of Summer: Thirteen Tales of Halloween, was released in 2013. What was the most rewarding part of writing a short story collection of Halloween stories?

The most rewarding aspect was simply seeing that book though to the end, as my main goal was to see if I could even do it – not necessarily put together a collection of writing, which is its own reward, but to see if I could keep it contained to a common theme (that being Halloween) and explore its myths and folklore in different ways. Originally, “The End of Summer” wasn’t necessarily Halloween-themed. I wasn’t even so much trying to stick with a horror theme. I was just writing whatever concept I thought would interest me as a reader. At that point, there wasn’t a “book” in my mind – I just wanted to write. But as I wrote, I noticed that I was subconsciously either setting the story on Halloween, or injecting into the story some kind of Halloween-like imagery or setting. Once I became cognizant of that, it seemed to me that I had to follow through with this impulse to see if I could concoct an entire collection of stories all relating to Halloween. For better or worse, I did!

Your most recent novel, The House on Creep Street, was a collaboration between you and author Chris Evangelista. How is the creative process different when writing with someone else?

I’ve known Chris for fifteen years now, and we’ve been sharing writing projects together for almost that entire time – just in different ways, and mostly for fun. I’m convinced we were fraternal twins somehow separated at birth. We both share a lot of the same interests and sensibilities, the same weird sense of humor, and we both approach writing in the same way. It’s scary how in-sync we can be when working on something together; sometimes it gets to the point where we can literally finish each other’s sentence, and I don’t mean on the page, but out loud when we’re outlining every new adventure. When we start a new novel together, we’re both in step right from the start about the story we want to tell and the themes we want to convey. We know how we want to tell that story, and more importantly, how we don’t want to tell it. We go by the pen name of The Blood Brothers for these books, and a large reason behind that, besides that wonderfully corny pun of a name, is that we just genuinely feel like brothers.

“The House on Creep Street” is the first in a series called “Fright Friends Adventures,” which are horror adventure stories for younger readers, highly influenced by stuff like the Goosebumps books, the show “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” and movies like The Monster Squad and The Goonies. We grew up devouring that kind of stuff, and we felt that those kinds of fun, adventurous morality tales were ripe for another exploration. Our goal was to keep them as timeless and classic as possible.

Out of your published works so far, do you have a personal favorite piece?

I love a lot of what I’ve published, and not because I would ever dream of flat-out stating they’re excellent – that’s for the reader to decide – but because I feel like everything out there so far with my name attached to it reflects me, and my personality and interests and passions, in some way. Even if there’s something of mine I look back on with a bittersweet feeling of hesitation or regret, that book or story still reflects who I was, and the place where I was in my life, at that time. Every story invokes recollections of, “Oh, I wrote this when I’d found out so-and-so had passed away” or “I wrote this while I was still going through that break-up,” etc. Everything I’ve written is the equivalent of a photo album. If I were to go back and read my stuff, I could tell you exactly what I was going through at the time I wrote it.

To offer a specific favorite, I love the opener of “The End of Summer,” a story called “Stingy Jack,” because that wry, weird kind of humor really defines my personality. I also love “The House on Creep Street” based strictly on its origin, which were childhood writings of mine that I’d forgotten about and subsequently rediscovered several years ago. As a kid, I’d been fascinated by the idea of nighttime adventures, with my real childhood friends by my side, so I had written all of these stories where we encountered something weird or supernatural in our neighborhood. They were terrible, obviously, since I was twelve or so when I’d written them, but they were also charming in a way. It seemed like a fun concept to strip down and rebuild, which we did, and which led to “Fright Friends Adventures.”

What upcoming projects are you working on?

I keep going back and forth on a solo project I’ve been working on for the last year or so – my take on the historical mash-up. I originally abandoned the concept several months ago for fear I wouldn’t be able to pull it off, but now it won’t leave me alone. It’s getting to the point that it’s almost screaming in my ears for me to keep trying, so I’ll likely get back to it sometime soon.

Chris and I are currently doing a rewrite on the second book in our “Fright Friends Adventures” series that a publisher is excited to release. It’s called “Beware the Monstrous Manther!” and it’s about Joey, the main character in the series, and his creepy new neighbor across the street, who Joey suspects of kidnapping his neighborhood’s pet population for dastardly reasons.

I’m also pretty consistently contributing to the film site Cut Print Film, where I write reviews, interview filmmakers, and do write-ups on genre titles that have a certain cult appeal. I’ve been doing that for about six months now and it’s been pretty rewarding. I’ve gotten to talk with filmmakers I really admire and it’s nice to collaborate with a huge group of like-minded film enthusiasts. Plus I get to see movies for free, and who wouldn’t love that?

Big thanks to J. Tonzelli for being part of this week’s author spotlight. Be sure to check out his main website where he features several free short stories (and who can resist that?). You can also visit the official site for “Fright Friends Adventures,” which has resources for both parents and kids. And for film buffs, you won’t want to miss his contributions to Cut Print Film. Calling all cult classics.

Happy reading, and happy early Halloween!

Monsters, Elephants, & Hemingway: Cobbling Together Odd Influences

Last week, Flashes in the Dark reprinted my story, “Snowfall in the Morning,” a dark fantasy tale that originally appeared in Thirteen Myna Birds this past winter. This was among my first pieces of flash fiction, and it remains one of my personal favorites.

Every story is a way for an author to create a fingerprint. Specifically, the behind-the-scenes process, including inspiration, is unlike every other story that comes before or after (or that’s what all writers hope anyway). With “Snowfall in the Morning,” I wanted to move away from on-the-page violence, opting instead to keep the horror elements (mostly) unspoken. The implied can be much more powerful than the overt, especially in literature. In fact, the piece is so ambiguous that the reader has to decide exactly what the unseen monsters are. Zombies and vampires are the common guesses, but the creatures could be anything your imagination chooses.

My influence for the ambiguity in “Snowfall” came from arguably the most impressively vague short story of all time: Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants.” I had read the tale of Jig and the American for the fourth (or fifth or thousandth) time just before starting the first draft of my story. Again and again, I’m profoundly impressed with how Hemingway communicates so much with so few words. His prose is sparse and direct yet overflows with meaning and subtext. Anytime my fiction is getting too wordy, I think of Hemingway and immediately cut the nearest adverb. And even though my first drafts are sometimes a little bloated, I like to think that by employing the Hemingway method, my fiction ends up a little leaner by publication.

Strange bedfellows, Hemingway and monsters, but I suppose you could say the same about Jane Austen and zombies, and that turned out swell. Still, to horror writers, looking to Hemingway for genre inspiration might seem random. To non-horror writers, looking to Hemingway for genre inspiration might seem blasphemous. So why use a story so grounded in reality to inspire a story so grounded in the fantastical?

In the book, On Writing Horror: A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association, I came across some of the best writing advice I’ve ever found: read outside your genre. It can be easy to get swept up with writers who are published in the magazines and journals you most admire, but looking elsewhere can help cultivate fresh ideas that you might not otherwise envision if you stay in charted territory. So when I’m drafting a new tale, I’m as likely to be thinking of Ray Bradbury, Shirley Jackson, and Richard Matheson as I am of Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and Sherman Alexie. At the very least, it ensures the planning process never gets boring. Plus, as I found with “Snowfall in the Morning,” you never know where the inspiration of non-genre masters might take you. It can be a fun ride exploring new paths you never thought you’d take, and at the end of the day, that’s exactly what writing should be: fun.

So who are you favorite inspirations? Let me know in the comments below!

Happy reading!