July 2019 Table of Contents
A Not-So-Final Note from the Editor ...... 1 From the Trenches ...... 3 HWA Mentor Program Update ...... 4 The Seers Table! ...... 5 HWA Events – Current for 2019 ...... 10 Utah Chapter Update ...... 11 Pennsylvania Chapter Update ...... 13 San Diego Chapter Update ...... 16 Wisconsin Chapter Update ...... 17 LA Chapter Update ...... 18 Ohio Chapter Update ...... 20 Drop Bears and Taniwha ...... 21 Ad: Progenie ...... 28 Fiendish Endeavors ...... 29 Calendar of Readings and Signings ...... 31 Blood & Spades ...... 33 Recently Born of Horrific Minds: Books Coming Out This Month ...... 37 Brain Matter ...... 41 The Grumpy Grammarian ...... 45 Authors for the July KGB Reading Series ...... 47 A Few Words About Dennis Etchison ...... 48 Haunted Travels: The Hotel Bellwether ...... 51 Watchung’s Horror Watch ...... 56 Frightful Fun ...... 57 Voices {From the North}: Midsummer Edition ...... 61 Entombed by My Long Boxes ...... 66 Forbidden Words (And When to Use Them) ...... 71 Dead Air: SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS (1971) ...... 74 It’s a Strange, Strange World ...... 77 In The Spooklight ...... 79 HWA Market Report #286 ...... 82 Welcome to the HWA! ...... 85 Advertisements ...... 88 A Not-So-Final Note from the Editor
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Kathryn Ptacek
Even though, it’s about a million degrees in temperature and we’re at the height of the summer with all the sticky humidity and annoying bugs and tropical rains (here in the east, at least), it’s never too early to start thinking about the October issue.
Which is precisely what I want you to do. So … done yet? Heh! If you have some suggestions as to what you’d like to see in the mega-huge ever-bigger We’re-Celebrating-Our-Holiday October Issue, let me know. E- mail me at [email protected]. I’m making my list already! Will we have a record number of fantastically horrifying articles and art and columns and whatnots this year? Stay tuned!
So, while we’re mulling things over our mug of mulled cider, think about sending me some art and photos for the “Sinister Slideshow” just above the editorial. I do a theme each time, but don’t always know what that will be, so check the HWA Facebook page where I tend to announce the theme. Or you can E-mail me and ask! Imagine that!
Also, I’d LOVE (really!) to see what you as a writer (or artist or editor or whatever) do for marketing and promotion of your work. I want to run these useful bits in upcoming issues; if I get enough, I could have something in every issue. Now, wouldn’t that be swell? The marketing tips and techniques (Blog crawls? Thrilling tweets? Press releases? Radio interviews? Chile cook-offs? Helpful podcasts? Slideshow presentations? Book signings? Spooky séances?) should be no longer than a page or two. I am especially interested in what you have to say for writers who are shy or hesitant to get out there and press the flesh, so to speak. Thanks.
Before you send me any of your scintillating stuff, query me first at [email protected], or you can send me a private message on Facebook. Do NOT (NOT NOT NOT) query me in a post on my Facebook page or HWA’s page; I will delete it. Yup.
And don’t forget to send good photos (this means IN FOCUS) of your book signings and readings and seminars and poetry slams and workshops and convention attendances and zoo visits and other writerly
1 events.
The deadline for each issue is ALWAYS the 15th of each month, so send your news/photos/whatever early to the proper person (Your local chapter! The calendar! Your fiendish item! Recent releases! There are so many options!)—that is, BEFORE the 15th and not on that date or shortly after because that’s when the columnists send me their stuff; they need YOUR stuff before the deadline! REMEMBER: This is all FREE promotion for you and your work! Month after month of free promotion with no strings attached! FREE! FREE! FREE! Take advantage of that!
Don’t forget that you can purchase a display ad or two or three … The prices are very reasonable. Ad sizes are listed in the advertising link on the front page of the newsletter. Let other HWA members see what you’re doing!
As always, I would like to thank my intrepid proofreaders: Lori Gaudet, Walter Jarvis, Amanda Niehaus-Hard, Chad McClendon, Joseph VanBuren, Anthony Ambrogio, Sheri White, Marge Simon, Marty Young, Brick Marlin, Greg Faherty, Joel Jacobs, Morven Westfield, and Naching Kassa. And many, many thankful thanks to the HWA Newsletter Web editor and designer (and columnist!) Donna K. Fitch for all her extremely hard work getting the newsletter put up at the site!
The deadline for the AUGUST issue (October is speeding toward us like a silver bullet! like Peter Cushing running down that long table to leap up to rip the drapes from the window so the sunlight will shine in and dissolve/kill/crumble Christopher Lee aka Dracula. I really really love that scene. Really.) is Monday, July 15.
2 From the Trenches
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Marge Simon, Chair, HWA Board of Trustees
What a great year it’s been!
Our new HWA Secretary, Becky Spratford, is a bundle of organized energy. She’s doing a highly impressive job, not only for the Library Outreach program, but anything else that comes up. Of course, it’s no surprise to anyone that Jim Chambers is an active boon to the Trustee Board. It’s a pleasure to welcome our new Vice-President Meghan Acuri-Moran. Meghan has already taken it upon herself to review our HWA site and point out some information inconsistencies, which Webmaster Angel Leigh McCoy has now corrected.
As overall Chair of the Scholarship committees, I’m happy to report that our new teams are now reviewing the incoming applications. (Poetry: David E. Cowen, Angela Yuriko Smith; The HWA and Mary W. Shelley Scholarships: Carina Bissett, Richard Thomas, and Lisa Lepovetsky.) My suggestion that we add a Young Writers Scholarship has been well received by the Board and we’re in the process of putting it into language for voting. The award will come with a $500 stipend. John Palisano suggested we call it The Dennis Etchison Young Writers Scholarship, and his widow Kris agrees that he would be pleased. Over the years he had given freely of his help to young and new horror writers. She mentioned that he sold two stories to Seventeen Magazine while still in high school.
Finally, I want to congratulate everyone who wrote in with recipes and photos for the HWA Cookbook contest, which has become an annual event. Former HWA President Lisa Morton is behind this venture with us to see it through to the final product. I can assure you we’re working with HWA’s agent to find a top publishing home for the cookbook. I’ve sent out certificates, brilliantly designed by Bob, to all the winners, and we’re pleased to see a bunch of them have been photographed and passed on to Facebook friends and HWA members.
I love working with our board. Over several years, several have come and gone, but there’s always been a great feeling of camaraderie!
3 HWA Mentor Program Update
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Brian J. Hatcher, HWA Mentor Program Chair
Greetings from the Mentorship Program!
The Summer 2019 semester has just begun, with a class of fourteen mentees ready to crack down and take their writing to the next level. I’d love to say that we were able to supply a mentor to every mentee who applied this semester, but there were a few we had to put on the waiting list for January 2020. Fortunately, we should be able to supply them with eager mentors for the next go-round.
Of course, we can always use more mentors, and, if you’ve ever thought about joining the Program as a mentor, I hope that you will. It’s a great way to share your knowledge and experience, and I’m sure, if you ask any mentor, they will tell you what a rewarding experience being a mentor can truly be. We understand that writers are busy and that they cannot volunteer every semester, which is why we need mentors to come in and take the place of other mentors who are not available for an upcoming semester.
And don’t feel you have to be a New York Times-bestselling author to be a mentor. Sometimes the best advice comes from someone who’s just a few steps ahead, someone who has the knowledge to overcome and persevere, but to whom the memory of the struggle of a brand-new writer trying to figure it all out is still fresh in their minds.
Also, as the Program expands, we receive mentees with an ever-widening range of needs. For example, the Program is currently looking for a mentor who understands Spanish to help a potential mentee work on a Spanish-language novel. If you can help in that regard, or you have any questions about becoming a mentor, please contact me at [email protected]. You will be surprised, I believe, how mentoring will help improve the quality of your own writing. I often share with mentors this quote from Yogi Bhajan, and I find it to be so true: “If you want to learn something, read about it. If you want to understand something, write about it. If you want to master something, teach it.”
And to those of you interested in joining the Program as a mentee, I urge you not to wait until the last moment. As you can see, demand for enrollment is high, and seats are limited to the number of mentors available for the upcoming semester. So, if you’re interested, email me at [email protected], and I will send you information on what to expect and how to join.
I look forward to hearing from all of you.
4 The Seers Table!
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Kate Maruyama, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community
We have some hot summer reading for you at The Seers’ Table this month!
Linda Addison Recommends:
Tish Jackson grew up in the Bay Area and started writing in elementary school. She went on to crafting murder mysteries in high school, and the love of writing stuck. After graduating from an HBCU in New Orleans, she moved back home and continued writing, including a contribution to Brandon Massey’s Whispers in the Night: Dark Dreams III. Her story, “Cheaters,” is included in the 2017 Bram Stoker Award®- Nominated anthology Sycorax’s Daughters. Currently, Ms. Jackson is finishing a book of short horror stories about love gone horribly awry. She is married with two ridiculously smart kids.
Recommended reading: from “Cheaters:” But when I asked him tough questions like why his car was still in his ex’s name, his lengthy inadequate responses began to take on a stuttering quality. Soon our conversations started to blur into a loud white noise in my mind, filled with my silent contempt; all his
5 murmurings began to blend into one big ass LIE! It started to feel like those words were circling around inside my head, going faster and faster until I wanted to scream at him to STOP but he wouldn’t, just kept going on and on like I was stupid and couldn’t tell the difference between the truth and a lie. I just wanted to stand up and STRANGLE the lies, throw it DOWN and STOMP on it, CUT him to PIECES—
Find Tish Jackson online: http://jacksonpress.net/; she can be reached at [email protected]
Janet Joyce Holden Recommends:
Emily Carroll was born in London, Ontario, in June of 1983. In addition to the many short online comics found at her Web site, her work has been featured in numerous print anthologies. Her anthology, Through the Woods was published in North America by Margaret K McElderry Books, and in the UK by Faber and Faber. She currently lives with her wife, Kate ,and their large orange cat in Stratford, Ontario.
Recommended Reading: Through the Woods. Discover a terrifying world in the woods in this collection of five hauntingly beautiful graphic stories that includes the online webcomic sensation “His Face All Red,” in print for the first time. Journey through the woods in this sinister, compellingly spooky collection. These are fairy tales gone seriously wrong, where you can travel to “Our Neighbor’s House”—though coming back might be a problem. Or find yourself a young bride in a house that holds a terrible secret in “A Lady’s Hands Are Cold.” You might try to figure out what is haunting “My Friend Janna,” or discover that your brother’s fiancée may not be what she seems in “The Nesting Place.” And, of course, you must revisit the horror of “His Face All Red,” the breakout webcomic hit that has been gorgeously translated to the printed page.
Her work online already revered, award-winning comic creator Emily Carroll’s stunning visual style and impeccable pacing is on grand display in this entrancing collection, her print debut.
Contact: http://www.emcarroll.com/
You can find her on Twitter @emilyterrible.
Kate Maruyama Recommends:
6 Usman T. Malik is a Pakistani vagrant camped in Florida. He reads Sufi poetry, likes long walks, and occasionally strums naats on the guitar.
His fiction has won the Bram Stoker Award® and been nominated for the Nebula. His stories have appeared or are forthcoming in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, The Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Tor.com, The Apex Book of World SF, Nightmare, Strange Horizons, and Black Static, among other venues. He is a graduate of Clarion West.
In December 2014, Usman led Pakistan’s first speculative fiction workshop in Lahore in conjunction with Desi Writers Lounge and Liberty Books.
Recommended Reading: Bram Stoker Award-nominated “Dead Lovers on Each Blade” in Nightmare Magazine. Jee Inspector Sahib, he came looking for a missing girl in Lahore Park one evening in the summer of 2013, this man known as Hakim Shafi. It was a summer to blanch the marrow of all summers. Heat rose coiling like a snake from the ground. Gusts of evil loo winds swept across Lahore from the west, shrinking the hides of man and beast alike, and Hakim Shafi went from bench to bench, stepping over needles rusting in bleached June grass, and showed the heroinchies a picture. Have you seen this girl, he said. For all his starched kurta shalwar and that brown waistcoat, his air was neither prideful nor wary. He was a very tall, bony man with stooped shoulders, a ratlike face, and thick whiskers. His eyes were sinkholes that bubbled occasionally, and when we said no, we hadn’t seen that girl, Shafi’s gaze drifted away from the benches, the park, the night sky.
Lauren Salerno Recommends:
7 Ann Dávila Cardinal is a novelist and Director of Recruitment for Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA). She has a B.A. in Latino Studies from Norwich University, an M.A. in sociology from UI&U, and an MFA in Writing from VCFA. She also helped create VCFA’s Winter Writing Residency in Puerto Rico.
Ann’s first novel, Sister Chicas, was released from New American Library in 2006. Her next novel, a horror YA work titled Five Midnights, was released by Tor Teen on June 4, 2019. Her stories have appeared in several anthologies, including A Cup of Comfort for Mothers and Sons (2005) and Women Writing the Weird (2012), and she contributed to the Encyclopedia Latina: History, Culture, And Society in the United States edited by Ilan Stavans. Her essays have appeared in American Scholar, Vermont Woman, AARP, and Latina Magazines. Ann lives in Vermont, needle-felts tiny reading creatures, and cycles four seasons a year.
Recommended Reading: Five Midnights. Ann Dávila Cardinal‘s Five Midnights is a “wickedly thrilling” (William Alexander) and “flat-out unputdownable” (Paul Tremblay) novel based on the el Cuco myth set against the backdrop of modern day Puerto Rico. Five friends cursed. Five deadly fates. Five nights of retribución. If Lupe Dávila and Javier Utierre can survive each other’s company, together they can solve a series of grisly murders sweeping though Puerto Rico. But the clues lead them out of the real world and into the realm of myths and legends. And if they want to catch the killer, they’ll have to step into the shadows to see what’s lurking there? Murderer, or monster?
Learn more about her at: http://annhcardinal.com/.
Follow her on Twitter @anndcardinal.
Andrew Wolter Recommends:
8 Jay B. Laws was a San Francisco playwright and writer. His work appeared in the New York Native, the Castro Times, Advocate Men, and Torso, and he won the 1986 Actors Alley Repertory grand prize for his play A Night for Colored Glass. In 1993, his second novel, The Unfinished, was published posthumously.
Steam was his first novel. It was nominated as Best Gay Science Fiction, Horror or Fantasy at the 4th Annual Lambda Literary Awards in 1992. Laws passed away on November 9, 1992 at the age of 34.
Recommended Reading: Steam (new edition). San Francisco was once a city of music and laughter, of parties and bathhouses, when days held promise and nights, romance. But now something sinister haunts the streets and alleyways of San Francisco, something that crept in with the fog to seek a cruel revenge …
Flint, owner of a once thriving bathhouse, now ravaged by a disease that has no cure, gives himself over to the evil lurking in the steam. Dying men get tickets that say Admit One, hoping for release, only to be dragged into the maelstrom. David, a writer of gay porn, finds himself writing another kind of story. His friend Eddie disappears from his hospital bed, leaving slime and mold, then returns for David. Meanwhile, Bobby is searching for his lover, lost in the same horror.
This classic gay horror suspense tale by Laws finally returns to circulation. First published in 1991, at the height of the AIDS crisis, this allegory chronicles the early days of the epidemic. It features the glittery discos of the seventies and an ominous abandoned gay bathhouse, in what is now something of a time capsule. It was nominated for Best First Novel by the Lambda Literary Awards.
In this new edition, Jay’s brother, Gary D. Laws, provides context and reminiscence—as well as extensive quotes from Jay on what the author had in mind as he created this mini-masterpiece. Noted author Hal Bodner also pays tribute and provides context for the era reflected: a 1980s that suddenly turned dark and dangerous but one in which contemporary readers may know only through movies and urban legends, something Bodner seeks to set right.
9 HWA Events – Current for 2019
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Angel Hiott, Events Coordinator
August 3-4 – Midsummer Scream 2019; Long Beach Convention Center, 300 East Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, CA. Contact: Kevin Anderson, [email protected].
August 30-September 1 – Decatur Book Festival; Courtyard by Marriott, 130 Clairmont Ave., Atlanta, GA. Contact: Cherry Weiner, [email protected].
10 Utah Chapter Update
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Cody Langille
The Utah Chapter was at the Utah Spring into Books event that took place Saturday, May 18. It was a great event featuring many local authors and organizations. It’s always fun to find those folks interested in writing horror.
Our meetings continue to gain steam. We’ve started to implement regular classes and presentations. So far we’ve featured Josh Sorensen teaching us about Mayan Monsters, and K. Scott Forman gave a presentation on the use of setting and atmosphere in horror.
Caryn Larrinaga, K. Scott Forman, and Cody Langille will be presenting at Fyrecon on June 20 and 21. The first presentation will be a roundtable discussion on what horror is in all its forms, how you can find it in almost Spring into Books every genre, and what makes something really horrifying. The second presentation will be a two-hour workshop on “What is horror? How does one write horror?” Here’s the description: Are you a horror writer and you don’t know it? In this two- hour, hands-on intensive workshop, we’ll answer these questions and work on writing horror. We’ll discuss the various types of horror and how to RR Smith effectively employ them to get your readers to shudder, squirm, or scream.
SUCCESS STORIES
R.R. Smith’s short story, “The Woman Upstairs,” is appearing in Daughters of Darkness: An All-Women Horror Anthology. This is R.R.’s first publication credit!
11 Daniel Cureton’s press, Forty-Two Books, has its first official release, Peaks of Madness: A Collection of Utah Horror. The official release party is scheduled for Friday, July 19, at The Printed Garden and will feature readings from our own C.R. Langille, K. Scott Forman, and Michael Darling.
Daniel Cureton
12 Pennsylvania Chapter Update
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Jacq ue Day
The Pennsylvania chapter chose to cancel our scheduled meeting of Saturday, June 1, 2019, due to the loss of our beloved friend Frank Michaels Errington, who left this earthly life on May 31. His passing left us reeling, and the far-and-wide response to his death serves as a true testament to his impact on our community.
TRIBUTES TO FRANK:
On June 3, Cemetery Dance published this elegant reflection, “In Remembrance of Frank Michaels Errington.”
“Frank Errington was a truly kind man and a valuable friend. He never let anybody feel alone, and, when he was speaking with you, you had his full attention. He was the kind of generous soul that will be sorely missed in this world, and I am so very glad that I got to spend time with him. He was a real gentleman, and the world as a whole is poorer for his loss.” – Somer Canon
“Frank cared about the work he loved. He wanted to see it succeed. He wanted to help good work be seen and appreciated.”
– Kenneth W. Cain
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“A shadow hangs over my heart today at the news of the passing of Frank Michaels Errington. His impact on the writing community has been immeasurable, and his impact on me, profound. I was looking forward to seeing you tomorrow, Frank. Instead, I will spend time with your latest book reviews. A great many people, me included, are better for you having been part of this world.”
– Jacque Day Pallone, June 1 Facebook post
“Frank was a force of positivity and spirit.”
– Todd Keisling
Also, see Todd Keisling’s tribute to Frank on his vlog, “Diary of an Unemployed Writer.” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn80aE2Ov6k&feature=youtu.be
“Ode to Frank,” by Chuck Buda – https://tinyurl.com/y6mgdhal
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CHAPTER NEWS:
– Somer Canon’s story, “Join My Club,” was accepted for the Midnight in the Graveyard anthology by Silver Shamrock Press.
– Frank Michaels Errington continued to publish book reviews up to a week before his death. Enjoy them at http://frankmichaelserrington.blogspot.com/.
– A reprint of Todd Keisling’s story, “A Man in Your Garden,” will appear in Hatchet Job.
We are in process of scheduling our next meeting. If you would like to attend a meeting, please contact Kenneth W. Cain at [email protected] or on Facebook/Twitter.
* Defining Horror – A discussion on what separates horror from other genres, as well as a look into the various sub-genres of horror.
* YA Horror Fiction – The teenage years are scary enough as it is, so how do you make it even more frightening? A panel of writers discusses the basics of YA fiction and how to inject it with terror and dread.
15 San Diego Chapter Update
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Alexandra Neumeister
Join us for our annual social gathering at San Diego Comic-Con! On Saturday, July 20, at 5 p.m., you’ll find us at the Hilton Odysea Lounge Patio. Stop by and mingle with fellow horror writers from near and far. This event is open to non-members, so please feel free to invite guests. Remember to bring business cards to this excellent networking opportunity!
Members of the San Diego and Los Angeles chapters of the HWA will be making their fourth straight appearance at the Halloween and Horror convention MidSummer Scream 2019. This fun, interactive horror event will be at the Long Beach Convention Center August 3 and 4. The HWA will be at booth #343, meeting horror enthusiasts and promoting the genre. Tickets are on sale now at midsummerscream.org. Use code HWALA to receive a 20% discount on all general-admission tickets.
HWA members will be participating in the following panels at MidSummer Scream:
* Defining Horror – A discussion on what separates horror from other genres, as well as a look into the various sub-genres of horror.
* YA Horror Fiction – The teenage years are scary enough as it is, so how do you make them even more frightening? A panel of writers discusses the basics of YA fiction and how to inject it with terror and dread.
16 Wisconsin Chapter Update
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Chris Welch
It seems that the members of the HWA Wisconsin Chapter are incredibly hard at work on their next pieces of absolutely terrifying, heart-gripping, horror-inducing fiction … or they’re out enjoying the sunshine and spending too much money at Summerfest. Either way, not much in the way of announcements this time.
At the time of this writing, it is likely the next chapter meeting will be in Madison on Sunday, July 21, with a time and place still to be determined. Keep an eye on your E-mail for a more detailed announcement arriving soon.
Dean H. Wild will be doing a reading from his novel, The Crymost, at the Lomira Quad/Graphics community library in Lomira, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, July 23, at 6 p.m. Dean will talk about The Crymost and then read a selection from the book. Copies of the book will also be available for purchase after the reading.
Save-the-date-Department: There is an upcoming Wisconsin Writers Assn. workshop on Saturday, September 28, in Solon Springs, which is located in Douglas County (the northwest part of the state). Guests include psychological suspense and Edgar-nominated writer Brian Freeman (for The Crooked Street), former Wisconsin Poet Laureate Karla Huston, author and teacher Abby Frucht, and Barry Wightman. Watch for details at the WWA Web site: https://wiwrite.org/.
17 LA Chapter Update
By HWAWeb | July 2019
John Palisano
We began our June meeting with a spoken tribute to Dennis Etchison, who was one of our own. He’d visited us several times, and his loss is felt deeply. He is missed.
We covered StokerCon™, the upcoming Ann Radcliff anthology, the HWA’s mental-health initiative, the Seer’s Table, the Scholarships. Then we dived into a spirited Round Robin, where several members announced new sales; we even had physical copies of their books to check out. Very cool!
See everyone next month at the Cabeens’ pool party!
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19 Ohio Chapter Update
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Rami Ungar
At the March meeting, we discussed upcoming events, including planning stages for an HWA Ohio reading at a Columbus venue, as well as upcoming conventions and the Ohioana Book Festival, which some of our members would be attending. We agreed to an informal meeting at StokerCon™ on Thursday, dependent upon individual schedules.
Marvin B agreed to talk to a graphic designer re: a logo for HWA Ohio, and general ideas were put forth for the look of it. There was a brief discussion of currently open markets, as well as a look at the various free and paid resources for writers (ranging from classes to podcasts. Finally, we agreed to set up a database for members to share information on conventions/events (closed for group use only) and put forth general ideas on setting up a day or weekend retreat.
The next official meeting was set for May, at StokerCon.
20 Drop Bears and Taniwha
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Australian & New Zealand Horror News
Marty Young
All right, then. Let’s get straight into the down-under world of horror and see what’s happening …
As always, we begin our trek through the creepy halls of the AHWA. Here’s King of the Horns, Greg Chapman:
The AHWA recently held the 2018 Australian Shadows Awards, celebrating the best of Australasia’s horror writing talent.
The event was held at Continuum Convention in Melbourne on Saturday, June 9 and officiated by Shadows Coordinator Silvia Brown.
The winners of the 2018 Australian Shadows Awards were:
Collected Works
*WINNER: Shadows on the Wall by Steven Paulsen
FINALISTS
Bones by Andrew Cull
The Dalziel Files by Brian Craddock
Exploring Dark Fiction A Primer by Kaaron Warren
Beneath the Ferny Tree by David Schembri
Edited Works
*WINNER: Hellhole Anthology of Subterranean Horror – Lee Murray
FINALISTS
Cthulhu Land Long White Cloud | Sequeira, Proposch, Stevens
21 Cthulhu Deep Down Under Vol. 2 | Sequeira, Proposch, Stevens
Behind the Mask – Steve Dillon
Graphic Novel
(The judges for Graphic Novel unanimously agreed on a winner but not a shortlist.)
*WINNER: The Demon Hell Is Earth written by Andrew Constant
Novel
*WINNER: Tide of Stone by Kaaron Warren
FINALISTS
Devouring Dark by Alan Baxter
Contrition by Deborah Sheldon
Teeth of the Wolf by Dan Rabarts & Lee Murray
Paul Haines Award for Long Fiction
*WINNER: The Black Sea by Chris Mason
FINALISTS
Time and Tide by Robert Hood
Love Thee Better by Kaaron Warren
Thylacines by Deborah Sheldon
Poetry
*WINNER: Revenants of the Antipodes by Kyla Lee Ward
FINALISTS
22 Your Mortician Knows by Bee Nielsen
Matinee by Hester J. Rook
Polarity by Jay Caselberg
The Middle of the Night by Rebecca Fraser
Short Fiction
*WINNER: “Riptide” by Dan Rabarts
FINALISTS
“Planned and Expected” by Piper Mejia
“Slither” by Jason Nahrung
“The Ward of Tindalos” by Debbie & Matt Cowens
“The House of Jack’s Girls” by Lee Battersby
The AHWA also recently opened up for applications for its 2019 Mentorship Program. The program provides the opportunity to work closely with our highly qualified mentors on an approved project. Successful applicants will be matched for a three-month period of one-on-one development and guidance to develop and progress their accepted work. Applicants must be an existing AHWA Member to apply for the program. This year’s mentors are Alan Baxter, Paul Mannering, Deborah Sheldon, Robert N. Stephenson, and Kaaron Warren. The mentorship program will run for the remainder of 2019. https://australasianhorror.com/mentorship-program/
The AHWA is also soon to announce the guest editor for the fourteenth issue of Midnight Echo Magazine. Submissions are expected to open in late July. https://australasianhorror.com/midnight-echo/
More Award news, but this time we have the winners:
The winners of the Australian SF (“Ditmar”) Awards for 2019 were presented at the 2019 Australian National SF Convention, (Continuum 15) in Melbourne on June 8. This also marked the 50th year of the awards!! The full list of winners can be found here: http://file770.com/2019-ditmar-awards/.
As part of that night, Kaaron Warren was also awarded The Peter (the “Mac”) McNamara Award for Lifetime Achievement and Contribution towards Australian Speculative Fiction!
The Winners of the Sir Julius Vogel Awards for 2019 were announced during GeyserCon (http://www.geysercon.nz/) in Rotorua (NZ), and the winners can be found at http://www.sffanz.org.nz/sjv/sjvResults-2019.html.
23 The winners of the 2019 Norma K. Hemming Award for excellence in the exploration of themes of race, gender, sexuality, class, or disability in speculative fiction were announced during Continuum 15. The winners can be found here: https://normakhemmingaward.org/.
That wraps up all the spec-fic awards for another year. Congratulations to all those who were shortlisted or won.
Gerry Huntman from IFWG Publishing Australia informs us that Remains by Andy Cull will be released in North America on 16 September 2019, and Australia/UK/New Zealand 1 August 2019. The stylish and creepy cover art is by Luke Spooner. Pre-orders will be available soon so keep watching: https://ifwgaustralia.com/2019/05/14/forthcoming-release-remains-by-andrew-cull/.
Claire Fitzpatrick’s debut collection, Metamorphosis, is now available for pre-order, with free shipping to U.S., UK, Australia, and New Zealand. With stellar cover art by Greg Chapman, the collection will be released worldwide on 2 September 2019, and those who pre-order will get free shipping, and it will be shipped prior to the release date. This offer ceases 31 July 2019. For full details, see: https://ifwgaustralia.com/2019/06/14/preorder-metamorphosis-by-claire-fitzpatrick/.
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In other news, the Martians are coming! No, wait. They’re here!
War of the Worlds: Battleground Australia (Clan Destine Press) is an anthology based on the Martian invasion of earth as famously imagined by H.G. Wells. Edited by Horror Australis—the collective moniker for Steve Proposch, Christopher Sequeira, and Bryce Stevens—the anthology features sixteen stories set in Australia of the past, present, and future by some of Australia’s best-selling speculative fiction writers, including Kerry Greenwood, Jack Dann, Lucy Sussex, Rick Kennett, Sean Williams, Kaaron Warren, and Angela Meyer.
With an intro by movie director Alex Proyas (THE CROW, I ROBOT, GODS OF EGYPT) and illustrations by Jan Scherpenhuizen and Sholto Turner, War of the Worlds: Battleground Australia is available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/War-Worlds-Battleground-Steve-Proposch/dp/0648523624.
25
The long-running Aurealis magazine (published by Chimaera Publications) has just released its 121st issue! Available from https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/942265, or you can subscribe at aurealis.com.au.
Including “Tales of the Flame” by Dirk Strasser, “The Stranger of Morden” by Mike Adamson, and “Club Fiends” by Paul Alex Gray, the magazine is well worth checking out.
Michael Pryor’s Graveyard Shift in Ghost Town (Allen & Unwin Children’s) will be released this July. “Anton Marin and Rani Cross team up again to fight the ghosts that are plaguing the city. And now there’s a vicious ghost-hunting faction in town as well. A highly entertaining sequel to the smart, snappy and funny Gap Year in Ghost Town.” For more information, go to https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/childrens/Graveyard-Shift-in-Ghost-Town-Michael-Pryor-9781 760523930.
News in from Kyle Evans:
“Escape rooms are getting pretty popular in Australia, but they’re still lagging behind video games when it comes to approaching the topic of accessibility for different kinds of disabilities. In response to that, I’ve created a sight-free escape room.
“There’s not a visual puzzle or written clue in sight. If you’re blind, you just come as you are, but, if you are sighted, you wear a blindfold during the experience. This is a self-funded experiment so it’s running for just three days later this year. This is the first escape room of its kind, but I’m hoping it won’t be the last (actually to qualify that, there has been one or two games that have been modified to be blind-friendly, but only for a single session for people who knew the game runner).
“Anyhow, if any of that sounds interesting to you, let me know. You can find more details about my sightless escape room here: http://www.theowljob.com/”
26 The Owl Job is happening for three days only from Friday, August 16 to Sunday, August 18, 2019 in Strathmore VIC, just a short walk from Strathmore Station on the Craigieburn line.
Reminder: 17 July – 7 August: Claire Fitzpatrick’s four-week Introduction to Horror Writing course is fast approaching, so don’t forget to book your tickets.
Upcoming conventions for July-August include:
– Perth Comic Arts Festival (http://www.perthcomics.org/pcaf/): July 6 at Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA.
– Byron Bay Writers Festival (https://byronwritersfestival.com/): August 2-4, Byron Bay, NSW.
– Love Your Bookshop Day (http://www.loveyourbookshopday.com.au/): August 10, at your favourite bookshop! This is “a chance to celebrate what makes your local bookshop great. Whether it’s for their amazing staff, their carefully curated range or specialisation or a must-see events program, we encourage you to visit your favourite bookshop on Saturday 10th August 2019 and join in with the celebrations.”
– Canberra Writers Festival (https://www.canberrawritersfestival.com.au/comingsoon/): August 22-25, Canberra, ACT
– Melbourne Writers Festival (https://mwf.com.au/): August 30-September 8, Melbourne, VIC
If you’re an Aussie or a Kiwi and have horror news, or know of horror-related events or gatherings or anything else at all, let me know at [email protected] and I’ll include it here.
27 Ad: Progenie
By HWAWeb | July 2019
28 Fiendish Endeavors
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Erinn L. Kemper
B.D. Prince is excited to announce that his story, “Jaadu,” a twisted tale of fading hope, karma, and the mysteries of the circus sideshow, has been acquired for the upcoming anthology, Accursed from Jolly Horror Press. Expected Publication Date: December 2019.
29 Lifetime Achievement Award winner Graham Masterton tells us “‘Stranglehold,’ the short horror story that I co-authored with Dawn G. Harris, has been published in Bulgaria in an anthology Stories from the Strix and also in Darker, the most influential online horror magazine in Russia. It has already been published in Greece as the title story in an anthology of horror co-written by men and women, and will be appearing in a French anthology from Sema Press and in the summer edition of Cemetery Dance magazine in the U.S.” https://www.smartreading.bg/produkt/skazaniata-na-strixa-tom5/.
Steven J. Kirsh is thrilled to announce the release of his new nonfiction book, Parenting in the Zombie Apocalypse: The Psychology of Raising Children in a Time of Horror (McFarland). Drawing on psychological theory and real-world research on developmental status, grief, trauma, mental illness, and child-rearing in stressful environments, this book critically examines factors influencing parenting, and the likely outcomes of different caregiving techniques in the hypothetical landscape of the living dead.
Sheri White’s first prose poem, “GAEA,” will be published in the next issue of The Sirens Call.
Meredith Morgenstern‘s short story, “Confetti,” was featured in TalesToTerrify podcast’s Episode #383 for May 31, 2019. https://talestoterrify.com/tales-to-terrify-383-meredith-morgenstern/.
Joseph VanBuren is excited to have three of his poems—“Bump in the Night,” “From Ashes She Has Risen,” and “Within This Darkened Forest”—published in the most recent issue of The Sirens Call. http://www.sirenscallpublications.com/.
Heddy Johannesen is happy to report that Paranormal Chronicles will feature her story about a phantom encounter this month. Anubis Press is publishing a story of hers in Handbook for the Dead this year.
Congratulations to everyone. If you have a recent sale or upcoming publication, tell us about it. It’s publicity. It’s free. Send a tiger-tight paragraph to [email protected] announcing your fiendish endeavor.
30 Calendar of Readings and Signings
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Scott “Essel” Pratt
Remember that you can always find out what’s going on by visiting the calendar of events on the HWA Web site. If you submit your information late, that information will show up only on the online calendar. It is best to get your event information in early.
For all book-release announcements, please contact Lydia Peever for inclusion in her “Recently Born” column.
July
July 1: John Kachuba on Coast-to-Coast AM with George Noory, featuring Shapeshifters. https://www.coasttocoastam.com/
July 5-7: Horror Convention at Days of the Dead: This July, Days of the Dead returns to where it all began three years ago. They said it couldn’t be done, but a new horror convention was born in Indianapolis in 2011. Since then, Days of the Dead has expanded into four U.S. cities. This year’s guest list for Indy is awesome. The Westin Indianapolis, 241 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204. For more information, go to Https://www.daysofthedead.com/indianapolis/.
July 12: Readings from Echoes: Introduced by Ellen Datlow. Contributors John Langan, Jeffrey Ford, Stephen Graham Jones, and Gemma Files will be reading from the forthcoming anthology coming out August 20. Boston Quincy Marriott, 1000 Marriott Dr., Quincy, MA. http://www.readercon.org/index.htm
July 13-15: Horror Convention at Mad Monster Party Arizona: It’s an SF/F-H-themed convention that brings the world’s top genre celebrities and vendors together with their fans to trade stories, attend informative panels, buy autographs and fun merchandise, visit with old friends, and meet new like-minded monsters. We- Ko-Pa Resort and Conference Center, 10438 N Fort McDowell Rd., Scottsdale, AZ. http://madmonster.com
31 July 18: John Kabucha will be reading from and signing copies of his novel, Shapeshifters. Athens Public Library, 30 Home St., Athens, OH. https://www.myacpl.org/
July 18-21: Jeff Strand at Necon: Bristol, Rhode Island. “Is there a more fun convention than Necon? I haven’t been to every single convention that has ever happened in the history of the world, so I can’t say for certain, but I don’t think there is.” The Roger Williams University, Baypoint Inn and Conference Center, 144 Anthony Rd., Portsmouth, RI.
July 23 – 6 p.m.; Dean H. Wild will reading from his novel, The Crymost. The Lomira Quad/Graphics Community Library, Lomira, WI. Copies of the book will also be available for purchase after the reading.
July 24: Book launch with a reading and signing of John Kabucha‘s Shapeshifters. Joseph-Beth Booksellers 2692 Madison Rd., Cincinnati, OH. https://www.josephbeth.com/
A reminder: This calendar is updated several times a week after information submitted about each event has been vetted for appropriate content. Appropriate content includes conventions, readings, signings, workshops, and other like events that HWA members may attend. It also includes deadlines for workshop applications and award nominations. It does not include solicitations for votes for awards/award nominations.
32 Blood & Spades
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Marge Simon
It’s a pleasure to feature Holly Lyn Walrath as my guest for July. Holly’s poetry and short fiction have appeared in Strange Horizons, Fireside Fiction, Daily Science Fiction, Luna Station Quarterly, Liminality, and elsewhere. She is the author of Glimmerglass Girl (Finishing Line Press, 2018). She holds a B.A. in English from The University of Texas and a Master’s in Creative Writing from the University of Denver. She is a freelance editor and host of The Weird Circular, an e-newsletter for writers containing submission calls and writing prompts. Find her online at http://www.hlwalrath.com
* * *
Darkness and Light
Holly Lyn Walrath
One of my favorite poets is Edward Hirsch, who talks about how poetry has to travel a long way to reach the reader. It’s like a message in a bottle. While we may have an idea of audience, we don’t know who is going to pick up that bottle, or what the message inside will mean to them. Hirsch says in his fantastic book,
33 How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry, “The reader exists on the horizon of the poem.”
For me, that horizon is a dark place, a stormy sea at sunset. My readers are wayfarers, ships lost at sea or passing in the night, the very stars winking forth as darkness descends. When I go to write a poem, these are the people I imagine. I want to write a poem that speaks to them. I want to write something that shines a light on the crevices and dark places of the world. Because there is beauty in darkness.
But we don’t set out to write a “dark” poem. I think we purveyors of darkness simply see the world around us with a bit more clarity. We see the dark side of reality and unreality for what it is. We are looking for the abyss, because we want to look into its body and find the truths that are hidden there.
I think of this poem from J.R.R. Tolkien often:
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
It’s speaking of Aragorn’s eventual return to kingship. But we all see the deeper truth in these words. From darkness comes light. The two operate together and in tandem. As poets, we have to balance those forces. Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness takes its title from a poem recited by Estraven in the book:
Light is the left hand of darkness and darkness the right hand of light. Two are one, life and death, lying together like lovers in kemmer, like hands joined together, like the end and the way.
A dark poet is simply a poet who is aware of both sides of the taijitu. We inhabit the space where duality merges. When I was writing my chapbook, Glimmerglass Girl, which is nominated for an Elgin Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Assn., I was thinking about how gender and femininity follow this merged line between darkness and light. I’ve been told before that being a woman poet means my work shouldn’t be “dark.” Women are poets of domesticity, of the confessional, of grief, of passion, or so I’ve been told. But the reality is that our foremothers like Le Guin laid us a path through the darkness.
34 One of the poems in Glimmerglass Girl is a response to this idea. “I Am Going to Find the Unicorns” draws inspiration from Edward Hirsch’s “I Am Going to Start Living Like a Mystic.” In this poem Hirsch is talking about religion and perhaps mindfulness of the natural world. But my poem is a battle cry against the idea that a dark poet is one thing.
I Am Going to Start Living Like a Mystic
Edward Hirsch
Today I am pulling on a green wool sweater and walking across the park in a dusky snowfall.
The trees stand like twenty-seven prophets in a field, each a station in a pilgrimage—silent, pondering.
Blue flakes of light falling across their bodies are the ciphers of a secret, an occultation.
I will examine their leaves as pages in a text and consider the bookish pigeons, students of winter.
I will kneel on the track of a vanquished squirrel and stare into a blank pond for the figure of Sophia.
I shall begin scouring the sky for signs as if my whole future were constellated upon it.
I will walk home alone with the deep alone, a disciple of shadows, in praise of the mysteries.
35 I Am Going to Find the Unicorns
After Edward Hirsch
Not the human’s idea of them, all bright purple and cheeky. No, the real ones. Blood and horns and teeth. I am going to walk around this earth and believe it is not real until the other world comes out to greet me from the shadows. I will kneel in the dirt and read leaves like ruins. I will put mud in my mouth to taste dwarves I will fuck my way through the realm of fae until I’ve got nothing left to learn. When others see me, they will see a woman unhinged. I will crawl out of my skin, leaving it all heaped behind me and the naked me will walk home alone in the darkness a disciple of shadows, an acolyte of the moon. When the unicorns find me, I will learn to fight even when there’s nothing left to fight for.
Dark poets are disciples of shadows. Our audience is those who take up a book of poetry while alone in a dark room, delving into worlds beyond our own. By exploring the darkness, we find paths through the places of the human heart that seem to have a veil across them. This is the goal of a poem, “to create a work that can outdistance time and surmount distance, that can bridge the gulf—the chasm—between people otherwise unknown to each other” (Edward Hirsch, How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry).
36 Recently Born of Horrific Minds: Books Coming Out This Month
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Lydia Peever
July holds many international holidays, though all these books could make it feel just like Christmas. As you hop from convention dealer tables or sales online, you’ll find the shopping is right in line with that holly jolly holiday. Stock up on early stocking stuffers, beach reads, or something to see you through any dark night …
Hellrider JG Faherty Flame Tree Publishing 2019-08-08 https://www.jgfaherty.com When Eddie Ryder is burned alive by fellow members of the Hell Riders motorcycle gang for ratting on them, he vows revenge with his dying breath. He returns as a ghost, with his custom motorcycle Diablo by his side. By possessing people, he launches a campaign of vengeance that leaves plenty of bodies in its wake and the police in a state of confusion.
The Time Traveler Professor, Book Two: A Pocketful of Lodestones Elizabeth Crowens Atomic Alchemist Productions LLC 2019-08-01
Home
37 In 1914, the war to end all wars turns the worlds of John Patrick Scott, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Rebecca West, and Harry Houdini upside down. Doyle goes back to ancient China, and Scott is hell-bent on finding out why his platoon sergeant has it out for him. They both discover that, during the time of Shakespeare, every day is a witch-hunt in London.
Doorways to the Deadeye Eric J. Guignard JournalStone 2019-07-26 http://journalstone.com/bookstore/doorways-to-the-deadeye A Depression-era hobo rides the rails and learns the underlying Hobo Code is a mystical language that leads into the world of memories, where whoever is remembered strongest—whether by trickery, violence, or daring—can change history and alter the lives of the living.
Parenting in the Zombie Apocalypse: The Psychology of Raising Children in a Time of Horror Steven J. Kirsh McFarland 2019-06-14
Parenting in the Zombie Apocalypse
Drawing on psychological theory and real-world research on developmental status, grief, trauma, mental illness, and child-rearing in stressful environments, the book examine factors influencing parenting, and the likely outcomes of different caregiving techniques in the hypothetical landscape of the living dead.
The Resurrectionists (The Salem Hawley Series, Book 1) Michael Patrick Hicks High Fever Books 2019-06-04 http://www.michaelpatrickhicks.com New York, 1788: A former slave, Salem Hawley, is compelled to fight back against the wave of exhumations plaguing the Black cemetery. Little does he know that the theft of bodies is key to far darker arts being performed by the resurrectionists. If successful, the work of these occultists could spell the end of the fledgling American Experiment … and the world itself.
Machete Williams Terry W. Wilson Taranis Publishing 2019-06-01 https://terrywilson6.wixsite.com/mysite An angry God has turned half the humans in the world into hideous beasts that are devouring the remaining
38 half of the population. It is up to Asa Williams and his friends with special powers, called Arrayists, to battle beasts and man alike to try and reach the angry God.
Shapeshifters: A History John B. Kachuba Reaktion Books 2019-06-01 https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/S/bo38336827.html There is something about a shapeshifter that captures our imagination; that causes us to want to howl at the moon or flit through the night like a bat. The myths, magic, and meaning surrounding shapeshifters are brought vividly to life in this compelling and original cultural history.
Dark Thoughts Kevin J. Kennedy KJK Publishing 2019-05-10
Dark Thoughts
Kevin J. Kennedy has put together some of the horror world’s bestselling anthologies over recent years. Now, for the first time, he has collected some of his own short stories in one place. Dark Thoughts features a brand new, eight-thousand-word tribute story to Richard Laymon’s Dark Mountain.
Doomsday Furnace Brent Michael Kelley Omnium Gatherum 2019-05-09 http://brentmichaelkelley.com/ A starship is separated from its fleet, and the captain must resort to desperate measures. A man wakes one morning to find out everyone in the world has dreamed of killing him. The embodiment of drought has a disastrous adventure at sea. These tales and more await you inside a collection of catastrophic yarns.
Progenie, Scions of Darkness (Book 1) Mack Little Ellysian Press 2019-02-26
Welcome
39 The story of Zenobia Grant spans scores of centuries, from antiquity to the present, sprawls across the globe from the Middle East to Paris to New Orleans and Houston, and encompasses encounters a breathtaking array of creatures from the Bible and the Quran, fallen angels, djinns, dhampyrs, and more.
The First Cryogenically Frozen Person Has Been Revived Michael Squid Self-published 2019-01-11
A breakthrough in cryonics unfolds in a horrific chain of events that gives light to a sinister plot 50 years in the planning. The discovery of a box of unaired television shows reveals a cover-up by a dangerous man hunting down deadly artifacts. These and other chilling tales await within, eager to make you sleep with the heat up high and the nightlight on.
______
Thank you to all who listed, and please do share these free promotional listings provided to members each month. Make sure to fill out the New Release Form in the Members Only area of the HWA Web site by the 15th of each month to have your future releases posted in Recently Born of Horrific Minds! I’d love to include every book, but some were released too long ago to count as “recent,” so they may not be listed here, but appear on the “Members Books” section of horror.org/newreleases. Forward questions you might have using the form or regarding your forthcoming release to [email protected], and enjoy these fine reads!
40 Brain Matter
By HWAWeb | July 2019
JG Faherty
How to Talk About Yourself When You Can’t Talk About Yourself – The Introvert’s Guide to Answering Personal Questions About Your Writing
We’ve all been there. It can happen at a party, or a restaurant, or at a family dinner right in your own house. It can be a stranger or a close friend or a relative. It can be well-meaning or slightly derisive.
It is, The Question.
“How’s the writing going?”
And, no matter how you answer it, inevitably more questions follow.
“Do your books make a lot of money?”
“It must be so cool to be a writer. What’s it like?”
“I really admire what you do. What’s it like?
“Are any of your books going to be made into movies?”
“What are you working on now?”
The list of possible questions goes on and on. To pretty much anyone else, they might seem innocuous (except that money one). After all, people love talking to other people about their jobs. Especially if it’s an unusual job. I imagine zookeepers, rock stars, and celebrity gynecologists get asked similar questions.
41 The problem is, most writers don’t like to talk about themselves. Oh, sure, ask us about writing in general, or horror, or even one of our books, and we can chew your ear off. That’s okay. That’s not personal. You’re not getting inside our “space.”
But when you ask about us? That’s when the stomach eels start wriggling around and we search the room for someone to save us before we turn into stammering idiots or stand there with blank looks on our faces.
It happened to me the other day. I was out to eat with my wife, and a person we know (he’s a doctor) happened to be leaving as we sat down. His first question, after asking how we were, was “Hey, how’s the writing biz? Are you doing well?”
I was at a loss on how to answer. Basically, this person who I knew superficially for several years had just asked, “How much money are you making on your books?”
Luckily, I’ve learned to have a stock answer in place. “Pretty good. Not on the NY Times Bestseller List yet, but a guy can hope.”
At this point, I am hoping the subject changes.
It doesn’t.
“Man, I think it’s so great that you followed your dream and became a writer. Not many people can say they have books written. How does it feel to be special like a rock star?”
This is where it gets tricky, at least for me. The reason I don’t like talking about myself is because when you do it, it always comes off sounding like you’re bragging. Or promoting. On the other hand, if you downplay things too much, you sound like a failure. Either way, trying to answer questions like this gives me a lot of anxiety.
I told him it’s nothing like that, unless maybe you’re Stephen King. Writers are just ordinary people, and thousands of books are published every year. Me doing one is no big deal.
“Nonsense!” he says. “It’s a huge deal. You’ve got a whole bunch of novels published. How many people have tried and failed? It’s like winning the lottery.”
Now I’m getting really goobered up inside. On the one hand, he’s right. Getting your novel published professionally is like winning the lottery. On the other, I’m right. It’s my job. It’s what I do. I’m just a person.
So I kind of hemmed and hawed, and my wife says, “He’s always like this. He hates talking about himself. Sometimes he doesn’t even tell people he’s a writer.”
Doctor: “Why? You should be proud as hell. It’s amazing.”
I finally manage an answer. I tell him that talking about yourself is considered bad form in the writing world, because we’re all very low key. Most of us are on the same level (lie!) and no one wants to come off as a braggart. Then I tell him I’m always happy to talk about a book. Or the horror genre.
He asks: “So, are you working on a new book? What’s it about?”
Now I’m ready to shoot myself. I have a superstition that I never, ever talk about a book in progress except with my editor and my beta readers. Even my wife doesn’t know what I’m working on except in the broadest of senses. (It’s about vampires. Or, it’s about demons.)
42 I’m certainly not going to tell a vague acquaintance what I’m writing.
So, once again I have to skirt around the truth (“I’m puttering around with a few different ideas.”) and then change the subject (“But I’ve got a new book coming out in August”).
That, at least, I can talk about. Unfortunately, it’s not what he’s interested in. Instead, he changes the subject.
“Another one? That’s great. How many is that now?”
Followed by: “And short stories, too. You write those, right? How many?”
At this point, I feel like saying, “How many patients do you have per week? What does their insurance pay? Can you afford a new boat?”
Instead, I tell him the numbers—after all, they’re in my bio on the back of every book and in every interview—and say a silent thank you when Fate steps and our waitress finally comes over to take our order.
But in the end, I learned a valuable lesson. I need to have more stock answers prepared for when random people ask these kinds of questions. Answers that won’t make me look like a jerk—or like I’m brain dead—and still provide enough information to send them on their way, satisfied with what they’ve learned.
Because no one is ever going to understand that writing is a solitary profession for a reason—writers like to be alone. A lot. We are solitary, introverted creatures. (Or at least I am.)
Except when we aren’t. And then it’s on our own terms.
That’s my story. What’s yours?
###
Shameless self-promotion!
My next novel comes out in August (Hellrider) from Flame Tree Press, and the print editions (hardcover, trade paperback) are available right now at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hellrider-Fiction-Without-Frontiers-Faherty/dp/1787582620.
When Eddie Ryder is burned alive by fellow members of the Hell Riders motorcycle gang for ratting on them, he vows revenge with his dying breath. He returns as a ghost, with his custom motorcycle Diablo by his side. After he finds out he can possess people, he launches a campaign of vengeance that leaves plenty of bodies in its wake and the police in a state of confusion. Spouting fire and lightning from his fingers and screaming heavy metal lyrics as he rides the sky above the town of Hell Creek, he brings destruction down on all those who wronged him, his power growing with every death. Only Eddie’s younger brother, Carson, and the police chief’s daughter, Ellie, understand what’s really happening, and now they have to stop him before he destroys the whole town.
“Hellrider is a thunder and muscle hell ride through dangerous territory. Fun, wicked, and unrelenting. A horror thriller that breaks the rules and the speed limit at the same time.” – Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author
43 I’ll be doing a book launch at Mysterious Galaxy bookstore in San Diego on Sunday, August 11. If you’re in the area, stop by!
Also out now is my new collection of short stories from Cemetery Dance Press, Houses of the Unholy, which includes a brand-spanking new novella, “December Soul,” which is a sequel to my popular short story, “The Lazarus Effect.” “December Soul” is a darkly poignant romance set during an unusual apocalypse.
Available in e-book and print formats: https://www.amazon.com/Houses-Unholy-JG-Faherty-ebook/dp/B07QR7R7KZ And also at B&N and other retailers.
And, as always, check out all my other titles: http://tinyurl.com/jgfaherty.
44 The Grumpy Grammarian
By HWAWeb | July 2019
The Grumpy Grammarian Admits a Mistake …
(and the heavens don’t come crashing down)
Anthony Ambrogio
This month’s column is blessedly short—a boon to my proofreaders—probably because I was too chagrined to write too much, fearing I might introduce yet another error.
Mr. Know-it-all, in last month’s column on proofreading, overlooked a mistake.
I talked about “copyeditors” in the first paragraph. Then, toward the end, I twice referred to “copy editors.”
Which is right? Which should it be? Turns out there’s a big controversy over the matter. People in the profession (and out of it) seem to feel that there is a significant difference between copy editing (editing copy) and copyediting. I think that at least one person who weighed in on the debate felt that copyediting was the better term because it encompassed so much more of what these people do than “merely” editing copy.
I would have to explore the topic in greater depth in order to form an opinion.
Right now, I know that the form of such terms often undergoes a change over time. For example, once upon a time it was post man—two words. The frequency of usage of such a common concept eventually led to it being written as post-man and finally to become the one word we use today: postman (although, because women are also postmen, we sometimes use the more gender-neutral “letter carrier” or “mail carrier”).
Someone who was fighting the big copy editor/copyeditor battle on one of the Web sites (https://www.copyediting.com/merriam-webster-catches-up-to-copyediting/#.XPCXPxZKiM8) had this to say
45 about this evolution: “Some of the changes seem innocuous enough: bestseller, email, voicemail, and other terms are losing their hyphens and being closed up.”
I would amend the previous statement to say that I believe that people still write e-mail and voice-mail (I do) but that the un-hyphenated one-word forms are also acceptable.
And that brings me to my point about copy editing and copyediting. From everything that I have read, it seems that either form could be correct.
More important is consistency. Whichever way one goes with the word, one should be consistent. In other words, I cannot write “copyeditors” at the beginning of a piece and “copy editors” at the end. It has to be one or the other.
So take your pick. Then stick with it throughout your essay/story/novel (and no copy editor—nor copyeditor—can ever complain).
Thank you, and good day.
Anthony Ambrogio, [email protected]
46 Authors for the July KGB Reading Series
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel, hosts of the Fantastic Fiction at KGB Reading Series, present two readers for July.
The first reader is Theodora Goss, the World Fantasy and Locus Award-winning author of novels, short stories, essays, and poetry, including her debut novel, The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, and its sequel, European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman. She has been a finalist for the Nebula, Crawford, Seiun, and Mythopoeic Awards, as well as on the Tiptree Award Honor List, and her work has been translated into twelve languages. She teaches literature and writing at Boston University and in the Stonecoast MFA Program.
Cadwell Turnbull will also be reading that night. He is the author of The Lesson. His short fiction has appeared in The Verge, Lightspeed, Nightmare, Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018, and The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (forthcoming). He lives with his wife in Somerville, Massachusetts.
The free readings will be held Wednesday, July 17, 7 p.m., at the KGB Bar, 85 East 4th St. (just off 2nd Ave., upstairs), New York City. For more information, please go to http://www.kgbfantasticfiction.org.
Subscribe to the mailing list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kgbfantasticfiction/.
47 A Few Words About Dennis Etchison
By HWAWeb | July 2019
This work originally uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by Nihonjoe. [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]
Where to begin when it comes to Dennis Etchison …
How about this: I owe my writing career to him.
Here’s how that came about: back in the early ‘80s, when I was living in L.A. as a young (very young!) would- be screenwriter, I dated someone who was close to Ray Bradbury. We got to do a lot of things with Ray, many of which involved hanging around other writers. One of those writers was an interesting, friendly fellow named Dennis Etchison, whose work I was unfamiliar with. I asked my boyfriend about him, and he loaned me a book by Dennis. The book was a collection of short stories called The Dark Country.
That book changed my life.
I’d never read anything like it. The stories weren’t just frightening and perfectly crafted, they were also (mostly) set in Los Angeles, but, more importantly, they were set in my Los Angeles. This was the Los Angeles I knew, a place whose sunny reputation hid an underbelly of tension, of dark canyons and all-night convenience stores, of south-of-the-border jaunts gone bad, of greed and class warfare.
A few years went by. I split from the boyfriend but stayed friends with Dennis. I eagerly grabbed every new tale by him. Ask me to name my five all-time favorite short stories, and at least three will be by Dennis Etchison. “The Dog Park” just might be the single best work of short fiction I’ve ever read.
By 1992, Dennis was serving as President of an organization called the Horror Writers of America (a year later, he got the name changed to the current Horror Writers Assn. to more accurately reflect the organization’s multinational membership), and I was selling screenplays. Dennis personally recruited me into the organization, using my screenwriting credits to achieve Active status. However, I had discovered that I didn’t really love being a screenwriter the way I’d thought I would; I’d just finished a long working stint on a very bad film, and I was finally starting to think that I should look at writing prose fiction.
48 Dennis’s stories were my models. I began writing short fiction. I showed them to a few friends, who thought they were saleable. My friends suggested I go to the World Fantasy Convention and start to network.
I attended my first World Fantasy Con in 1993, in Minneapolis. Dennis met me almost as soon as I arrived, and started introducing me to everyone. One of the editors I met there—Stephen Jones—would buy my first short story a year later, and go on to become the editor I’ve worked with the most.
That convention was an amazing experience. I rented a car and became Dennis’s driver for a few days. At the time Dennis was embroiled in a feud with Harlan Ellison, and I still laugh when I think of him telling me that he’d put any five of his stories up against any five of Harlan’s stories (Dennis was also a wrestling fanatic, which made this even more amusing). I drove Dennis to a signing at the massive Mall of America; no one came to the signing, so Dennis, Poppy Z. Brite, and Melanie Tem read their stories to each other while I listened in.
A few years later, Dennis was editing The Museum of Horrors, an official HWA anthology. I submitted a story called “Pound Rots in Fragrant Harbour”; the idea of being edited by Dennis was a dream for me. Dennis not only took the story, for years after he’d always ask me how many awards the story had won (and just shake his head when I told him none). The fact that he felt that strongly about it meant more to me than any award.
Around 2004 or ‘5, Dennis, Peter Atkins, and Glen Hirshberg started a reading performance group called the Rolling Darkness Revue; they read from their work with live musical accompaniment and put out books each year. I was honored to be a part of the 2006 edition; it was a tremendous honor to be sharing a reading stage with Dennis Etchison (who was an incredible reader, by the way, his voice perfect for capturing the quiet, intense menace of his prose).
In 2010, my first novel (The Castle of Los Angeles) was about to be published, and I had to secure blurbs for it. I knew Dennis didn’t often do blurbs, but I had to ask. To my delight, he said he would … but when he sent his “blurb,” I was completely and utterly floored: it was nearly two full pages long, and was an extraordinary and gracious analysis of my book. It was the kind of blurb that other authors asked me about for years (“Are you the one who got that blurb from Dennis Etchison?”).
Over the 37 years that I knew Dennis, we had so many wonderful conversations, too many to recount here. Dennis had some (ahem) habits that occasionally drove his friends nuts (we always knew that going to a restaurant with Dennis would end with, “Are you going to finish that?”), but we just smiled and accepted them because it was Dennis and he was a genius and we loved him. One of the best moments of my time as HWA’s President was being able to tell Dennis that our Lifetime Achievement Award Committee had selected him to receive the 2016 honors (along with Tom Monteleone). Talk about coming full circle: there I was acting as HWA President, telling the man who’d originally gotten me into the organization when he’d been President that he’d just been awarded the horror genre’s highest honor.
When I saw Dennis in March of this year, I hadn’t seen him for a few months, and it was quickly apparent that he was very ill. He didn’t want to talk about it publicly, but he was dealing with cancer. It had formed a mass in his throat that he couldn’t swallow around, and he’d lost a lot of weight. I offered to help.
By May, a group of friends and former students were helping Dennis get to his cancer treatments at UCLA. I wasn’t able to assist as much I’d wanted to, but I did have the privilege of taking Dennis to his final radiation treatment. We spent a great afternoon together talking about writing, politics, life, and, of course, his cancer. He told me that, prior to this, he’d never been seriously ill, broken a bone, or spent a night in a hospital. He was sure he’d recover. He’d just scored possibly the biggest deal of his career. He was looking forward to new writing projects. He told me his favorite story: he, Ray Bradbury, and Bill Nolan used to meet, go down to Long Beach to shop at Acres of Books, and then have lunch at the Queen Mary. One day he
49 and Bill arrived at Ray’s house, and there was a check on Ray’s front table for $627,000. Bill Nolan freaked out. “Oh my God, Ray, this is a check for $627,000! You can’t just leave this lying around like this! A maid could take it, or it could blow away! Ray, do you know how much this check is for?” Ray glanced back and said, “I know it sounds like a lot, but it’s for two books!”
That wonderful afternoon spent talking writing and life with Dennis was thirteen days ago. He died yesterday.
I believe Dennis is the finest writer of short horror fiction the genre’s ever been gifted with. I’m sorry he never received Bradbury-sized paychecks for his work; he deserved to. But he wasn’t just a writer; he was also a teacher and mentor to many of us, unfailingly generous and possessed of an infectious passion for writing. His departure leaves a huge, ragged hole in both literature and the lives of those of us who were fortunate enough to know him. He told me, thirteen days ago, how pleased he was with all the friends and students who’d helped him recently, and that he wanted to take us all out to dinner soon. I’d like to imagine him in the afterlife, dining and chattering with his good friend Ray, gesturing at Ray’s plate and saying, “Are you going to finish that?”
– Lisa Morton
(Written on 5/29/19, one day after the passing of Dennis)
50 Haunted Travels: The Hotel Bellwether
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Rena Mason
The Hotel Bellwether Bellingham, Washington – April 2019
51 52 53 Hotel-Bellwether
I’m always on the lookout for writers’ retreats and conferences to attend, and when I saw that J.D. Barker was going to be the keynote speaker at the Chanticleers Authors Conference in Bellingham, Washington, I decided to go for the few extra days before my usual stay at the beach house on the Key Peninsula in the Great Pacific Northwest.
It was nighttime when I’d arrived into Bellingham, so couldn’t see much of anything, but I “felt” I was surrounded by water, which always makes me extra alert while driving. One wrong turn and it’s easy to end up in the water, or on a mud flat sinking fast before the tide comes out or in.
The next day, the sun was out, it was a beautiful day, and workshop sessions were held at the Bellingham Yacht Club and Marina. Standing near the docks and looking out into the open ocean was a bit unnerving with my agoraphobia (fear of wide open spaces). I couldn’t help but feel “level” with the land and sea and thought that any size tsunami or even a rogue wave would roll right over the entire town and wash most of it away.
I looked forward to getting to the workshop classroom to get my mind onto something else, so I followed the signs downstairs into the basement of the club. They had windows open and kept the door ajar for a nice breeze to flow through, but I couldn’t get the feeling of being trapped down there out of my head. It was unexplainable. Others complained of their mold allergies acting up and the dankness of the room, so after getting started, the organizers moved the class to a room on the main floor of the yacht club. It was a much smaller room, but made a huge difference in everyone’s mood and was less “claustrophobic,” which didn’t make any sense. That basement room just “felt” bad. I don’t usually get that way about places and rooms, but that basement area emanated an unsettling vibe.
54 From there I checked into the Bellwether Hotel, a beautiful old lighthouse hotel on the water’s edge, complete with a fireplace in a newly remodeled room. The weather in Washington varies dramatically in the spring, and it was cool in April, but it was even colder in the hotel, making me glad I’d brought lots of blazers to wear along with a winter coat. Certain rooms left me chilled to the bone and shivering, and I do not get “chilled” often as my body prefers colder climes. Here’s a video clip/ad for the hotel where the water shots might better show what I mean by “level” with land and sea. https://vimeo.com/290932300
Although I didn’t feel any “haunted” vibes from the hotel room, in November of 2014, author Jennifer Hotes claims that she was woken in the night by footsteps and someone breathing over her. This “curious” spirit as she called it, apparently visited her during her entire stay, and she credits it for assisting her in helping her finish her novel. I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed this ghost did not help me finish my WIP. Back to the drawing board!
For Ms. Hotes’s entire account, visit http://www.jenniferlhotes.com/tag/hotel-bellwether/
Wanting to check out some foodie places during the visit, I went into Fairhaven after a recommendation from one of the organizers and had dinner at a restaurant located in the Sycamore Square building, called the “Mason” building in 1892 when a woman named Flora Blakely died of a “brain fever” after suffering through other tragic family deaths. She still haunts the building today as the “Green Lady.” This brings me to an interesting fact I recently discovered while researching something else. I remember reading a ghost story titled “The Woman in Green” or close to that when I was younger. The story was about a man who had to stop at a hotel and stay the night, a woman in green stepped out of the closet and scared him. He ran out at dawn and noticed the hotel was in shambles compared to what it looked like when he’d checked in. Anyhow, during my research, I discovered that many women died during the Victorian era because green dye in the fabric of their dresses had arsenic in it. It made me wonder if all these ghost stories of women in green dresses came about from that little bit of info.
For more information on arsenic in green dresses, visit this Web site: https://pictorial.jezebel.com/the-arsenic-dress-how-poisonous-green-pigments-terrori-1738374597
Bellingham has an interesting history in that many spiritualists moved and lived there in the early 1900s. There’s still a restaurant there called “The Black Cat.” The Old Town Café (well-known for its hauntings in the area) was a funeral parlor in the 1890s.
For more information on Bellingham’s haunted history, visit https://www.whatcomtalk.com/2018/10/22/bellinghams-haunted-history/ and https://www.rickmooregroup.com/blog/283466/Haunted+Places+In+Bellingham.
For more information on the Chanticleer Book Reviews/Authors Conference, visit this link: https://www.chantireviews.com/.
55 Watchung’s Horror Watch
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Interpreted By Naching T. Kassa
Greetings, HWA faithful, and welcome to the Horror Watch!
Watchung still hasn’t recovered from his experience in Bronco Bob’s Burger Bar and Convention Center. He has a recurring nightmare about dancing onstage in front of thousands of little old ladies who pelt him with cinnamon sachets. As a result, he has extended his walkabout for the next month. He hopes to return in September with more horror news.
Watchung would like to remind you of two things. First, no entertainment, not even video games, could exist without writers. And, second, if there’s horror news out there, Watchung is watching!
56 Frightful Fun
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Donna K. Fitch
Please give a warm HWA welcome to game designer, actress, and writer Danielle DeLisle. I’m excited to introduce her to you.
Donna: Tell us a little about yourself. How did you get started in game design? Did you read horror growing up? Who were your favorite authors? Did any glowing meteorites land near your house?
Danielle: I have gamed (played table-top role-playing games) for years, but I decided it would be cool to write for games myself. I went online and just started following people in the industry on Twitter and Instagram. I listened to their tips and waited. Eventually, there was an open call for writers from a company called Third Eye Games. I hadn’t written RPG content before, but I sent in a writing sample, and Eloy Lasanta, the owner and resident badass of TEG, gave me a chance. Since then I have worked on many projects with lots of great people. I love writing for RPGs. I like to say it’s like playing in the sandbox without all those pesky characters messing everything up.
I absolutely read a lot of horror growing up. I started out with R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike (one of my childhood favorites) and moved on to Stephen King and Clive Barker. My parents were pretty great in that
57 they never stopped me from reading anything I wanted to read. I remember one time when I was about thirteen my dad took me to the library and I wanted to take out IT. I always looked small for my age, and the librarian must have thought I was eight. She wouldn’t loan me the book! Today, I think she must have thought I confused the clown on the cover for a kids’ book. My dad had to come in and tell her how old I was and give permission for me to check out the book. Thanks for the nightmares, Dad! I have an extensive collection of King novels and even share his birthday and have a King-related tattoo, so yeah, you could say I have a special place in my heart for SK!
I wish something as interesting as a glowing meteorite landed near my house when I was a kid. There were a lot of woods. Oh! One time I found a dead bat in our attic stuffed in a shoebox.
Donna: Wow, the dead bat in the shoebox sounds like a story in itself! How has your experience been as a female game designer in a male-dominated industry?
Danielle: I have been pretty lucky in the companies I work for. I do my best to work for companies that go out of their way to make everyone feel comfortable and not just invite marginalized people to the table, but truly include them as well. I hope this becomes the trend and the norm. I wish the same for everyone in the industry to have as great an experience as I have so far.
Donna: I like that sentence, “Not just invite marginalized people to the table, but truly include them as well.” Your participation in Angela Yuriko Smith’s Exquisite Corpse project last year sounds exciting. How did you become a participant, and what was it like?
Danielle: That was super fun! Angela hosts the event on her Web site each month and anyone can join in. There is a theme, and all you do is write a line of poetry addressing the theme and E-mail it to her. Angela puts them all together in an epic poem. She even gives out prizes. I won some dirt from Edgar Allan Poe’s grave preserved in a necklace. It gets compliments every time I wear it.
Donna: What a truly great prize! Do you play many horror games? What are your recommendations for great horror-related games?
Danielle: YES! Oh gosh, I should probably go by type. There are so many. I am going to try and go for games people might not know off-hand, rather than the biggies most people have heard of. Video Games (variety of consoles, PC, Phone, etc.): Bendy and the Ink Machine, Night in the Woods, Among the Sleep, Little Nightmares, Inside, Sara is Missing. Table-Top Role-Playing Games: Dread, Ten Candles, Little Fears, Outbreak, Die Laughing Board Games: Dead of Winter, Eldritch Horror, Betrayal at House on the Hill.
Um, do I have a word limit? Seriously, if anyone wants a bigger list of games E-mail me.
Donna: What would be your dream project, if money and time were unlimited?
Danielle: Artificial Reality mobile horror game. Gosh, I can picture it, and it is so beautiful. Think Pokemon Go, but horror-themed with an actual story. A little like seeing the Upside Down from STRANGER THINGS through your phone. I would get all sorts of people to contribute. Your choices will affect the outcomes in this alternate horror realm. I think the idea of affecting, but not being able to do much directly would be awesome for the horror genre. Maybe you have a counterpart you are trying to save in that other realm? You just use your phone to see this place right where you live and solve problems in real time. If anyone has more knowledge than me about AR capability message me.
Donna: That sounds really exciting! I hope it happens! Danielle, what do you think is necessary for horror games to work, from a design perspective? How do you evoke horror in players? As a player, what makes you
58 feel fear, dread, and horror?
Danielle: I think the most successful horror games have a mechanic where the player/character is responsible for and well aware something bad is about to happen, and yet there is nothing they can do about it or very little they can do. For example, in Dread the players use a Jenga set to make decisions. Whenever there is an action where there is a chance the character may fail they pull a block from the Jenga set. It creates this awesome anxiety and tension to see if the game will topple. I think a game that has mechanics that allow for these moments (whether dice, cards, or something else) stand out to me.
The key to invoking horror in players and characters is knowing them very well. That, more than anything else, will give you the knowledge to do just enough and in just the right ways to tweak your player’s noses and give them that adrenaline. For some this could be mood music, actual puzzles the players themselves have to solve to read a creepy message, vivid descriptions, art, well-timed reveals to give them the chills, all these things can/might work for groups.
I also will say that timing is a key element to horror movies and books and that goes for RPGs as well. Getting the players invested and hooked and knowing when they are ready for the scare is a great tool for any Game Master. I watch body language very carefully when I run a horror game. Watch for signs the players are relaxing or think they are out of danger, then hit them with the bleeding walls! As a player, these things work on me, too!
Donna: What is your personal favorite work, of all you’ve designed or published?
Danielle: That’s really hard to say. I am sure that’s not a really interesting answer, but the best part about each project for me is how they are all unique creative challenges. I get a set of parameters, and it’s a puzzle and great fun to work within those guidelines and be as wild as possible within them and just let your imagination go.
Donna: I like that answer. I hadn’t thought of a gaming project as a puzzle. What are you playing right now?
Danielle: My gaming group is playing Aberrant right now. It’s an older RPG from White Wolf. As far as board games we are loving T.I.M.E. Stories. There are several really great horror scenarios particularly The Marcy Case, Estrella Drive, and Project: Endurance.
Donna: What’s coming up for you? Do you have another adventure on the horizon?
Danielle: I have a handful of RPG projects coming out soon and writing for a few more. I am also working on my first novel. I have also been dabbling in voice acting and would like to get into writing for video games. I can’t seem to stay in one place. Ha!
One item of interest for horror fans is the Sins of the Father Companion from Third Eye Games. It’s an RPG where you play characters whose souls have been sold to a Dark Lord before they were even born. Some revel in it and some seek to clear their debt, but either way they do and have done despicable things.
Donna: Where can we find out more about you?
Danielle: Find me on Twitter @DanielleDeLisle or my E-mail [email protected] or check out my Web site http://www.danielledelisle.com. Feel free to contact me with RPG questions. I always enjoy getting people into gaming.
Thanks for interviewing me! This has been awesome and really made me consider things I had not before. That’s the sign of a great interview.
59 Donna: Thank you so much for your time, Danielle! Best wishes on your future career. I know we’ll be hearing great things from you!
****
Donna K. Fitch, MLS, is a long-time HWA affiliate member, Silver Hammer Award-winner, and HWA Newsletter Web Editor and Designer. In addition to novels and short stories, she wrote a now-out-of-print RPG supplement on using cemeteries in d20 games, a gaming supplement called Sahasra: Land of 1,000 Cities based on a fantasy India, and a chapter of Scott Carter’s Imperial Age: Faeries. Her first gaming experiences involved Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition and the box set of Call of Cthulhu.24
60 Voices {From the North}: Midsummer Edition
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Michael Kamp
So, summer has come and as of this writing we approach the Scandinavian midsummer celebrations. There is a fascination with these rituals, from the iconic movie The Wicker Man from 1973 to modern day horror- versions, but the real background is pretty interesting.
Let us go by nation.
61 62 Denmark
Denmark – Sankthans
In Denmark we gather on beaches and open fields to Sankthans around June 21. A huge bonfire is lit and we sing while the flames engulf a stuffed witch.
Yes, you read that correctly. We place a life-size doll on top of the pile in the shape of a witch and stuff the doll with fireworks. Then we watch it burn.
When the flames reach the doll, the fireworks are set off as “the witch screaming” and everyone celebrates.
There has been some backlash in recent years, and the doll is getting to be optional, but it has been a tradition ever since we burned actual witches, so it’s hard to let go.
The actual ritual of lighting fires at the beach during midsummer is ancient. It goes back way before Christianity was introduced and for a long while the Church fought against it.
Several prominent Church figures have tried to outlaw it through the ages and in the 7th century Sankt Eligius warned the Christian settlers in Flandern: “No Christian should ever celebrate the midsummer with either dancing, singing, drinking, or lighting fires.”
So we do all of the above.
63 Like most old rituals, Sankthans used to involve a lot of heavy drinking. We light fires to keep evil away. In the old days, it was said to keep the trolls and their ilk at bay, but in Christian times it morphed to become a general “evil” we had to scare off.
It predates the witch-burnings—probably by millennia—but we picked up on the witch-theme and kept it to present day.
In my own small village, the local football association is in charge of the event, and it is a very family friendly thing now. Happy children dance around the fire as the adults mostly sing and enjoy a draft beer.
In modern times, a local politician will usually make a speech before the fire is lit, and it is seen as a time to bring together the community.
During the occupation in WWII, the Germans outlawed any fires during the national black-out. Allied pilots would be able to navigate the coastline by the fires, and the Germans would not give them any targets.
As soon as the occupation lifted, we resumed the tradition.
Sweden
Now let’s take a look at Sweden.
In Sweden Midsummer is a big deal.
In Denmark, it’s a nice night on the beach with some ancient occult undertones, but Sweden goes nuts.
Swedish Midsummer is celebrated in the countryside, and while we Danes pay homage to the old ways, Swedes go balls to the wall on fertility rites.
They are obsessed with flowers, so any part of Midsummer celebrations will have flowers galore. In the hair, on the tables, as decorations—everywhere. They erect a Maypole, dance around it, have ritualistic contests of strength, and eat local iconic dishes and drink. A lot.
Pickled herring and Schnapps are popular. So is surströmming—fermented herring infamous for its smell.
Swedish Midsummer is famous in Scandinavia as usually reserved Swedes goes all out on this night.
Of course, since Sweden is much larger than Denmark and has much more wild nature, it helps with the celebrations that they can more easily go into the wild and be happy.
The Swedish are often lovingly teased with their Midsummer, but since they have a lot of humor, the Swedish Tourist Agency actually produces a funny Midsummer for Dummies to not take themselves too seriously. https://youtu.be/u8ZLpGOOA1Q
Norway
Next up – Norway.
64 Sad to say I don’t know very much about the Norwegian Midsummer other than their insanely large bonfires.
They broke the world record in 2016 in the city of Ålesund with a bonfire a staggering 47.4 meters tall. That is approaching 150 feet in the air.
And they build it by hand.
They mostly follow the Danish traditions, since we used to be the same nation, and while Denmark lights bonfires along the coast, the Norwegians often go up the mountains to do the same. We do not have mountains, so that is not an option here.
Do treat yourself to this video of the Slinningsbålet Bonfire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJd71CzyN1c
So in short:
In Denmark we burn effigies as an ancient pagan way of warding off evil and strengthen community.
Sweden goes all out on fertility rituals and spend the entire day celebrating life.
And in Norway they are pyromaniacs.
None of us burn humans alive inside wicker men in pagan rituals.
Officially.
65 Entombed by My Long Boxes
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Joe Borrelli
The Twisted World of Jhonen Vasquez
Hello and welcome back to the mausoleum, my repulsive readers! Summer has crept up on us, which means that all the ghastly sunlight and … ugh … positivity should have all us indoor kids retreating to our reading nooks so we can curl up with a good graphic novel. This month we’ll be looking at the horror comic work of Invader Zim creator Jhonen Vasquez.
While Jhonen Vasquez is best known as the creator of Invader Zim, the oddest little cartoon ever made about an incompetent space alien trying to enslave humanity while battling a gothy little boy who stalks his every move, he first gained popularity as the creator of a wonderfully nasty little book called Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.
Originally appearing in beloved 1990s gothic magazine Carpe Noctem, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac followed Johnny C., a skinny little psychopath who tortured and killed people in a series of morbid little single page cartoons. Violent revenge fantasies are hardly anything new in comic books, but a few things set JTHM apart.
66 First, Vasquez’s distinct art style, which featured angular, nightmarish images overlapping each other on pages that were stuffed with details without ever seeming too busy or cluttered. Much of his art style was inspired by science fiction, 1980s video games like Gradius, and the striking angles inspired by Vasquez’s passion for film.
The second is the character of Johnny himself. Unlike a lot of other grimdark protagonists of edgy comic books, Johnny had a brain and occasionally used it. He was articulate, introspective, self-doubting, joyful, and frequently delusional, holding conversations with his art projects and his dead pets.
The comic quickly became one of the most popular features in Carpe Noctem, and Vasquez later started a full comic book series at Slave Labor Graphics, which gave him room to expand Johnny’s world. Most of the early storylines were about him butchering jerks; we later discover that a sinister Lovecraftian monster is at the heart of his madness. The rest of the series follows Johnny as he tries to reclaim his madness for himself.
67
Vasquez’s next major work was Squee, a spinoff featuring a small child named Squee (his actual name was Todd, but “squee” was the sound he made whenever he saw something traumatizing), who was the only witness to Johnny C’s murders. Neglected by his cartoonishly spiteful parents, poor little Squee witnesses everything from a ghost girl haunting his bedroom to incompetent alien abductors (early shades of the Irken armies from Invader Zim) to the Antichrist joining his elementary school class, Squee ends the series in an insane asylum with a brain full of nightmares. Squee is more of a dark cartoon than JTHM, and its macabre humor has arguably made it the more popular series.
68 Vasquez’s final comic series was I Feel Sick, a sort of coda to Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. The story focuses on Devi, whom we first met in JTHM after she had a horrifying first date with Johnny. She survived but isolated herself out of fear, and we catch up with her in I Feel Sick, where she has become a shut-in who works as a freelance book cover artist and feverishly paints a series of disturbing art pieces. Eventually, she discovers that the same evil that infected Johnny and drove him mad wants her to be its next victim. Unlike Johnny, Devi is able to fight back and save herself from becoming a dismal servant of madness.
I Feel Sick feels like a distinctly more mature story than JTHM. One of the overriding themes behind both tales is that a creative person can be driven to madness by the loss of their talent. Both Johnny and Devi were infected by a sort of creativity parasite that wanted to subsume their gifts for its own ends, which dovetailed nicely with Devi’s career pumping out generic art covers for equally generic science fiction novels at the behest of a corporate overlord. Johnny and Devi have a distinctive arc in both stories. Johnny was too far gone into madness, losing most of the memories of his old life, but Devi is able to successfully resist being corrupted.
69
By this time, Jhonen Vasquez was a respected figure in the underground comic book scene. It wasn’t long before bigger opportunities came his way, and he was tapped by Nickelodeon to create a cartoon show. He came up with Invader Zim, a manic, misanthropic science fiction cartoon about an incompetent alien invader and the uptight conspiracy freak child trying to stop him. It’s a magical show and one of the weirdest cartoons ever made, but my heart will always have a soft spot for the plucky little homicidal maniac, the nervous child, and the brave artist from his comic books. They’re still available at Slave Labor Graphics, so go check them out.
That’s it for this month’s “Entombed by My Long Boxes.” You can find me at CreatureCast.Net or on Twitter. Stay spooky, be sure to open any mysterious puzzle boxes you find, and keep reading for another 30 days!
70 Forbidden Words (And When to Use Them)
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Lawrence Berry
The Language Of Ghosts
“Now I know what a ghost is. Unfinished business, that’s what.”
– Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses
Hiraeth: a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past.
If we can agree that memory is in some ways a kind of ghost that sometimes haunts a person’s waking hours, hiraeth is the emotion these ghost memories feel. While the debate continues about whether or not ghosts are genuine manifestations, there is little doubt that we lead haunted lives. It is a small step, really, to accept that there are true cases of survival after death.
This month we’ll look at the vocabulary of ghosts.
Ghost: originally, spirit; the soul of a man or woman (as to die; give up the ghost).
1. The supposedly disembodied spirit of a deceased person. 2. A haunting memory. 3. A faint, shadowy semblance. 4. Faint, small; as in ghost of a chance. 5. In optics or television, an unwanted secondary image.
71 Ghostlike, ghostly, ghostliness: supernatural, weird, pertaining to ghosts.
Ghostology: (rare) the legendry of supernatural things.
Ghost Word: a word created through misreading a manuscript, hence, of ghost-like existence.
Ghost plant: sagebrush.
Ghost fish: a small, pale fish.
Ghost moth: a nocturnal moth.
Ghostwriter: one who writes for another who professes to be the author.
Ghost dance: North American Indian. A dance and ritual ceremony at which ghosts are raised.
The word “ghost” creates an image in most people’s imagination of a thin, filmy, malevolent spirit, which in turn lends itself to many subsidiary uses. The most interesting and least-used word in this compendium is Ghostology, which concerns itself with the morphology and history of not just ghosts, but all supernatural beings.
Jen’s Word
A reader sent in the word form “rem,” taken from the movie I STILL SEE YOU. In the film, a hole has been ripped between the world of the living and that of the dead. Spirits of the departed return and appear in waking life, the ghost “replaying” an action or event in their life. Jen’s question: is “rem” a word? The answer is yes, and no.
“Rem” can be defined as 1) a stage of sleep associated with dreaming, and 2) a measure for a dose of ionizing radiation.
The screenplay projects that the ghosts will be called remnants, shortened through common usage to “rems.” The primary definition is interesting in that it fits a ghost well: 1) remaining, yet left, 2) what is left over; remaining, residue.
The most correct term would be revenant: a person who returns after death; a ghost.
Associated Terms
The following word forms have as their primary or secondary definition, spirit or apparition:
Shade Presence Entity Specter, Spectre Phantom
Vision Apparition Bodach Visitant Wight
Eidolon Manes Lemures Kelpie Banshee
Bugbear Phantasm Phantasma Fantasma Poltergeist
72 Wraith Spook Shadow Haunt Trace
Bogey Demon Glimmer Manifestation
A Dive Into Superstition
The number of related words is uniquely broad and varied showing that the word “ghost” is used around the world in nearly all cultures. This, in turn, suggests a factual basis.
After I consulted various guides on superstition, I saw a ghost begin to take shape: a ghost may manifest itself as a visible apparition or invisible poltergeist. The ghost has returned to earth to seek vengeance for their deaths, warn others of danger, or see to unfinished business that must be put right before they can rest. Ghosts may be summoned by the smallest and most innocent of actions. In past ages, suicides, heretics, witches, warlocks, and criminals were buried at the crossroads and most hangings occurred in this location. Lingering near the crossroads was perilous as one might become infested with ghosts. In some of the ancient art concerning itself with necromancy (the sorcery of raising ghosts), necromancers are shown running through graveyards pursued by ghosts they have summoned and failed to put down.
Oddly, in most texts only one remedy is listed: wearing a cross of Rowan wood, fastened to one’s clothing with red thread.
Do you believe in ghosts?
Take care, for it is a certainty that they believe in you.
Attribution: David Pickering’s Dictionary of Superstitions, Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, Survival edited by Sir James Marchant, Companions Of The Unseen by Paul Tabori, Tammy Anderson Monteleone for the word Hiraeth.
73 Dead Air: SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS (1971)
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Terence Hannum
Aldo Lado’s SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS (LA CORTA NOTTE DELLE BAMBOLE DI VETRO, 1971) is perhaps one of the most creative conceptual films of the Italian giallo genre. The film opens with a meandering camera over Prague as we enter a surreal scene of cawing crows, a legless man, and the lifeless body of American reporter Gregory Moore (Jean Sorel). The credits then roll as Ennio Morricone’s tribal heartbeat of a drumbeat guides us through the streets of Communist Prague, followed by waves of atonal strings, making the rapid shot from within the ambulance even more harrowing and urgent. Then about six minutes into the movie, Sorel’s voice-over adds the twist: the reporter is in fact not dead at all as he cries for someone to help his motionless body.
Giallo, literally Italian for “yellow,” is an Italian genre literature equivalent to American pulp novels. The yellow referred to the color of the pulp novels themselves, which often had a yellow cover and would be translations of Agatha Christie or even Raymond Chandler. These novels inspired the films that became known for their blending of the murder mystery with fantastic elements, horror, gore, and explicit eroticism though this is never really agreed on because films like Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO (1964) and Lado’s SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS could qualify, along with Dario Argento’s DEEP RED (1975). They’re broad and incorporated multiple genres of fiction.
Ennio Morricone “Valzer” (1971): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GtgwdFNQcE
To American audiences, Ennio Morricone needs no introduction. There is probably no composer for cinema more famous than he is. He is known for bridging multiple genres from the work he did with Western films in the 1960s, such as THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY (1966) to his work with John Carpenter on THE THING (1982), THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987), and many many more. His body of work stretches across decades and genres and is often cited as some of the most influential film scores of all time. Morricone would
74 work with Aldo Lado on almost all but one of his films (SCIROCCO, 1987), but, to me, it is the jarring and beautiful work on SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS that displayed the promise of this collaboration.
SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS incorporates a dream-like sequence of flashbacks, where George meets his girlfriend Mira (played by Barbara Bach) in the atmosphere of an oppressive Prague. They frolic in cemeteries set to Morricone’s eerie score and plan an escape for her from the grip of the regime. Montages of hazy orgies interrupt the scenes of high society and powerful figures when Mira eventually disappears, leaving behind all of her dresses and personal effects. The pacing is slow, and full of strange and ominous scenes cut with an undead George in the freezer at the morgue as he tries to solve what happened before his autopsy. During this investigation he uncovers a list of missing beautiful girls, and a body count of dead naked girls before discovering that they were sacrificed to the secretive and powerful Klub 99.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlMidH4tmvA
Morricone delivers a handful of motifs to SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS: a sing-song almost lullaby; a series of dissonant string swells conducted by another master giallo contributor, Bruno Nicolai (EYEBALL, 1975; THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE, 1971); a bucolic set of chimes and sine waves; a solemn descending motif; and a shocking mash-up of almost erotic women’s breaths over atonal string arrangements. This is a disturbing score running the gamut between beauty and aural horror; there is no disco in sight, and, even in full sunlight, Prague feels claustrophobic and paranoid. In many ways Morricone, combined with Giuseppe Ruzzolini’s excellent cinematography, adds the necessary atmosphere to a strange and ultimately odd film in the giallo genre. SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS is not the goriest of the giallos; it doesn’t even have much blood, nor is there really an odd leather-gloved killer. It plays at the margins and revels within its political aspects and sinister surrealism.
Considering that this was Lado’s first film he directed (he had been a screenwriter before this), SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS shows such restraint and an earnest homage situated between classic American Noir and surrealism. It is worth noting that the star of the film, Jean Sorel, worked with the surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel, and his performance, along with the rest of the cast, is far above that of most in this genre. Lado was sensitive to settings, pacing, and substance, as well as style. There is something incredibly fresh about SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS—it almost sets up films such as EYES WIDE SHUT (1999) or LOST RIVER (2014) about a man wandering a city unaware of the depths of the world into which he has stepped and its link to an underground of powerful forces beyond his control.
One of my favorite scenes doesn’t involve a score but just the tolling of bells as windswept people cross a public square in a montage of their hardened faces and the sculptural gargoyles watching from the architecture. It’s a clever juxtaposition of audio and paranoid visuals that guide us toward the theme of power and control. Morricone would work with Lado on his next film the giallo WHO SAW HER DIE? (1972) and generate great scores for Lado’s strange take on Bergman’s VIRGIN SPRING (1960) and play on Wes Craven’s LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972), as well as LAST STOP ON THE NIGHT TRAIN (1975), made infamous by its inclusion on the UK Video Nasty’s list. They also collaborated again on the STAR WARS rip- off, THE HUMANOID (1979), now a cult classic. But, to me, SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS was a magic combination of sound and vision whose nihilistic conclusion allows so much political interpretation it can be frustrating to pin it down. Is SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS against the oppressive Communist regime, or the vampiric aristocrats of Klub 99 who gather for George’s conclusion to his last investigation.
“We must enslave the free to preserve our powers”
Terence Hannum is a Baltimore, MD-based artist, musician, and writer. His novella, Beneath the Remains,
75 was published by Anathemata Editions; his novella, All Internal, was published in 2018 by Dynatox Ministries; and his novelette, The Final Days, will be published in 2019 by Unnerving. His short stories have appeared in Burrow Press, Terraform, Queen Mob’s Tea House, Lamplight, Turn to Ash, SickLit, and the SciPhi Journal. (http://www.terencehannum.com)
76 It’s a Strange, Strange World
By HWAWeb | July 2019
JG Faherty
The Strange is Strong in This One
I love strange news. The weirder, the better. Flying saucers, Bigfoot, lizard people, conspiracy theories, ancient aliens, monsters in lakes, creepy crawlies that live in or on our bodies, animals that do odd things, scientific experiments gone awry … you get my drift.
I live for this #$%t.
But lately, there’s been a problem: nothing is strange anymore.
Not that the strange doesn’t happen. It does. The problem is, it’s happening with too much regularity. To the point where the strange is no longer strange, it’s commonplace.
Back when I started writing this column (December 2006 was the first one, can you believe it? I’m getting too old!), there was one main source for strange news. AOL Weird News. It’s still around (it’s older than this column!) and still reporting on the world’s weirdness. But now there are dozens of sites devoted to the strange or weird. And instead of 10 or so stories a month to read, there are now hundreds. Heck, there are more coming out of Florida alone each month than I used to see for the whole world.
It’s gotten so that strange news is just news. There’s no impact anymore, even when something really crazy comes along. Like this past week, the U.S. government released a huge file on Bigfoot investigations.
This should have made every amateur cryptozoologist stand up and salute!
Instead, it’s buried between “Curious Crocodile Boards Boat Docked in Florida” and Man Finds Large Non- Native Lizard on His Front Porch.” (Also Florida.) Before and after those were stories about a man caught on
77 video trying to put a giant box into a tiny car, and the world’s largest sandcastle. Other stories this month? A man finds a spider nest in his ear, a Florida (again!) woman finds an iguana in her toilet, there’s another prophecy about the Rapture coming this month, and someone posted a video of an elf-like creature walking down a driveway and then disappearing. (It’s a blatantly doctored film.)
I don’t know about you, but nothing in this list makes my heart beat faster. Are there aliens being reported? Cryptos being spotted?
Yes!
However, in order to find this news, you have to wade through tons of Web site garbage and narrow your search terms until you come across some real nuggets, such as:
– Is This Terribly Shot Video Proof Of The Loch Ness Monster In London?
– Mystery Of Bizarre Sea Creature Solved
– The New Jersey Devil Flies Again
Even then, there’s nothing new here. A blurry Loch Ness video? Ho hum. The Jersey Devil is making people lock their doors again? It must be getting close to 4th of July tourist time. And the sea creature? One look at the picture and you can see it’s just the cartilaginous skeleton of a shark.
Could it be that the strange and weird is old hat? That thanks to all the new agencies, paranormal TV shows, and Florida residents posting their family members online, we’ve become oversaturated? Is it no longer newsworthy when someone announces the Biavians have infiltrated our government, or that Sasquatch tore apart a campground?
Do we no longer care?
I, for one, would hate to see that happen. I want my monthly dose of weird. I want new Ancient Aliens programming, not repackaged episodes with additional footage. I want breaking news about Mothman, Ahul, Chupacabra, Mokele-mbembe, and the Yeti. I want more crop circles, more abductions, more probings (well, not personally!).
I want my strange. But I fear that, much like a junkie, enough is no longer enough. I need more.
Gimme my fix, man!
Until next time … stay weird!
———————————
Stay informed on all my demented ramblings … http://www.facebook.com/jgfaherty, jgfaherty- blog.blogspot.com, and http://www.twitter.com/jgfaherty
78 In The Spooklight
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Michael Arruda
Don’t you just love furry little critters like … tarantulas? No? Find them a bit scary and repulsive, do you? Well, then you’ll just cringe at the colossal star of Universal’s TARANTULA (1955), a spider so big it can step on a house!
TARANTULA is one of the best giant monster movies from the 1950s. It’s certainly the finest one produced by Universal Studios.
Dr. Matt Hastings (John Agar) is called to the coroner’s office in the small town of Desert Rock, Arizona, by his friend Sheriff Jack Andrews (Nestor Paiva) to investigate the death of a man found in the desert. The victim resembles a man they know, Eric Jacobs, but his facial features are swollen and contorted. Hastings believes Jacobs’ symptoms resemble the disease acromegaly, a disorder of the pituitary gland, but this doesn’t make sense to Hastings since the disease takes years to develop and Jacobs wasn’t showing any symptoms just days before.
When Jacobs’ employer, the eminent Professor Gerald Deemer, (Leo G. Carroll), arrives, he insists that Jacobs was indeed suffering from acromegaly, and he refuses to allow an autopsy on the body. This doesn’t sit well with Dr. Hastings, who finds the diagnosis wrong, and Deemer’s behavior baffling.
Yep, Deemer is the town’s resident mad scientist, and he lives just outside Desert Rock in a huge mansion,
79 complete with a laboratory full of oversized animals in cages, including a tarantula the size of a dog. When yet another malformed insane human attacks Professor Deemer, the laboratory is set on fire and destroyed, but not before the tarantula escapes from the house. This hideous human also injects an unconscious Deemer with some unknown drug, before collapsing and dying himself.
Later, when a new assistant arrives in town to work for Professor Deemer, the beautiful Stephanie “Steve” Clayton (Mara Corday), Matt Hastings accompanies her to Deemer’s place, where he learns all about the professor’s research. Professor Deemer is attempting to stamp out world hunger by using atomic energy to create a “super” food nutrient, which he has injected into various animals, and as a result they have grown in size. Hmm. Supersized fried chicken! Yummy!
Deemer tells Steve and Matt that his lab was destroyed in an accidental fire, and he believes all his caged animals were killed. He doesn’t realize that his tarantula is free in the desert growing bigger by the minute. When next seen, the spider is gigantic, the size of a house, and it’s hungry, eating everything in its path, including horses, farms animals, and people.
Eventually, the giant tarantula sets its hairy sights on Desert Rock, and suddenly the town has to scramble to defend itself against the humongous marauding arachnid.
TARANTULA is one of my favorite giant monster movies. First off, the screenplay by Robert M. Fresco and Martin Berkeley presents a story that is more creative than most. There’s more going on in TARANTULA than just the basic “giant bug on the loose” storyline. There’s all the mystery surrounding Professor Deemer’s research, and the strange misshapen men lumbering in and around his property, which adds some genuine intrigue to the story. Screenwriter Berkeley also penned the screenplay for two other Universal monster classics, REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (1955) and THE DEADLY MANTIS (1957).
Director Jack Arnold, who directed several genre movies, including CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954) and THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957), is at the top of his game with TARANTULA. He creates some memorable scenes. One of my favorites occurs at night at a farm, when suddenly a group of horses begins to grow very nervous. In the distance we see a darkened hill, and very slowly, onto that hill from the other side, creeps the massive tarantula. It’s one hair-raising scene!
Another effective scene has Steve walking back and forth in her bedroom, not noticing the enormous tarantula through her window as it makes its way toward the house. She doesn’t notice until the beast is on top of the house, literally!
And the tarantula looks terrific, as it’s menacing and scary. I’m sure the special effects team was helped by the black-and-white photography, because with shades of light and dark, the tarantula fits into its scenes naturally and realistically. The special effects team did a phenomenal job in this one.
The make-up on the acromegaly victims was done by Bud Westmore, and it reminds me a lot of the work he did on ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1953) and MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS (1958), as his monstrous creations in both these movies resemble the folks in the desert in TARANTULA.
There’s also an effective music score by Herman Stein.
80 The cast is decent enough. Though I’m not a huge fan of John Agar, his performance in TARANTULA is one of his best. He makes his Dr. Matt Hastings a very likable fellow, and rarely has he seemed more natural in front of the camera. I just want to know what he keeps inside his briefcase. It must be valuable, because young dashing Dr. Hastings doesn’t go anywhere without it, even grabbing it before he runs out the door!
Playing Sheriff Andrews is character actor Nestor Paiva, who appeared in a ton of movies and TV shows over the years. I’ll always remember him as Lucas, the captain of the Rita in CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954) and REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (1955).
Leo G. Carroll, another veteran of movies and television, is also very good as Professor Deemer. Carroll appeared in many Alfred Hitchcock movies, including NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) and SPELLBOUND (1945), and he played Alexander Waverly on the 1960s secret agent show THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. (1964-1968).
And for added fun, Clint Eastwood appears unbilled in one of his first roles as an air force pilot leading the attack on the tarantula, arriving just in time to save the folks of Desert Rock from the deadly arachnid.
“Do you feel lucky, tarantula?”
(Originally published in The Official Newsletter of the Horror Writers Assn. in July 2012).
81 HWA Market Report #286
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Kathryn Ptacek
ANTHOLOGY ROW
The Best Horror of the Year—PMB 391, 511 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10011-8436. Editor: Ellen Datlow. “I edit The Best Horror of the Year for Night Shade Books and am currently reading for the twelfth volume, covering material published in 2019.”
“I am looking for stories and poetry from all branches of horror: supernatural, uncanny, sf horror, psychological, dark crime, terror tales, or anything else that might qualify. This is an all reprint anthology, so I’ll only consider material published in 2019. Authors, please confirm that your publishers are sending me review copies. If a book or magazine is coming out after my deadline, I’ll look at galleys or manuscripts. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE. The only excuse is if you’re a foreign publisher and shipping everything at one time saves postage. If you want your work to get a fair read, do not do this. I do not have time to carefully read a year’s worth of magazine issues and 10-20 original anthologies in two weeks.”
“I’ll look at e-versions of anthos and collections only if they’re navigable and have running heads. Otherwise, they won’t be read. I always prefer print, if available.”
“Authors can query as to whether I have/need your collection or an anthology/magazine in which you have a story at [E-mail address below].”
“My summation of ‘the year in horror’ in the front of every volume includes novels, anthologies, collections, chapbooks, nf, poetry, art books, and ‘odds and ends’—material that doesn’t fit elsewhere but that might interest horror readers. But I must be aware of this material in order to mention it.
“*** I regularly cover many magazines/webzines that publish horror (Black Static, Cemetery Dance, F&SF,
82 The Dark, Nightmare, crime digests, and webzines such as Horrorzine, Uncanny, Apex, etc.—when their publishers send me the material).”
“Please ask your publisher to send the entire magazine or book—unless the venue doesn’t regularly publish horror. In that case, you can send me a Word file of your story. For online publications, E-mail individual word DOC files—not PDF files—including on the manuscript where the story has been published.”
“If I choose a story you will be informed. Otherwise, you will not hear back.”
[E-mail: [email protected]; http://www.datlow.com]. Deadline: December 1, 2019.
Borderlands 7—Borderlands Press, PO Box 61, Benson MD 21019. Editor: Olivia F. Monteleone. UPDATE OF AN UPDATE!
KP Note: A year or so ago, I asked publisher Thomas Monteleone for more details about what they want. Also, note the deadline extension. “We do not want any familiar horror/dark fantasy/weird settings, situations, or tropes like ghosts, vampires, zombies, etc. We want writers to stretch and show us something we have never read before. Bentley Little’s ‘The Pounding Room’ or Platt’s ‘All Hands’ or Braunbeck’s ‘Rami Temporales’ are good examples of a Borderlands story.”
“We are seeing too many tired, familiar, and predictable plots and characters. I can’t be more specific than that.”
And here is yet another update from Publisher Monteleone: “Despite getting many hundreds of submissions, we still have not encountered enough fiction that reflects the type of stories that define what the Borderlands series is all about. The previous two volumes both won Bram Stoker Awards™, and we want Volume 7 to be equally as strong. That’s two years’ worth of reading, and we are still looking to fill almost half the pages. Simultaneous subs are fine—life’s too short to wait on us. The only caveat: if you’ve never read a Borderlands anthology, your chances of selling us your work is pretty slim.”
And here are the rest of the guidelines.
“We are back! Sooner than you expected? Definitely. Sooner than you could have ever imagined? Probably.”
“After the positive feedback from Borderlands 6, we’ve decided to do it again … except this time there’s been a shift in leadership, and I’ve been passed the proverbial torch. Man, I am excited, and you should be too—things are about to get even weirder.”
“For Borderlands 7 I’m looking for pretty much the same kinds of fiction: no clichés, nothing familiar. I don’t want to see vampires, killer plants, shrinking humans, werewolves, trolls, goblins, ghouls, once-upon-a-times, zombies, ghosts, found footage, etc. If you have a story in your arsenal and you wonder if hmm … this one might fall into one of the above tropes, it probably does. So just don’t send. Work out something else and send it in! And if you’ve never read a Borderlands anthology, I don’t think you have a chance of selling a story to me.”
“Not into writing, but into weird?”
“I’m looking for cover art. As far as the visual art goes I don’t want anything I listed above to be represented. Other than that I’m very open to different styles. Send samples from your portfolio and we can collaborate, OR send a piece you think would fit the anthology. Artwork deadline is [Check with editor].”
83 “Editing Volume 6 was a great experience; I am thrilled to commence work on Volume 7. The stories in Borderlands 6 were AMAZING in their variety and originality, and that’s the caliber of story I am looking for … and I can’t say this enough: before submitting, pick up a previous volume to get a sense of what the series is all about. Please do not let a past rejection stop you from submitting. Never been published? Submit. Been published for forty years? Submit. Write a good story. Scare yourself. Make your s/o’s wonder who their partner is. Confuse your friends. Make sure I don’t sleep at night because I can’t get your story out of my head.”
“I want all of your stories in my hands by [the deadline below]. Hard copies ONLY.”
Deadline: “Extended until we get enough great stories.”
84 Welcome to the HWA!
By HWAWeb | July 2019
James Chambers
The HWA extends a warm welcome to the following new and returning members who have joined in the past month. For any questions about membership, please contact [email protected].
Sarah Hans Active [email protected]
Paula Lanier Supporting [email protected]
Artyom Dereschuk Active [email protected]
Brooklyn Ann Active [email protected]
85
Matt Scott Supporting [email protected]
Richard Mosses Supporting [email protected]
Daniel Willcocks Active [email protected]
Heide Goody Active [email protected]
Ted Van Alst Active [email protected]
Rosemary Thorn Supporting [email protected]
Joseph O’Brien Supporting [email protected]
David Ruggerio Supporting [email protected]
Callie Stoker Supporting [email protected]
86
Leigh Hennig Supporting [email protected]
Zoje Stage Active [email protected]
Mack Little Supporting [email protected]
Michael Heilman Supporting [email protected]
Kevin Watkins Supporting [email protected]
87 Advertisements
By HWAWeb | July 2019
Progenie by Mack Little
88