Suspense, Mystery, Horror and Thriller Fiction

The Five Senses of Fear & Suspense with: Top David Morrell 10 Writer's Brad Thor Medical R.L. Stine Mistakes Graham Masterton by D. P. Lyle

Alan Jacobson November 2010 US $5.99 / Canada $6.99 Hall of Fame Inductee: H.P. Lovecraft THRILLING PAGE-TURNERS AVAILABLE THIS FALL

A VERY SIMPLE CRIME by Grant Jenkins

A woman is murdered in what looks like an open-and-shut case, but things aren’t always as simple as they seem…

COMING IN NOVEMBER

grantjerkins.com

BLOODROOT by Bill Loehfelm

Kevin Curran’s worst nightmares couldn’t ON TARGET have prepared him for by Mark Greaney what he’d fi nd at the abandoned Bloodroot Children’s Hospital. With a doomed mission ahead, assassin Court Gentry would kill to get out of this one alive. billloehfelm.com markgreaneybooks.com

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AD-02586 Bloodroot-On Target-Very Simple Crime Suspense Magazine ad 1 9/2/10 4:43 PM C r e di t s John Raab From the Editor President & Chairman

Matt McElreath Executive Vice President, Marketing As some of you might know, we have decided to blend the November and Shannon Raab October issue together. I also feel you Creative Director need an explanation for this. Since we Romaine Reeves have become a print magazine we need to CFO “drink the kool-aid” and get on the same Robert Feiner schedule as the distributor and shipper. East Coast Advertising Mgr. Therefore, we had to run both of them [email protected] Phone: 212.879.9200 together; however, this is still considered one issue for all the subscribers and we still deliver great content to you. Now that business is out of the way, let’s have Sam Selvaggio some fun! West/Midwest Advertising Mgr. [email protected] Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat! The sounds Phone: 212.398.5021 of Halloween are here. By the time you read this you will also notice that Santa Contributors Claus has come to your local store. We, as a society, have decided to rush to Starr Gardinier Reina everything and not slow down and enjoy the good things in life. More and more Terri Ann Armstrong you hear people don’t have the time to do anything, especially reading books, Tiffany Colter Donald Allen Kirch which is a shame. People blame the economy, but there are so many places to find R.M. Sackville free books, there should be no reason to discontinue reading. Even in schools, Scott Nicholson Dave Sakmyster reading has started to take a back seat. I remember in my school you almost had Mark P. Sadler to read a book every two weeks, write a report and then move on. Now, kids Tiffany Cole Weldon Burge are lucky to have to read a book a month, maybe only five in the school year Susan Santangelo are mandatory. How can we continue on this path and continue to have great DJ Weaver CK Webb authors of the future? This falls upon the parents to nurture your children and Kiki Howell encourage them to read and write. Social networking websites like Facebook Tim Busbey John Walker and MySpace have not done anything to help our children prepare themselves Dawn Hullender for the challenges that lie ahead. I say the J.S. Chancellor Jo-Anne Vandermeulen entire Suspense Magazine community rally Rose Elle together and get kids more involved in D.P. Lyle reading and writing. There are so many

Customer Service and Sub- great books out there for them to read, Cover Image scriptions: there is no excuse for them not to. Send For 24/7 service, please use our us in your suggestions on how Suspense website, www.suspensemagazine. com or write to: Magazine can help you at home in reaching SUSPENSE MAGAZINE at to your children. Next month we will have 26500 Agoura Road, #102-474 our Top 10 books of 2010 and a full year Calabasas, CA 91302 Suspense Magazine does not share in review. See you then. our magazine subscriber list to third-party companies. John Raab Rates: $24.00 (Electronic Subscription) CEO/Publisher/Editor in Chief per year; $48.00 (Print Subscription) Suspense Magazine per year; $10.00 Single issue copy Keyhole (includes shipping and handling). By Joshua Hoffine All foreign subscriptions must be payable in U.S. funds. SuspenseMagazine.com 1 In This Issue S u sp e nse M a g a z i n e November 2010 / Vol. 016

Spotlight...... 3

. L Stine Contributor's Corner: Mark Sadler...... 4 R Caustic Thoughts and Salvation by Rob Krabbe...... 7 Funny Guy? Master Master Guy? Funny 60 Or Both? Storyteller? Survivor Types: The Modern Midlist by Scott Nicholson...... 8 Stranger than Fiction: The Sallie Houseby Donald Allen Kirch ...... 14 Ask Your Writing Career Coach by Tiffany Colter...... 18 Getting Even by Susan Schwartz...... 20 The Black Roses by Linda Stamberger...... Brad Thor 21 Soil & at Home Home & at Soil 62 Alderschot by Mark S ..Love ...... 22 An Influence on Foreign Foreign on Influence An New Author: Rick Reed ...... 29. Author Hall of Fame: H.P. Lovecraft...... 32 Featured Artist: Joshua Hoffine The Picture of Fear...... 34 Collateral Damage by Stephen D ..Rogers...... 38

At the Controls the At Something Invinsible, yet Fragile by Quintin Peterson...... 38 Alan Jacobson Alan Jacobson 65 Death's Kiss by Lisa McCourt Hollar...... 38 Inside the Pages: Suspense Magazine Book Reviews...... 39 Suspense Magazine Movie Reviews...... 46 On Location: Belhurst Castle by David Sakmyster ...... 49 Top 10 Writers' Medical Mistakes by D .P ..Lyle...... 54

Genres to Write: Write: to Genres Serial Killer by James G ..Kelly ...... 57 Crosses the World & World the Crosses

70 Masterton Graham The Five Senses of Fear & Suspenseby John Raab...... 58 The Grave Robbersby Big Jim Williams...... 79 Blogging: The Best Postby Jo-Anne Vandermeulen...... 82 Suspense in Film by Rose Elle...... 83

Path: Life's Texas Tells a Tale by Romaine Reeves ...... 84 David Morrell David

74 his Rewriting Always Just for Fun ...... 87 Spot THE BEST LITTLE BOOKSHOPS Around the World

Redicovered Bookshop 180 N. 8th Street L Boise, ID 83702 Phone: 208.376.4229 Mon-Sat 10:00 am - 8:00 pm Sun 11:00 am - 5:00 pm www.rdbooks.org I Bruce and Laura Delaney opened the Rediscovered Bookshop in September of 2006. Their goal was to create a place where people could find books and conversation. They have an expert staff which will help G Notable Events in you find the October / November books you are looking for and the books that match your interests. They carry new and gently October 22, 2010 used books along with kid’s books and featured Fiction Writing for Physicians authors from Idaho. Hyannis, MA http://events.linkedin.com/Fiction- H Writing-Physicians/pub/313704 The newly formed Kids club is for those in 4th thru 6th grades. The club meets every Tuesday October 22 - 23, 2010 from 4-5 pm for four consecutive weeks. Each Idaho Book Extravaganza four week period focuses on a different theme. Meridian, ID The kids will partake in activities, including http://idahobookextravaganza.com/ games and puzzles, and the bookstore also T November 6, 2010 offers snacks. A writing workshop is also a part Red Clay Georgia Writers of the club and will be held twice over the four Conference week period. Red Clay, Georgia https://georgiawriters.org/2010-11- 06/ Upcoming events include a book signing on October 7th with Kathy Deinhardt Hill from 6 November 19, 2010 pm - 9 pm and will feature “Hanged: A History Western Writers Centre of Idaho’s Executions”. October 13th will feature Galway, Ireland the Lost Cyclist author event. Call or stop by for http://twwc.blogspot.com/ more details on these events and more. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 3 Mark Sadler Influenced by What he Reads By Suspense Magazine

With the introduction of so many incredible and talented new contributor’s to our team—or fresh blood—as we sometimes refer to them, Suspense Magazine decided that our fans might like an opportunity to meet the team that helps us produce the magazine each month. And, with that in mind, the idea to create our monthly “Contributor’s Corner” was born.

With a large, wide-ranging pool to choose from, where their skills and talents vary, it was a difficult decision to choose the first victim. That is, until this particular published author put my skills and personal reviewing record to shame. I am sure, after many months of getting to know Mark Sadler who comes from strong British stock, that doesn’t require the same amount of sleep we normal humans survive on. I’ve seen firsthand the comments from his friends and fans stating that he is a “reading machine” and we couldn’t agree more.

Self-published author Mark Sadler first came to our attention when he politely requested a review of his novel and with a title like “Blood on his Hands”, how could we refuse? This mid-70’s transplant to the states has the ability to paint such vivid—and on occasion terrifying— pictures in your mind that an instant friendship was born, which quickly blossomed into his role as a reviewer for Suspense Magazine.

We took the time to harass him—because as you all know, all authors hate free, self-promotion (especially Mark)—and were able to get him to answer a few simple questions:

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): What book changed your life?

Mark Sadler (MS): This is probably the most difficult question I have been asked. I don't have a 'pat' answer for it, nothing trips off the tongue glibly because you see there have been so many at different times in my life and so this will not be a one book answer.

Perhaps I should say it was “Aladdin”, while in kindergarten. I garnered rewards as best reader. Thanks to my mother, a pre-school teacher, I had been reading

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 4 since I was three. I was moved directly from kindergarten to 2nd grade and so endowed upon myself the honor of being the youngest, geekiest, immature person in class from then on. Life was hell in school. I escaped into books.

I traveled with Swift in “Gulliver’s Travels”, winced in pain with Tom—Thomas Hughes, “Tom Browns Schooldays”, rode tall in the saddle with the “Sackett Clan” (Louis L’Amour) and idled on the river with the Water Rat, Mole and Toad in Kenneth Grahame’s “Wind in the Willows”.

As an adolescent I explored “King Solomon’s Mines” (H Rider Haggard) fought alongside with Davey in Stevenson’s “Kidnapped”, travelled “Around the World in Eighty Days” with Jules Verne and learned to love like Paul did in “Sons and Lovers” (D.H. Lawrence).

As an adult “The Winds of War” (Herman Wouk), “H.M.S Ulysses” (Alistair MacLean) or “A Small Town in Germany” (John le Carre) all opened ideas and suggestions. I love books about relationships and all of the above I mentioned are wrought with strife, joy, sorrow and life. They bring a tear and a laugh, a fright or moment of understanding.

Two others get honorable mention for the sake of the writing of my novel, “Blood on His Hands”. If it were not for Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods”, I may never have set foot on the Appalachian Trail. That experience really changed my life because without that influence, my novel would never have been born and the Jim Crace’s “Being Dead”, inspired a scene in my book that I felt was a turning point in the novel writing process and for many months was the prologue in my book until the pages swallowed it eventually. To him also I am eternally grateful and must say I have yet to read anything he was written that is not outstanding.

There, I am sure I am missing so many more, but when you are a reader for life there so many experiences that are influenced by the musings in a good book.

S. MAG.: What are you working on now?

MS: I have developed a Tucson police detective, Nate Duarte and am forming book number one in a series of five that will see him solve a variety of sex crimes in the Old Pueblo. The character development has been interesting because as a child he was born to an illegal alien and a border guard, both who met unsavory ends at the hands of the same Mexican drug dealer, but eight years apart. Duarte became a police officer to bring his parent’s murderer to justice and this background story will be the thread that brings the series together.

S. MAG.: What’s your most embarrassing moment?

MS: As a redheaded, freckled child, I was always blushing over something. There so many to choose from.

Let me give you my most embarrassing writing moment. After reading through my finished manuscript for probably the five thousandth time and using self-help editing books, I knew I was prepared to let a publisher take a look. I realized there were a few errors that would float to the surface—primarily its or it’s—and so I sent off the finished product to my chosen POD publisher. They gave you the first forty free of charge and I figured that was all there would be at most. When I got my ARC to look at I was so excited to finally see it in print and I sat down ready to highlight the one or two errors, make up the prescribed list and send it back ready for printing. By the time I finished marking the book up—and with the generous help from a friendly co-worker who was an ardent reader and who wrote our company’s website, we found at least two hundred! I tried to save costs and not go with a professional editor. The publisher said there were so many errors they would just send me the book back in a word document and I could correct my own mistakes, and of course pay them handsomely for my effort! That’s a mistake I will not repeat.

Clearly, Suspense Magazine is a fan of Mark Sadler and we think if you give “Blood on his Hands” a chance, you will be too. Check out his website at www.markpsadler.com to find out more. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 5 StevenSteven GoreGore bringsbrings backback investigatorinvestigator GrahamGraham GageGage forfor aa secondsecond assignmentassignment afterafter FinalFinal TargetTarget

A U T H O R O F Y O U A R E N E X T

STEVEN RE GOAuthor of Final Target ABSOLUTE RI SK

. . . will be your last. .” “A BRISK PACE AND AN INTRIGUING PLOT MAKE THE PAGES TURN THEMSELVES Richard North Patterson, bestselling author of Silent Witness A phenomenal suspense thriller from a new star “Absolute Risk is the work of a talented writer who knows how to hook in suspense his readers from the opening line.” Next Time You See Me is the relentlessly —Richard North Patterson, New York Times bestselling author gripping follow up to You Are Next. of Silent Witness Detective Karin Schaeffer thought she had already defeated evil. A terrorist bombing in Asia . . . A dead FBI agent in Marseilles . . . Bank accounts linked to a genius fi nance professor in Boston . . . But there was more. Can investigator Graham Gage make the connection before his world collapses? www.katialief.com www.stevengore.com Also available www.avonbooks.com Also available as an e-Book as an e-Book AVON www.harpercollins.com Caustic Thoughts and Salvation By Rob Krabbe

The caustic thoughts and haunts That eased my mind to places dark And left me wanting blessed oasis From the sponge of my longing and cold, cold heart. And years of putting the dog down, And years of assuming a lack of valor And decades of tears that no one ever saw And hours and hours of hating me.

Believing the lies, riding the highs, Hiding my eyes, from the dark possibilities. Hearing the cries, Gasping the sighs of trembling and untouched subtleties. Casting the doubt, living without And trying the clout of the power of resignation. Mastering the skills, walking the drills, When the steadiness kills, the will of a nation.

Then lightening struck my soul, And found me dying and cold,

Honorable Mention Yet brought me the life of a thousand suns And healed my mounting indignation. Preconceptions fell away, for true love, A surprise to me that day, Had become a new dream of things to come, And life, new, to my dying sun.

She brings my sense of wonder and the child I was, to life again, And with the “me” that had, has found a reborn spirit, And has found my true best friend, destiny, So, I know now, the doubts all gone. That this is my new and best life, I slip the blade deep and eternal, into the night. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 7 The Modern Midlist By Scott Nicholson

Hey, it’s October, so everybody and their sister thinks it’s time to highlight spooky fiction. You know what? Just like real alcoholics call New Year’s Eve “Amateur Night,” true hardcore fans of darkness leave the bats in the belfry all year round. Halloween lasts three hundred sixty-five days, so I will put spooky books in every column and I will put light-hearted suspense or comic mystery in the October column if I find it. As long as it fits into suspense, horror, thriller or mystery, it will find a home here. In the e-book era, the store is open around the clock and seasonal sales are less important. And while you’re sure to slam face-first into the Patterson, Grisham and Bieber (talk about horror!) and pirate/zombie/vampire-romance Christmas specials at the front of your favorite bookstores— assuming they are still open by Christmas—more and more of your midlist selections will only be available on the Internet. Sure, you can still order paper copies if that is your preferred format, but try to get it into your local store and see what a fight it is. But this column isn’t a requiem for a corporate demise; it’s to celebrate the vast amount of new fiction now available right at your fingertips. Yes, it’s the Digital Age. And here are some writers you can meet with a lot less hassle and a lot lower price. You’ll also notice some featured authors list me as one of their “favorite authors.” I’m not that good; I just know lots of people. Bribery for inclusion isn’t required. I promise. But if you are bribing me, cold cash is much more effective. * * * William Harms—“Dead or Alive”

William Harms (www.williamharms.com) has been a professional writer and editor for nearly fifteen years. His comic book work has been published by Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Image Comics and Top Cow among others. His series Impaler was a finalist for the International Horror Guild Award. In addition to his comic book work, William’s written several acclaimed, best- selling video games. He most recently wrote the script for inFamous, which was published by Sony exclusively for the PlayStation 3; inFamous received IGN’s Best Story of 2009 (PS3). William’s comic and video game writing has received accolades from the Daily Telegraph, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, Aint-it-Cool News, IGN Comics, and Fangoria among others. “Dead or Alive”: Zombies Invade the Old West! Arizona, 1889: Two desperate brothers pull off a white-knuckled stagecoach robbery. They think their troubles are behind them when they stash the cash in a desert hideaway—but their misfortune is just beginning. The Smith brothers have wandered into a horror from the region’s shamanistic tribal past and when the dead start rising from their graves to stalk and consume the living, the Smiths find themselves fighting for their lives in an undead nightmare. Jailed and tortured in a dusty frontier town overwhelmed by zombies, the boys bust free and

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 8 join a ragged band of townspeople for a gut- Film lover Barbara wrenching, Old West showdown against the Marr is a typical ravenous, shambling dead. suburban mom living the typical suburban What will e-readers like about your book? life in her sleepy, little I think they’ll enjoy the over-the-top action and town of Rustic Woods, the fairly unique spin on the zombie sub-genre. Virginia. Typical, that is “Dead or Alive” is “unforgiven meets dawn of until she sets out to find the dead” and I tried really hard to infuse the the missing link between entire story with characters that, even if you a bizarre monkey sighting don’t like them, you’ll at least empathize with in her yard and the them. bone-chilling, middle- of-the-night fright fest It’s gory, violent, laced with black humor and at the strangely vacant house next door. When offers a pretty thrilling ride. Barb talks her two friends into some seemingly Why did you go indie? innocent Charlie’s Angels-like sleuthing, they stumble upon way more than they bargained I had an agent take “Dead or Alive” out and for and uncover a piece of neighborhood history nearly every publisher said the same thing: ‘It’s certain people would kill to keep on the cutting well written, but we have no idea how to sell room floor. it. Is it a western? Is it horror?’ And so they all passed. Enter sexy, P.I. Colt Baron, Barb’s ex-boyfriend who would love to be cast as new leading man, I found that extremely frustrating because in my filling the role just vacated by her recently mind all you have to say is “zombie western” estranged husband, Howard. When Colt and people are either into it or they’re not. It’s flies in from out of town to help Barb, events not much more complicated than that. And so careen out of control and suddenly this mini- I got in touch with a friend of mine who has a van driving mother small, comic book, publishing company and he of three becomes a handled all the layout and design and we put it major player in a out. I’m extremely pleased with how it turned treacherous and out and I’m already thinking about writing a potentially deadly sequel. FBI undercover Who are your favorite authors in your genre? operation. It’s up to her now. With little Stephen King, Richard Matheson, Joe Landsdale, time to spare, she F. Paul Wilson, etc. But I try to read and learn and she alone must from a wide range of authors, including Cormac summon the inner McCarthy, Charlie Huston, Jim Thompson, strength necessary to Philip Dick and Hemingway. become a * * * Karen Cantwell—“Take The Monkeys And Run” Karen Cantwell (www.karencantwell.com) is a writer, mother, wife, gardener, movie lover, bad cook and cat lover. Not necessarily in that order. She believes laughter is the best medicine.

“Take The Monkeys And Run”—

SuspenseMagazine.com 9 true action heroine and save the lives of those everyone older—to discover the wonder—and she loves. The question is, can she get them out dread—found in the written word. alive before the credits roll? “Hudson House”: Teenagers Eric, Tommy, and What will e-readers like about your book? Ed never should have entered…but once they did, they unleashed a power It is fast, fun and funny. There is nothing serious impossible to control; an or depressing about this book. Think of it as an evil presence intent on anti-depressant without the side-effects. destroying everything they know. Why did you go indie? They are not the first to I was tired of playing the agent/publisher game. suffer in the house at the I wanted to entertain readers, not find an agent. corner of Mangle Lane and This was the quickest and easiest way to start Jackson Drive. finding readers. It has been great fun! Not the first to discover its Favorite authors in suspense, mystery, horror unholy promise…or the and thriller? first to know its evil…

Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton, Maria E. One will perish, one will be seduced and one Schneider, JA Konrath, Robert Ludlum, Dean will do anything to fight back. Koontz, Stephen King. * * * To fight the evil that resides at Hudson House, the darkest regions of the mind and heart must J.T. Warren—“Hudson House” be explored. But once they go down that path, there may be no way back. J.T. Warren (http://authorjtwarren.blogspot. com) was born on Halloween; a few months after What will e-readers like about your book? his mother saw Jaws at the movies. His affinity for horror can be traced to an early age when he “Hudson House” is very much in the haunted built a coffin out of cardboard and pretended house tradition and as the story follows the to be a corpse, much to the concern of his growing obsession three, teenage boys have for parents. He can still be found in a coffin on this house, the reader will be equally seduced. Halloween when he gets into the spirit of The book can be considered YA, but it portrays the season. He is a public school teacher the characters and events without hiding the and has successfully lured reality of horror and grief. Part of the appeal is thousands of students this book opens the door to the dark basement into literary waters inside all of us. through works of horror. He hopes Why did you go indie? his writing will further encourage Working with various writing professionals young adults—and to constantly improve my writing, I have encountered wonderful opportunities of which one of the most promising is the e-book market. Readers are finally in control; they can decide what they want to read.

Who are a few of your favorite authors in the genre?

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 10 I was raised on a steady diet of Stephen King, Richard Matheson and Thomas Harris. To I tried the mainstream route, writing those that, I add my more recent discoveries of Scott dreaded query letters to countless agents. The Nicholson, Dennis Etchison, Joe Hill, Michael process is incredibly frustrating. Initially, going Marshall and Peter Straub. indie was something I intended as a stepping * * * stone while I continued my search for an agent. Darcia Helle (www.DarciaHelle.com) is the However, I’ve come to love the indie world, author of six published novels. She writes in the the authors I network with, the readers and the suspense genre and is currently working on the freedom to create and distribute what I want, third book in an ongoing series. An admitted when I want. book and music addict, her collection of both threatens Who are your favorite authors in your genre? to take over her home. She enjoys interacting with Way back when I first began writing within readers, as well as fellow the suspense genre, my favorites were authors indie authors, which led like John Sanford and Tami Hoag. I still enjoy her to create http://www. their work, though I now read a lot more indie BestsellerBound.com. authors. A few of my newfound favorites within my genre include Stacy Juba, RJ McDonnell, “The Cutting Edge”: My Jane Kennedy Sutton, Sam Hilliard, and Libby name is Skye Summers. Fischer Hellmann. I’m a hairstylist and I can’t * * * stop fantasizing about J.L. Bryan—“Jenny Pox” killing my clients. Not all of them, of course. I only want to kill the ones J.L. Bryan (www.jlbryanbooks.com) studied who irritate me, which—if I’m being honest— English literature at the is most of them. My occasional fantasies have University of Georgia turned into chronic daydreams. They’re bloody and at Oxford, with and vivid, like watching a slice-and-dice movie a focus on English on IMAX. renaissance and romantic literature. I also want to kill my husband’s ex-girlfriend. He also studied She’s not a client, but she tops my list. Eighteen screenwriting at years ago, she gave birth to his daughter and UCLA. Most of his she has tormented him ever since. I should writing wanders into be troubled by this growing desire to use my the horror or science- surgically sharpened shears for more than a fiction genres, reaching haircut. Instead, I wonder how I can get away into the darker depths of human nature, where with it. things are often scary or funny.

What will e-readers like about your book? He lives in Atlanta with his wife Christina and assorted pets. They have an organic and natural “The Cutting Edge” approaches suspense from pet supply store. He’s been enjoying e-books by the angle of dark humor. Skye grew up in a indie authors of all genres lately. commune with hippie parents, has a houseful of rescue dogs and fantasizes about murder. She “Jenny Pox”: Jenny Morton is a quiet, small- works with the public and people have a way or town girl from South Carolina whose touch irritating one another. Regardless of profession, I spreads a deadly supernatural plague—she can’t think most readers will be able to relate to Skye’s touch anyone for long without killing them. feeling of job burnout. Jenny can’t control her power, so it controls her life. The kids at school call her “Jenny Mittens” Why did you go indie? because she wears gloves year-round, even in

SuspenseMagazine.com 11 the broiling, Carolina summer. create what I want and offer it to the world. Also, you don’t have to worry about your rights Occasionally, she makes a mistake and spreads regarding your work, because you keep them disease and death. She struggles to keep her all. It’s nice to know all of these books will still be fatal touch a secret from everyone. Her life is for sale online when I’m a feeble and demented friendless and lonely until she meets Seth, a boy old man. with a healing touch. He is the only boy Jenny can touch, but Jenny’s love for him brings the Who are your favorite authors in your genre? wrath of his girlfriend Ashleigh, who secretly wields the most dangerous power of all. Jenny In horror, I grew up reading Stephen King, must master her own power—the deadly “Jenny Clive Barker, Anne Rice, H.P. Lovecraft. I liked pox”—before Ashleigh can destroy her. Poppy Z. Brite when I was younger, but I don’t think she’s writing horror anymore. Some of my What will e-readers like about your book? current favorite horror writers include Bentley Little, Brandon Massey, David McAfee and Scott From what I’ve been told—and seen on my Nicholson. reviews—the story is a page-turner. Some readers have talked about how emotionally engaged * * * they become with Jenny, her loneliness and Andrew E. Kaufman—“While the Savage her struggle to find love. They also really enjoy Sleeps” hating the villain, the sneaky and manipulative Ashleigh Goodling. So I would say people find Andrew E. Kaufman the story fun to read and easy to connect with on (http://www. an emotional level. andrewekaufman.com) Why did you go indie? is an author living in Southern California, Basically because I’ve been writing books for along with his Labrador years and it’s nearly impossible to even get a Retrievers, a horse and a response from New York anymore. I query a very bossy Jack Russell slew of people for each book and for the most Terrier, who, incidentally, part you don’t even get a reply anymore. With thinks she owns the place. the indie approach, you can actually get your books out there to readers instead of just After receiving his moldering in your desk drawer—or your journalism and political hard drive. And the income from the science degrees at San e-books gives you plenty of incentive Diego State University, to keep writing and not get Andrew began his writing career as an Emmy- discouraged. nominated writer/producer, working at KFMB- TV, the CBS affiliate in San Diego, then at So far, I have three KCAL-TV in Los Angeles. For more than ten e-books out and years, he produced special series and covered I plan to put out many nationally known cases, including the O.J. plenty more. I really Simpson trial. He has also written stories for enjoy the freedom to the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books, the most recent of which is due out later this year.

“While the Savage Sleeps” is the story of two strangers: distance separates them. A dark secret connects them. But a voice from the grave will draw them together.

What will e-readers like about your book?

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 12 I think the thing that will stand out for the reader—or at least I hope—is that “While the Savage Sleeps” refuses to be categorized. It doesn’t fit neatly into a genre box. I call it a paranormal, forensic thriller, but really, it’s much more than that. People who read it tell me it tugs at just about every human emotion.

Why did you go indie?

I spent a long time trying to go the traditional route, trying to get an agent to represent me, and while I had many requests for the manuscript, it was always the same reply: “Great stuff, well written, very compelling, but I’d have a hard time placing it.” In my opinion, that’s exactly where its strength lies. It doesn’t fit the over-worked, * * * formulaic industry model. It’s fresh and different. Scott Nicholson is The agents told me the book would never find spending October on an audience. They were wrong. Within weeks the three-month after its release it moved onto four of Amazon’s Kindle Giveaway bestsellers lists. It took the number one spot on Blog Tour from two of them and placed third on their “Movers September through and Shakers” list. It’s remained on the bestsellers November. He is author lists for over a month now. This is what the Indie of ten novels, including “Speed Dating with the author movement is doing—it’s letting all the Dead”, “Drummer Boy” and “The Skull Ring”. work that had previously fallen through the He’s also released several fiction collections cracks be seen. It’s putting the decision where it and has written four comic book series and six belongs: in the readers’ hands. screenplays. Articles, excerpts, illustrations and media files are at www.hauntedcomputer.com. Who are your favorite authors in your genre?  Since my book has really doesn’t fit neatly into any particular genre, I guess it’s fitting ttention that I enjoy a wide A Writers range of authors. In o you have an article about writing? How about a short story with a mystery/sus- pense/horror base? Have you ever wanted to see your work and name in print? If you answered yes, horror, I like Jack Dthen this is for you. Ketchum because Suspense Magazine is looking for writers who might have an idea they’d like to share with other writers. Maybe he’s so different. a short story you’d like others to read and enjoy. We’re looking for your help. In thrillers, I like If you have an article or short story you’d like to share, please, email them to [email protected]. Dennis Lehane The work must be in the body of the email, no attachments will be opened. The subject line should read ‘SUS- because of his PENSE MAGAZINE WORK’; anything else will be deleted. wonderfully unique The word count should be kept between 1,500 and 5,000 words per article or story. Any piece submitted over or voice. John Sanford under the word count will be disqualified for consideration. The deadline is the end of business on the second Friday of each month, every month for said work to have a possibility of making it into the following month’s also comes to mind. publication. All submissions are subject to editing at the magazine’s discretion and must be your original work, There are so many no plagiarism accepted. others. I could really Suspense Magazine makes no promises your work will be published, but every piece submitted within the guide- go on for hours on lines will be considered. If you’d like, every story will also be read for admittance to our contest, which can be just this topic alone! read about in Suspense Magazine or on line at www.suspensemagazine.com. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 13 The Sallie House: “I was Attacked by a Ghost!”

By Donald Allen Kirch ince the publication of my horror novel “Manchester House” back in November of S2009, I have received a lot of compliments, some conservative praising and one or two “WTF’s?” I appreciate all of them—even the negatives. In all things, we learn by doing. However, this book was an important exception to me. It was inspired by a true event. In short: I was attacked by a ghost. Back in 2004, I knew a group of individuals who wished to get together and form a production company. Their goal was to create low-budget documentaries, which they hoped to feature on an online website. They all seemed passionate and willing enough to do the incredible task ahead, so I joined them as a creative consultant. It was a slow summer, and frankly, I had nothing better to do. While at one board meeting, blowing spit bubbles of boredom, someone suggested we do a documentary on “haunted houses”. Suddenly, my ears perked up and my spit bubbles ran dry! As a child, I loved to watch the TV series In Search Of… Some of their best episodes were on the subjects of ghosts, haunted houses and curses—I have a giant sweet tooth for this stuff and knew the suggestion was “gold”. I also remember one of the researchers from that television series. His name was Hans Holzer. Hans Holzer had more degrees than a thermometer. He specialized in paranormal studies and was quite intelligent and timid-looking. I watched this guy on TV, carrying an old-fashioned cassette recorder and a cheesy microphone claiming to be chasing ghosts. And, as a child, I bought it! I ate it up like candy after a diet! He struck an everlasting and positive cord in my early memory. I named one of my main characters in “Manchester House” after him, in his honor. In any case, to continue…

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 14 Having explained to the entire crew I knew “something” of the paranormal, I suggested we scope out Atchison, Kansas, not too far from Kansas City, MO where we all lived. Atchison, Kansas was once an important hub in the American railroad empire, it was the starting place of the “Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad, Companies”, it was also the hometown of Amelia Earhart, the famous female aviator. Also, this small hamlet of a Kansas town, held yet another important honor—it is considered the “most haunted town in Kansas”. We agreed. Atchison would be the setting of our documentary. Several members of the crew started to investigate, contact and scout out the town. While doing this, we came across some incredible luck, the owner of the “Sallie House” was going to allow us the opportunity to stay two weekends, alone, within the residence. And, he was going to do it for free! The “Sallie House” is a two-story, post Civil War home built in the 1890’s and had been featured in the Fox TV series Sightings and the Learning Channel’s documentary Haunted Town. The story behind the house is this: in the late Nineteenth Century, the home was owned by a medical practitioner who had also once been the Mayor of Atchison. As was the practice of the time, he had live-in servants. One was an attractive, black woman, whose name has been lost with time. In short, she and the doctor had an affair and from that affair “Sallie” was born. Sallie lived in the house and she, her origins and her mother’s affair were closely guarded secrets. It would not have served the doctor any, for those amongst him or his peers, to learn that he fathered a black child. Again, this was not an enlightened time, and “color” was an important gage upon the social ladder. In any case, Sallie ended up having trouble with her appendix. As the story goes, the doctor…Sallie’s father, had a drinking problem. And, upon the night in question, the man had been deep within his cups. Solidly drunk, the man inadvertently allowed his daughter to die upon the operating table and was never held responsible for the act. In the eyes of the times, it was just the death of another servant’s child. Sallie—according to legend—was buried in a nameless grave, or, within the confines of the doctor’s basement. Either fact is impossible to prove. As with Sallie’s mother, her family name has been lost. To find a grave would be quite impossible. Note: Several psychics have claimed that Sallie has a grave and that site has been examined, but to no apparent conclusion. Upon her death, Sallie declared war on all male occupants of her house. In August of 2004, we ventured into this house, never fully seeing the danger we were putting ourselves into. Now, before this episode, I had always been a believer in the afterlife. However, time, taking her course upon an open mind and an adult heart, I became a skeptic. I still believed, mind you, but I also believed in the human ability to create a fraud. One of my favorite quotes is, “If it’s put on a t-shirt, and makes money, then it will never go away.” Two great examples: Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Next to Elvis…the biggest “tourist traps” in the world! So, as a skeptic, I was chosen as a member of the “crew.” The owner of the Sallie House informed us that he was preparing the home for a new client. The house is a rental and was in between residents. So, we would not be held back by manners or film restrictions. In short, we had full reign. Upon our entrance, things turned weird. A cameraman and a non-believer, instantly started to become sick. Vomiting several times, he left. The man never again set foot in the house.

SuspenseMagazine.com 15 Instantly, our digital camera started to have problems. A photographer’s flash wouldn’t work and batteries drained like there would be no tomorrow. All our hard work was starting to fail at each and every corner. Luckily, our two backup cameras still worked. Heading down into the home’s basement we decided to do some filming there. The basement of the Sallie House is quite ordinary. It consisted of a long wooden staircase, furnace and lovely riverbed rock walls. There was also something else. A black pentagram. Someone, we do not know who, had drawn a black pentagram upon the floor directly in front of the furnace. This, I have to say, freaked me out. One of the cameramen decided to try our new night-vision camera filter. We turned off the lights. The cameraman started his filming. A scream was heard. Flipping the basement lights back on, we discovered that one of our team was attacked by a brick. In point of fact, there are no bricks in the basement of the Sallie House, other than those in the chimney. As mentioned, the walls are constructed from riverbed rock. At first, we all took the attack as a kind of April fools joke. So, the lights went out again and the bricks continued to fly; all in all, six. Each victim hit was a male within our group. I had been personally grazed by a brick that hit me in the right kidney area. Then came my attack. As we continued our investigations, I was taking notes in the hallway on the second floor between the bathroom and nursery. I had come to the conclusion, while in the basement, there was something genuine about this haunting and was writing that in my notes, when, upon heading down the main staircase, I felt something. As I remember, I felt a small pair of hands—like those of a child—taking hold of my ankles and a rather adult pair of hands grabbing me at the shoulders. My pen stopped in mid-sentence. My eyes, I’m sure, opened quite wide. And, my world changed. All at once, the child’s hands pulled my feet off the steps and the adult hands upon my shoulders pushed. If it had not been for my instant reaction to place my right hand against the staircase wall and my left upon the railing, I’m sure I could have fallen down the stairs, breaking my neck. The staircase is indeed long and deep enough to cause serious energy. I am not one for delusional fantasies; I create too many on my own and need little help. This…happened. I was attacked. And, until the day I pass, I will state this for the record. There was “something” within the confines of the small Kansas house that did not like or want us there. If it is the child ghost known as “Sallie” she got her wish. Upon being attacked, and having felt a level of personal horror I have never felt before, I left. I had people in our group tell me later, it appeared I had been lifted from the stairs and thrown from my footing. I thank God I had the presence of mind—or instinct, at least—to take some kind of action. There are more things both in Heaven and on Earth that are beyond our dreams or thoughts. If you ever find yourself in the town of Atchison, Kansas, why not take a drive down Second Street and find out for yourself. Sallie is waiting. She has all the time in the world. 

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 16 Visit the Haunted Computer for a journey into supernatural thrills and psychological twists. Ebooks, comics, paper books, and multimedia entertainment.

Flowers: A collection of Speed Dating with the fantasy and ghost stories, Dead: A man channels his including the Hubbard Gold dead wife at a paranormal Award winner “The Vampire conference only to stir up Shortstop.” demons.

Ashes: A collection of 16 Drummer Boy: A misfit stories of horror and the su- kid is all that stands be- pernatural, including “Dog tween an Appalachian town Person,” “Last Writes,” and and its own buried past. “Sewing Circle.” Exclusive introduction by Jonathan The Skull Ring: Julia Maberry. Stone is targeted by a sin- ister cult after she discov- The First: A collection of ers a strange silver ring and dark fantasy, cyberpunk, bones under her house. and dystopian science fic- tion, including the Aeropa- The Red Church: A boy gan cycle. and a sheriff must solve the mystery of a haunted Murdermouth: A col- Appalachian church when lection of seven zombie a mysterious preacher re- stories, with bonus mate- turns to town. Stoker Award rial from Jack Kilborn and finalist. Jonathan Maberry’s “Zom- bie Apocalypse Survival Scorecard.

Also: Visit strange lands, spooky houses, future times, and dirty crimes in story collections by author Scott Nicholson. www.hauntedcomputer.com www.twitter.com/hauntedcomputer Ask Your Writing Career Coach with Tiffany Colter

How Do I Get Interviewed? For the last three months I have talked about using interviews to build your writing. The first month I talked about how to be the kind of interview subject that makes writers happy. Last month I talked about ways to interview subjects. This included creating the right questions and following through after publication. This month I’m going to share some ways that you can get yourself covered by the news, bloggers or others. One of the best ways to get yourself out there is to become recognized as an expert in some area. Of course, simply telling people that you know something isn’t sufficient. This is where topics we’ve covered here—like platform development—become crucial. Begin to build relationships with people who will benefit from your expertise. Network with people involved in public relations, marketing and advertising. Many of these people work with the media and will be able to make introductions. Another way is by writing articles for publications. This will give you bylines and also put you in contact with the people who write articles and who might be in need of your expertise. Don’t rush it. There are no shortcuts in building a reputation. Most people who blow up their careers [in a bad way] are people who tried to take an easy way. This usually comes at the expense of people and relationships. Below I’ve put a few Do's and Don’ts for you to follow as you work to develop your reputation as an expert. DON’T • Make over the top promises.

• Misrepresent what you actually know or your qualifications.

• Make a nuisance of yourself.

• Be rude or Crass on the internet. Even Social Networking postings can find their way in to the search engines at times and these comments associated with your name can undermine your attempts at positive exposure. DO • Respond to inquiries promptly.

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 18 • Follow through on what you say you’re going to do. 2010 • Do let people know your Writing Contest specialties and areas of Suspense Magazine is now accepting submissions for the expertise. THIRD annual writing contest! • Continue to update yourself on Winners will receive the following: your particular industry or skill. Grand Prize: Twelve books (some autographed) from each • Be courteous. Remember to say of the authors of the month for 2010. To keep updated on Please and Thank you. While the authors of the month check out the 2010 Author of the Month page at www.SuspenseMagazine.com. All books are it is true that you are helping brand new with many coming from the author directly. them by providing information, they are helping you too. Second Place: $50.00 gift card to Amazon.com.

• Make it easy for people to find Third Place: $25.00 gift card to Amazon.com. you. This means having a listed GUIDELINES: number, a professional business 1. All Stories must be in the suspense/thriller/mystery card and website. genre. 2. If you’ve been doing all of these Stories must be at least 1,500 words and no more than 5,000. You will be able to submit as many stories as you things and you still aren’t getting the wish. Stories that do not fall within that range will not be level of exposure you’d like to have considered. then do two things: be patient and 3. Stories must be submitted in the body of your email. keep it up. These things build and ATTACHMENTS WILL NOT BE OPENED. grow. Greg Stielstra in his 2005 book, 4. “Pyromarketing”, equated marketing to Must have a valid email address, as this is how you will be contacted if you win. fire. All of us who have ever tried to grill or start any fire know that sometimes 5. Contest runs from March 1, 2010 – December 31, 2010. you have to light many places before the 6. Winners will be announced in February/March 2011. fire catches. And even when it finally 7. lights there are many factors that will All stories will be judged by an independent panel. determine how high the fire goes. The 8. Authors will be notified by email if their story is published bottom line though is to bring the flame online or within the pages of Suspense Magazine. to the fuel. 9. Email all submissions to contest@suspensemagazine. Next Month we will return to com. your questions, so keep them coming. 10. Questions should be directed to editor@ I’m glad to answer them. Do you like suspensemagazine.com. freebies? I have free article downloads 11. The Judges decisions are final. on my website. Find out more about it at www.WritingCareerCoach.com.  12. All Stories must be original, any plagiarism will result in disqualification of that story and no additional submissions will be accepted from author. www.SuspenseMagazine.com

SuspenseMagazine.com 19 By Susan Schwartz

itting on my stool watching the surgery, I start to seethe inside. I hate orthopedics and I hate the people I was working with that day. The surgeon yells at me constantly for no good reason. I guess he is just having a bad day. The resident thinks he is too good to speak to a mere nurse. My scrub tech—who passes theS instruments—is ignoring me for the most part. The only time she speaks all day is to ask me for some staples. After many attempts to please them, I give up, sit back down and tell them they can use what is already on the table. The surgery proceeds with even more yelling and screaming because they can’t get the right equipment in the right size. I try to explain this isn’t my fault, but the doctors don’t want to hear it. They want what they want when they want it. I close my eyes and wish them all dead. Suddenly, I feel a bubbling down deep in the pit of my stomach. It reaches a boil by the time I stand up and approach the sterile field. I reach over the table and grab a scalpel. I employ it to stab the resident in the back as he has done me so many times that day. I pull it out and stick it in a new place several times. There is blood squirting all over my face and scrubs, but I have never been happier. The surgeon looks across at me in horror and disbelief. The resident crumples to the floor already strangling on his own blood. It is music to my ears. I bend over, retrieve the knife and start toward the scrub person. As I approach, she and the surgeon try to talk me out of my diabolical plan. “Please, no! You don’t want to do this. You are not this person, something has gone seriously wrong,” the scrub tech pleads. “Oh, yes, I do. At last, you finally speak to me for something other than supplies. I have had my fill of you idiots today.” I still hold the scalpel with the resident’s blood drying on it. I plunge it into the tech’s hand several times. The surgeon tries to sneak up behind me while I am busy with the tech. I grab a metal trocar and send it straight between two ribs. His eyes open wide and his mouth is left hanging open. I use pliers off the table and twist his nose around. Then I take another pointed metal rod and jam it in his right eye. It makes a pssst‘ ’ sound as it deflates. My once sky- blue scrubs are now a very red crimson color. I am reeling in so much pleasure. I am covered almost from head to toe in blood. I look around to think up some more mischief for the surgeon. I spy some succinylcholine on the anesthesia cart. This is a paralyzer used to keep patients still while they are being intubated. I draw up about 10cc’s and shoot it into his ass. It takes only a few moments for it to still all the muscles in his body including his lungs. As he loses the ability to breathe, I sit there and grin. The anesthesia nurse walks back in the room and makes her way to the phone to call for help. The first rule of hostage taking is never let the perpetrator get between you and the door. There is only one door in the room. I reach for another trocar and come up with the amputation knife. I throw it at her abdomen and miss. So I pick up the mallet and throw it at her head. She drops like a bag of potatoes with a big thud. I retrieve the trocar that had flown past her and took several minutes to eviscerate her with it. Intestines, blood and fecal matter fall to the floor. I am so high. I can’t explain what came over me, but I’m glad it did. They had this coming for a long, long time. I squeal with delight over the mess all over the bed, walls and my clothing. The patient is still left asleep on the table. I decide to dispatch him as well. I turn the nitrogen up and the oxygen down. Then I cut the IV tubing in half. An air bubble the size of Cleveland enters his bloodstream in another minute. I am reeling in all the bloodshed and mayhem when I hear a knock at the door. The room only has one window and that is on the door. I slowly drift over to the door and there is the charge nurse asking how the case was progressing. I follow her stare into the room where the surgery continues and the resident surgeon is closing the skin. The patient is doing fine and he would be going to the Recovery Room within the hour. The immaculate floor sparkles. 

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 20 The Black Roses By Linda Stamberger

The roses began to die the minute I opened the flower box. I nursed them back to health, fed them flower food, Runner Up Clipped the black tinged leaves that formed around the petals Like a bad omen.

I cut the stems for re-growth, hoping they would come alive again. Perched high atop a windowsill in a crystal vase, The roses bloomed steadily, against a starry, moon-beamed sky, As the rays of the approaching morning sun struck the crystal, Creating rainbow prisms that made you smile.

There was an opening of one, small, rose bud in its center, The pink interior shyly exposed. The fragrance was oh so ripe and sweet, It filled your nostrils and made you weep.

As minutes turned into days, The roses you brought began to wilt almost as soon as they bloomed When you went astray. I spread the dying, black petals, stained purple by my tears Over your grave…the one you dug yourself.

Funny, how the roses now bloom as vibrant as that morning’s sun, As if truly alive for the first time, as you lay buried underneath them. Strewn petals blanketing your dismal fate, Beneath the very earth in which wild roses draw life from. They feed off you, as you once fed from me. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 21 AlderschotBy Mark S. Love

The train swayed into the station, jostling coming?” the old man asked. the passengers with a sudden stop. The conductor, Before the girl could answer, a speaker a rotund woman with dishwater-blond hair and an mounted on a pole beside the shelter squawked to unlit cigarette clamped between her lips, trudged life, “Estimated time of arrival for the southbound through the cars. passenger train is forty-seven minutes. Repeat, forty- In a bored monotone that announced a seven minutes.” thousand cities ten thousand times, she called out, The girl jerked her thumb at the speaker, “Alderschot; all those connecting south must exit “Remote feed from Grimsby. It’s one location north. now. Alderschot.” They actually have a station master there.” Thirteen people stumbled from the train. “You seem to know a lot about this place, Most were inexperienced rail travelers, who were Miss…” expecting a sprawling station of brick and wood, “Annie; just—Annie.” with uniformed attendants, a restaurant and a The old man’s face wrinkled into a smile, newsstand. Only one young woman made this trip “We’re the Thibodeaus; Joe and Minnie. Never before and knew what really awaited them. The last of traveled by train before; always took the big jets and the passengers barely touched the concrete platform rushed across the territory. No sense wasting time.” beside the rails before the train started up and rapidly “Now all we have is time,” Minnie said. pulled away. She was a frail woman in a bright red dress “But where’s the station?” asked an elderly with an enormous white bow across the waist. Minnie man who was clutching the elbow of an equally elderly eased onto a corner of the bench and leaned daintily woman. “There’s nothing here but a rain shelter and a against the back of the shelter. couple of stone benches.” Annie scanned the rest of the group. There was a young couple with two small boys in matching The young woman dropped her knapsack strollers, a group of three coarse looking women beside the bench on the right, resting it against trying desperately to retain their youth and two, old the cyclone fence that extended the length of the guys decked out in enough fishing attire to stock a platform. sporting goods shop. At the north end of the platform “Alderschot doesn’t have a station. It’s merely sat a young black man, whose long legs dangled off a crossing where the east-west lines and the north- the concrete while he stared at the gleam of the silver south ones intersect.” rails. She removed a “So what do we do out here in the middle of baseball cap from her head nowhere for half an hour?” Joe Thibodeau asked. and shook out her hair. It “Forty-three minutes now.” was strawberry colored One of the three women drifted over to join and barely grazed the top them. She had slate-black hair, cut very short. Her of her shoulders. face was pitted with acne scars. She wore jeans and a “But how will baggy sweatshirt adorned with a pink triangle. we know when the train’s “Not much to do but wait,” Annie said.

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 22 “There are no main roads around here. No buildings her pack by the strap. Annie dropped it flat on the or homes. You can’t buy a ticket at Alderschot.” concrete and used it as a cushion, bracing her back The woman’s eyes narrowed as she studied against the fence. This time she kept her eyes open, Annie, “Who the hell are you? Railroad information?” watching the others. Something was definitely not “I travel this route a lot. It’s cheaper than a car right. or plane fare.” The loudspeaker squawked to life: The woman shrugged and moved back toward “Southbound train will arrive at Alderschot it twenty- her friends. The anglers joined the impromptu group nine minutes. Repeat, twenty-nine minutes.” and found an ally in Joe. As the conversation turned “Swell,” Annie mumbled. “That’s just swell.” toward flies, lures and favorite fishing holes, Annie leaned against the fence and closed her eyes. It was a few minutes before she realized A scrape of leather on concrete, close enough someone was watching her, watching them. The to stir the air on her bare leg, snapped Annie out of one person she’d forgotten. Perhaps she was her reverie. It was the dark-haired woman with the subconsciously ignoring him. Now with a slow sweatshirt. rotation of her head, Annie focused on the young, “If there are no people around here, does that black man at the north end. He had one leg drawn up mean no cop either?” before him, with his arms draped around it. His chin Annie smoothed her hair back with the tips rested on his kneecap. When he sensed her gaze, he of her fingers. It was a lifelong, nervous habit she had unwound his limbs and rose easily to his feet. With never been able to shake. a long, fluid stride, he moved to a spot a few paces “I’ve never seen anyone who wasn’t on the from her and rested against the fence. He dropped a train. Why; something wrong?” battered gym bag on the ground beside her. “Nah. But the guys and I were getting a little “You feel it too?” he asked. tense waiting around. And it’s going to be a long, “Feel what?” boring ride south. So we thought we roll a couple He raised his hands and flexed his wrists, as if of joints and put a coal to them. You know, pass the he were about to perform a magic trick. time and all.” She bobbed her head and gave Annie a “Static in the air, or some kind of energy. It’s knowing wink. “I’m Pat. C’mon, join us if you like.” almost spooky.” “No thanks. I don’t mind waiting.” “It’s just the waiting. It does that to people.” Pat nodded. He shook his head. “Suit yourself. We’re going down to the far “Not me. I’ve been waiting most of my life. end, so we don’t freak out the old folks.” She contorted I’m used to it. Grandmother always says waiting is a her face in mock horror. “They might get wild and virtue. But this place…it just doesn’t feel right.” turn us in.” “Why not?” Annie watched Pat lead her companions away “Look at this group. It’s like a poster for train from the rest. The young couple removed the boys travel. You’ve got your young family, the old married from their strollers and let them chase a small beach people, the retiree-fishing buddies, the trio of Pat—” ball around the platform. Something about this little “They’re all named Pat?” Annie stole a glance band of travelers made her uncomfortable. Maybe at the women on the far end of the platform. she was getting paranoid. But with all the craziness “Women like that are always Pat…or Terry, dominating the news lately, who could blame her. or Dale. Can’t decide if they want to be boys or girls, Terrorists bombing planes; old athletes getting away so they pick a name that could be either.” with murder; movie stars were getting busted faster Annie’s embarrassment was evident in her than Colombian drug lords. Maybe she should just face. ignore it all and mind her own business until the “You were saying.” connecting train came. “Then there’s you, the pretty, young female She moved away from the shelter, swinging traveling alone and your handsome, black man,

SuspenseMagazine.com 23 striving to meet the challenges of the modern world.” Even as Annie silently studied her watch, He struck a pose with his forefinger resting there was no train in sight. The others shuffled closer thoughtfully on his cheek. to the shelter, anxiously awaiting the arrival. The “Maybe it’s just a coincidence.” rails shuddered and a sudden gust of wind brought He scuffed his toe on the concrete. the scent of diesel fumes. There was a rumble and “Don’t know about you, but I’ve never been then the train appeared vaguely in the distance. It much of a believer in coincidences. Maybe I haven’t roared into the tiny crossing, brakes squealing and traveled that much, but I know when something feels cars rocking over the rails. The train was filled with out of whack. Like now.” older cars, including the type with rows of seats that Annie patted the concrete beside her and sat facing each other, to better accommodate families introduced herself. and groups traveling together. As it lurched to a stop, “Name’s Maurice. Why don’t you tell me what the side door opened on two compartments at the far you think of Alderschot?” end of the platform and a hinged step swung down as Annie played with her hair and let her breath if by remote control. out in a slow, whistling sigh. Annie started to rise from her bag. Maurice “I’ve been here a couple of times before. gently closed his fingers around her arm. Usually it’s only about a ten-minute gap between “Don’t.” trains. Hardly long enough for you to really notice Her eyes flicked back and forth between him the surroundings.” and the train. No one was exiting the cars. Maurice There was a dull click announcing the remained on the ground, his back against the fence. loudspeaker coming to life: “Thirteen minutes for Through the windows she could see the outlines of all southbound connections. Thirteen minutes to many people. They all appeared bored or sleeping. Alderschot.” No one stepped forward to help the Thibodeaus or “Like the voice,” Annie said, nodding toward the others climb on. The father of the young family the speaker, “it sounds like an old tape recording. simply hoisted the strollers aboard, swinging their In the past, the voice was more animated, with little cases up with a well-practiced motion. comments sprinkled in. And what about the time? “Where’s the conductor?” Maurice whispered. Why not half an hour, or twenty minutes? Nobody “Or the porter. No one’s moving aboard the train. No gives thirteen minute warnings?” one’s moving at all.” “Maybe it’s a different station master with a “I want a closer look,” Annie said. lousy watch. Could be the other guy’s day off.” “Don’t get on.” “C’mon, Maurice, you said it yourself. There’s They moved together, peering through the something wrong here; something definitely out of windows of the first car. The Thibodeaus were already whack.” aboard. They were settling into a pair of empty seats He stretched his legs out before him. in the front of a car, not far from the bathroom. The “So what do we do, Annie? Climb the fence family with the children was in a row where the and make a run for it? Start walking down the rails four seats faced each other. The father was stowing in search of one of those pumper cars like in the old the strollers in the overhead compartment while the movies?” mother got the boys situated. “I don’t think we can get off this platform. “This train’s jammed,” Maurice whispered in Something tells me we’re stuck here. Whether we like her ear. it or not.” “But everyone’s finding a seat.” “Looks like we’ll find out soon enough.” He urged her down to the next car. The The speaker clicked once more, declaring fishing buddies were being reunited with another last call for all southbound passengers. As if the pair of anglers across the aisle, digging out pictures of passengers wandered off somewhere and needed past excursions. In a dark corner at the rear of the car, prodding to get back to the platform in time. the trio of women found space in another of the rows

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 24 where four seats faced each other. Their bags were his hand, but made no effort to remove it. They piled onto the empty slot, preventing anyone from proceeded slowly toward the bend. interfering with their group. “You feel it?” Maurice asked. “Everyone’s not just finding a seat,” Maurice “The energy. What was it you said before?” said, “everyone’s finding the perfect seat. No couple or “Static; like lightning about to strike.” group is being broken up. It’s like the perfect traveling “I think it already did.” experience.” They inched closer to the curve, their Annie took a step away from the train, “I’m progress impeded by the force of the explosion not getting on board.” and the aftershock. Annie realized she was lagging “Me neither.” behind, letting him break through the pressure a step They moved back together, keeping the train at a time, like someone breaking the trail on a snow in sight until their backs pressed against the chain link covered path. But it was easier to walk in his wake fence. The steps suddenly folded back into position than forge a separate path. and the doors slammed shut. The train shuddered With her head down, she didn’t notice they and then began picking up speed as it moved out of rounded the curve until she bumped into his back. the station. With the rails shimmering, it rolled south “How bad is it?” she asked. around a bend and into the fading daylight. It was several moments before he found his “Maybe we’re imagining things,” Annie said. voice. “No way; I’d walk home before I got on board “I’ve never seen anything like it.” that train.” Still holding his hand, Annie moved up As the last car rounded the bend, the sky beside Maurice. There was a loud cracking noise, was filled with a shower of sparks and the roar of as the area immediately before them filled with the an explosion. Maurice and Annie were thrown to sparks of supercharged energy. Then as quickly as it the concrete. Pressure from the blast squeezed them had begun, it dissipated. against the links, forcing indentations from the wire “Where is everybody?” into their skin. Annie’s voice sounded loud in her ears, but in Somehow Annie’s voice penetrated the noise reality it was barely a whisper. surrounding them, “We’ve got to help them!” “I have no idea.” “I can’t move.” The ground between the rails was free of Neither one could pull themselves away any litter or debris other than the jet-black cinders from the fence. Then as quickly as it started, the that lined the tracks. Even the wooden ties, stained pressure was gone. Maurice rolled to his knees. dark with creosote and the drippings of a thousand His hands trembled as he pushed himself up to his crossings, looked typical of the railroad. Beyond that, feet. Instinctively, Annie reached for his hand. She the tracks were vacant. doubted that her own legs would support her. No bits of blood splattered clothing. “They need our help,” she said, leaning against No body parts. him. No luggage. “Nobody could have survived that blast.” No shredded magazines, newspapers or “We’ve got to look.” books. His eyes flicked to the smoke rising from the Nothing. curve, to her face and back again, “I ain’t no hero.” “Oh my god,” Annie said softly. “Where could “Neither am I. But we still have to look.” they be?” Together they moved to the edge of the Maurice took a tentative step forward, platform. They didn’t have the strength to jump to gingerly placing his foot on a tie before moving the tracks. First they sat then squirmed off the edge, ahead. He bent smoothly at the waist and placed his dropping the five feet to the jumble of cinders beside free hand on the rail. the railroad ties. Annie realized she was still holding “It’s cold. No vibrations. Nothing’s been over

SuspenseMagazine.com 25 this spot recently.” Maurice gave her a brief smile. “How is that possible?” “As long as it takes. There’s got to be a real “Beats the hell out of me.” He straightened, train through here sooner or later. Unless you feel like and then slowly turned his head from side to side. hiking until we hit civilization. You got somebody Annie watched him draw in several deep breaths and waiting for you?” slowly let them out. “Smell that?” “No. It could be hours before something She sniffed daintily at the air. comes through.” “I don’t smell anything.” “Could be miles to go before we found Maurice turned completely around to face someone. Best to stay put.” her. He barely finished speaking when they heard “Precisely. You said before that you’ve traveled a loud click above them, followed by a buzz of static. by rail a lot. When’s the last time a train rolled through “Shit. Not again,” Maurice said. a station or crossing and didn’t leave the odor of diesel “Wait.” fumes twenty minutes after it moved on?” A voice with a high nasal pitch rang out from “You’re right. I could always smell the exhaust. the speaker: “Attention, any southbound passengers. But what does it mean?” Estimated departure from Alderschot to all points He turned her around and they started south will be fifteen minutes. Repeat, fifteen minutes walking back toward the platform at Alderschot. The to depart Alderschot. Hope to have you aboard before path offered no resistance now. the sun sets.” “It means there was no train. What we saw Annie reached over and squeezed his hand. didn’t exist.” “That’s the normal voice. Hokey wishes and “But the people: the Thibodeaus, the family five-minute intervals. Reality.” and the fishing buddies.” Maurice gave her a slow smile. “Up in smoke. Ain’t nobody going to tell us “You seem to know a lot about these trains.” otherwise.” “My aunt raised me; mom’s sister. She died “But they were real, Maurice. We talked to last spring. Before she went, she gave me a rail pass. them. We watched them interact. They were as real Good for a year. I’ve never been on a train before. I’ve as you and I are.” been using it the last six months.” They reached the edge of the platform. Maurice nodded thoughtfully. Maurice put his back to the concrete wall and laced “Grandmother took care of me. She lives in his fingers into a stirrup. Annie put her right foot in Motown. Cooks the best food I’ve ever had; gave me his hands. Without speaking, she placed her palms a pass for the summer before I start my senior year on his shoulders. Annie pushed off the ground of college. A chance to travel and see some of the as Maurice lifted her up. Like a circus act, she was world.” He nodded again. “Never seen anything like suddenly on the cement walkway, watching him vault this. Let’s see how real this train is.” from the pit to stand beside her. The quarter of an hour passed quickly. They “Now what?” Annie asked. walked up and down the platform, trying hard not “We wait.” to appear anxious when the train was visible in the distance. The shiny silver cars roared into the station They sat on the concrete bench, their baggage and every door burst open with the gasp of air brakes. at their feet. Annie kept glancing at the loudspeaker Several conductors stepped onto the platform, above the shelter, trying to will it to come to life. She stretching their legs and surveying the night sky. noticed her watch stopped; probably the results of the Animated people were visible through the windows, shock wave…or whatever it had been. In the distance, adjusting packages and children in their seats. Annie the sun began its decent. and Maurice walked from the engine back, peering “How long do you think we should wait?” she through the windows at the passengers. asked. “What do you think?” Annie whispered in his

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 26 ear. interested though. Only a freak thing.” “Looks pretty sweet to me.” Annie leaned over as Maurice opened the “I hope we can find two seats together.” paper. The article covered three columns on the He glanced down, looking at her pale fingers right, marking the anniversary of the train wreck, laced through his own. One of the conductors twenty years ago to the day. Only two survivors out approached them. of three hundred and seventy: a young boy of four “Plenty of room in the next car, folks; only and a girl, only two-years old. On the following another minute before we leave Alderschot. Don’t page were old photos of the scene. Passenger cars want the trains to run late, ya know.” were scattered and tumbled across the tracks, as Quickly they climbed into the car. Near the if an angry child backhanded his toy train set in a back, they found two seats together, facing forward. moment of frustration. A sidebar gave quick details Annie took the window. Maurice stowed their bags of the events leading up to the crash, and listed some overhead, then settled in beside her. There was the famous people who perished. clank of doors, followed by the whoosh of brakes “Sweet Jesus. They never knew what hit them,” as the train began to rock slowly out of the station. Maurice said, his voice a soft whisper in her ear. The conductor appeared beside them, making sure “Turn it over,” said Annie pointing a shaky everyone was settled into their seats. finger at the paper. “Has there ever been an accident on this He did as she asked. On the following page line?” Annie asked quietly. were other articles, reflecting the improved safety The conductor’s face, a friendly grin a moment standards for the railroads, expanded training for the before, twisted quickly into a scowl. crews and charts showing the steady growth of rail “You another one of them?” travel. A small box at the bottom of the page caught “One of what?” Maurice asked. her eye. Under the caption, Where Are They Now? “One of them gore-mongers. It was all over were two blurry photos… today’s paper. Bloody anniversary and all. You’d think The four-year old boy and—the two-year old people had better things to do with their time,” he girl. said as he started to turn away. Next to the original pictures were computer “Wait,” Annie pleaded, “can you tell us about generated versions, using an age progression software the accident?” program. Although grainy, the images were fairly “I got cars full of people to tend to, Missy. But accurate. if you’re really interested, give me a minute.” “That’s us,” Maurice said softly, letting the The conductor finished his turn and paper drop to the floor. “You and me, babe.”  continued to check on the rest of the passengers.”What do you suppose that was about?” Annie asked. Maurice shrugged and turned his attention to the window. They were passing the bend in the tracks where they hiked only a short while earlier, but there was nothing to see. Autographed Copies Available at: A few minutes later the conductor returned and dropped a thick newspaper www.QueenWriter.com in Maurice’s lap. [email protected] “You can read it for yourselves. Much as I hate to admit it, the account is fairly accurate. Don’t know why young folks the likes of you would be so

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ATTWO ad.indd 1 9/13/10 5:37 PM Rick Reed: One of True Crime’s Finest Cuts Interview By Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit: Routt Photography

ick Reed is a twenty-plus-year retired veteran (Sergeant) police detective. Reed spent his last three years on the force as the Commander of the police department’sR Internal Affairs Section. During his career, he was quite successful; he investigated numerous, high-profile criminal cases, including a serial killer who claimed thirteen victims before his last victim was strangled and dismembered. Reed obtained a Masters Degree and upon retiring from the police force, took a full time teaching position with Ivy Tech Community College. He currently teaches Criminal Justice and writes thrillers. His new, true- crime book “Blood Trail” has recounted the story about the serial killer he helped apprehend. His next book, “The Cruelest Cut” has a fictional killer, but he makes it obvious he draws a lot from what he’s lived. The things Reed must have seen as a police officer has to make for a great book and Suspense Magazine is honored to have the opportunity to speak with him today.

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): As a true crime writer, do you feel a certain sense of creative freedom in stepping into the world of fiction?

Rick Reed (RR): I didn’t originally start out to be a true crime writer, but the opportunity to write “Blood Trail” presented itself and ‘that was that’. Writing true crime is very restrictive because you have facts to work with and you have to stay within those facts. Having the freedom to create your facts, to ‘design’ characters to play the parts you give them, is exciting. And unlike true crime, if you don’t like a scene, you can delete it and write it differently. For me, that freedom may have been a dangerous thing as it allowed me to let my mind roam freely. Sometimes, even I think I may not be wrapped too tight.

SuspenseMagazine.com 29 S. MAG.: It has been our observation that true crime fans are an extremely loyal group and not always receptive to crossing genres. Have you received early feedback from your fan base voicing their opinion on your switch?

RR: Yes, true crime fans are loyal and that was one reason I wanted to make the switch to fiction as early in my writing career as was possible. At this time, the feedback I’ve received from my fans is they love the blending of real with imagination I do in my fiction writing. I’ve had several ask me to do other true crime stories, but I believe I will have to pass on those for now.

S. MAG.: Is the fictional serial killer in “The Cruelest Cut” based on any actual killer you encountered in your career as a detective specializing in violent crimes?

RR: The fictional serial killer in“ The Cruelest Cut” is an amalgamation of several people I’ve dealt with over the years. Part of his character is from a guy I went to grade school with. I’ll leave you guessing about that.

S. MAG.: Do you anticipate drawing on actual cases you handled as a police detective as you continue to write thrillers starring Jack Murphy?

RR: Always write what you know and if that doesn’t work, learn how to lie very well. As a detective, I learned to lie well. Just kidding; sort of. As a detective, I worked several thousand cases of all types from minor battery cases to murders. I retained a lot of my notes from these cases and still have access to current detectives. The short answer is, yes, I will definitely draw on actual cases, but they will be changed so much that even the players wouldn’t recognize themselves or the situation.

S. MAG.: Did you base your fictional protagonist, Jack Murphy on yourself?

RR: Maybe I should let Jack answer that question. “What do you think Jack?”

Sorry, he doesn’t like talking to the media so I’ll answer for him. Jack Murphy is the cop that I would want to be if I didn’t have to worry about the little things like ‘keeping my job’, ‘not being charged with a crime’ or never worrying about going too far. He is the kind of man that most men would want to be. Although we share a lot of the same qualities, I’m better looking, but he’s way cooler.

S. MAG.: Which was scarier, writing about a factual killer in “Blood Trail” or creating a fictional thriller in “The Cruelest Cut”?

RR: Being with the real killer in “Blood Trail” was the scariest thing I ever did. At one point during the actual interviews of this man, I asked him to explain ‘how’ he strangled one of the victims. Instead of answering, he grabbed me by the neck and yelled, “I strangled her just like this.” I needed lots of napkins. But as far as fictional killers, getting into the mind of my disturbed character was more frightening by far.

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 30 S. MAG.: How did your family cope with you being a detective?

RR: I’m divorced. I live with a dog named Belle and two cats, Hannibal and Clarice. My job pretty much became my life. When you get married, you take vows. When you become a cop, you swear an oath. If you don’t honor your vows, you risk divorce. If you don’t honor your oath people can be hurt, killed even. Detectives can’t even have regular hours. You never know when you’re going to be called about a case, or have to leave family functions to go to a crime scene. I wouldn’t recommend a cop’s life to anyone.

S. MAG.: Does writing such horrifying acts and ugly scenes give you nightmares? Or is it something you can separate?

RR: I started writing with the intention of getting the ugly thoughts out of my head and onto something else. What was I thinking? I learned as a detective to compartmentalize almost everything, but it doesn’t mean those things go away. They always have a way of finding you in the night.

S. MAG.: Do you allow anyone to read your work and give their opinion? Or are you superstitious and keep it all to yourself until you hear from the publisher?

RR: I have several close friends who I let read my work. I trust them to be honest with me and they are the kind of friends who are not afraid to criticize. This doesn’t mean I’ll listen to them, but I do like their input.

S. MAG.: What did you read as a child? Who do you read now?

RR: I was always an avid reader as a child. The library was only a few blocks from my house and I carried as many books home as they would allow. My favorites were books about Sherlock Holmes, historical novels, famous orators, Huck Finn, usually fun or mystery. Now I read totally for fun. Nelson DeMille, John Sanford, David Baldacci, Joseph Wambaugh, Tess Gerritsen, James Lee Burke, Patricia Cornwell, John Lescroart, John Lutz, C.E. Lawrence and I could go on for pages. If I left anyone out it was unintentional. I have to be honest and say it was Nelson DeMille and Joseph Wambaugh who made me think about becoming a writer.

S. MAG.: Can you tell us what you’re working on for 2012?

RR: I’m completing the second book in what will be a series of Jack Murphy murder mysteries based in Evansville, Indiana. This is due soon and then I will be talking to my publisher about a third book that is almost written and will be the prequel to the series. I can promise my fans there will be many Jack Murphy books still to come. The man is a legend in his own mind.

Suspense Magazine is honored to have had the opportunity to speak to Detective Sergeant Rick Reed and for the giving of his time to enlighten us and perhaps even wet our appetites for more of his talent. If you’d like to learn more about this fantastic author, visit his website at www.rickreedbooks.com. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 31 H.P. Lovecraft By: Suspense Magazine

In the world of horror there are many names that come to mind as top horror writers of today. What they all have in common is their inspiration: Suspense Magazine’s latest entry into the Hall of Fame is H.P. Lovecraft. This “Master of Horror” was born in 1890 and died at the young age of forty-six. In such a short amount of time, H.P. Lovecraft set in motion the ground work for all horror writers today. Lovecraft’s work “Cthulhu Mythos” is one of the most influential works that can be found in novels, movies, music, comic books and cartoons. By reading the opening to his 1926 tale “The Call of Cthulhu” you will see the depth at which Lovecraft’s writing can be found:

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in Photo: Lucius B. Truesdell (Arkham House) the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.”

The extent of Lovecraft’s writing can’t be measured in this short paragraph. Three collections of short stories should be on the shelf of each reader, not just horror fans but all fans. “The Call of Cthulhu andO ther Weird Stories”, “The Thing on the Doorstep andO ther Weird Stories” and “The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories” are all available from Penguin. By going back and reading these works from a true master, you will see his reach will extend into more than just horror. It is our honor at Suspense Magazine to enshrine H.P. Lovecraft into the Hall of Fame. As with all Hall of Fame authors, we encourage you to read their works, not only to make you a better writer, but also a more informed fan. 

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b Available now Members of Penguin Group (USA) penguin.com wherever books are sold J The Picture o of Fear s Interview by Suspense Magazine h u a H o f f i

n Featured e Artist Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 34 rtist Joshua Hoffine has a dark, Atwisted side that comes out in his work and screams from the page, or at the very least, will make you scream. Last year at this time, he was creating one of his works titled, Babysitter. He gave the part of the babysitter to his thirteen-year-old daughter, Arinna. The uneasiness carved in her face is brilliant; maybe she’ll be following in her father’s footsteps. Hoffine’s work shows us what we fear most as children and adults no matter the picture. For example, if you were a Basement teenager who babysits a lot, Babysitter could really grab you by the throat. If you’re not particularly fond of spiders or bugs of any kind, Swarm would not be the perfect slice of art to have hung over your sofa as a conversation piece. Using the words from his website, Hoffine says it best… “I am interested in the psychology of fear. We are born with inherent and instinctual fears, such as fear of the dark, fear of lurking danger, and the fear of being eaten. As we grow older, these fears lose their intensity, and are slowly shuffled away into our unconscious. Horror, as an art form, draws its strength from the Candy unconscious. Horror photography is able to present these abstract and forgotten fears in literal terms. I stage my photo shoots like small movies, with sets, costumes, elaborate props, fog machines, and special effects make-up. Everything is acted out live in front of the camera. I use friends and family members, including my own daughters, as actors and crew. I try to present the images within the visual grammar of a child. I want the viewer to empathize with the child, to share their point of view, to feel their

35 SuspenseMagazine.com Bed sense of vulnerability. The images stress danger, and depict an amoral world where purity and innocence are under constant threat. Like fairy tales, these photographs function as cautionary metaphors about the potential dangers of the world. I believe that the Horror story is ultimately concerned with the imminence and randomness of death, and the implication that there is no certainty to existence. The experience of Horror resides in this confrontation with uncertainty. Horror tells us that our belief in Couch security is delusional, and that the monsters are all around us.” No matter your taste, there’s no doubt Hoffine has a bold, bright future with everything he does. He puts his scariest foot forward and brings fear and even death…to life. Pretty ironic and very well done. Suspense Magazine has gotten the opportunity to speak with Joshua and found out a little more about him and his work. So, what makes Joshua Hoffine tick? Check out the interview below and see for yourself.

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): It was very difficult for us to choose the images from your portfolio because your work is so Balloons powerful—and a little bit creepy, if we’re honest with you—do you have one favorite piece? Joshua Hoffine (J.H.): I don’t think I could single out just one favorite image, but if I had to pick, it would probably be Basement or maybe Candy or Swarm.

S. MAG.: The set up feels like a small Hollywood production. How long does it take you to complete a single image from scene preparation through final Photoshop

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 36 REFRIGERATOR completion? J.H.: Production lasts about four to six weeks on average. S. MAG.: Some of the images—especially those depicting children—have received a much stronger reaction from a few at Suspense Magazine. How does your family feel about your work? J.H.: My family likes my work and supports me in what I do. They understand the intent behind my work. S. MAG.: We have to know…is this your full time job? J.H.: I shoot various things on the side, but yes, horror photography is my main occupation. S. MAG.: Can people purchase your work? Is there a market for horror photography? J.H.: Signed prints are for sale on my website at www.joshuahoffine.com. S. MAG.: Do you have an emotional connection to your pieces? J.H.: Yes, every single one of them. S. MAG.: What are you working on now? J.H.: A new image called Robot. I’ve been working on it for weeks. It’s almost ready. S. MAG.: Did you have something that particularly scared you which put you on the path to your artistic tastes? J.H.: I was obsessed with scary movies growing up. My earliest drawings are of monsters. I enjoyed hiding in the bushes to scare my younger sisters. I’ve always been this way. S. MAG.: The detail in your work is amazing. Where does the vividness of your pieces come from? J.H.: I love to obsess over the perfection of little details. And my camera loves seeing them. S. MAG.: Do you have any interest in other types of art? J.H.: Oh sure; sculpture, writing, film editing and sound design. I’ve been thinking about shooting a photo series based on poetry and another series based on Steam Punk post-humanistic philosophy. Suspense Magazine is honored to have Joshua Hoffine asO ctober’s Artist of the Month. We thank you Joshua for allowing us to share your talent. We couldn’t think of anyone better suited for our magazine honoring Halloween’s month. If you want to learn more about Joshua check him out at www.joshuahoffine.com. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 37 Something Invincible, yet Fragile By Quintin Peterson I am a devil, yet an angel, Something invisible, yet fragile. There is the part of me which deplores you, And the part of me which adores you.

Part of me would destroy The part of me which would create. And part of me would create The part of me which would destroy. Collateral The part of me which adores you, Runner Up And the part of me which deplores you. Damage For I am an angel, yet a devil, By Stephen D. Rogers Something invincible, yet fragile. They all have motive, opportunity and means, All would be proud to have poisoned his greens.

One of these seven no more and no less, Committed this murder and yet won't confess.

The others are guilty of supporting the plot, Which is why at next tea I shall poison the lot. Death's Kiss By Lisa McCourt Hollar Slithering silently across the room He watches your every move, Patiently waiting his chance to prove That the boogie man really does exist, Biding his time, delivering death’s kiss, Waking you from your ignorant bliss.

He plants his claim upon your soul Into your heart he digs a hole, Filling the space with heated coal. Screaming, agony, pain and weeping, Death doesn’t come silently sleeping, When Hell’s minions do the reaping.

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 38 InsideSuspense Magazine the Book ReviewsPages I Shall Not Want Black Moonlight by Debbie Viguie by Amy Patricia Meade New York Times bestselling author, “Black Moonlight”, the latest in the Marjorie Debbie Viguie offers a fresh and playful McClelland mystery series by Amy Patricia approach to the world of soft-boiled Meade, takes readers back to the heady pre- thrillers with the latest installment to World War II days, 1935 to be exact. Ah, you her Psalm 23 Mystery Series, “I Shall not can almost hear the cocktail shaker mixing up a Want”. Unmistakably excelling in the batch of Manhattans for the guests at a weeklong art of developing quirky, yet lovable characters, Viguie house party on a private island off the coast of Bermuda. virtually paints a picture in your mind of this out-of-the- Mystery writer Marjorie McClelland and her brand-new ordinary crime-solving duo. husband, millionaire Creighton Ashcroft, arrive at the Ashcroft The holidays have arrived and with that, a completely new home on the private island to spend an idyllic honeymoon bag of issues has landed directly onto the desk of church week. To their horror, they find Creighton’s entire family on secretary, Cindy Preston. Already impressively juggling the premises, including Creighton’s father, also newly married her work, she never anticipated the trouble that would to a woman half his age. Who, incidentally used to be the old arrive when she innocently offers her free time to help man’s—ahem—secretary. organize a new charity event to match the homeless with rescue dogs. As the bodies methodically begin piling up Long-hidden, family secrets spill out due to the aforementioned and the harmless pets disappear, Cindy and her previous Manhattans, family members are threatened with disinheritance crime-solving partner, Jeremiah become ensnared in this from the Ashcroft millions and poor Papa ends up dead. unhealthy game of cat-and-mouse. Unfortunately, the prime suspect in the murder is Creighton. “I Shall not Want” is an entertaining tale that keeps the Talk about ruining a honeymoon. door wide open for the series and the extremely likable The setting is divine, the characters are delightful and the plot crew to continue forward indefinitely. For those who prefer is delicious. If I sound like a Cole Porter tune, so be it. “Black their thrillers a bit on the lighter side—with a key focus on Moonlight” is great fun. the amateur sleuth and their extraordinary entertainment Reviewed by Susan Santangelo, author of “Retirement Can Be value—this series is the perfect choice.  Murder” for Suspense Magazine  Autumn by David Moody In the blink of an eye, it’s over. Just a scant, twenty-four hour period has changed the world and no longer will you find yourself locked into the dull and often-mundane normalcy that was your life if you are one of the unlucky to survive. This is a glimpse into the ingenious imagination of author David Moody, who has again struck a chord with his distinctive perspective on zombies in his latest and soon-to-be bestseller, “Autumn”. As the bloody bodies litter the streets, those few ill-fated souls who are immune to the disease begin to tentatively take stock of the catastrophe that has wiped out the bulk of the population. Propelled by fears of being the sole survivor and guided by the safety in numbers mindset, paralyzing fright is crammed deep down and the search for other survivors begins. Hiding together, the diverse group is faced with few choices as the system breaks down. Stay inside the dark, drafty building and pray for help or move to better quarters as the autumn cold seeps in. But terror is a powerful dynamic and as phase two begins—the animation of the dead—the group’s false sense of security is splintered by this living nightmare. Guaranteed to disturb your sleep! If you only read one book this year, read “Autumn”. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 39 Play Dead by Harlan Coben Reminding me of the talented and much missed Sidney Sheldon, Harlan Coben’s “Play Dead” is a tale that refuses to be set aside. The perfect tabloid couple—former model turned business whiz and basketball superstar— seem to have it all; a beautiful life for beautiful people. However, money and looks can’t protect you from the evils of the world and newlywed Laura Ayers is faced with that grim reality as tragedy strikes like lightening and bursts her bubble of pure joy. David Baskin, the love of her life, is missing and presumed dead just a few minutes’ walk from their peaceful and secluded honeymoon suite. Laura was a widow before the young, exuberant couple even had a chance. She is unable to come to terms with the loss. Still, as her friends and family work diligently to shelter her from the grieving public and her very raw, personal pain, she realizes the circumstances surrounding David’s death are not adding up. Laura becomes a haunted woman, a mere sliver of her former self and in order to salvage her sanity, she’s compelled to take on the dangerous search for the truth. Discovering a long-ago family conspiracy and virtual closet full of skeletons is the real-life nightmare Laura couldn’t have prepared for. If you—like most fans of suspense—crave heart pumping twists and turns, “Play Dead”, an early Coben novel is—contrary to the author’s own opinion—still a great place to start if you’re new to his work. No one builds a web of intrigue quite like Coben.  Silent Scream Something Borrowed, by Lynda La Plante Something Bleu The title is very fitting as it’s exactly by Cricket McRae what I did at the end. I was so sure that Sophie Mae Reynolds, the likeable heroine of I had figured out who the murderer Cricket McRae’s Home Crafting Mystery Series, has was that when I got to the end and saw a problem. In fact, in the latest series installment, “Something Borrowed, Something Bleu”, she how wrong I was, I let loose my own has quite a few of them. Although her personal soundless shriek. life is great—she’s going to marry the love of her DI Anna Travis investigates the heartbreaking murder life—her mother, Anna Belle (don’t you love these double names?) of Amanda Delany, an up-and-coming star. Addicted is trying to take over the wedding plans. And if that isn’t enough, an to drugs and sexually licentious, Delany is found to be early morning phone call from Anna Belle announcing she’s found anything but the moral innocent some would like to a cryptic suicide note from Sophie Mae’s long dead brother, Bobby think she is. Lee (another double name, in case you didn’t notice that), is a huge Witnesses, potential suspects and even Delany’s parents addition to her problem list. are hauled in for questioning. In search of a motive When Anna Belle begs Sophie Mae to come home to decipher the for Delany’s brutal slaughter, evidence is unearthed meaning of the note and figure out what really happened the night Bobby Lee died, how can the bride-to-be refuse? And when Sophie divulging deception, fraud and cover-ups. Mae starts asking questions and another murder takes place— Amidst the investigation, Travis is recommended holy cow, she discovers the body!—well, she’s got another, bigger for promotion. But during her day long interview for problem besides deciding what main course to serve at the soon-to- the position, her ex-lover and boss reveals a shocking be-over-the-top wedding reception. allegation that could keep her from attaining her dream. Sheesh; brides-to-be have enough to deal with just organizing the This procedural story is its own evidence that one silent wedding. How much does a gal have to put up with? And, by the scream can ultimately be a whisper of death. British way, nobody could fault Sophie Mae for moving far away from writer La Plante shows Travis’ impressive investigative where she grew up. Not even her mama. skills and with the help of her team, unravels the “Something Borrowed, Something Bleu” (there’s some cheese- mystery of a dreadfully, heartrending murder. making info tossed into the mix, hence the title) is a fun, frothy read. Reviewed by Susan Santangelo, author of “Retirement Can Reviewed by Starr Gardinier Reina, author of “In the Be Murder” for Suspense Magazine  Name of Revenge” for Suspense Magazine 

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 40 When Blood Calls Body Heat by JK Beck by Brenda Novak In what is obviously a labor of love, Sara Constantine is an attorney, but instead Novak introduces readers to the second of the usual human suspects, her new job is novel of her summer series with “Body to prosecute vampires, werewolves and other Heat”. An exceptional writer with a clear, shadowy entities she’s only heard about. The concise voice, Novak continues to shock first case on her agenda is convicting Lucius and stimulate with each new, dazzling Dragos of murder. Lucius—the same installment. gorgeous man she met in a bar only two nights earlier and Chief of Police, Sophia St. Claire is in over her head as her small town begins to experience big city shared a steamy, sexy night with…the same man that it now crime. In fact, Bordertown, Arizona—a small stop on the seems, is a Vampire. footpath for illegal aliens crossing the border—is becoming Lucius is accused of murdering a judge and if convicted, a dangerous and unpredictable place to live. Vigilante justice would be facing the death penalty. Sara is determined to initially appears to be the driving force behind the growing number of immigrant corpses stacking up and Sophia is win this case even though she is extremely drawn to Lucius. desperate to solve the case and her position. What ensues is an all out race by Lucius to prove to Sara that When assistance arrives in the form of bad boy gone right, he is not a monster, while Sara must find a way to protect and Roderick Guerrero, Sophia wants nothing to do with him defend this vampire who has stolen her heart. and least of all his attitude-infused swagger. Her opinion isn’t swayed by his experience or law enforcement contacts, JK Beck has written a decidedly taunt thriller with a twist but his pushy persona won’t be denied. Roderick has a bad and has done it a manner that keeps the reader on the jagged taste in his mouth when it comes to his past and hometown edge. The characters are true-to-life and dangerously realistic, and he refuses to leave without solving the case and proving while the action moves ahead at mind-bending speed. Add to himself that he is a better man. in a large helping of sex, deceit, jealousy and things that go Writing against cross genres can be a slippery slope and bump in the night and you have “When Blood Calls”. Novak excels as if she were a born tightrope walker. Not afraid to blur the lines between sexy and suspense, “Body Reviewed by: DJ Weaver (WebbWeaver Reviews) for Heat” will keep you wrapped up tight until the final words Suspense Magazine  splash down. 

Next Time You See Me by Katia Lief Lief does it again. Mac MacLeary leaves the Maplewood police department and takes an executive position at a security company. Karen Schaeffer is Mac’s old partner and new wife and they live in New York City with their son Ben. One night, Mac gets the phone call every son fears with an added surprise—his parents, Hugh and Aileen—were found in their home in Bronxville just outside the city dead; murdered. Police say it was a botched home invasion…a blood bath. After the funeral Mac and Karen’s lives change forever. One morning on his way to work, Mac disappears. Things quickly go from bad to worse when Karen befriends a woman named Jasmine who works with her mother. Jasmine decides she wants to spend her birthday in Miami under a palm tree drinking Blue Devils. Karen doesn’t want her to spend her birthday alone and surprises her by joining her there. While waiting for Jasmine’s plane to land, Karen can’t believe her eyes…if she hadn’t known better, she would swear her husband Mac was walking across the Miami Airport. He doesn’t respond to her yelling his name so she immediately wonders if she is hallucinating or if he is indeed alive. After hiring a P.I., she gets a photograph of him with another woman and immediately thinks the worst. Before long, she is thrown waist deep into a drug cartel, a jealous ex, an illegitimate son and countless, hired, drugged-up lackey’s due to the bidding of a bitter woman who wants nothing more than to see Mac and everything he covets, destroyed. There’s a lot that goes on in this story and every twist and turn brings you closer to the brink of madness and the real story behind the murders of the MacLeary’s and Mac’s “death”. An awesome read, but I expect nothing less of Lief. Reviewed by Terri Ann Armstrong, author of “Morning Menace” for Suspense Magazine

SuspenseMagazine.com 41 Our Kind of Traitor As Lie the Dead by John le Carre by Kelly Meding When the Cold War ended one might “As the silence drew out, the tension have thought John le Carre’s career as a became a tangible thing, wrapping cold, writer of the spy novel might have come icy fingers around my heart and squeezing crashing down along with the Berlin wall. tight.” Not only is this an excellent Rest assured, in “Our Kind of Traitor” example of Ms. Meding’s ability to show le Carre shows us that the Russian, spy you exactly how her first-person heroine novel is alive and well. was feeling, it is a perfect description of how I felt in a quiet Born to the ranks of the British, upper middle-class Perry room reading this edge-of-your-seat novel. Makepiece, an English literature tutor at Oxford College I was captured by this story—from the vibrant collage and his girlfriend, Gail, the “sparky young barrister on on the front cover with the menacing, winged creature, to the rise” take a vacation in Antigua. Their holiday is the vast detailed depictions of each action sequence, to interrupted by Dima from Perm and his accompanying, the way the narrative kept me teetering always just on the Russian family, who leeches on to the Brits and takes over edge of a suspenseful confusion, to her complicated world their time and tennis. of varied paranormal creatures constantly with changing Dima wants to rat out his fellow Russian crooks to the alliances. British government to get his family to safety, and since This world was so complicated, so diverse, as was each Perry is “goddamn fair-play English” Dima chooses him to of the characters that it lent itself well to the genre. The pass on this information to the apparatchik’s of the British tension built because of the amazing way it all played out. government. The triangle of sexual tension Meding created between Upon returning home, Perry passes on the message to the first person female narrator, Evangeline and her two, the service. Before they know it, the pair are recruited and constant heroes was fraught with emotional depth, vast caught up in the high-stakes intrigue becoming pawns in back stories and intricate circumstances. the hands of everyone they become involved with, be it their British masters or the sweet innocent kids caught up The book was a recipe for paranormal suspense. The in their Russian parents' need for moral endeavor. surprises never stopped coming as if making a pact with Le Carre proves again to be the master of the the devil was not enough. If the author used one, I would understatement. With the authorities closing in on the love to see the storyboard for this one. Simply put, read illegals hiding out in the Swiss countryside, the family and it. I was blown away by it enough to feel confident in their handlers start to come unhinged in their hideout, and recommending reading “Three Days Dead” first, although with time running out le Carre swings the momentum like not absolutely necessary. Just buy them both at one time the pendulum in a grandfather clock until the grand finale. and save yourself the trip. Reviewed by Mark P. Sadler, Author of “Blood on his Reviewed by Kiki Howell, Author of “A Modern Day Hands” for Suspense Magazine  Witch Hunt” for Suspense Magazine  Indulgence in Death by J.D. Robb Most Nora Roberts’ fans are aware her talents reach far beyond the boundaries of romance and many have become diehard addicts of her futuristic, mystery-infused In Death series written under the pseudonym of J.D. Robb. Robb’s talent—thriving in separate worlds—is unparallel and the induction of “Indulgence in Death” to her repertoire is absolutely no exception. A killer who savors the elite has decided to make murder a game. Only the top in their field—chef, escort, business owner and above all, cop—have been handpicked as unsuspecting participants in this deadly game of predator vs. prey. The uneven playing field combined with the uncommon choice of weaponry and exaggerated crime scenes only serves to enrage the key target of their madness, Eve Dallas. With one-of-a-kind imagery that Robb has perfected, “Indulgence in Death” is the ideal weekend respite. So put your feet up, engage your imagination and enjoy. 

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 42 The Hanging Tree by Bryan Gruley From the moment Gracie McBride tied her pretty, pink sneaker to that of her boyfriend’s black, football cleat and hung the mismatched pair over the branch of an old, oak tree, the majority of other teens from the small town of Starvation Lake, Michigan, adopted her action. Meant as a sign of childhood love, lust, lost virginity or even freedom, The Shoe Tree was born. Now, twenty years later, The Shoe Tree is popular once again, but not for the hundreds of shoes adorning its sweeping branches. This time, the old tree receives attention for the body of Gracie McBride hanging amongst the hundreds of time-worn tokens. Gus Carpenter, executive editor of the Pine County Pilot, sets out to discover the events leading to Gracie’s death, for it soon becomes clear it was no suicide. However, one curse of living in such a small town is the toil of never running an impartial investigation. Gracie was Gus’s second cousin and best friend to his now girlfriend and police Deputy, Darlene Esper. With the residents of Starvation Lake unhappy with Gus for halting construction of a new hockey ring with his scathing article written for the paper, he is met with uncooperative forces. However, as he delves deeper into tracing the steps leading the Gracie’s death, Gus is unprepared for the many horrible secrets he uncovers. Full of mystery, romance, intrigue and violence, “The Hanging Tree” is a must read for any fan of suspense! Reviewed by Dawn Hullender for Suspense Magazine 

The Immortals The Grove by J.T. Ellison by John Rector With a keen understanding of what her fans Farmer Dexter McCrary has always been crave, JT Ellison swiftly paints a pulse-pounding fond of the lone grove of Cottonwood trees tale with the introduction of her newest thriller that run through his cornfield. But, when a “The Immortals”. Delving into an unexpected night he can’t remember collides with his sub-culture—the occult—Ellison ratchets up the discovery of the body of a dead teenage girl in fear with each spine-tingling page, as much loved his field, McCrary’s feelings about the grove Jackson confronts a strange and mysterious veil of are about to change. Dexter quickly begins to question his own sanity and wonders if—during his blackout evil. the night before—he could have killed the poor girl that now lies As night falls, Lieutenant Taylor Jackson should be dead in The Grove. kicking back with a beer and her team, basking in With the details of his troubled past looming maliciously all the success of her reinstatement to the homicide around him, Dexter begins his search into the identity of the division, instead they’ve received an emergency dead girl and his own hunt for her killer. Feeling alienated from call that will change the fabric of the community. everyone and alone, Dexter has but one ally to aid him in his Panic has set in—in a well-off Nashville suburb— search…the dead girl herself. as one teenage victim after As Dexter is plunged further into the grips of insanity, his another is discovered. relationship with the dead, decaying girl from the grove becomes more and more disturbing. John Rector has penned a wickedly- It is Samhain—the Blood haunting tale that will plow through your psyche like a tractor Harvest or what most recognize at harvest time. Well written and deliciously dark, John Rector as Halloween and the ghouls has given readers a one-way ticket into the mind of a madman have come out to play. Only this and dared them to climb aboard. Brace yourself for shock as you night, the game is vengeance and venture into, “The Grove”. the consequences are deadly.  Reviewed by: CK Webb for Suspense Magazine 

SuspenseMagazine.com 43 The Disappearance On the Line by Bentley Little by S.J. Rozan A horror marvel, Little’s words inspire Bill Smith’s longtime partner, Lydia anxiety—a tension so thick you can’t help Chan, has been kidnapped. but be on edge—as he slowly, methodically The kidnapper—a man Smith sent builds on your fears with each penetrating to jail a decade ago—is hell-bent on page. revenge. From the opening chapter As Gary and his friends drive across the Arizona desert, they’re just typical college Rozan has created a thriller at a kids taking a break from their schedule and planning a fun- frantic pace that builds to a crescendo that we ride like a filled weekend at the Burning Man Festival. Unfortunately, rollercoaster. what they expect and what they receive are in totally opposite We are led on a whiplash tour of New York at the whim of realms. As they wake from what they immediately recognize a crazy man. Along the way we pick up a cast of nefarious as a drug-induced slumber, the once cheerful party is now characters, Asian pimps and their Chinese call-girls, minus one. Gary’s girlfriend Joan is gone. Lydia’s kid cousin and his Italian girlfriend, ex-wives, dogs In a state of utter panic, Gary is drawn back to the imagined and time-worn drunken former cops. safety of the UCLA campus with the desperate hope that Joan will be waiting. However, Joan has vanished along By following the clues left in orange-colored plastic bags with all traces of her existence. Frustrated by the general all over New York’s boroughs and closely-timed secrets, air of skepticism and complete lack of assistance from provided by last-minute phone calls from the kidnapper, the authorities, Gary and his small troupe of friends are we ride along like a passenger in the back seat pouring determined to find out what really happened before they over the bags’ contents, bent on solving the puzzle and begin to disappear themselves. But, they have no idea what playing the game. they’re up against and the horrors they find are much too An engrossing story that won’t stop until you reach the real when the small, ill-equipped group faces off against a electrifying finale. cult leader with a larger-than-life grasp. Little never fails to frighten and “The Disappearance” is no Reviewed by: Mark P. Sadler, author of “Blood on his  exception.  Hands” for Suspense Magazine On Target Murder in the Air by Mark Greaney by Bill Crider How does an author follow up a debut, The air quality in Blacklin County has taken a turn for the national bestseller with high expectations worse since Lester Hamilton industrialized his chicken farm on the line? How about brilliantly and and the neighbors in nearby Clearwater are none too happy. without fail. Their complaints seem to fall on deaf ears until someone Mark Greaney’s sequel to “The Gray Man” takes matters into their own hands and Hamilton is found picks up right where he left off as Court floating in Murdock’s rock pit, the victim of foul play. By Gentry, a.k.a. ‘the gray man’, a.k.a. ‘six’ is left the time the second body is found you are whole-heartedly to fend for himself as a private contracted assassin. Gentry involved in putting the pieces of the puzzle together. cannot rest on his laurels since his former employer—the CIA—has issued an SOS order, shoot on sight! Crider throws out enough red-herrings to keep you guessing in this light-hearted mystery that will often find you chortling Gentry has agreed to a very risky contract with his as you scratch your head figuring out who dun it. Throw in a untrusting, Russian employer, but also agrees to an little romance, small town characters and alternate deal with the CIA that would rescind his SOS one nosy newspaper reporter and this is a order if he completes his mission successfully. Of course, everything goes haywire from the start and Gentry has to fun, fast read for one of those weekends deal with all of it. when you just want to kick back and relax. If you are looking for a truly, cover-to-cover, action-packed Reviewed by Mark P. Sadler, author thrill ride, start reading this series as it will not leave you of “Blood on his Hands” for Suspense disappointed.  Magazine 

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 44

MOVIES The Chaser (2008) Genre: Crime Thriller (NR)

The opening scenes of this movie make me believe this could take place in almost any big city in the world. There are big, tall skyscrapers, bright neon signs and women walking the streets in seedy neighborhoods with men leering after them. Sex, money and power are the driving forces behind former police detective Jung-ho's (Kim yun-Seok) career change. He enjoys the fruits of these women’s labor and life is good until women start disappearing without a trace. Initially, there is very little concern regarding the safety of these women. Jung-ho is convinced they ran away with the advance money given to them or sold by some “other businessman”. It is only after Mi-jin—the mother of a beautiful young daughter—disappears that he begins to investigate. It is in fact, his errand boy Meathead who clues him into “some wacko”, who some of the missing girls “serviced”. In another part of town, Mi-jin has her hands full. She doesn’t understand the trouble she’s in until it’s too late. Suffice it to say, the polite young man with the boy-next-door look turns quickly on his victim. Ji Young-min is portrayed as the epitome of the real-life, serial killer Ted Bundy. The Director, Hong-jin Na proceeds to take the viewer into this serial killer’s dark and twisted mind, crafting a character who is a true psychopath, one who uses chisels, hooks and hangers to torture his victims. Jung-ho becomes suspicious of Ji Young-min. After he realizes Jung-ho may be on to him, Ji Young- min flees. A chase begins and the camera shots brought me right into the pursuit, making me perch on the edge of my seat, my heart pounding while rooting for Jung-ho. The director is masterful at weaving corruption, incompetency and cover-up again and again throughout the film. The politicians are interested in watching their backs. The police and a special task force are adversarial at best. The police force is more preoccupied with a “high crime and misdemeanor”, even though the Mayor is also attacked. I just want to throttle all of them. But even in the midst of all the murder and mayhem, the director provides us with some tender moments between some of the characters. The viewer cannot help but realize the stage has been set for all three, Jung-ho, Mi-jin and Ji-Young- min (aka psycho-boy) to meet again. The ending is a culmination of the serial killer’s traits of sadistic brutality and mercilessness, as well as a trail of corpses. The question of whether or not Jung-ho is the only competent one in the film, I will leave for you to decide. In a movie with subtitles, it is very easy to become distracted, but because of the outstanding directing, acting and suspense-filled storyline, I did not even notice. 

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 46 MOVIES Author Brian Kessler (David Duchovny) mixes drinks at a party and speaks of serial killers and how executing them isn’t the right way to go about punishing them. It’s his belief they have something mentally wrong, though his friends are there laughing at him and his “insight”. They don’t agree with him, so we already know somehow Brian’s view will be forever changed. I couldn’t wait! Kessler makes two interesting points: when listening to the tapes he made while researching for his book, he said he had to walk in her (the killer’s) shoes, to be where she’d been, to see her as a human being in order to understand and write her. She was a victim—of her father’s rage—who then became the killer. Then later, he says, ‘…in order to be a good writer, I have to ignore the clichés and look at life through my own eyes’. He and his girlfriend, photographer Carrie Laughlin (Michelle Forbes), travel cross-country to other murder sites and bring with them a pair of Kalifornia hitchhikers, Early Grayce and his girlfriend Adele Corners (Brad Pitt—who (1993) is phenomenal—and Juliette Lewis)—who coincidently the cliché comment Genre – Thriller (UR) was made about. Kessler and Laughlin offer to share trip expenses with them. Perhaps if they could see how close they are to the subject of his book—espcially when bodies begin to pile up behind them—cost-splitting  would be the last thing they'd be concerned about. Duchovny does an excellent job of narrating Kessler’s journey about writing a book. As a writer—and as good as the movie was—I found myself captivated with the character’s writing process, including his research much The Town more than the movie itself.  (2010) Based on the book by Chuck Hogan “Prince of Thieves”, director/writer Genre – Crime Thriller (R) Ben Affleck does a decent job in bringing the story from the pages to life. Ben Affleck also started in the film as Doug MacRay, a bank robber that  profession runs in the family. The story is set in Boston, MA and brings to light the story of four men who rob banks. The movie starts out with the four of them robbing a bank and then taking the assistant manager, Claire Keesey (played by Rebecca Hall), hostage. Doug MacRay’s best friend James Coughlin, played by Jer- emy Renner, is the most ruthless member of the team.

To make sure that Claire knows nothing of the four, Doug decides to be- friend Claire to find out information. Instead, Doug begins to fall for Claire and that leads to tension between Doug and James. The four members are being chased down by FBI agent Adam Frawley, played by Jon Hamm. It is this role in which the movie falls short. Not to blame the acting of FBI Agent Adam Frawley, I believe the writing of this character was flawed. Overall the movie is good, with some minor pitfalls. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 47 MOVIES

After Clyde Shelton’s (Gerard Butler) wife and daughter were murdered inside their own home, he is raging. The prosecutor, Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) offers a deal for Darby—invader #1—to testify against Ames—invader #2— netting Ames a certain death penalty, but there’s a catch. Darby would be allowed to plead guilty to third-degree murder. Shelton says no way! It’s too late, the deal’s been made and he is SOL. The distraught, defeated expression dripped from Shelton’s face and in that instant, I knew he was now a man on a mission and someone was going…to…pay. “Can’t fight fate”, three words Darby uttered during the home invasion. He testified against Ames for more than the deal, he wanted him to pay for their crime and uttered that very phrase to Rice after the plea bargain was signed, sealed and delivered. Fast forward, ten years later. Rice is still a top-notch prosecutor and Ames is going to be executed by lethal injection for his part in the deaths of Shelton’s family, but something goes terribly wrong…and the hits just keep on coming! I am not going to do my usual review thing and go on about what happens. I want you to watch this movie. Just imagine what a devastated, has-nothing-left- to-lose, with arms that reach far beyond anything you could imagine husband Law Abiding Citizen and father could do to those who are responsible for the deaths of the ones he (2009) held most dear. If you think this is just another run-of-the-mill movie about Genre – Crime Thriller (R) vigilante justice, you couldn’t be more wrong. There is a lesson to be learned according to Shelton, and at a very hefty price. Butler and Foxx are awesome! Trust me, watch it!  

Female, homicide detective Jessica Shepard (Ashley Judd) is more dedicated to enforcing the law than most of her colleagues. She feels she has a lot to make up for; her father—and ex-cop—moonlighted as a serial killer. Could it be that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in this case? That’s what Jessica thinks when she finds herself at the center of her own investigation when past sex partners inexplicably start dying at breakneck speed. Her new partner Mike Delmarco (Andy Garcia) isn’t so sure she’s the guilty party and with the help of their boss Lt. Tong (Russell Wong) and her old boss John Mills (Samuel L. Jackson), set out to find a way to prove it. But nothing is ever exactly as it seems especially when everything is sewn up so nice and neat. I thought I knew who the killer was; I had it figured out early on, but ignored my initial instinct…bad idea. I guess that’s why I’m an author not a cop. This movie is filled with turns you don’t see coming and has a great finish. Philip Kaufman directs this top-notch cast including the small part of Lisa, the Twisted M.E. played by Camryn Manheim who was wonderful. If you like mystery and suspense, this is a great movie to watch.  (2004) Genre – Crime Thriller (R) 

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 48 On Location The Belhurst Castle sits on the edge of a one hundred- foot cliff overlooking Seneca Lake in the small town of Geneva, NY, in the heart of Finger Lakes Country. In January of 2000, I surprised my wife-to- be with a romantic getaway at the Belhurst Castle, about forty miles from our home in Rochester. At the time, I knew nothing about the castle other than you needed a small fortune to stay the night in one of its guest rooms. I had never come across any tales about ghost sightings or anything remotely supernatural, although to look at its ivy-covered, red limestone walls, its turrets, balconies and sloping rooftops, you can’t escape the impression that it might be haunted. On a bitterly cold January night, we stayed in the most expensive room, the Tower Suite, with a panoramic view of the grounds and the lake. Around 2 a.m. while sipping champagne and enjoying the view out the balcony window, we both saw something. Outside, below us on the lawn, a woman in a white dress stood just past the dim walkway lights, her back to the castle. Just standing there, staring out at the lake as if watching or waiting for someone. My fiancé and I said nothing for a long minute, and then Amy asked, “Do you see her?” I mumbled that I did. My hairs were standing on end, my flesh tingling. For some irrational reason, I had the terrifying thought that at any moment she would turn and look up at us, and in that moment my heart would stop. We continued staring, trying to make out more details and I tried to convince myself what I was seeing was a trick of moonlight and shadow. Finally Amy pulled me away, whispering “She doesn’t want to be seen.” Later, much later—years in fact—I would disagree strongly with my wife. I believed that she couldn’t be more wrong, but, that the woman—the ghost down there—got exactly what she wanted…to be seen. We turned off the lights and went to sleep; at least, Amy did. She was snoring in moments, but I had no such luck. For the next three hours, I heard odd whispers from the shadows and strange noises throughout the room. The walls knocked, the stairs leading up to the turret creaked as if someone stealthily ascended and then came back down and windows rattled. In the morning, after only a fitful hour of sleep, I went down and asked if there had been a wedding Belhurst

Castle By David Sakmyster SuspenseMagazine.com 49 here the night before as the Belhurst often catered to wedding parties. The answer was no, nothing for several weeks and I got an odd look from the hostess. We checked out, drove home and didn’t talk about what we’d seen again until October until the six o’clock news ran a story about local hauntings. I turned up the volume when I saw the backdrop of the Belhurst Castle. The reporter was talking about a local Geneva legend, about sightings occurring for nearly a century. All were of a lady in white seen usually on the back lawn, late at night, by visitors and staff members alike. We both looked at each other, and after the inevitable ‘holy s---!’ moment, I got on the Internet and started doing some research. I found out rumors surround the place—myths of a tragedy on the land before the castle was built. Most notably there was a tale that made its way into folklore, collected in a book entitled “Listen for a Lonesome Drum” by Carl Carmer, published in 1936. In summary, it spoke of a doomed love affair, of a Spanish Don who fell for an opera singer in Madrid. The lovers fled with a sizeable fortune—the man had stolen from his jilted wife—to America, to this spot in Geneva. They built a little house and then—expecting to be pursued—constructed an escape tunnel leading down to the lake. Years passed, then one night the alarms were triggered, Spanish soldiers tracked them here! The Don and his lover fled into the tunnel, pursued by the vengeful Spaniards. But the Don thought ahead; he created a clever booby trap, one that would collapse the tunnel behind them. Believing his lover had already gotten past him and was waiting by the boat; he sprang the trap and sprinted out to the beach. The tunnel collapsed, but she was still behind him. Devastated, he dug for her to no avail. Finally, he sailed away, leaving her body and all that gold behind. Eventually he entered a monastery where he lived out his life in sorrow. But they say that to this day, the opera singer’s ghost still roams the lawn and wanders the castle hallways, searching for her lover, often just standing on the lawn, gazing after him. As colorful as this tale is, it didn’t sit right with me. Something was wrong. I read everything I could find on the Castle, on Geneva and its early history. I learned that this area had been home to the six nations of the Iroquois and it was on this spot where they had their village of Kanadesaga (coincidentally meaning ‘Old Castle’). For generations, the Indians believed this land was sacred. A short distance away they kept their ceremonial burial ground; a mound the American colonists promised to leave undisturbed in a treaty signed in 1788. FYI, now there’s a gas station over the spot and a small memorial hidden in the weeds. I visited the historical society and spent hours in the library poring through old newspapers on microfilm until my eyes were blurry and my head hurt. I learned the history of land grants, who owned what in that area after the Indians were defeated and I pieced together the history of the structures that were later built on that land. And what an amazing history! Old photographs hang on the wall as you climb the ornate stairway up to the guest rooms. One framed black and white photograph stands out; a woman with a melancholy look to her eyes, her chin resting on her fist and staring off into the past. Oh…and she’s wearing a white dress. Her name was Carrie Harmon Collins and she built the Belhurst Castle. She was a relative of the great politician, Henry Clay. Her husband, Samuel Harmon, worked at a profitable wheel manufacturing company in Ohio (owned by Carrie’s father). She was born in 1849. She loved the arts and opera and was pursuing a medical degree in New York City (apparently without her husband). Her ‘manager’ was a lieutenant Louis ‘Dell’ Collins. In 1885 she visited Geneva with Mr. Collins. They sought out a real estate agent who showed them the ‘Otis Grove’ property, an overgrown area with a deserted, old mansion on the grounds, which the locals had come to believe was haunted and had a secret vault full of treasure somewhere underground. Carrie paid the asking price on the spot and began plans to clear the old structure and commence construction of a magnificent castle—her dream home. She soon divorced Samuel,

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 50 married Dell and moved into the Belhurst Castle where she stayed for the rest of her life. But the ghost…it couldn’t be her, could it? She ARR is was no Spanish damsel, no opera singer in distress, buried alive trying to escape her pursuers. Unsure of where to go from here, I focused on RW&A the mention of that earlier home, the ruined, deserted mansion on the site. It was like it called out from the past for comparison to the legendary home of the ARR Editing Company is ready, willing doomed lovers. Who had lived there? What was their and able! Suspense Magazine was literal- story? ly born to help new authors. Now, we are On this land then, I learned there had been featuring a brand new monthly section two, great estates; two wondrous mansions. And as I of our magazine that will aid writers so found out, two women of powerful presence. they can end with a polished manuscript The first woman—the one shrouded in so much mystery—was named Isabella Robinson. At before attempting to submit to publish- least, that was her stage name at the Covent Garden ers and/or agents. Royal Theater in London in the 1820s. We do not know We are pleased to announce that Starr much about her performances or her fame; perhaps Gardinier Reina of ARR Editing Com- she was never a top-billed singer, but only a backup. In any case, she was beautiful and she caught the eye of pany has agreed to provide readers of the theater’s treasurer, a reclusive man named William Suspense Magazine editing and critiqu- Henry Bucke. He was married, but that didn’t stop ing of their work. Suspense Magazine in him from pursuing Isabella. One night, after a busy turn, has offered the space—one critique performance, Bucke stole the entire contents from the opera’s safe; he took Isabella and his six-year old son, per month—in the magazine for this pur- and they fled. pose. We are after all, here to help new I know from ship’s manifests they boarded a authors. boat to America in 1830 and eventually made their Not only will the writer benefit, but so way to Geneva, where Isabella had relatives. I also will readers as all editing and critiquing learned that on that ship, a man named James Simons befriended Isabella—or she befriended him, for it will get published along with your sub- happened that Simons’s niece, Emma, fell down a mission in the magazine. Writers will not stairwell and was gravely injured. Isabella wound only learn, but will also help other read- up caring for his niece during the trip, and likely ers’ progress. The best part is it’s FREE! afterwards, once they reached Geneva. Residents gossiped about the relationship between James and Please see ARR’s guidelines below: Isabella, just as they quickly noticed something odd - No more than ten pages, double-spaced about Bucke. There was the huge mansion he was - Must be in 12 pt. Times New Roman building up on the cliff. He never took in visitors, font and he never socialized in town. He refused to let his son befriend other children. He seemed to be hiding - A waiver needs to be signed before any- something. thing will be printed in Suspense Maga- Townspeople began speaking of stolen wealth, zine. of a hidden treasure, surmising Bucke had to be on the - First come first served; only one per run from someone, and given his outrageous spending month will be printed habits and his distrust of banks, he likely had it hidden on or under his property. Please email submissions to starr@arred- As Isabella and Simons continued their affair, iting.com. To learn more about ARR Ed- Bucke became more reclusive. Then one day, several iting, please visit: www.arrediting.com. well-dressed men from London appeared in Geneva,  asking questions. They were directed to Bucke’s Hermitage on the cliff. They entered the mansion and

SuspenseMagazine.com 51 they didn’t come out for a while. Finally the men left, apparently satisfied. Research done in the 1940s by a town historian intrigued with the mystery only concluded that ‘some sort of settlement’ was reached with Bucke. It was believed he paid back what he could, and begged forgiveness for the rest. In any case, the true-life events were—as always—far from the drama and excitement of the legend that sprang from them, but still too close not to be the valid basis for the later myth. We have all the elements, if just flipped around a little: instead of a Spanish opera singer and a wealthy Don, we have an English opera singer and a bookkeeper. They did flee pursuers—most likely from the jilted spouse; they hid out on a cliff-top overlooking Seneca Lake. They were not, however, the romantic fantasy couple originally depicted. In fact, Isabella seems to have fallen for the loyal Mr. Simons whom she met on the boat and Bucke was anything but the dashing, romantic Don; instead he was a miserable, paranoid and jealous soul. He died in 1835, not tragically in some monastery, but in his house, from blood poisoning after an injury received while chasing his son about the yard in a fit of rage. Isabella then married James Simons. She died, sadly, only ten years later. Not in tunnels underground or even anywhere close to the mansion or the Belhurst grounds. She moved to Penn Yann to live with her husband. There was a record in Simon’s journal that said only, “My poor wife, Isabella died March 15, 1846, aged 44 years”. Amy and I managed to find her gravesite while trekking through the woods behind a lone farmhouse along Route 14. Legend would have us believe she’s the ghost. But is it really Isabella who’s haunting the grounds of the Belhurst Castle? I had to ask myself: Why? Why would she? Her love was a dozen miles south, in Penn Yan and by all accounts after Bucke’s passing, she and James were happy living where they were. So why would she be roaming that hill? Why would she haunt Belhurst? The answer was obvious: she wouldn’t. But if not her, who then? Who did have the motivation to stay there after her death? Who had a strong connection to the land? Who fell in love with the spot immediately, despite the ruined mansion standing on the property? Who bought the land on sight and immediately spared no expense bringing the best materials, the best architects, masons and gardeners, the most luxurious furniture, art and decorations, all manner of birds and wildlife for the surrounding forests? Who loved the land so much she told her staff repeatedly no tree was to be cut down, nothing in the environment harmed? (On a chilling side note, decades later in 1973, the groundskeeper—after a fit of rage—chopped down ten large trees on the main walk. He died of a heart attack the next day. Make of that what you will.) Back to the mystery; who loved the place as much as Carrie Collins? Who, by the way, was an inspiring opera singer herself and could be heard singing softly in her room or on the grounds at all hours, strolling about in her white dress? My conclusion is that who my wife and I saw, who everyone has been seeing all these years, was none other than Carrie Collins herself, still strolling her grand castle, roaming the halls, out surveying the grounds, enjoying the view she loved in life. Her mausoleum is just across the road within sight of the castle on a crisp winter day when the leaves are down and the bare trees sway in the cold, lake winds. I believe what happened was this: soon after Carrie’s death in 1926, people started seeing something…a woman in white. And soon, rumors were flying. Elderly residents recalled something about the site, about

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 52 the previous, scary, old mansion on the property and the reclusive old thief who lived there with that opera singer. Didn’t some men from Europe come looking for them? Didn’t we think they had tunnels and vaults full of treasure? From there—as the old ‘telephone game’ goes—it could have been easy to have word-of-mouth create a new, dressed-up version of the initial story and suddenly it had a life of its own and even made it into a book on local folklore. And yet, I wonder if Carrie Collins ever felt slighted, even jealous, by the way history bypassed her and chose the other woman, chose Isabella as its star in this tragic story? If she did, Carrie remained humble about it, silent…patient. I like to dream that maybe she was waiting for the right person to come along to set the record straight. Any misgivings that my conclusions were off-track vanished one day a few weeks before I was to publish my book. Months earlier, I had written to a woman whose name I saw on some old photographs, copies of which I viewed in the records at Geneva’s Historical Society. This woman—Margaret Wilson— was now eighty-years-old and living near Syracuse. It turns out those photos were in her possession since childhood, for her father had been the Belhurst’s caretaker during the last few years of Carrie’s life. Margaret— then only a young girl—lived in a guesthouse with her parents. Margaret called me, explaining why she had those photographs and how she had given them to the current owners of Belhurst. Without any prompting, she told me straight out, the Belhurst Castle was haunted by Carrie Collins. She explained how she saw Carrie, just weeks after her death, roaming the halls in her white dress. When she lived, Carrie used to sing to Margaret and play with her and when Margaret saw her again, just weeks after the funeral, she wasn’t afraid. Margaret told her mother, who whispered that she shouldn’t bother Mrs. Collins; instead, she should just look away and pretend not to see her. After the castle changed ownership and Margaret and her family left, Margaret never forgot those sightings and lived her life with the certainty that Carrie Collins still remained at Belhurst. She even told me near the end of her days that Carrie instructed her father to take care of her property and do it well because she would be watching… This was a remarkable confirmation of my theories and I wound up dedicating the book to Mrs. Wilson. My wife and I have gone on to visit Belhurst many times since and we’ve stayed in just about every room now, including that Tower Suite again. But every time since, to my sad regret, I’ve slept peacefully. Perhaps Carrie’s appearances had her desired effect. I hope, for my part in bringing her story to light, I have done her justice.

The book and the rest of the stories about the sightings and the strange and remarkable events at this historic landmark, as well as all the colorful characters who lived there, can be ordered through my website, www.sakmyster.com or at amazon.com. 

Bibliography A History of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 1732-1982, Royal Opera House, 1982. Carmer, Carl, Listen For A Lonesome Drum, New York, Blue Ribbon Books, 1936. Cleveland, Stafford C., History and Directory of Yates County, Penn Yan, 1873. Conover, George, History of Ontario County, Feb. 13, 1888, Geneva Historical Society. Emmons, E. Thayles, The Story of Geneva, The Geneva Daily Times, Geneva, NY, 1931. The Finger Lakes Times, Geneva NY. The Geneva Directory, 1911, Geneva Historical Society. The Geneva Gazette, Geneva NY [microfilm]. The Geneva Advertiser, Geneva NY [microfilm]. The Geneva Daily Times, Geneva NY [microfilm]. Geneva Town Hall, Burial Records (1880-1950). Hawley, George M.B., Personal Notes, Warren Hunting Smith Library Archives, Geneva, NY. Hawley, George M.B., Scrapbook & Description of Geneva Homes, Warren Hunting Smith Library Archives, Geneva, NY (1936). Historical Statistics of the United States, USGPO, 1975. (www.westegg.com/inflation) Jones, Louis Clark, Things That Go Bump In The Night, New York : Hill and Wang, 1959. Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Rochester, NY. Summary of Findings (Land Title Summary) of Belhurst Castle, Geneva Historical Society, Geneva, NY. Turner, O. History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps’ and Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve. Rochester: Lee, Mann and Company, 1851. Wyndham, Henry Saxe, The Annals of Covent Garden Theater, London, Chath & Windus, 1906.

SuspenseMagazine.com 53 Top 10 Writers' Medical Mistakes

By D. P. Lyle, MD The Quick Death: No one dies instantly. Well, almost no one. Instant death can occur with heart attacks, strokes, extremely abnormal heart rhythms and cyanide and other “metabolic” poisons. Cyanide and a few other chemicals prevent the body’s cells from using oxygen so death arrives in a hurry. But trauma, such as gunshot wounds (GSWs) and blows to the head rarely cause sudden death. Yet, how often has a single shot felled a villain? Bang, and he drops dead. In order for that to occur, the bullet would need to severely damage the brain, the heart, or the cervical (neck) portion of the spinal cord. A shot to the chest or abdomen leads to a lot of screaming and moaning, but death comes from bleeding and that takes a while.

The Pretty Death: I call this the “Hollywood Death.” Calm, peaceful and not a hair out of place. Blood? Almost never. The deceased is nicely dressed, lying in bed, make-up perfect and with a slight flutter of the eyelids if you look closely. Real dead people are ugly. I don’t care what they looked like during life, in death they are pale, waxy and gray. Their eyes do not flutter and they do not look relaxed and peaceful. They look dead.

The Bleeding Dead: Your detective arrives at a murder scene a half hour after the deed. Blood oozes from the corpse’s mouth and from the GSW in his chest. Tilt! Dead folks don’t bleed. You see, when you die, your heart stops and the blood no longer circulates and it clots. Stagnant or clotted blood does not move. It does not gush or ooze or gurgle or flow or trickle from the body.

The Accurate Time of Death: Determining the time of death is neither easy nor very accurate. It is always a best guess and is stated as a range and not an exact time. Yet, how many times have you seen the detective or the M.E. confidently announce the victim died at “10:30 last night”? I always wonder exactly how he made this determination. Was it rigor mortis, body temperature or lividity? Was it the presence of absence of certain bugs? Of course, the problem is that none of these are accurate. In real-life the M.E. would say that death likely occurred “between 8 p.m. and midnight.” But that might make him appear wishy-washy and Hollywood likes its heroes to be smart; smarter than they could possibly be.

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 54 The One-punch Knockout: You’ve seen and read this a million times. The hero socks the bad guy’s henchmen in the jaw. He goes down and is apparently written out of the script, since we never hear from him again. It’s always the henchmen, because the antagonist, like most people, requires a few solid blows to go down. Think about a boxing match. Two guys that are trained to inflict damage and they have trouble knocking each other out. And when they do, the one on his back is up in a couple of minutes, claiming the other guy caught him with a lucky punch. Listen to me. Only James Bond can knock someone out with a single blow…and maybe Mike Tyson. Your car-salesman-turned-amateur-sleuth cannot.

The Disappearing Black Eye: If your character gets a black eye in Chapter three, he will have it for two weeks, which will likely take you through the end of the book. He will not be “normal” in two days. A black eye is a contusion (bruise). It is caused by blood leaking from tiny blood vessels, which are injured by the blow. It takes the body about two weeks to clear all that out of the tissues. It will darken over two days, fade over four or five, turn greenish, brownish and a sickly yellow before it disappears. On a good note, by about day seven, your female character may be able to hide it with make-up.

The Quick Healing: This is a corollary to the above. If your character falls down the stairs and injuries his back, he will not be able to run from or chase the bad guy or make love to his new lover the next day. Give the guy a few days to heal and make him limp and complain in the interim. If he breaks an arm, he’ll need four weeks minimum.

The Untraceable Poison: No such thing. With fancy equipment like Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GS-MS) virtually any chemical can be identified. The combination of these two tests gives a “chemical fingerprint” of the compound in question. The trick is to disguise the death to look like something else so that an expensive and time-consuming, full, toxicological examination will not be done.

The Instant Athlete: Your P.I. drinks too much, smokes too much and eats donuts on a regular basis. He will not be able to chase the villain for ten blocks; two on a good day. If he must, then make him capable. Remember “Babe” Levy (Dustin Hoffman) in Marathon Man? He had to run for his life as Dr. Christian Szell (Sir Laurence Olivier) and his Nazi bad guys chased him endlessly. But earlier in the film we learned that he ran around the reservoir in Central Park everyday. He could run for his life.

The Instant Lab Result: The world is not likeCSI . They get results in a New York minute. In the real world, the same test can take days, even weeks. A preliminary or presumptive test may be done quickly, but most confirmatory testing takes time. And the coroner will not likely release a report until the results are confirmed.

Find out more about D. P. Lyle, MD or check out his blog at: Website: The Writers Medical and Forensics Lab at http://www.dplylemd.com/ Blog: The Writer’s Forensics Blog at http://writersforensicsblog.wordpress.com/ 

SuspenseMagazine.com 55 Open Book Society READ, REVIEW, DISCUSS

OpenBookSociety.com A haven to Read, Review & Discuss supernatural/paranormal books, authors, movies, characters, and TV Shows.

Join us for our monthly Book Club forum discussions, as well as our TV Show Recaps and Movie Reviews. We highlight upcoming events, have Book Face Offs, Actor and Director Profiles and so much more!!!

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OpenBookSociety.com A haven to Read, Review & Discuss killer supernatural/paranormal books, authors, movies, characters, and TV Shows. By James G. Kelly

As I travel among the humanity I try my best to keep my sanity. I hear many voices that form in my head Winner Some are nice, but others I dread.

They tell me to do things some I can’t bare They tell me to do things I simply don’t dare. Man offers medicine to keep them at bay But they just don’t work not every day; The voices may quiet, but don’t go away.

I’ve done some bad things because of the voices They’ve caused me to make some really bad choices. Some people have died by my wretched hand It gives me a feeling that’s awesome and grand.

I am truly insane the doctors say I can’t understand why they don’t put me away. So I try to hold out and not give in But the voices are strong and they always win.

I simply can’t fight it try as I might Join us for our monthly Book Club forum discussions, Then another one dies on some moonless night. as well as our TV Show Recaps and Movie Reviews. We highlight upcoming events, have Book Face Offs, Actor and Director Profiles and so much more!!!

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SuspenseMagazine.com 57 The Five Senses of Fear & Suspense with Morrell, Thor, Stine, Masterton and Jacobson By John Raab

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 58 he bestselling authors we have for you this month all write different styles. David Morrell is the creator of Rambo, “First Blood” and writes fast-paced thrillers. R.L. Stine isT the bestselling author of the Goosebumps series, horror stories for kids. Graham Masterton has written over thirty horror books for adults, Brad Thor is the bestselling author of political/spy suspense and Alan Jacobson writes the serial killer/police thriller that scare the hell out of you. However the one common thread is that all of them are at the top of their game and all four authors should be on everyone’s short list to read.

It is always an honor to have one bestselling author to bring to you, but we hit the lottery with this issue, to get behind the scenes with five, New York Times bestselling authors. David Morrell is one of the founders of ITW and Thriller Fest, a great organization that helps authors better themselves. R.L. Stine has devoted his writing life to write for children and yes, scaring them a little bit along the way. Graham Masterton has been very busy since age twenty-four, being appointed executive editor for both “Penthouse and Penthouse Forum Magazines”. Thirty-five horror novels later, Graham is considered the leading horror writer today. Brad Thor ranks as one of the top writers of political/spy thrillers and every book reaches the New York Times Bestsellers list. Brad’s books can be found in almost every major country in the world and is a regular contributor on the Glenn Beck show. Alan Jacobson has the knack of taking reading in the dark to a whole new level. His fast paced thrillers have the perfect blend of heart pounding action and edge of your seat suspense.

Like any great collection of stories, you need to have great authors write them. Suspense Magazine is no different, to be able to include exclusive interviews with five master storytellers, we can say this is our greatest collection of authors. If this is your first introduction to one or all five authors you are in for a treat, not a trick. If you already have them on your radar to read each time, then here is your chance to hear directly from them. Now is the time to lose yourself for the next few hours. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 59 Funny Guy? Master Storyteller? Or Both? Interview by Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit: Dan Nelken

When you think of children’s scary stories, the first name that comes to mind…R.L. Stine the creator of the Goosebumps series. Stine is the author of over one hundred novels for children. He was born Robert Lawrence Stine in Columbus, Ohio and started writing when he was nine years old. He wrote stories or jokes on a typewriter and handed them out at school. His love for writing for kids started earlier than most. He writes over twenty-four novels a year and they each contain age-appropriate thrills. In 1995, he published his first adult book, a horror story called “Superstitious”. Even though the novel didn’t do well, Stine commanded one million dollars for “Superstitious’” screen rights. Goosebumps was produced as a TV series for the Fox TV Network beginning in 1995. Stine’s awards include the Children’s Choice Award and the American Library Association Award. It’s interesting to note, no one ever dies in his books. Stine has written under the pseudonyms Eric Affabee, Zachary Blue and Jovial Bob Stine. He has published an autobiography, “It Came from Ohio! My Life as a Writer” in 1997. Suspense Magazine is honored to have the opportunity to speak with one of literary’s greatest, “scary” guys out there.

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): We have to ask right off the bat…what’s a Doik? And where in the world did you get his laugh from? It’s great! R .L. Stine R.L. Stine (R.L.S.): I found the Doik living in the attic of my house and have been unable to trace his origins. Sad to say, I’m doing a total redesign of my web site and I plan to call an exterminator to make sure the Doik doesn’t follow me to the new site.

S. MAG.: Why are your books favorites among children and adults?

R.L.S.: I think we all like a good scare—when we know we don’t really have anything to be scared about. Kids like the books, I think, because they are fast-moving and easy to read and are filled with twists and turns. Maybe that’s why adults like them, too.

S. MAG.: Is the naked chicken club your idea? It’s hysterical!

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 60 R.L.S.: Yes. I don’t know where the idea came from, but it made me laugh. So far, I seem to be the only one laughing. That comic is not one of the most popular features on my web site!

S. MAG.: When you started writing, did you know you would be starting with doing books for youths?

R.L.S.: No. I always tell writers you don’t know where you are going to end up. I started out writing humor novels for adults. But they didn’t sell. I was funny for years. I really never planned to be scary.

S. MAG.: “Revenge of the Living Dummy” and Slappy the evil dummy; your titles and characters are completely unique and very un-scary, which I think is the draw for the young ones. Would you say you have cornered the market on how to safely scare children?

R.L.S.: Well, I try to give them shivers—not nightmares. I try to make them laugh, too. Many of my titles come from 50’s horror movies, which I loved when I was a kid.

S. MAG.: What did you read as a child? Were there good scary books for kids?

R.L.S.: I read the EC comic books—Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror. They were gruesome and bloody and hilarious. I loved them.

S. MAG.: Goosebumps is now eighteen years old. Did you ever imagine it would not only be such a hit, but last as long as it has?

R.L.S.: No one ever imagined it would be a hit. After all, no one had ever written a scary series for seven to twelve-year-olds. It was kind of risky and it actually took a while to take off. Then… WOW!

S. MAG.: Have you ever considered writing a scary book about a kid who was okay in school, found playing outside to be boring, only played ping-pong well and loved to write? If so, would his name be Bob?

R.L.S.: You’ve been reading my mail?

S. MAG.: What does R.L. stand for?

R.L.S.: Robert Lawrence. Boring name, huh? Kids are always disappointed.

S. MAG.: Have you ever written something and scared yourself?

R.L.S.: No, never. Honest.

Suspense Magazine would like to thank R.L. Stine for giving of his time. This is a man of pure literary talent and if you haven’t read him, go out and buy his books. They will delight and entertain you for hours. If you’d like to know more about R.L. and his work, check out his website at http://www.rlstine.com. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 61 An Influence on Foreign Soil and at Home Interview by Suspense Magazine

rad Thor is a New York Times bestseller who has written, “The Lions of Lucerene”, “Path of the Assassin”, “State of the Union”, “Blowback”, “Takedown”, “The First Commandment”, “The Last Patriot”—which was banned B in Saudi Arabia and nominated Best Thriller of the Year by the International Thriller Writers Association—“The Apostle” and his latest, “Foreign Influence”. He has been published in twenty-five countries and is a regular contributor to the Glenn Beck program. Among many other things, he has served as a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Analytic Red Cell Unit. Brad graduated cum laude from the University of Southern California where he studied creative writing and film and television production. He has been a part of so many things and has done so much; there aren’t enough pages in our magazine to hold it all. However, we’re going to see what we can get out of Brad that isn’t on his site. Suspense Magazine is honored to bring you Brad Thor and his work. He is truly a man of mystery in more ways than one. Enjoy the interview.

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): You support so many things and are involved in associations and programs not many people know about. What is the one project you’ve always wanted to be involved in, but have never had the time?

Brad Thor Brad Brad Thor (B.T.): There is a cave system on an island on the other side of the world which is filled with priceless, 20th century artifacts. I have known of a team wanting to go there and excavate for years. The island is incredibly dangerous and is made even more so by the hostile indigenous population. With enough time and the

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 62 right people involved, that is a project I would like to undertake.

S. MAG.: When you write, do you have a formula you use that keeps you on task, i.e. an outline?

B.T.: I have to turn in an outline to get the go-ahead to write the book, but I keep it short. Robert Frost was famous for having said, “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” I don’t like to figure everything out before I sit down to write. I like to have it unfold in front of me; to surprise me. I like to know what is going to happen next, but not necessarily how. As I am writing my thrillers, I am living the adventure hopefully just as the readers will.

S. MAG.: You got the opportunity to shadow a black ops team in Afghanistan. This resulted in you obtaining some contacts, which ultimately brought to light the Taliban porn ring, did it influence your latest novel and the three “F’s”: find, fix and finish?

B.T.: Absolutely. The book is loosely based upon the Haqqani terror network. The “find, fix and finish” directive was influence by many of the quiet professionals whom I have the great honor to know both in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

S. MAG.: Because every writer’s work comes from what they know and since you’ve presumably been privy to lots of top secret information, do you have to get clearance on your books before they’re published?

B.T.: No. But I do let the active intel/military/law enforcement people who help with my thrillers read them first to make sure I am not crossing any lines I should not.

S. MAG.: When people learn who you are do they start throwing out book ideas to you?

B.T.: It does happen. But more than pitching book ideas, people are often enthralled with the writing process and want to know all about it.

I live in a city of doctors, accountants, and lawyers. You don’t meet many authors, so I’m a bit of a novelty at cocktail parties. The hard thing for me is when I’ve been at work all day writing and then go to a party with my wife and writing is all that people want to talk about. I used to try to politely explain that, having been at the office all day, I’d rather not talk about work, but that doesn’t always succeed. So now, if I don’t feel like talking about writing, I simply tell people I’m a bowling pin distributor. It doesn’t generate many follow-up questions. LOL.

S. MAG.: What did you read as a child?

B.T.: Everything I could get my hands on. I loved The Great Brain series by John D. Fitzgerald and The Hardy Boys. My favorite part of school was “book club” where we would pick books out of those brightly-colored paper catalogs, cut out the order form and turn it in with money in an envelope. Then we’d have to wait

SuspenseMagazine.com 63 for the books to arrive. Ours always seemed to show up on a Friday and I was always thrilled. I would spend the entire weekend reading. By Monday, I was ready to order a whole new stack of books. I was (and still am) a voracious reader.

S. MAG.: What inspires Brad Thor?

B.T.: This is an interesting question. I write because I love to do it. I write because I have no choice; it’s a compulsion of sorts. I spent a large part of my young adult life running away from writing and I wasn’t as happy as I knew I could be. I have long said that that which we are most destined to do in life is often what we are most afraid of.

It was my wife, Trish who on our honeymoon asked me what I would regret on my deathbed never having done. Without even having to think about it, I said, “Writing a novel and getting it published.”

“Okay,” she replied. “When we get home, you need to start spending two hours of protected time every day making your dream come true.” The rest, I’m happy to say, is history.

S. MAG.: I saw the quick clip from Simon & Schuster about when you met Cindy on your honeymoon. You said, ‘One of the worst pieces of advice authors get is ‘write what you know.’ I say, ‘write what you love.’ When you can get immersed in a good book and stay there long after it’s done, you know it was good. Did you know and understand this before you decided to write or after you started?

B.T.: You did see a “quick clip” and missed the last two words of what I was saying. I tell people that you should write what you love to read because that is where your interest and passion will be found; that is where you will be successful.

If we wrote what we “knew,” there’d be no Tom Clancy – he was selling insurance. There’d be no JK Rowling – she couldn’t jet off to Hogwarts to learn how wizards are groomed.

It’s a great piece of writing advice I heard years ago and it stuck with me. Writing in the genre you love to read is one of the surest paths to finding your voice as an author.

S. MAG.: Will you ever write in another genre, something truly out of your comfort zone, say something like romantic suspense or comedy?

B.T.: I learned a long time ago (from watching Eddie Murphy try to “branch out”) that it’s best to dance with those who brought you and deliver to your readers what they have come to enjoy.

S. MAG.: If you could only write one more book, what would it be?

B.T): When I graduated college, I moved to Paris (where I had studied during my junior year) and began my first thriller. I got several chapters into it and gave it up. I would love to finish that book and hopefully, someday I will.

Suspense Magazine is so completely honored to have had this opportunity to learn a little bit more about the fascinating Brad Thor and it is our pleasure to bring it to you. To learn more about this author visit his website at http://www.bradthor.com/. 

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 64 At the JacobsonAlan

Interview by Suspense Magazine ControlsPress Photo Credit: Matt Jacobson Alan Jacobson is a man of many talents and Suspense Magazine is honored to have him in this month’s edition. I think we found out why Alan respects the English language and writing in general the way he does. We’re going to put an excerpt from his website to explain what we mean since he explains it perfectly: “Years ago, when I was attending junior high school in New York, I was part of a “forced integration” experiment in which teens from one ethnicity were bused into schools in predominantly other ethnic neighborhoods. It was a volatile situation…” “So my junior high experience was not filled with youthful exuberance. While it unquestionably taught me valuable life lessons, among the most important were those I learned from one of my teachers. I was in an accelerated academic program, in which I skipped 8th grade—half the 8th grade curriculum was folded into 7th grade and the other half into 9th grade. As a result, I had Louis Brill, my English teacher, the entire time I was in junior high. It was a transformative experience—he was a great teacher who opened my eyes to English and made it (including grammar) fun. I still remember some of his lessons, all these years later. Looking back, had I not been bused to that school, I never would have had Mr. Brill as my teacher…” Proof positive things happen for a reason and lucky for Alan Jacobson fans, his junior high experience was not an every day occurrence. Enjoy the interview.

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): Karen Vail is a very strong female character. As a man, how did you determine how you would write her?

Alan Jacobson (A.J.): Karen Vail came to me one day when I was writing a scene for a published novel. She was totally unplanned and flew from my fingertips with amazing energy. She had such spunk and personality, I realized I needed to harness it and build a novel around

SuspenseMagazine.com 65 her. So it was not a conscious decision to write a female lead character. It just happened. Vail came to me very organically—and viscerally. I innately knew who she was and how she would react.

S. MAG.: We were lucky enough to receive an advanced reader’s copy of “Velocity” for review and I have to tell you, it was fantastic! On your website you said your plan was to give Karen Vail a bit of a rest, but a new idea came to you and it was so good, you just had to write it. What inspired you to change your mind?

A.J.: Thank you for the remarks on “Velocity”. I love that novel. Then again, I’m extremely proud of the entire trilogy. The funny thing is that I hadn’t intended to write Vail as a series. I thought “The 7th Victim” was my career “serial killer opus”. I’d put all my years of research into it and left nothing on the table. However, my publisher sat me down and told me the response to Vail was so overwhelming, I had to make her a series character. But if I was going to write more Karen Vail novels, I had to be able to come up with unique stories that would grab the reader the same way 7th Victim did.

After much thought, I eventually determined that to keep Vail—and me—fresh, I needed to challenge her by stressing her in new and different ways.

“Crush” and “Velocity” were thus born. Though each novel has a defined story arc and can stand alone, there’s a thread between the two of them that, if you step back, it becomes obvious that they actually form one overarching plotline. Thus, there’s something introduced in” Crush” that forms the basis of “Velocity”, and which, in retrospect, ties in to many of the things that happened in “Crush”.

After finishing “Velocity”, I thought the time was right to give Vail a break. But then an idea came tome and I wrote down some thoughts. The next day, the story branched out in additional directions, so I wrote down those ideas as well. I’ve been researching it for about nine months and I’m about ninety-five pages in. The good news? I’m still just as excited by it as I was on day one.

S. MAG.: Was it your discovered love for English fifteen years prior to starting your first book, or was it the injury, which ended your medical career, that catapulted you to write that first book?

A.J.: I’ve always loved the subject, which is why I got my B.A. in English. But my heart was set on going to chiropractic Alan Jacobson and Agent Mark Safarik school because I’d been helped by a chiropractor when I FBI Academy (Photo Credit: Corey Jacobson) was fourteen years old. My debilitating migraine headaches

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 66 were cured after three weeks of treatment and I wanted to help others the way I’d been helped.

But the injury that short-circuited my career was unforeseen and unfortunate. It was tough for me to accept all I’d worked for—eight years in school and eight plus years in practice—were gone. But I never lost my love for writing and I felt I should explore it rather than going back to school. My wife gave me Jurassic Park to read and I’ve never looked back.

S. MAG.: I watched the video with you and FBI Profiler Mark Safarik on your site. You were speaking about how Karen is always well-intentioned in her efforts, which sometimes don’t quite go the way she intended. In “Velocity” she sticks her foot in it again and it results in a stunning plot point that I never saw coming. You blew me OUT OF THE WATER! How do you come up with such ideas? Alan Jacobson and Agent Mark Safarik A.J.: Agent Safarik told me he appreciates how Vail is not portrayed as By FBI Police SUV Academy (1996) a “super profiler” who solves everything and gets it all right. I wanted to portray Vail as a fallible individual—just like any of us. I wanted her to be a character we could all relate to.

Without giving away a secret, that stunning plot point you mentioned arises from something that’s done by cops all the time—but it’s the way I set up the circumstances of the story that makes it work. It’s not a coincidental plot device. Everything that happens in a novel should be realistic and believable. Ironically, truth really is stranger than fiction. If I were to include some of the things that happen in real life, a reader may say, “No way! That’s totally unbelievable.” And she may be right because fiction has to be believable. Just because something really happened doesn’t make it believable.

Consequences have to grow organically from actions a character takes. For example, in real life, chance meetings occur—but they should never be your prime method for tying things together in your novel. I try to have plot devices arise from creative ideas and real police work—because that’s when a surprise hits the reader the hardest. She’s less likely to see it coming if it’s something innocuous—and if I do it right. I’m glad I blew you out of the water! That was supposed to be a jaw-dropping moment.

S. MAG.: Have you ever written just on instinct, the characters chatting in your ear…the whole thing, end up writing yourself into a corner and then sit back and think, how am I going to get my character out of this? Or do you rewrite the whole situation and change what seems to come naturally? If so, do you ever go back to the original corner and get your character out because curbing what comes naturally when you write rarely works?

A.J.: I write from an outline—but not a chapter outline. It can be fifty plus pages long, but it’s only blow-by-blow because I want the ability to modify and enhance as I proceed. However, I always know where the story is going because it’s all building to a certain end point. I can’t have the type of endings that I have if I don’t know what that ending is before I start writing page one. All the threads have to come together properly so the end seems inevitable when you look at it in retrospect.

I’ve never had a time where I’ve written myself into a corner that I can’t get out of; if that happened, I’d back

SuspenseMagazine.com 67 up to where I could make it work, or, if it was really a significant improvement over what I planned, I would consider reworking my entire storyline to accommodate it.

S. MAG.: Where is Karen’s son’s father? Will he ever come into the books? Will he be a victim whose murder she gets involved in solving?

A.J.: Ah ha! “The th7 Victim” addresses this. It’s a small, but significant, storyline that I enjoyed tackling because it brings domestic violence to the forefront. Vail was a victim of domestic violence perpetrated by her ex-husband. Can you imagine that? A tough FBI agent trained in hand-to-hand combat is a victim of domestic violence. Does that blow the stereotype out of the water?

I discussed this with one of the profilers, and the fact is domestic violence can be a complex thing. For example, women aren’t always the victims—men can be the abused party. One thread of “The 7th Victim” enabled me to strike at the stereotype of the weak woman who stays in an abusive relationship because she’s afraid to leave. And we learn a lot about Vail from what happens with her ex-husband—and how she handles it.

S. MAG.: In the interview posted on your website, you said you always know how your books end. Is there ever a time when you think you have it all figured out and the characters decide it’s going elsewhere?

A.J.: Hey, who’s flying this plane? I’m the pilot, so I’m at the controls. While my characters do sometimes say or do things that take me in a different direction, I never veer too far off course unless it’s worlds better than where I intended to go.

If it were to take me far away from the plot I’d outlined, I’d start thinking that perhaps I had a problem with the underlying story. I’d have to strongly consider whether to keep writing what I’d intended, or determine if where I’m now going is really the book I should be writing. Thankfully, that’s never happened to me.

S. MAG.: Have any of your villains been based off real world monsters?

A.J.: The numbers and percentages that Vail mentions in my novels reflect actual cases and statistics. But that’s where the connection to real killers ends. In working with the profilers, they draw on real cases with actual examples. But I have no interest in mimicking the things real killers have done because there’s nothing original in that. I don’t want a reader saying, “Oh, that’s what Bundy did.” What fun is that (for me or the reader)? I’d much rather take the personality traits for that type of killer and play off them to create my own stories and characters. By understanding their personality traits, I know what type of behaviors a killer will exhibit in a given situation.

S. MAG.: Have you ever had a potential story thread or situation for your characters that your friends from Quantico told you would never work?

A.J.: When I come up with an idea, I always run it by them to make sure it’s feasible. Of course, I’m always looking to push the envelope and do something different, as I did with the Dead Eyes Killer in 7th Victim and the Crush Killer in” Crush”. In “Crush”, because of who the killer was (which is explored in depth in “Velocity”), little research and real-world examples existed. Fortunately, I was able to draw off the profilers’ personal experience as to how this killer would react, the things he would do to the victims, how he would respond to the police and so on. Equally as important, I needed to know how Karen Vail would approach this

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 68 type of killer if she came face-to-face with him.

I’ve never created something so ridiculous that the profilers said,“ No way.” And I’m in contact with them, asking questions, as I write each novel. And one or both of them reads the manuscript when I’m finished to make sure I didn’t do something stupid that the FBI (or police) would never do—or if I’ve gotten something procedurally incorrect, etc.

S. MAG.: What can your fans expect from you next?

A.J.: I’m hoping we’ll get the previously alluded to novel featuring the new character off the ground. If not, the next book will be Vail’s fourth adventure. I’ve also been working a TV series that my agent is currently shopping.

S. MAG.: All your books have very serious content; it must make you tired at times. What do you do to unwind?

A.J.: When you’re on a-book-a-year schedule there’s no down time. I Suspense Magazine Review of have to be researching, outlining and “Velocity” writing the new project while editing Being an Alan Jacobson virgin, I didn’t know what to expect and rewriting and promoting the from his novel “Velocity”. However, after reading the first sen- novel that’s in production. tence, I knew this book would intrigue and entertain me like nothing else. I wasn’t wrong. When/if I have time to unwind, I enjoy photography, playing with my dogs, FBI Agent Karen Vail has a problem. The man she’s involved sightseeing with my wife, reading, with, Robby Hernandez went missing on their “vacation”. John following my teams: the Mets, Jets, Mayfield—a suspect they have in custody—could be the answer Knicks and Sacramento Kings. to Vail’s biggest question. However, fellow agent Ray Lugo— whose wife and child were kidnapped by Mayfield—decides to Of course, it doesn’t help that I’m a burst in to the interrogation room and shoot him. Lugo is killed perfectionist and that I care deeply instantly when one of his rogue bullets ricochets and hits him in about giving my readers the best the neck. He leaves behind a CD with sketchy information that possible novel I can humanly write. leads them deeper into a drug cartel that’s knotted within the Actually, with that type of schedule, grape vines of the Napa Valley region where people drop like inhumanly might be the better flies and things are a tangled mess. adjective. Vail enlists the help of another agent Roxxann Dixon to help her find Robby. Among other things, the two agents break the We want to thank Alan for law—all in the name of the greater good, of course. The longer his time. We wanted to print the Robby’s missing, the harder it is for Vail to keep her wits about entire interview, but were strapped her. She canvases Napa Valley looking for him and ends up for space. If you want to learn more blowing his cover in a way I never saw coming! about this amazing writer, check out his website at http://alanjacobson. This book was a fantastic read! There were many moments com. There’s a lot to be seen on his where Jacobson took me on a ride I thought I was prepared for. site. Drop him a line if you have a He kept me guessing at every turn and made me need to know question. Don’t quote us on this, but the truth. What a magnificent book! Read it! we’re willing to bet he’d be happy to Reviewed by Terri Ann Armstrong, author of “Morning Menace”  answer you. for Suspense Magazine 

SuspenseMagazine.com 69 Interview by Suspense Magazine

Graham Masterton’s debut as a horror author began with “The Manitou” in 1976, a chilling tale of a Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann Sothern. Since then Graham has published more than thirty-five horror novels, including “Charnel House”, which was awarded a Special Edgar by Mystery Writers of America; “Mirror”, which was awarded a Silver Medal by West Coast Review of Books and “Family Portrait”, an update of Oscar Wildeis tale, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. Three of Graham’s stories were filmed for TV in Tony Scottis horror series The Hunger and The Secret Shih-Tan, starring Jason Scott Lee, and was shortlisted for a Bram Stoker Award by the Horror Writers Association. Underbed, a short story about a boy who finds a mysterious world under his blankets was voted best, short story by Horror Critics Guild. Thirty-five years later, Graham is still going strong with his latest book “Descendant”, due out October 26, 2010 right on the heels of “The 9th Nightmare”. Suspense Magazine is honored to have had the opportunity to have a few minutes to speak with Graham. Enjoy. Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): You have written horror novels, historical novels, epic sagas and even sex manuals. Why such a broad spectrum?

Graham Masterton (G.M.): I started writing at a very early age and my influences came from many different sources. I loved the novels of Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe. As I grew older I discovered more sinewy, American authors such as Nelson Algren and Herman Wouk. I wrote a lot of short, horror stories when I was Crosses the World and at school, which I read to my friends…and I even won the school magazine prize

Genres to Write for You with one of them, a Poe-ish story about a man who decorates the outside of his house with pieces of his dismembered bride. I wrote a four hundred page vampire Graham Masterton novel when I was fourteen (unfortunately or maybe fortunately lost). At school I was supposed to be studying Dickens and Shakespeare, but then I came across Jack

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 70 Kerouac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gregory Corso and William Burroughs. And I became engrossed in the lifestyle they described and the experimental way they used the language. Instead of walking through the streets of Victorian London with Mr Micawber I was crossing the mid-West with Dean Moriarty. I started to correspond with William Burroughs at this time and with his encouragement I began a program of experimental writing under the general heading of “Rules of Duel”. It included both prose and poetry. When I was seventeen I left school and started training as a local newspaper reporter and this tightened the quality of my writing and at the same time broadened my general outlook on life, so then I became interested more in writing about people and the human condition in all its aspects rather than slavishly writing in just one genre. After four years as a newspaper reporter and feature writer, I joined the staff of Mayfair magazine, which was an up-and-coming Playboy imitator. There I started researching and writing articles about sex and sexual relationships, so (technically) I became something of a sexpert. Next I was appointed editor of Penthouse Magazine’s UK edition, as well as Penthouse Forum, which further enhanced my knowledge of sexual behavior. I became friends with several women with great skills in that field of human endeavor, including Xaviera Hollander the ‘Happy Hooker’ and Monique von Cleef the ‘Dutch Dominatrix’. My first sex how-to book was published under the name of “Angel Smith”, but it was so successful, I was encourage to write “How to Drive Your man Wild in Bed” under my own name, which sold 2.1 million copies. A whole series of other titles followed and before the internet pulled the rug out from under the sex book market, I did very well out of them. They were all anecdotal, using real interviews with couples to illustrate how to make love well (or badly, as the case may be). In the mid-1970s the bottom temporarily fell out of the sex market so I offered my publishers a horror novel as a substitute for my latest sex book. This was “The Manitou”, which I had written in five days flat, for my own entertainment. It was filmed by Bill Girdler with Tony Curtis and Susan Strasberg playing the lead roles and thus began a long series of horror novels. But I was also keen to write historical sagas, with a broader sweep and more realistic stories. The first of these was “Rich” and several more followed. Commercially, it was probably not a good idea to scatter myself across so many different genres. Booksellers have to handle thousands of books every year (which they do not have time to read and assess) so they much prefer it if a writer is identified by one genre or one character alone (such as Clive Cussler with Dirk Pitt). But as far as personal satisfaction is concerned, I have had a great time writing many different kinds of novels and stories and I have acquired many enthusiastic and friendly readers from all of the genres in which I have written. (In Poland, I still get middle-aged women coming up to tell me that I transformed their sex life forever).

S. MAG.: Which genre is your favorite?

G.M.: I like novels which have some suggestion of other-worldliness, but which

SuspenseMagazine.com 71 in fact are realistic character studies, particularly of women. I would include in this category “Trauma” (a.k.a. “Bonnie Winter”) the story of a female crime-scene cleaner who is gradually falling apart under the stress of her job; “Unspeakable”, which is about a deaf woman who assists the police by lip-reading the conversations of criminals; and “A Terrible Beauty”, a crime story set in Cork, in Ireland, where we used to live, and featuring an Irish, detective inspector.

S. MAG.: In your opinion, what’s the best thing you’ve ever written?

G.M.: “Maiden Voyage” if you like historical romances—the story of an ocean liner in the 1920s and the young woman who inherits it. “Trauma” if you like the kind of character-centric novel I have just been describing, “Ghost Magic” if you like ghost stories and “Family Portrait” (a new take on Oscar Wilde’s story of Dorian Gray) if you like horror. I also love writing short stories. They are a great discipline and much harder to write really well than a full-length novel. My own short-story favorites are “Anti-Claus”, about the real (terrifying) Santa; and “Underbed”, about a boy who burrows under his bed and finds a whole new (terrifying) world.

S. MAG.: You’ve received many awards for your work. Which one honored you the most? Which one would you like to get, but still haven’t?

G.M.: I am always pleased to receive awards. I have several tombstones on my shelf from various horror organizations, plus a few certificates on my walls. However, I am not award-hungry and I really don’t care if I get them or not. It’s the appreciation of the people who read my books which is the most satisfying award.

S. MAG.: Stephen Laws wrote your introduction on your website. Do you let him see your work and critique it before it goes to your agent or publisher?

G.M.: No. I don’t get to see Stephen Laws very often (except occasionally, at conventions). My wife Wiescka reads all my work first (and very critical she is, too).

S. MAG.: Thinking back to your first book published, do you remember what it was like to get that letter or phone call stating someone believed in you?

G.M.: My book writing was a natural progression from my years of work as a reporter and magazine editor, so I was quite used to seeing my name in print every week or every month and to having my work published. I wrote humor columns for Mayfair and Men Only and the satire magazine Punch for years, and I have written for Woman’s Own and other women’s magazines in the US, as well as fantasy magazines in France, Belgium and Poland.

S. MAG.: What was the worst piece of advice you’ve ever gotten as a writer? What was the best?

G.M.: I can’t think of any bad advice that anybody has ever given me about writing. If I was given any I didn’t listen. The best advice I got was from William Burroughs, who said that the writer should not be visible in his own books. You should be El Hombre Invisible and your story should feel to the reader as if they are living inside it rather than looking at it on a page. “Pick up your typewriter and walk” was how he put it. Be conscious when you write that the world is in the round. Feel the wind on the back of your neck as well as see the action

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 72 in front of you and make sure the reader does too. No matter how much interesting research you have done for your story, never distract your reader by lecturing them on what you have found out. It’s enough for the veracity of your story that you know it—it will give you the confidence to write as if your story (no matter how far-fetched it might be) is grounded in reality.

S. MAG.: How do you market yourself? Do you do book tours?

G.M.: My publishers market me by taking me on tours or off to conventions. The last one I attended was the World Horror Convention in Brighton, England and before that a Star Wars convention in Wroclaw, Poland where I did some signing and held question-and-answer sessions with two audiences, followed by a signing session in the main Empik bookstore in Warsaw and two appearances on morning TV shows.

S. MAG.: Have you ever gotten a negative review? If so how did you handle it? Did it affect you in any way, i.e. taking the best of what they had to say and toss the rest? Or did you take it all in and consider what’s said?

G.M.: In the course of a thirty-five-year writing career I am bound to have had some bad reviews. You have to accept that some people simply don’t like what you have written. You can’t be sensitive about it or else you would never write another word.

S. MAG.: Can you tell us a little bit about your next book, “The 9th Nightmare”?

G.M.: “The th 9 Nightmare” is the fifth book in my series about the Night Warriors; ordinary people who get recruited to be fantastic warriors in the world of dreams, so that they can fight against evil. Although it is part of a series it is a stand-alone book and you don’t have to have read any of the previous novels to get into it. A 14th century monk was caught fornicating with the wife of a nearby villager. His arms and legs were amputated by the vengeful husband and he was banished from his holy order. He began to assemble a circus of freaks and other amputees with the intention of spreading evil all across Europe. He and his circus were exiled to the world of dreams by the Pope, but now he is trying to return to the real world so he can oversee a worldwide breakdown in morality. The Night Warriors are sent into the world of dreams so they can stop him and his army of clowns and freaks before it is too late…

Suspense Magazine was thrilled to have a few minutes to speak to Graham. He certainly has found his niche. If you’d like to learn more about this talented writer, visit his website at http://www.grahammasterton. co.uk/. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 73 Always Rewriting his Life’s Path

Interview by Suspense Magazine

David Morrell is the award-winning author of “First Blood”, the novel from which the movie First Blood—starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo—was created. He is the author of twenty-eight books with eighteen million in print, which have been translated into twenty-six languages. David has lived life’s most-dreaded horror: his fifteen-year-old son Matthew was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and died in 1987. The loss haunts his life and work, like in his memoir about Matthew, titled “Fireflies: A Father’s Tale of Love and Loss” (1988) and his novel “Desperate Measures” (1994), whose main character has lost a son. They are the picture of writing what you know. Morrell has several non-fiction books as well: “John Barth: An Introduction”, “Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing: A Novelist Looks at his Craft” and “The Successful Novelist”. His expertise reaches beyond that of the ordinary author such as: training in firearms, hostage negotiation, assuming identities and executive protection to name only a few. With a background like Morrell has, you know his writing is like no other. Suspense Magazine is honored to have a chance to talk to David about his life and his work.

Suspense Magazine (S. MAG.): What was it like

David Morrell David to find a vestige of James Dean?

David Morrell (D.M.):

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 74 James Dean has always fascinated me, the mystique that this amazingly talented actor died so young and that some of his movies had not yet been released and that he didn’t have a chance to know the force he would have in the public’s mind. In the 1980s, I wrote a short story “Dead Image” about a version of him, a character I called James Deacon. The idea was what if he didn’t die on the day he was supposed to? What would have happened next? When I was researching “The Shimmer”, which is a fictional version of the famous Marfa lights, I was intrigued that Dean’s final movie Giant was filmed in Marfa and that Dean was captivated by the lights, so I resurrected James Deacon and put him in the novel and showed his reaction to the lights. It’s an eerie experience to re-use a character who already has an eerie background.

S. MAG.: You have lived every parents' nightmare. What piece of advice could you pass on to a parent who can’t move on from the same tragedy your family suffered?

D.M.: My son Matthew died from a rare bone cancer, Ewing’s sarcoma. Recently my granddaughter Natalie died from the same disease. In the US, only two hundred people contract it each year. It’s not supposed to be inherited. The terrible odds are soul shaking. In my many years, I have never experienced pain the equal of what this kind of grief can cause. The first year is the worst, reliving every terrible moment of the year before. After that, scar tissue begins to accumulate, year after year. The best analogy I know is that you can learn to adapt to having only one arm, but that you always know you don’t have the arm.

S. MAG.: “The Shimmer” is about a policeman’s wife who becomes obsessed with the Marfa lights. Did that idea come to you before you went thus inspiring the trip to west Texas, or the other way around?

D.M.: I got the idea for “The Shimmer” from an article in the Sunday travel section of my local newspaper, the Santa Fe New Mexican. It introduced me to the Marfa lights and very quickly I had a mental image of an unhappy woman who spends her nights, staring at the lights, drawing comfort from them. Gradually a plot developed from that image, the theme of which is that our view of reality depends on the emotional baggage we carry. The woman’s husband, a police officer, comes looking for her, but as a professional skeptic, he is unable to see what she does. The story has a lot of action and mystery, but essentially it’s about a husband who learns to view life through his wife’s eyes.

S. MAG.: What did you read growing up?

D.M.: I have fond memories of the Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew books. Nancy Drew was better. I enjoyed dog stories by Albert Payson Terhune. I moved on to Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan novels. My childhood was an unhappy one and I used thrillers to distract me from reality.

S. MAG.: Do you have any superstitions surrounding your writing, i.e. not allowing anyone to read your work until it’s done, etc.?

SuspenseMagazine.com 75 D.M.: I start around nine and work until five, with a goal of five readable pages a day. I don’t show rough material to anybody. Only when I feel I absolutely can’t do any better unless I get feedback will I let other people read pages, first my wife and then my agents. I print pages at the end of every day and read them in the morning, making revisions in pencil, then adding the revisions to the electronic text. That way, I see the text from two different perspectives. I never read in the same place where I write, again achieving a different perspective. Sometimes I change the fonts on a text to see it in a fresh way. A lot of these devices I describe in my writing book, “The Successful Novelist”.

S. MAG.: If you could write a book with any author who would it be?

D.M.: I tried working with another author once. It wasn’t a successful experience. I think I was meant to be a solitary writer.

S. MAG.: When did you know, or what happened in your life that made you realize, writing is what you wanted to do?

D.M.: In my troubled youth (at one point I was a member of a street gang), I lacked direction. The principal of my high school told me I watched so much television that I would never amount to anything. But television turned out to be my salvation. At 8:30 p.m. on the first Friday of October in 1960, the classic TV series Route 66 premiered, about two young men in a Corvette convertible who drive across the United States in search of America and themselves. The scripts by Stirling Silliphant changed my life and motivated me to become a writer. Thanks to a librarian who gave me the address for Screen Gems, which produced the series, I was able to send a handwritten letter to Silliphant, saying that I wanted to be him. He sent me a long letter of encouragement, which I refer to in my writing book. Many years later, when my novel “THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE ROSE” was a miniseries that premiered after the Super Bowl, Stirling Silliphant was the executive producer. My life came full circle.

S. MAG.: We know the movie Rambo came from your book “First Blood”. However, did the movie sequels come from your book sequels, or did the directors and producers just move along on their own to do the other Rambo movies?

D.M.: Actually the film version of my novel “First Blood” has the same title as the book. The other films had ‘Rambo’ in the title, so some people assumed that the first one was called Rambo when in fact that was the title for the fourth film. The terms of my film contract for “First Blood” indicate that the production company can make sequels. I wasn’t consulted about any of them, which is the usual way it happens. But for Rambo (First Blood Part II) and Rambo III, I agreed to do novelizations of the scripts. I did this because no one

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 76 else has the legal right to do novels about Rambo and that meant I could negotiate with the producers to be more inventive with the novelizations than an author is normally allowed to be. The scripts were so paper thin, with directions like “Rambo jumps up and shoots this guy” and “Rambo jumps up and shoots the other guy” that I felt there was plenty of room for expansion. Rambo died at the end of my novel “First Blood”, so I needed to include a note at the start of each novelization, indicating I was aware of the contradiction. One of the joys of the novelization for Rambo (First Blood Part II) is that I was able to use portions of an alternate script that James Cameron wrote, a lot of which was never used except in my adaptation.

S. MAG.: If you could only write one more book for the rest of your life, what would it be?

D.M.: Before I begin a project, I write a letter to myself in which I ask myself why a particular novel is worth a year of my life. Although I am a professional author, I’m less concerned with the income than I am with a project that will make me a fuller person by the time I finish it. Something about the theme and technique and research needs to make life more interesting for me. In that sense, every book I write is approached as if it were my last.

S. MAG.: You are an author with many, many books to your credit. Doubts creep around in everyone’s mind about their work throughout their careers. Does it ever get old for you? Have you ever asked yourself, should I keep doing this?

D.M.: This is my thirty eighth year as a published author. That’s an eternity in a profession where even the most successful careers tend to conclude after twenty years. What happens is that some authors find an element that works for them, and they repeat it until both they and their readers get tired. To avoid that, I worship people like Frank Sinatra and James Stewart who made significant changes in their careers as time progressed, as the world changed and as they grew. I had many different stages in my career. For a time, I wrote outdoor action books like “First Blood”. Later, I wrote espionage novels, “The Brotherhood of the Rose”, “The Fraternity of the Stone” and “The League of Night and Fog”. After that, I wrote what I call “eerie” thrillers, which have nothing supernatural in them and yet feel like ghost stories: “Creepers”, “Scavenger” and “The Shimmer”. All my books have action and suspense, but each takes its own direction and I hope pleasantly surprise my readers. If I’m writing something and it starts to feel like a book that someone else might have written, I immediately stop. This happened at the one-hundred page mark of three different books. I say, “I’ve seen this before” and put the manuscripts in a drawer. On occasion, I do sequels, but only when I think I can find a new way to reveal the characters. In my latest, “The Naked Edge”, for example, I was motivated by the end of a thirty-year friendship; a man whom I felt as close to as a brother finally tested my patience to the point where I no longer wanted to associate with him. Telling him how I angry I felt made me realize that the end of a friendship between two men can be as emotionally powerful as a divorce between a husband and wife. Fans had been asking me to bring back the characters from “The Protector” and in the sequel “The Naked Edge”, I realized I had a chance to document the damage that a failed male friendship can cause while at the same time I show the marriage of the main characters, Cavanaugh and Jamie, becoming closer.

Suspense Magazine was more than honored by David Morrell and his honesty. We want to thank him and if you’re interested and would like to know more about him, visit his website at www.davidmorrell.net/about.cfm. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 77 Morning Menace TAKE A NEUROTIC WOMAN WITH AN ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND THROW HER IN THE MIDDLE OF A MURDER INVESTI GATION ON A FARM AND YOU GET MORE THAN HORSEPLAY. STARLEEN MADDOX IS THRUSTUNBEKNOWNST TO ANY ONEINTO THE LIVES OF THE GRAYSON FAMILY AS THEY TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHO’S STEALING THEIR FARM SUPPLIES AND KILLING THEIR HORSES. ADD TO THE MIX FEUDING BROTHERS, FAMILY HONOR AND A RICH HORSE BREEDER FROM TEXAS, AND NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS. ddggggggggdg gggg ggggg dggggggg gggggggg gggg ggggggggdgd�gggggdg�gggggdgggggggggggggdgggdgggg dgggggdggggggggggggggggggggggggdgggggdgggg g�ggggggggggggdgggg�ggggggggggggdgggg�gggggggg gggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggdggggggggggg gggggggggggggggggggggggggdgggggggggdggggggggg ggggggggggggggggdggggggggggggggggdgggggggggggg gggggggggggggggggggggggdggggdg dgd�d�ddddg�ddd�ddd dCaptivatingggggg gggggg ggggggg ggggg gggg gggg ggg gg ggggggg gggg gggggggggrivetingggggg ggggg ggggggggggg gggggg ggggggg ggg ggggggg ggg ggggggggggga must readdddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddd The Grave Robbers ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddggggggdggggggggd Now Available on Amazon Kindle By Big Jim Williams

he storm swirled through the trees and whipped the limbs like a mad dog shaking a bone. Lightning flashed and rain stung my face like wind-blown sand. I pulled my collar tighter and yanked down my hat. My mackintosh helped littleT as water poured down the front of my shirt and the back of my neck. “I’m wet clean through,” I said, holding the lantern high. My hand shook. “What’d ya say?” asked Lefty. “I’m wet-through and freezing,” I yelled against the wind. I coughed and stomped the edge of the grave, trying to get some feeling back into my numbed feet. Our mound of earth marked the site where we had been digging since midnight. We worked in the heart of the storm, a storm that also kept prying eyes away. We’d returned to the village that afternoon with a few new finds: some rings, a brooch and a necklace, after being south for a week grave robbing.O ver ale and pipes in the local tavern, we overheard talk of a funeral that very morning. We never cared who died: man, woman or child, young or old. It was easy shroud-money in a pine box and the old professor at the nearby university liked cadavers of all ages, fat or skinny. He wasn’t fussy. He was a big Prussian with a gray beard and thick glasses and accent, who proudly displayed an old dueling scar on his cheek. He always needed corpses for his medical students and never asked where they came from. The longtime grave-robbing arrangement paid Lefty and me more than we’d ever made as coal miners. “Who’s in the grave?” asked Lefty. “Does it matter?” I replied. “Let’s finish before someone sees us.” “Not likely on a devil’s night like this,” Lefty grunted waist-high in the unmarked grave, his boots deep in mud. He downed some rum and stuffed the half-pint bottle back in his pocket. Mud slid from his shovel as he banged it on the edge of the grave. His body shook. “Ain’t never been this cold and wet before,” he said. He was a Napoleon-size, over-weight man with a round head, unblinking eyes, sagging, lizard-neck skin and a flat nose usually occupied with his fingers. I never heard him tell a joke, or laugh at himself in our years together. His joys were rum, grave robbing and Gertie, a wife who looked like she could be his older sister. His squeaky voice irritated me. But where else could I find someone to help rob graves in 1872 Pennsylvania? I was taller and younger by ten years. I could lift whatever needed lifting, but I wasn’t the man I’d been years before when digging coal or boxing. There was a time when I’d bare-knuckle fight most anyone for a few coins. “My back’s killing me.” Lefty rubbed under his slicker and crawled out of the grave. He took another swig and handed me the near-empty bottle. The rum stung my throat, but felt warm. I gave him the lantern and entered the hole. Sweat dripped from my forehead as I dug deeper,

The Grave Robbers thankful the earth hadn’t set since the burial. My shovel clanked against metal. “Shine the light down here, Lefty.” I knelt and wiped dirt from a coffin. Its top sparkled under the lantern’s dim glow. “There’s a big silver cross on top,” I said, excited. “Silver handles

SuspenseMagazine.com 79 on the side.” I scraped away more dirt. “It’s nailed shut!” Lefty gleefully leaned over the grave, “Anybody nailed tight in a box like that’s gotta be wearin’ gold, new clothes and maybe gold teeth. ‘Bout time our luck changed.” “We’ll make extra on this one.” I wiped at the wood. “Never seen a coffin this fancy; know a clockmaker who ain’t particular where good wood comes from, if it’s priced right.” Our two horses dragged the casket out of the hole and up several planks as we helped push it onto the bed of our open, ranch wagon. “Eight pallbearers would have trouble lifting this,” I said. Lefty unknowingly joked, “It sure is dead weight.” I laughed. Lefty didn’t. “What’s so funny?” “Tell you later.” We tied the coffin down and covered it with an old tarp. Lefty rubbed his back again and took another drink. We hurriedly refilled the grave and patted it back into its original mound shape. We were shivering and coated with mud. The rain turned to torrents as Lefty drove the wagon out of the remote cemetery that clung to a hillside of trees and boulders above a gushing river. Holding the lantern, I pulled myself onto the passenger seat, as Lefty cracked his whip and turned the team out of the born yard. The coffin bounced as our wagon fishtailed onto the rutted dirt road. “Slow down!” I yelled. Lefty ignored my plea and again cracked his whip. He finished the last of his rum and tossed the bottle. “Should-a brought more,” he said, speech slurred. “Slow down!” “Wanna get home to a fire and Gertie’s warm bed.” We hunched together in the open without any cover. I gripped the bouncing seat and leaned forward against the downpour. Lighting flashes provided brief views of the road as we climbed out of the hollow. “Take the back road,” I ordered, as thunder echoed through the night. “This way’s shorter.” I pointed at a turnoff, “That’ll take us to higher ground and around the village.” “Who’s gonna see us at this hour?” Lefty gestured over his shoulder at the wagon bed. “Think I got a hernia lifting that coffin. The professor should be paying extra for this back breaker. Times is hard.” “They’s always hard.” Although a confirmed bachelor, I too dreamed of a warm fire and rum. Steam rose from the back of our horses as they reached higher ground, and moved into a trot. They wanted hay and warmth, too. The back road was easier to travel until we got stuck in the middle of a rushing creek. Lefty applied the whip to the animals. They broke free and began pulling up the opposite bank. I heard a scraping sound and turned around. The coffin had come loose from its ropes. It slid across the bed, tilting the wagon. “We’re gonna tip over!” I yelled and jumped down, grabbed the spokes of the left, rear wheel and pushed. The heavy coffin continued sliding until it hung over the tailgate and tilted toward the swirling, black water. I moved under the casket and lifted and pushed with my shoulder and hands as Lefty cracked his whip. The wagon slowly finished its climb up the bank and stopped on level ground. Lefty hurried back to help; we shoved the box back, tied it down again and covered it with the tarp. It was several minutes before we gained enough strength to climb back onto the wagon. The incessant rain added to our misery.

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 80 Water now filled my boots. The rest of the ride went well until a pack of dogs on the edge of the village suddenly appeared and barked and nipped at our team. The horses panicked and shot forward as our wagon twisted and bounced. I hoped we were still on the road. I almost dropped our lantern. I gripped the wagon seat as Lefty’s whip lashed at the snarling curs. They circled our horses, biting and growling. One tried to jump onto the wagon and tear at my leg until I grabbed our shovel and drove the beast away. It took several lashes of Lefty’s whip before he caught ones back. The big dog yelped in pain and sped back into the night, trailed by its yapping companions. Minutes later we circled the village. Shortly before sunrise we turned into the alley behind the university lab. I hung our lantern on a nail, inserted a key in the rusty lock and pulled open the heavy door. Exhausted, we dragged the coffin off the wagon and up the stairs. It was backbreaking work. We stopped several times to rest. We left a trail of mud and water, but got the long box inside and shoved it next to an examining table. I lighted the room’s oil lamps and collapsed in a chair. We could barely move. Lefty couldn’t stop shaking. “I know there’s rum here someplace.” He hurriedly opened several cupboards. “Ah-ha,” he said, discovering a bottle, which he quickly half emptied. “I’m still freezing,” he said. “Any dry clothes around here?” He poked through closets and drawers without success. One wall of the lab was covered with plaques, proclamations, honors, degrees and framed letters from famous people. Bottle in hand, Lefty leaned against the wall and studied the display. He spoke with slurred speech, “If the ol’ professor’s is important...he...he should be payin’ us double.” The first gray light of morning touched the windows. I nudged the coffin with my boot. “Let’s open it. Put the meat on the table and go. We’ll strip the silver and break-up the box tonight. No one’ll be around. Tomorrow’s Sunday." “I need the money,” sighed Lefty. “Stop worrying and get the crowbar from the wagon.” I worked around the box, inserting and lifting with the crowbar. I pried the coffin open and twisted off its nailed top. Lefty—with unfocused, watery eyes—slumped like a wet mop in the corner with his rum. I stared in the coffin, gasped and collapsed again in a chair. “Lefty…you ain’t gonna believe this.” Lefty lowered his bottle, and looked up: “What?” “Get over here.” “What’s so…so darned important?” “You’ll see.” Lefty hesitated, then dragged himself across the floor and looked in the casket. “So...?” “Look again.” Lefty’s eyes slowly focused. “Oh...my God!” he sputtered. He fell back on the floor and, white-faced, looked at me with disbelief, “I ain’t gonna get paid.” “We ain’t gonna get paid.” I took the bottle from his hand and finished it. Laid out in the coffin was a large, well-dressed elderly man with a gray beard. Thick glasses rested on his nose. There was a dueling scar on his cheek. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 81 Blogging: The Best Post

By Jo-Anne Vandermeulen Compare writing the best post to an elevator pitch—amazing content with impressive presentation in concise format. Cyberspace is filled with competitive blogs. Attracting viewers and increasing traffic to your site can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. You can conquer all obstacles, increase the traffic plus, have many of these initial viewers coming back wanting to read more.

HOW TO STRENGTHEN YOUR POST –THE BEST POST 1. Amazing Content CHOOSE YOUR WORDS CAREFULLY – (Supply high quality and applicable information) • Give…expect nothing in return. • Sprinkle facts and quotes from reputable resources. • Have fun and let your true-voice ring. 2. Impressive Presentation FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT – (Be ready to change and ‘play’ with the format) • Write with a mixture of formality and conversational tones. • Add an eye-catching picture. • Vary the sentence format to include paragraphs, point form and checklists. • Emphasize important content using bold, caps or underline. • De-clutter and use spaces. 3. Concise Format THE SHORTER THE BETTER – (Be ready to cut, cut, and then cut some more) • Check adjectives and adverbs – Write “tiny” instead of “very small” • Use the strongest verb possible – Write “shuffled” or “sprinted” instead of “ran quickly” • Write in active voice rather than passive – Write “Traffic drove to my site where my books were sold” instead of “Traffic was driven to my site where my books were sold” • Use precise phrases instead of run-on sentences – Write “functioning links” instead of “links that connect one site to another where the viewers will be led” • Reread the article and tighten – Write “the reader’s review” instead of “the review of the reader”. Expect revisions. Let the post simmer, return and make even more changes. To attract massive exposure and have these initial viewers coming back, write posts using amazing content with impressive presentation in concise format. 

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 82 What Does it Take to Make an

Audience Feel Anxious By Rose Elle

We watch films like we drink water: gulp it down, of the young couple of Guy and Rosemary Woodhouse. put down the glass and walk away. However, many of us They’ve just moved to a new apartment; he’s an actor and like to critique a film: pull it apart and really understand the she’s a homemaker. She wants to start a family and finally her relationship between a film and its audience. So I would like husband thinks it’s the right time. Already we can relate to wade into the idea of suspense in films focusing in on the this couple on multiple levels. Next there’s the pregnancy. The horror genre. audience knows there is danger lurking, but they are not sure Most films today aren’t that suspenseful; that is my exactly where it’s coming from. It is what you don’t see that personal point of view. Shock and awe is not the same as scares you the most. suspense. Knowing everyone except a sole survivor will die Ideas are powerful things. We can be inventive at the end of the film doesn’t leave us—the audience—much with our own ideas, conjuring up all sorts of horror in our room to think. There is no uncertainty in this. imagination. Once we see the threat in concrete form we With ticket sales being of the utmost importance, no longer have to worry or think about it. That’s where the formulaic endings are ways to appease the audience. suspense ends. Personally, audience testing is a waste since the outcome is Once Rosemary becomes pregnant only the idea usually the same. of a great threat is posed. The audience is left to marinate in However, there are exceptions to this rule, as in Drag their own dark thoughts throughout the rest of the film. Who me to Hell. The ending is not what you suspect; the entire film is after her? Is there really anything wrong with the drink builds to a crescendo and snatches back your sigh of relief, mixture she’s taking? Is she just paranoid? Is the doctor’s which up until the last minute, was premature. death a coincidence or part of a larger plot? Are her neighbors Also, blood and gore play a huge part in horror films. really part of a coven? Then BAM! Oh my god…her husband Without it, many people find a film to be boring. Who cares was part of it the entire time! Of course that only comes at the about suspense, I want to see flesh torn up. That is boring. very end, but Polanski allows the audience to take their own What people don’t realize is, it’s the suspense factor which roller-coaster ride. He just planted a thought in our minds and prevails. draws it out through the actors on screen. When we think of a brilliant master of suspense, of Polanski might have gone a bit too far concerning course, Alfred Hitchcock comes to mind. You never quite the fact that with suspense comes the feeling of anxiety and know what will transpire in his film The Birds. Action is not hope followed by satisfaction. However, there was no hope paramount to your experience, neither is blood and gore. It for Rosemary, submission to the coven was her only answer is the pause that unsettles you; the quiet conversations of the and what satisfaction does this give the audience? None. But, characters and the subtle layer upon layer of minute actions it does not take away from anything felt by the audience while from the objects—the birds—that unnerve you. This is watching the film. suspense. If you ask me, ‘What is the most suspenseful film Being connected to the characters on film plays a you have ever seen?’ I would have to say Rosemary’s Baby. large part in even caring about what the outcome is. We must I do wonder if the film would have the same ending had it know some background on the character and become vested been made today? Would test audiences have liked the fact in their life and current experience. her baby was the devil incarnate and she couldn’t escape the There is another master of suspense, if not but for coven’s clutches? If this fact was changed, the movie would one film that he has directed and that is Roman Polanski, not be the same…at all. and his film, Rosemary’s Baby. This film is the epitome of a So the next time you watch a film, remembersuspense suspenseful horror drama. We are immersed in the story is really the director. 

SuspenseMagazine.com 83 ArmadilloCon 32, Austin’s, Literary Fantasy, Science Fiction Convention, is one of Texas’ best kept secrets. I arrived at the beautiful Marriott Renaissance Hotel and was immediately treated to that good ol’ Texas hospitality. After being escorted into a room—that was clearly the hub for all that was happening—I was warmly greeted by Elizabeth Burton, one of the co-chairs who awarded me a press pass and conference package. At this point, I choose to linger a bit in order to observe some of the behind-the-scenes action. What impressed me were the number of volunteers who just kept coming into the mothership room very excited and asking what else needs to be done or how can they help? I was particularly drawn to their obvious passion, commitment to teamwork and willingness to do whatever was needed to make this convention successful. I knew right away I was in for something special. When I reviewed the program schedule, I was a bit overwhelmed by all of the program topics, featured guests, panelists and things to do. I was beginning to realize I would have to clone myself several times over in order to be present at everything I wanted to experience. After all, I was at By Romaine Reeves the Fantasy, Science-Fiction Convention where anything is possible. My quest to be everywhere began… I chose to start with a panel discussion titled New Weird: Has the old Normal Taken Over? The panelists ranged from Michael Finn, a noted, short story author and thematic consultant on Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files who thinks the changes come from “exploring strange possibilities on the edge of science”, to Neil Barrett Jr. in his fifty-second year of publication who used the phrase “countrywide science fiction vs. galaxy wide science fiction” and advising the writer not to explain everything to the reader. These statements led Skyler White and Falling Fly to coin the phrase “populous magical realism”. That term stuck with me throughout the conference. The audience and panel members finally agreedNew Weird was really developed as a marketing tool in order to shake things up a bit and give the old a new twist. Onward I ran to a topic near and dear to my heart: Steampunk; Literary or Social Movement? After all,

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 84 I grew up reading Jules Verne and H.G. Wells and my mind was ready to escape and enjoy a genre of science fiction and fantasy based on a Victorian perspective of culture, fashion and technology as viewed by this period. Even though I was in Texas, I was sure they were giving free rides on Jules Verne’s submarine and I was going to be first in line. Much to my dismay the submarine was nowhere insight. However, I did run into George Wilhite a.k.a. Dr. Wright Gooder or Professor Steampunk. By day Rachel Caine & R. Cat Conrad he is chair of the English department at Texas State College in Waco and a professional journalist. He looked marvelous in his outfit that was truly eye catching, ready to take to the skies or perhaps jump on his motorcycle with a sidecar, handlebar mustache, scarf and all. The basis of our discussion was a lesson explaining and comparing the difference between historical, science fiction and writing which is set in fantasy worlds. The emphasis was placed on technology adaptation. Although I enjoyed the discussion, I was truly disappointed about not being able to ride on the Anne Sowards & Michael Bishop submarine. My disappointment quickly left when I arrived at the Art Show Walkthrough. As I stood next to Dan Tolliver, co-chair of the conference, I was struck with how personable everyone was. Dan was extremely warm and friendly and continued to ask if there was anything he could help me with. In listening to the artists, I was surprised at their ease of engagement and openness to the group. Brad W. Foster, winner of Fan Artist Hugo and Chesley awards, seemed quite Lillian Stewart Carl comfortable in his presentation and his pen and ink drawings were exceptional. The featured guest artist R. Cat Conrad, current president of The Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers, is a very easy going and quite affable man with extraordinary talent. He calls himself a “surreallustrator” and it suits him well. Cat spoke at great lengths about the influence Salvador Dali had on him and in observing his work there are some instances where that is a reminder. However, this artist has brought the term surreallustrator to a new level. Although Dali is my favorite artist, Cat’s concepts Carol Berg & Gabrielle Faust

SuspenseMagazine.com 85 of space and time brought me to new and different worlds. I almost had to wrestle someone for a couple of his pen and ink drawings, but I did manage to prevail and I will truly treasure them. As the term suggests, urban fantasy is a city within a city. Its range is quite broad in which the time frame it is set in does not matter. It involves a whole host of characteristics including—but not limited to—mythological beings, paranormal romance and strong female protagonists who are brought into vigilantism through experiences or work in the fields of law and criminal activity. When it comes to urban fantasy there is no one who writes better about it than featured guest of honor, Rachel Caine. The words urban fantasy is synonymous with her New York Times bestselling “Morganville Vampires”, “Weather Warden” and “Outcast Season”. During her participation in panel discussions and question and answer periods, one gets a glimpse of a very professional, humble and quietly strong woman, much like some of the female characters in her books. Rebecca Wilhite In helping people to understand why she writes the way aka Lady Art' amiss D'cor she does, Rachel shared with us the importance of using detail in describing how someone is dressed or what the surroundings look like, “after all we are visual people”. I could not help but come away with the feeling that through her writings and personable nature, she is positioning herself to receive more future awards and greater recognition. I was never able to be a part of all I wanted to experience at ArmadilloCon 32 this year, but I do hope I was able to give you a bird’s-eye view of some of the best. I would like to take the time to thank all of the behind-the- scenes volunteers and people like Melissa Tolliver and the Tolliver ARMSTRONG, RAAB & REINA, EDITORIAL SERVICES family for feeding us. You can only imagine how hard it must – Full Length Manuscript Editing have been to fix three meals a – Reformatting day. Thank you for your efforts. ArmadilloCon 32 was not just – Reviews Austin’s Literary, Fantasy Science Fiction Convention, it was truly a – Full Typing Services labor of love.  www .arrediting .com

Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 86 just for fun

1. Stephen King, “Under the Dome” 14. Jordan Dane, “The Echo of Violence” 2. Justin Cronin, “The Passage” 15. Gabriel Rodriquez, “Locke and Key: Crown of 3. Charlaine Harris, “Death’s Excellent Vacation” Shadows” 4. Christopher Moore, “Bite Me” 16. David Moody, “Dog Blood” 5. Dean Koontz, “Relentless” 17. Alan Goldsher, “Paul is Undead” 6. Kelley Armstrong, “Tales of the Otherworld” 18. John Ajivide Lindqvist, “Let Me In” 7. Steve Hockensmith, “Pride and Prejudice and 19. Charlotte Bronte & Sherri Browning Erwin, Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls” “Jane Slayre” 8. Vicki Pettersson, “Cheat the Grave” 20. Wendy Webb, “The Tale of Halcyon Crane” 9. Sarah Waters, “The Little Stranger” 21. Alden Bell, “The Reapers are the Angels” 10. J. L. Bourne, “Beyond Exile” 22. Ekaterina Sedia, “Running with the Pack” 11. Robert Kirkman, “Walking Dead Volume 12: 23. Richard Laymon, “Friday Night in Beast House” Life Among Them” 24. Jess Haines, “Hunted by the Others” 12. Jocelynn Drake, “Wait for Dusk” 25. Syrie James, “Dracula, My Love: The Secret 13. Ken Bruen, “The Devil” Journals of Mina Harker”

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Suspense Magazine November 2010 / Vol. 016 88 Prepare to see into the past

A legendary treasure chamber hidden beneath the ancient Pharos Lighthouse has defied discovery for over two thousand years...... Until today. Until a reluctant psychic joins a team of remote-viewing archaeologists to fulfill an ancient prophecy and brave the Pharos’ deadly defenses.

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