tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29120770573961993152024-02-19T03:59:20.363-08:00Gregory L. Norris, WriterWelcome to the online home of novelist and screenwriter Gregory L. Norris, a writer chasing his own tale.Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.comBlogger179125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-34760556445355211492019-10-20T10:39:00.003-07:002019-10-20T10:39:54.068-07:00From the Bookshelf: LIFEFORCE by Annie Rodriguez<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI82FFONZeSa3rVc2-TFl5zMRTMZGmmHRYS1jSLOE9VPlfX_wfIErLCQdX_gT8bloKelgaVmN7olxPGCQ9dlsvHm4uO3_uzFmrFnSzSkBsA45HKDHm2FOohy9xP2rmerWaedOu3T48_neU/s1600/Annette+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="960" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI82FFONZeSa3rVc2-TFl5zMRTMZGmmHRYS1jSLOE9VPlfX_wfIErLCQdX_gT8bloKelgaVmN7olxPGCQ9dlsvHm4uO3_uzFmrFnSzSkBsA45HKDHm2FOohy9xP2rmerWaedOu3T48_neU/s400/Annette+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
In early 2016, I returned to <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2012/10/when-words-count-writers-retreat-part-1.html">When Words Count Retreat Center for Writers</a> and it was my absolute pleasure to meet talented novelist Annie Rodriguez. Annie's positive vibe and enthusiasm for writing was delightful. So, too were the pages of her novel-in-progress, a Young Adult Paranormal involving three medical professionals, each linked together through supernatural secrets. That novel, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lifeforce-Annie-Rodr%C3%ADguez/dp/099949953X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Lifeforce+Annie+Rodriguez&qid=1571590034&sr=8-1">Lifeforce</a>, instantly captivated me with its beautifully drawn characters, elegant prose, and engaging story line, mostly centered around young Gillian Cassidy whose mother, a powerful witch, died under mysterious circumstances. Gillian has been on the run from an abusive boyfriend with a dark secret of his own and harbors a burning attraction to Doctor Forrest Wolfe, a shapeshifter and one of the young witch's two guardians. The other, trauma surgeon Addie Brystol, was transformed into a vampire during overseas. So it was no surprise to me when Annie announced the book had been accepted for publication.<br />
<br />
It was my pleasure to speak with the author about her excellent novel and future plans.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>I adore your novel, your characters, and their plight. Where
did the idea for <i>Lifeforce </i>originate?</u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First of all, thank you, I hold your opinion in very high
regard. I have always wanted to write a
novel, ever since I was in fifth grade. I always thought of having some
fantastical element in it (a princess in distress was the first character I
developed at ten-years-old, inspired by the <i>Disney</i> version of fairytales
like <i>Sleeping Beauty)</i>. To me,
reality has always been a little too harsh, and I long to escape from it during
my writing time. First as a teacher’s pet and general school nerd (and proud!)
and now because of the fields I work in-I find myself that after the events I
have witnessed as an anthropologist, public health professional, and a now a law student, I need a breather,
and I find that in my writing, and fantasy characters are a great part of that
world. I also long for my readers to
experience a similar breather in my works.
But I also want to inject a real-life spin into it. It seems counterintuitive but I hear people
all the time wishing that they had one thing or another, thoroughly convinced
that if they had that one thing, it would solve all their problems. Those things frequently will take the form
of a superpower (ie: <i>Flash’s</i> speed or the ability to transport
themselves by appearing in and out of a stall, etc.) I have been guilty of that
too. Many times, I have wished to
travel back to the past and do something I wish I had done or stop myself from
doing something I wish I had not done. And this theme is very prevalent in my
novel, with its main character, Gillian, fighting with the past and the future
constantly. Yet, our mistakes and
actions are what help define us and I wish for people to see, through my novel,
that even if you had something that is supposed to give you some kind of
advantage over everyone else that does not have it (ie: magic in Gillian’s case
and immortality on the other two cases), it still has to be nurtured, looked after,
and it is a big responsibility. What I
want them to come out of the novel with is that maybe grass is greener on the
other side because you water and fertilize it. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><b>If you could cast Gillian, Forrest, et al for the movie, who
would play your leads?</b></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Amanda Seyfried as Gillian Cassidy, Jesse Spencer as Forrest
Wolfe, Kate Beckinsale as Addie Brystol, William Estes as Sean Kennard, Josh
Harnett as Josh Ambrose, and Hillary Swank as Bridget Martin Cassidy.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfqu78RTxK0rfDhiH8lcAQ7jQapBAg8PIYQ5n-ToPQWNaCUIl9edCYnVePpL9YtBAHP4zBFdKxujG5IBHLBzGevzSWio7PrW6sL547GxV4Ci1AdzCUn5s6sZRsuLOqxbOBTJolSZoDNViV/s1600/Annette+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfqu78RTxK0rfDhiH8lcAQ7jQapBAg8PIYQ5n-ToPQWNaCUIl9edCYnVePpL9YtBAHP4zBFdKxujG5IBHLBzGevzSWio7PrW6sL547GxV4Ci1AdzCUn5s6sZRsuLOqxbOBTJolSZoDNViV/s320/Annette+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Is there a sequel in the works?</u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes…and that’s all you’ll get for now. Oh, I’m very pleased with how it’s taking
form…but no more!!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u> Talk about your writing process – schedule, organization,
anything that gives us insight into Annie Rodriguez.</u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I used to be a morning person mostly, until law school started. I loved to write from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. my
first summer of grad school. But school and work plus caring for house, mother,
and cats make that almost impossible. I
find myself more productive taking breaks in between reading cases or waiting
in class or court-I always carry a notebook with me and make the most of the
time I can take. I think also once
you’ve penned your first story, you’re more comfortable with yourself and your
characters. I just let them speak
through my hands. All I have to do is
put pen to paper or hands to keyboard, and it is almost an autopilot process,
one that makes me feel mentally clearheaded and relaxed. My supervising
attorney this summer was aware of my breaks and has already said to me in the
two months we’ve worked together “You stop writing, I’ll start worrying.” So
it’s a great stress reliever. I cannot
specifically schedule a break with my current workload, and probably will
always be difficult given my career choices, but it makes the break that much
more fun when it does happen. And I always manage to make my deadlines…so it’s
working!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>What are you presently writing?</u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The sequel! Tentatively called <i>Immortality’s Peril</i>. Plus I am attempting two other stories that
talk about channeling magical powers through objects. Who knows - I may have three completely new novels here. </div>
Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-8434578427007578462019-08-18T11:58:00.003-07:002019-08-18T11:58:52.039-07:00The Drawer of Shame<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaXC25IhO7OFUCxzrgOJhm7pufxFSfn_1YKlIU_Zw3OSGwA179A6zQL0h5-pKrFyKZTqX0slCbg6fooWMp3AtayRLGoW1HlNx63YTkTHNVriMVu7j0nIymRYTwnOcOkeHnrllhdTDcxNA2/s1600/DoS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaXC25IhO7OFUCxzrgOJhm7pufxFSfn_1YKlIU_Zw3OSGwA179A6zQL0h5-pKrFyKZTqX0slCbg6fooWMp3AtayRLGoW1HlNx63YTkTHNVriMVu7j0nIymRYTwnOcOkeHnrllhdTDcxNA2/s400/DoS1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unfinished manuscripts (on right) in my Drawer of Shame</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The summer I turned 15, I took my first glimpse into a much vaster universe than the hum-drum world I knew. I decided I was a writer and only wanted to be a writer. Nearly four decades and thousands of published works later, I've stuck to that pledge. I've lived a literary life and loved the process of living for literature. I love this writing life.<br />
<br />
Early on -- within a year of that summer -- I read my first issue of <i>Writer's Digest</i>, a gift from my late, great Grandmother Rachel, herself a writer published in the classic <i>Highlights For Children</i>. That issue contained an article about famous writers and their writing spaces. One legendary scribe remarked in that article -- the ancient issue still on a bookshelf in my writing room -- that he'd published some 300 stories but that he easily had three times that number 'moldering away unfinished' in his home office. That math has horrified me since.<br />
<br />
From the time I started, I've been what a member of my writers' group refers to as an 'Idea Hoarder'. I've had it in my mind that I should finish all that I start, including the good, the bad, and especially the ugly. Every December on a brisk Sunday afternoon while the elegant propane stove in our living room flickers, I routinely run through all of my old notebooks and notes to see if I've missed anything, if, somehow, a stray story idea has somehow fallen through the cracks. My stories, short and long, are my babies. Last year, I discovered three 'straybies' by performing my annual forensic search.<br />
<br />
Ten years ago, that part of my writing space devoted to storing unfinished manuscripts -- the infamous Drawer of Shame -- sat 77 corpses deep. Also at that time, my list of unfinished ideas was a bloated, strangulating 268 titles and concepts long. For a decade now I've been writing like a dervish and bringing characters off ledges they've been left stranded on. I've reached hundreds of THE ENDs and winnowed down that unwritten list to 48 to-be-completed ideas. The Drawer of Shame now holds a paltry 23 started but stalled works-in-progress, and I hope to cut that number in half before the end of 2019.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqmgp_7SYMi_DNXW_JKtfQdICSBBjYBL7jWFerDzTT2MjKuxZoGS8J10HUEu6S77WBnhUKFNulJxWBBttl70noNCtAVP8iyJ13Vw8M8pHF_DjdjDhAcrnzDHWmSuyYqsb8P_SYB6g-6RiR/s1600/DoS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW68reFuoj46U7MNe4HK06HBdnaxNcu4l1dS3YyOi-oECUGdUKCSmVuw8ljx019HkExo0t4ei4KjBalM67UuwnZNiuFzLn92izulGs4IkcBGjW9Sfcn1okNZX1hAcfEzkghIT8nQqS6fDd/s1600/DoS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW68reFuoj46U7MNe4HK06HBdnaxNcu4l1dS3YyOi-oECUGdUKCSmVuw8ljx019HkExo0t4ei4KjBalM67UuwnZNiuFzLn92izulGs4IkcBGjW9Sfcn1okNZX1hAcfEzkghIT8nQqS6fDd/s320/DoS2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My unwritten ideas list, all that red indication a project<br />completed in 2019</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Why finish a story I'll never put on the computer following its longhand draft or submit? Because I loved that story enough to envision it and start it, and, yes, bring it to its conclusion. Because of that covenant I made with the Muse when I dared go by the noble sobriquet of 'Writer'. And because that's just how I'm wired.<br />
<br />
By year's end, I hope to have my unwritten list down to a svelte 36 ideas, the lowest that number's been since I started this writing adventure in my teen years when I would extend my arms and welcome new ideas en masse into my embrace. As for the Drawer of Shame, it isn't a drawer anymore so much as a tiny plot of real estate, a way station for old friends to congregate for just a little while longer. Next year at this time, my hope is that not a single of my stories will be on that side of the drawer. They'll all have gotten their happy endings.<br />
<br />Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-24086649095117469632019-06-08T08:57:00.000-07:002019-06-08T12:44:05.204-07:00An Amazing April Writing Symposium<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKFsWBUfm0yCEa88pguBDNZO6p8_GNUQaUb2C79asFKmCcoHSWqA-zE83nQuyGd8x4FH2PrB-UNULm-tarQFXpZOwY3YahjwDuCjT0Sn5tzN0v90-Qa_6r3zGAbVCcZ2W619QGfXhPKB9A/s1600/Lit+lifestyle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKFsWBUfm0yCEa88pguBDNZO6p8_GNUQaUb2C79asFKmCcoHSWqA-zE83nQuyGd8x4FH2PrB-UNULm-tarQFXpZOwY3YahjwDuCjT0Sn5tzN0v90-Qa_6r3zGAbVCcZ2W619QGfXhPKB9A/s400/Lit+lifestyle.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me teaching a packed room on living a literary lifestyle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Over the winter, I was asked to teach at what was presented to me as a unique opportunity. A literary event was being organized and it would be held at <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2015/11/halloween-2015-retreat-to-coppertoppe.html">Coppertoppe Retreat Center</a>, where my writers' group spent an unforgettable Halloween weekend in 2015. Caring for a disabled spouse makes travel now both rare and difficult, but I committed to the weekend while snow was piling up and the subzero winds howled around Xanadu. I knew I couldn't say no.<br />
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Over the next few months, I made arrangements for round-the-clock nursing care, formulated the workshops I would lead, and also set goals, professional and personal, for the weekend. One of the workshops needed to be on a subject close to my heart -- "Living a Literary Lifestyle", something I both preach and practice. I was also requested to hold a lecture on writing Mysteries, as I've had some wonderful <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Weekly-Magazine-March-Issues/dp/1798189399/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=mystery+weekly+magazine+March+2019&qid=1560007307&s=gateway&sr=8-3">successes</a> in recent months in that particular genre. As winter waned, the towering walls of snow around our home melted, and the date arrived, I grew anxious and excited -- the latter because of the opportunity presented, the former because I would be leaving the house, loved one, and cats for the first time in nearly two years. It turned out they were in the best of hands.<br />
<br />
I packed lightly, as I always did when traveling, and departed a full day before the symposium was scheduled to begin with good pals <a href="https://www.facebook.com/edwin.berne.5">Edwin Berne</a> and <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2013/07/meet-talented-and-luminous-judi-calhoun.html">Judi Calhoun</a>. We traveled down to beautiful Newfound Lake and the retreat center, the first arrivals. Our hosts, Sheila and Bill, were as gracious and pampering as always. An incredible dinner (pork roast wrapped in bacon) greeted us, and we three hung out in the big bedroom upstairs and talked the writing life. After dinner, we gathered downstairs among the cafe tables overlooking the lake and wrote. I began a terrifying ghost story called "The Woman in the Wallpaper", one of three projects I brought to work on between sessions.<br />
<br />
The following morning found me again downstairs by 5 a.m., belting out fresh pages at a dizzying speed. Over that first early cup of coffee, our dear friends and fellow conferees <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheSistersDent/">The Sisters Dent</a> motored up the long, winding drive and joined us for a scumptious breakfast. I finished the first draft of my story, and soon the masses descended. The symposium kicked off with spirited conversations and my first workshop as, outside, the sky opened up and rain hammered our surroundings.<br />
<br />
Among the other esteemed teachers that weekend were <a href="https://www.tor.com/">Tor Books</a> senior SF editor Mosche Feder and agent Beth Marshea of <a href="https://www.ladderbird.com/">Ladderbird Literary Agency</a>. Beth held an insightful open discussion on the writer-agent relationship, and on Saturday Moshe led a Milford method-style consultation with six of us novelists on our current projects. My novel-in-progress, <i>Grave Space</i>, earned high marks from he and Beth, and I am presently tearing through the remainder of the novel for submission.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO9a8jg3XnEPzP-xSUiDUn_gf2EFCo0wY4i4Pqet0J3_nrnET_6XOwLHv8iU50dMo5t7E0WmeS9G1NyxirYmHagUh1SbF0yu5n1lr5OIY3BmVbCJhayCdqxenaf3hi9Y_VhYkaDAkY6GJG/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="754" data-original-width="960" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO9a8jg3XnEPzP-xSUiDUn_gf2EFCo0wY4i4Pqet0J3_nrnET_6XOwLHv8iU50dMo5t7E0WmeS9G1NyxirYmHagUh1SbF0yu5n1lr5OIY3BmVbCJhayCdqxenaf3hi9Y_VhYkaDAkY6GJG/s400/2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Edwin Berne, Beath Marshea, Clarence Young, Roxanne Dent, and Judi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Other wonderful workshops were held formally and informally around the enormous table-for-twenty at the heart of Coppertoppe, where a gourmet feast was offered throughout the weekend. Of particular note was a roundtable held by the amazing <a href="http://havebookwilltravel.com/zig-zag-claybourne/">Clarence Zig Zag Young</a>, a writer based in Detroit. His workshop on the joy of writing filled me with inspiration, and his body of work is superb. Following the completion of my ghost story, in and amongst I also wrapped a draft of "Absolutely Murderous", a murder mystery set at a drag review. That third project brought along for the weekend didn't get touched because, simply, we ran out of time. There was no lack of passion, which infused the atmosphere. Our final treat before departing for home was a workshop led by <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2018/06/from-bookshelf-white-mountain-by-dan.html">Dan Szczesny</a>. Following yet another gourmet lunch, we headed for home, all of us committed to writing to the next level. It was a one-of-a-kind experience, and one I'm so grateful to have experienced as part of my literary life.Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-57139894710125157852019-02-11T07:36:00.000-08:002019-02-11T12:44:14.013-08:00BLACK INFINITY 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi8u-4mTLqN-t4eBQaF_r2mB5CgBI4I1PPDCODTvo7NxQCugcpwxLcdSOy_4z0OAfZv3vOVyVe9ORaFPmkHk0iYexL9i-eiaZLEhzi1QHgRC_k18nJAkeA_6lvDutlBjYY8maNqXIgfY2h/s1600/BI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="771" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi8u-4mTLqN-t4eBQaF_r2mB5CgBI4I1PPDCODTvo7NxQCugcpwxLcdSOy_4z0OAfZv3vOVyVe9ORaFPmkHk0iYexL9i-eiaZLEhzi1QHgRC_k18nJAkeA_6lvDutlBjYY8maNqXIgfY2h/s400/BI.jpg" width="321" /></a></div>
Some of my earliest memories involve Dan Curtis's dreamy soap opera set in coastal Maine, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Shadows">Dark Shadows</a>. Often as a boy, I would wander the deep woods across the road from the enchanted cottage where I grew up, imagining myself as a character in that haunted world. In a recurring dream, if the wind was blowing just right, I could see Collinwood, the sprawling manor house in the soap, through the trees. On many autumn days in my boyhood, riding the school bus along Range Road, I spied the old <a href="https://www.searlescastle.com/">Searles Castle</a> on the hill. It <i>was</i> Collinwood.<br />
<br />
From an early age, the ABC soaps influenced my imagination and my life. Years later, it was shows like <i>Loving</i>, <i>All My Children, One Life to Live, </i>and <i>General Hospital</i>. In 1993, I found myself in New York City on the set of <i>Loving</i>, the guest of a friend who was hired for day player work. I wrote about the soaps for <i>Topia </i>and <i>Soap Opera Update</i>. When I began writing full-time, I'd camp in front of the TV with the daytime lineup playing, working on numerous projects. And when the majority of those classic soaps were cancelled, they haunted my dreams. In one such dream, I found myself on the set of a soap not unlike <i>Loving</i> in which the characters were protecting me from an evil that threatened the entire planet. The soap and my love for it held the key to stopping the evil. On a blustery October night in 2017, one of the gigantic pines that line my road crashed down, taking out the power. We were in the dark for four long, chilly days. During that time, I put pen to paper and belted out the completed first draft of "Hibernation", my novella based upon the dream. And I'm thrilled to report that it appears in the newest issue of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732434425/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_9WqkCb9ZHWJXY?fbclid=IwAR2PQ-UGZUVVr1XdzbUGxYmnUcRQ3LPtCsGQ9NS-3AIuTAYA17DNn87kX5A">Black Infinity</a>, sharing space alongside work by such amazing writers as Lester Del Rey, Jack Williamson, John W. Campbell, and none other than Philip K. Dick.<br />
<br />
It was my pleasure to talk soaps with publisher Tom English.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">I grew up on soaps, first with <i>Dark Shadows</i>.
I learned the importance of storytelling, cliffhangers, and characterization
from the medium, which seems to be dead or at the least hooked up to life
support. Do you think the daytime serial is still a valid form of storytelling,
and why?<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Well, your familiarity with soaps certainly does
shine through, in the depth and richness of your writing, particularly in your
story “Hibernation.” I think, like you, some of today’s best writers learned
their story-telling techniques from the daytime-drama format. And those
techniques are being greatly used in most prime-time TV dramas. The pacing is
faster, of course, but the shows are more character driven. Savvy showrunners are
now using continuing story threads, which often stretch across entire seasons, and
weekly episodes tend to leave off on some startling new development or
revelation—a cliffhanger. The CW’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Arrow</i>
and ABC’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Agents</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">of</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">S.H.I.E.L.D. </i>are two good
examples. My wife and I love both of these shows. We get wrapped up in them—and
we never miss an episode. But prime-time shows weren’t always like this. Go
back a few years and you’ll see that most shows did these little self-contained
stories each week. You could easily miss several episodes, tune in weeks later,
and never feel like you missed anything. But is the soap itself still a valid
format? I don’t think they’re as marketable today. There’s only a few still
running now. A big contrast to the 1960s and 70s when soaps ruled the afternoon
airwaves. Viewers were extremely devoted to these shows—some of which ran for
decades. But soaps moved at a much more leisurely pace. Not a bad thing, at the
time, because there was more dialogue, more conflict, more suspense and more
character development. Because of budget restraints, the stories <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">had</i> to focus less on plot and more on
characterization. But this gave viewers time to get to know the characters
almost as well as their own family members; to ponder their problems, their
struggles, their emotional ups and downs. Plus, these viewers could tune in
every weekday to visit with these familiar people. Which is why, for some
viewers, the characters and situations in their favorite soaps took on a degree
of reality. Not unlike what you depict in “Hibernation.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Were you a <i>Dark Shadows</i> fan? If so,
elaborate.<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was too young to appreciate the show when it
first aired. Yeah, it was just too spooky for me. Bob Colbert’s opening theme
alone was enough to send me fleeing to my room and the sanctuary of my comic
books! I’ve since watched and come to appreciate the show—and its role in the evolution
of the horror genre in print and on TV. Artistically, the show succeeds at
conjuring an eerie, gothic atmosphere few horror movies manage. And there are
some truly memorable scenes and performances. There’s some occasional scenery
chewing, of course, but I think John Karlen’s performance as Willie Loomis was
always top notch. Loomis was “Renfield” to Barnabas’ “Dracula.” And you can actually
see the fear and trembling in Karlen’s characterization. And of course, in the
character of Barnabas Collins, Jonathan Frid probably did more to popularize the
notion of the sympathetic vampire, the cursed creature trying to fit into
society, than anything else previously. Anne Rice was in her mid-twenties when
the show aired, and I sometimes wonder if she was watching. If her 1976 novel <i>Interview with the Vampire </i>might owe
something to Barnabas Collins. I do know this, though: the success of <i>Dark Shadows</i> paved the way for creator
and producer Dan Curtis to do several made-for-TV horror films in the early
70s, including <i>The Night Stalker </i>and <i>The Night Strangler. </i>This in turn led to
the weekly series <i>Kolchak the Night
Stalker. </i>And that show helped inspire Chris Carter’s <i>The X-Files. </i>So <i>Dark</i> <i>Shadows</i> had a significant ripple
effect on the dark waters of fantasy.<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghWDCUO5dMueSZXHgkw3LprYOFr_NUEV0p0D-PzYvdiS14RK6HeOTvHpQf-ubOgdAR2TPLGzI21hRQdAE68R_X7eC-mx9MLwH9lIsIda_lGHMr9nk5qchb-TY38cpfamEkygdVF5Lvts14/s1600/BI+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="948" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghWDCUO5dMueSZXHgkw3LprYOFr_NUEV0p0D-PzYvdiS14RK6HeOTvHpQf-ubOgdAR2TPLGzI21hRQdAE68R_X7eC-mx9MLwH9lIsIda_lGHMr9nk5qchb-TY38cpfamEkygdVF5Lvts14/s400/BI+2.jpg" width="395" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(With <i>Loving</i> and <i>Buck Rogers </i>star Thom Christopher)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>There are some amazing reads in BLACK INFINITY 3
-- in fact, it's almost overwhelming the pedigree you've assembled. How did you
select the stories in this issue?<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have good connections, I guess. I’m blessed to
know some great writers. And I’ve read a lot, which helps in choosing the
classic tales included in each issue. I’m picky about choosing stuff. Each
story has to meet my narrow-minded criteria—it’s gotta be entertaining! I’m not
looking for deep, hidden messages or grand literary allusions or innovative
departures from traditional narrative style. I’m just looking for good, honest,
old-fashioned storytelling.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<b><u>What's next for BLACK INFINITY 4?</u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The theme is Strange Dimensions, with stories
and comics centered around dimensional doorways, bizarre realities, warped
space, etc. I’m still finalizing the TOC but we <i>can</i> say that your eerie, Twilight Zone-ish story “The Sacred
Spring” will be a highlight of the issue. I’m excited about the future of the
magazine, and I have some really cool themes and covers planned for issues 5
through 7. I don’t want to say too much about these yet. I just hope the
magazine lives long and prospers so we can fulfill these grand designs.</div>
Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-87152428565287620732018-11-19T08:04:00.002-08:002018-11-19T08:11:38.854-08:00Escape from the Holidays with Mischief Corner Books<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqi09j-zSi1GU7oYp-dhhwf05srY9GdlqTyDQc3kpjTuDOors0md7RdD8Fyxu277Csz1lv8ifgzdTZuRTxpJ3aBQVT30nmLby05lHN1Z0kwkFwh3RQhJlm0CfhTWwwltD4upRgyYiMfx5j/s1600/EftH2-Burning+Down+the+House+-+GLN+4x6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqi09j-zSi1GU7oYp-dhhwf05srY9GdlqTyDQc3kpjTuDOors0md7RdD8Fyxu277Csz1lv8ifgzdTZuRTxpJ3aBQVT30nmLby05lHN1Z0kwkFwh3RQhJlm0CfhTWwwltD4upRgyYiMfx5j/s400/EftH2-Burning+Down+the+House+-+GLN+4x6.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
There were days following the divorce of my parents when I would have done anything to escape the holidays. Once, before moving into my first apartment and starting new traditions, a middle sister invited a house full of smokers over for Christmas Day and, hiding in my room, I thought I'd been transported to a dump fire. For years at Xanadu, our home in New Hampshire's North Country, we've enjoyed Halloweens with our writers' group friends and an annual party with a story theme, our Thanksgiving open house and sit down dinner, and quiet Christmases, just us, the cats, a big dinner, and a movie.<br />
<br />
When I read the call for <a href="https://www.mischiefcornerbooks.com/">Mischief Corner Books'</a> new holiday line, "Escape from the Holidays", I wanted in. I'd published with this excellent company before -- first in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Behind-Uniform-Mischief-Corner-Collections-ebook/dp/B01IFQT4UM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542638143&sr=8-1&keywords=Behind+the+Uniform">Behind the Uniform</a> and then in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/This-Tonight-Mischief-Corner-Collections-ebook/dp/B01NAEIP8C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542638699&sr=8-1&keywords=This+Wish+Tonight">This Wish Tonight</a>. I had one idea I felt would work, a contemporary M/M romance idea that first came to me in 1997 in a dream called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Burning-Down-House-Escape-Holidays-ebook/dp/B07K6VFF6Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1542638795&sr=1-1&keywords=Burning+Down+the+House+Norris">Burning Down the House</a> that had sat on a note card for decades and now screamed at me to long last write it. Seated on my sun porch, I put pen to paper and the pages flowed with shocking speed, the characters finally given their time. I dashed off the first draft (some 12,000 words) in four days and turned in my story. I'm thrilled to report that <i>Burning Down the House</i>, which aims to rewrite the definition of a family while keeping its bonds intact during one stressful holiday season, releases on December 1, 2018, as part of MCB's "Escape from the Holidays" line.<br />
<br />
Starting on 11/28 with Kassandra Lea's <i>Stay Awhile</i> and wrapping on December 29 with Freddy MacKay's <i>Waiting on the Rain</i>, MCB is offering ten tales of holiday-themed escapist reading. Many of my fellow Escape artists shared the back-stories behind their wonderful. tales.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/leakassie/">Kassandra Lea</a> on "Stay Awhile": "In my short story, you meet Anson, who is asexual, and Daly, the man who stole his heart. It's closing in on Thanksgiving, but instead of the joyous holiday Anson is planning on, he's depressed about where his relationship stands with Daly. A few weeks previous at a Halloween party, Anson blurted out the fact that he's asexual. Will Daly be okay with this? The story came about for a few reasons. One, I'm a little burned out on writing Christmas stories and feel like Thanksgiving always gets overlooked. Two, there aren't enough romance stories out there with asexual characters and I want to help see that change. And finally, being gray-ace myself, I wanted to put into words some of my own fears and doubts that come along with relationships and acceptance. You could say that I'm basically Anson, in a way. While my relationship status remains a rocky road, I am fortunate beyond belief that my family and friends understand that my view of love is fluid. Now, if only I could manage to find someone like Daly!"<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.evelynbenvie.com/">Evelyn Benvie</a> on "Something to Celebrate": "This novella started in a lot of places, with a
lot of things, before coming together into something cohesive. But if I had to
pick one place in particular, I would say it started while working in retail
over the holidays. There is nothing that has made me want to Escape from the
Holidays more than having to work through them in close contact with the public
every year. I knew I had to incorporate that perspective into my writing and it
ended up becoming the basis for my first main character, an overworked and
stressed-out grocery clerk in need of a bit of holiday magic. And that’s where
the rest of the novella started: in the bits of random winter myths that have
been knocking around my head for years. The Japanese <i>Yuki-onna</i>, the
German <i>Schneekind</i>, the Russian <i>Snegurochka</i>, all these
related/unrelated stories were the basis and inspiration for my second main
character, a lost winter spirit looking for somewhere to call home. Add some
misunderstandings, a prying best friend who may or may not be human herself,
demi representation, and a lot of parks (I’m not kidding) and that is how <i>Something
to Celebrate </i>came to be."<br />
<br />
<a href="https://sylvre.rainbow-gate.com/">Lou Sylvre</a> on "The Holiday Home Hotel": "<span style="text-indent: 0in;">Magical realism. That’s one way to describe </span><i style="text-indent: 0in;">The Holiday Home Hotel</i><span style="text-indent: 0in;">. It’s romance,
it’s contemporary, and it’s also magical, but I honestly didn’t mean for it to
be so. Magic is a stubborn little idea. Nearly every story I write, long or
short, light-hearted or dark, pulls in the idea of magic until I can’t help but
let it live there. Even my Vasquez and James series—contemporary romantic
suspense—has a secret bit of magic in it, though only one reader ever told me
they spotted it. But for today’s purposes, that’s really beside the point. The
magic in <i>The Holiday Home Hotel </i></span><i style="text-indent: 0in;">isn’t</i><span style="text-indent: 0in;">
secret—not at all. Slavic goddess Lelia and forest spirit Leshy (who’s playing
at being a brown-furred black bear) start their mischief right on page one.
Lelia is Daren Slovak’s canine companion, a fluffy white Belgian shepherd, and
when Daren plays fetch with her, he has no idea how very much </span><i style="text-indent: 0in;">more</i><span style="text-indent: 0in;"> she truly is. And when I first
started writing the tale, neither did I! She was simply going to be a dog </span><i style="text-indent: 0in;">named after</i><span style="text-indent: 0in;"> a minor goddess of luck and
springtime. I started thinking some of the things she did—like leading Gunny
Schiller out of the wintry woods and into the Holiday Home—</span><i style="text-indent: 0in;">could</i><span style="text-indent: 0in;"> be magic. And then I thought, what if…. A story transformed! Delightfully
magical divine intervention, the promise of luck in love, and a sexy springtime
romp in the cold middle of winter. See why I love magic?"</span><br />
<span style="text-indent: 0in;"><br /></span>
<span style="text-indent: 0in;"><a href="https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/authors/mere-rain-1092"> Mere Rain</a> on "Celebrations in the Season of Long Nights": "</span><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">It is set at Yalda, the Persian holiday of the
winter solstice. Threatening supernatural forces are at their strongest on this
longest night of the year, and it is traditional to keep the fires burning, the
music playing, and the food and drink plentiful. Stay up all night celebrating
with those you love. Unless you don’t have anyone to go home to. Or you’ve been
tasked with fighting evil more directly. Yima is a demon-hunter, a duty passed
down through his family. He doesn’t resent it, but it does get lonely,
especially since his work is at its most difficult and dangerous when everyone
else is celebrating with loved ones. After he rescues Shahin from a demon
attack and finds that he has nowhere safe to stay, he takes him back to his
flat. Yima has just arrived in town and doesn’t even have electricity yet,
leaving the two men with little to do but talk.</span><span style="color: #7b8c89;"> </span><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">It isn’t a surprise when they end up in bed, though what at first feels
like a temporary comfort grows over days spent together into a deeper bond. Can
nomadic Yima find a way to stay without demons coming after his lover? And does
Shahin want to risk his heart loving a man who constantly puts his life in
danger? I will also be blogging about how to cook for Yalda for the blog tour
organized by Other Worlds Ink, running from 12/3 through 12/15."</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgPY5dLIk-uZiZPT4Is1abK_M3oo82LORKnpkR7fB-4thgKljwbcAP5l479IWzWDx4iF-LwN-3FDB647MlE9Chthr_xJzHKcyCFZPTYxzmfkb-Tp4bL6EVgPYJ6dy1-fq-z-4rdLjOu6Nv/s1600/Escape+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="828" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgPY5dLIk-uZiZPT4Is1abK_M3oo82LORKnpkR7fB-4thgKljwbcAP5l479IWzWDx4iF-LwN-3FDB647MlE9Chthr_xJzHKcyCFZPTYxzmfkb-Tp4bL6EVgPYJ6dy1-fq-z-4rdLjOu6Nv/s400/Escape+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://angelmartinezauthor.weebly.com/">Angel Martinez</a> on "Yule Planet": "<span style="background-color: transparent;">The
winter holidays are time for traditions -- lots of them. My holiday story from
last year (</span><i style="background-color: transparent;">Safety Protocols for Human
Holidays</i><span style="background-color: transparent;">) was a humorous lesbian space opera, so I thought I'd start a new
tradition, too, this year being the Second Annual Angel Martinez Humorous
Lesbian Space Opera, </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">Yule</i><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">Planet</i><span style="background-color: transparent;">. I had so much fun with last
year's that I toyed with returning to that universe and ship, but really I'd
said what I'd wanted to say there. Instead, this year's story stems from
something I've found equal parts fascinating and horrifying, and was reminded
of again during a visit to Disneyworld the past September. Theme parks. In
particular, immersive resort types of theme parks -- how they operate, how they
keep guests trapped in a dependent experience, how they treat, portray and
sometimes exploit employees. Naturally, since this is science fiction, I
decided to take the theming to a planetary scale and the Yule Planet Resort
Corporation was born. Happy holidays to you and I hope you enjoy this tale of a
resort vacation gone terribly wrong."</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<a href="https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com/">J. Scott Coatsworth</a> on "Slow Thaw": "<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Javier
stood on the ice, staring up at the night sky. Behind him, the lights of
Bettancourt Station lit the snow in a thirty foot radius. But out where he
stood, absolute darkness ruled.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The
stars above were brilliant sparks of light, far brighter than they ever were
back home, especially on a moonless night like this. He wondered, not for the
first time, if somewhere out there on another planet spinning around one of
those stars. If someone else was looking up and wondering if there was
inteligent life somewhere out there.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
It
was brutally cold out--negative sixty degrees celsius--but it suited him. It
was the anniversary of Terry's death, and he needed the cold. Needed it to numb
his soul.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Plus
he needed a little space from Astrid. She'd been at the station for almost half
of her rotation, and already he wanted to be rid of her.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
He
closed his eyes. They said the ice sang, that wind blowing over the ice shelf
made a haunting, beautiful music too low for the human ear to hear. He imagined
its strains, part of the great cosmic opera. The song that would continue long
after humankind was gone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Javier
opened his eyes and returned his gaze to the ice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Somewhere
out there, someone new was waiting for him. Terry would send him someone to
love, wherever he was. Somewhere past the ice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
He
took one last look at the stars, and turned to trudge back to the station, now
suitably numb."</div>
Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-86524165445913437132018-08-21T07:54:00.001-07:002018-08-21T08:01:07.302-07:00Behold SUMMER FAIR!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjyLxDTuNfUUM3OaElziaf-6fm5GHFJnWm0RoHyz3rJGj3EzfTXVSXdwMF7Lc3gFJNh_r1_fDNGWEVmNkzMbbumG04ts_rZ5vJaJzFiGefDr_iYuKWzwAqgu1NzuNdW-St5cdFK9J_Kfqc/s1600/Summer+Fair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjyLxDTuNfUUM3OaElziaf-6fm5GHFJnWm0RoHyz3rJGj3EzfTXVSXdwMF7Lc3gFJNh_r1_fDNGWEVmNkzMbbumG04ts_rZ5vJaJzFiGefDr_iYuKWzwAqgu1NzuNdW-St5cdFK9J_Kfqc/s400/Summer+Fair.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>
In a summer long gone, in a house named Blueberry Corners that no longer exists, I lounged in bed and dreamed up a light, romantic tale about a small town fashion designer and her hip, sharp-witted assistant empowering the local ladies against oppressive male town fathers. That story, "Amaryllis and New Lace", sat for over a decade in my card catalog of unwritten story ideas. This past winter, it was nudged to the front of the line by an invitation to submit to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Fair-Harley-Easton/dp/1983070068/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534858618&sr=8-1&keywords=Summer+Fair+Norris">Summer Fair</a>, a fun project organized by a collaborative of writers it has been my absolute pleasure to be part of. Like its predecessor <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Haunt-Marie-Piper-ebook/dp/B075HZ2XW1/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534858760&sr=8-1&keywords=Haunt+Gregory+L.+Norris">Haunt</a>, sales of the book would benefit various charities. I was thrilled for the invitation, but also at the time in the thick of penning a novel sequel to last year's <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-light-ship-altares-flies-again.html">The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity</a>, an epic new adventure for the crew of the lightship <i>Altares</i> called <i>The Day After Tomorrow: Planetfall</i> (due in November 2018 by the fine folks at Anderson Entertainment). I wrote the first draft in a kind of fugue over the course of one month. The next few weeks were spent doing edits for submission to meet my deadline to turn in the book. By the time all was done, my creative batteries were depleted, and "Amaryllis" was due. Luckily by then the long chill of North Country winters was fading, and I took to writing on my sun porch as the outside greened and my creativity built with the spring. Over the course of three days, I penned a 7,500 word first draft of "Amaryllis and New Lace", injecting it with as much sweet romance and sass as possible. Today, it appears in a gorgeous anthology filled with an amazing cast of writers.<br />
<br />
Many of my fellow <i>Fair</i>goers shared the backstories behind their stories in <i>Summer Fair</i>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.rlmerrillauthor.com/">R.L. Merrill</a> on "Salty and Sweet": "'Salty and Sweet' is an homage to the summer I spent in a theater program back in 1996. It was
early in my teaching career, I was still trying to earn units to clear my
California credential, and so I thought why not? It was a blast. I danced and
sang in my very first musical theater production, Kiss Me Kate, and learned
that I better stick to dancing, which I’d done most of my life up until that
point. The character of Naomi was inspired by an instructor I had in that
program, plus a police officer I worked with a few years later. Both women were
brilliant, powerful, and sexy. They challenged me, made me laugh, and inspired
me to quit downplaying my talents. In 'Salty and Sweet', Heather is tired of
being put down and is on the cusp of accepting her big size and bigger
attitude. I loved her free spirit and wanted to pair her with a woman who would
appreciate her. There have been many women who have encouraged that shift in
me, and I wanted to write this story for them."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.mariepiper.com/">Marie Piper</a> on "All the World": "To tell you the truth, I almost forgot about the
Columbian Exposition. I’d been knee-deep in writing a western historical
romance project, so when I saw the <i>Summer</i> <i>Fair</i> announcement my
brain immediately went to a small county fair and truly -- I was planning to
write about a pie-eating contest. But it didn’t take long for me to realize the
wealth of opportunity the Columbian Exposition carried -- this incredible
spectacle that happened right in Chicago, where I live, in an area I visit
frequently. The 1893 Expo is the perfect setting for a romance. People came
from all over the world -- mortgaging their homes in some cases to be able to
attend. My story is about a girl from across Lake Michigan who comes to the
Expo dreaming of being a reporter, and the pickpocket who nearly steals her
purse and instead winds up her tour guide for the day. They visit the Palace of
Fine Arts, the Midway Plaisance, take a ride in the Ferris Wheel, and take in a
show by ‘the soul of the exotic’ herself, Little Egypt. As they see brand new things, they feel
brand new things as well -- and <i>All the
World</i> opens to them."<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijJlK8JjOz6gsjcwzeyQZEWBFlULf8OMu0GZT47rGnw1SfQcEQRrj6lljuEIqoFtc_0UrR2bOKIufHP20qxflVfV9pdNyKMWM6WN7Cl3fLFTKHsSV5j6zlRba99jT5wSiZbR-SI-1wNElP/s1600/Amaryllis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="960" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijJlK8JjOz6gsjcwzeyQZEWBFlULf8OMu0GZT47rGnw1SfQcEQRrj6lljuEIqoFtc_0UrR2bOKIufHP20qxflVfV9pdNyKMWM6WN7Cl3fLFTKHsSV5j6zlRba99jT5wSiZbR-SI-1wNElP/s400/Amaryllis.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/CM-Peters/e/B015D1NEBM">CM Peters</a> on "Dewberry Kisses": "From the start, I knew I wanted a fruit/pie festival. For some reason,
I kept thinking of the movie <i>To</i> <i>Wong</i> <i>Foo</i>, <i>Thanks</i> <i>for</i> <i>Everything</i>, <i>Julie</i> <i>Newmar</i> and its
strawberry festival in a small hick town. Although my town is not that
‘hicksie’, it’s southern and charming, filled with hardworking and kindhearted
people.. Also, I was inspired by a certain actor strutting around in cowboy
boots and a cowboy hat in a social media post. He needed to be written into a
cute romantic story.. So, I mixed everything up with two single souls needing
love in their lives again and voilà, you have ‘Dewberry Kisses’!Also, ‘Dewberry
Kisses’ was my reconciliation with writing this past winter. It made me look
forward to summer, to getting back into writing romance, though I’m editing a
completely different novel at the moment. I’d had a serious writer’s block
after finishing a novel, so something lighter and romantic was all I needed.
And dewberry pie. Cause you know, pie. #deanwinchester #doyougetthereference. I
hope you enjoy it!"Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-88328650084128206702018-06-27T06:57:00.002-07:002018-06-27T07:15:42.948-07:00From the Bookshelf: The White Mountain by Dan Szczesny<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg56x9aFmQos_bBLPOa7F_x9lSqImme06ShFNwv4QvCr2t2fw3RqYafYdVkH8zXGvz4eJYN1OmEShhKQth6-DC2RQCWfO4JEpL0VbrXFl-3uPfB4FdfuQ0UxJVLso1oxlaj8INazsJ9v6IL/s1600/Dan+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg56x9aFmQos_bBLPOa7F_x9lSqImme06ShFNwv4QvCr2t2fw3RqYafYdVkH8zXGvz4eJYN1OmEShhKQth6-DC2RQCWfO4JEpL0VbrXFl-3uPfB4FdfuQ0UxJVLso1oxlaj8INazsJ9v6IL/s400/Dan+1.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
Turn right at my driveway, travel to the end of our country road, and turn right again. Half the length of a football field later, there it is: Mount Washington, looming large over our small northern town. The image is stunning, regardless of the season -- white in winter months and most of the spring, green through abbreviated summers, color-stroked in autumn. Five years after moving to Xanadu, our home in the hills, that view hasn't grown any less majestic.<br />
<br />
It was soon after relocating here that I had the pleasure of meeting writer <a href="https://danszczesny.wordpress.com/">Dan Szczesny</a>. He'd reached out to me following my appearance on the TV show <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2013/06/my-new-hampshire-chronicle.html">New Hampshire Chronicle</a>, which had done a feature on my writing career. On a snowy January Sunday afternoon, Dan joined us for dinner and conversation, and we became instant friends and colleagues. I was honored to appear in all three <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2018/02/behold-murder-ink-3.html">Murder Ink</a> New England newsroom mystery anthologies selected and edited by Dan, and I and others consider him an integral member of our Tuesday night writers' group.<br />
<br />
A widely published and celebrated author, Dan's latest book release pays tribute to New England's tallest mountain -- and that view, both awe-inspiring and humbling. It was my pleasure to sit down with him and discuss <a href="https://www.amazon.com/White-Mountain-Dan-Szczesny/dp/1939449170/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530106691&sr=8-1&keywords=the+white+mountain+dan+szczesny">The White Mountain</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>What was it about the subject that inspired you to write <i>The White Mountain?</i></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The basic conceit for the book, a year in the life of Mount
Washington, had been kicking around in my head for a long time, but I never had
the resources, time and support to be able to pull it off. I spent years
creating the personal capital in terms of trust and ability before I felt I
could reach out to the organizations I needed to make the project work. The
Auto Road, Cog Railway, AMC and Mount Washington Observatory had to be fully on
board and give me full access for this to happen, so it took me a while to
build that trust before pursuing the book. But once they all said yes and I was
off and running, the idea changed and became more about connection. Mount
Washington has sat in the collective imagination of Europeans for 400 years and
that's a lot of time to build a mystique, culture and legend all its own. Once
I started pulling on the story threads of the mountain, there was really no end
to the characters and legends that began to unravel.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><b>After climbing to the base camp on Mt. Everest, how daunting
were your Mount Washington adventures?</b></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, physically, getting to Everest Base Camp was harder.
But <i>The</i> <i>White</i> <i>Mountain</i> was a far more daunting writing
challenge than <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nepal-Chronicles-Marriage-Mountains-Highest-ebook/dp/B00NYBJTWC/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8">The Nepal Chronicles</a> my book about the Everest trip. Primarily,
because there was so much material -- so many people the mountain has touched
in some way -- it required far more organizational efforts. In Nepal, you'd get
up each morning, walk for a bit, take notes and pictures and then assemble the
journey chronologically. Here, though, I'd take part in an event, discovered a
dozen contacts, people or archival threads to follow, and then have to assemble
all the disparate information into a readable chapter. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><b>What were the most difficult aspects of penning the book?</b></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, like I mentioned above, once I had books and books,
and notebooks and notebooks full of interviews, archival history, facts and
stories, the heavy lifting came in attempting to draw connections between the
past, the stories of the interviewees and my own experiences in a way that
provided a narrative for the reader. I had no interest in the book becoming a
guidebook, nor did I want it to be simple memoir. Plus, I worked hard to find a
present tense narrative style that combined both my own adventures with that of
my varying subject matter. For example, how do I run up the mountain in June
and then visit the home of one of the runners in December and build a present
tense narrative out of that time line? I think I pulled it off, at least I hope
so!</div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OA9q05ZFIztzfW7vjy_bgBTu17EzYUT4clB7nNIyR_JyygAWNVgB8xDYOB-YGRtU8NcLXBPee9LgcCGuWv7tWNf8fDMPU3tyJZpMvMFR42AlCwWVXlBitvZU5UNVNFyCej5lhJoAONJJ/s1600/Dan+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OA9q05ZFIztzfW7vjy_bgBTu17EzYUT4clB7nNIyR_JyygAWNVgB8xDYOB-YGRtU8NcLXBPee9LgcCGuWv7tWNf8fDMPU3tyJZpMvMFR42AlCwWVXlBitvZU5UNVNFyCej5lhJoAONJJ/s400/Dan+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The author and daughter Uma</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>You spent some time at the weather station—did you get any
ghostly vibes, as that place is famously considered to be haunted?</u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh yes! The observers have all sorts of stories they tell
around the kitchen table about ghosts and goblins, as the wind rattles the
tower and ice creaks and groans. It's the perfect setting for spooky tale
telling. In the book, I do write a bit about Lizzie Bourne, the first woman to
perish at the summit when she was only a teenager, and she died only a few
hundred feet from the safety of the top. There's an amazing portrait of her
that normally hangs in the visitor center, but during the summer tourist season
it's easy to miss in all the chaos of the crowds. But in the winter, when that
place is empty and your footsteps echo in the hall while a storm rages outside,
the eyes of Lizzie seem to follow you as you walk through the unlit atrium!
That's spooky! I also write about my own ‘encounter’ with Lizzie in the book.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><b>What’s next up for you writing-wise?</b></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First up, the tour for <i>The</i> <i>White</i> <i>Mountain</i>,
which will start in earnest on July 16, will cover six states and nearly 60
presentations, meet and greets and talks, so a lot of my time and energy the
next six months will be on making sure that's successful and the book gets into
as many hands as possible! Then, this year I have a handful of short stories
I'm writing for some upcoming anthologies. I continue to write for <i>AMC</i> <i>Outdoors</i>
and <i>Appalachia</i> <i>Journal</i>, two amazing publications that are a joy
to work for. I have a kids' picture book that I'll start shopping around in the
fall, and I think I'll begin looking for an agent as well at some point. Long
term, I've begun research on my next big project, a non-fiction book about New
Hampshire's local connection to the Death with Dignity debate. I can't go into
too much detail yet, but I happened upon some amazing source material from an
early court case that will anchor the story. I'm just chomping at the bit to
dive in, stay tuned! </div>
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Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-88944952755637337772018-06-17T10:43:00.000-07:002018-06-17T10:43:01.140-07:00Journey to the Fourth Planet -- and Beyond -- with Martian Magazine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTXAszHxLGhyphenhyphenxplVNfj7AzzfOvYjcNs4pr2QaKW-qd6X28PPwuQMvspZyKVMnutllPg1FalmtxYExPqJ6H3vcSiHAboA2dGTW7ZQHKfS33v3EJM4SLER1KvT4oGrRg_iUgSJDrR5SW2_Dl/s1600/Mars+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTXAszHxLGhyphenhyphenxplVNfj7AzzfOvYjcNs4pr2QaKW-qd6X28PPwuQMvspZyKVMnutllPg1FalmtxYExPqJ6H3vcSiHAboA2dGTW7ZQHKfS33v3EJM4SLER1KvT4oGrRg_iUgSJDrR5SW2_Dl/s400/Mars+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
In the summer of 2016, I woke from a dream and jotted down a 100-word complete story. "Catching Snowflakes" went out the door to a prestigious anthology, where it was shortlisted, and where it languished for nearly a year, ultimately to be rejected. The micro-fiction's next foray for consideration was considerably shorter. I hit 'send' at 1:59 on a recent, rainy Monday afternoon after taking in a wonderful art gallery opening starring my good friend and fellow passionate scribe, <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2013/07/meet-talented-and-luminous-judi-calhoun.html">Judy Ann Calhoun</a>. Some two hours and change later, I received a glowing acceptance from editor Eric Fomley at <a href="https://themartianmagazine.wordpress.com/submissions/">Martian, the Magazine of Science Fiction Drabbles</a>. Following one of the longest waits of my career was one of the quickest acceptances. "Catching Snowflakes" is set to appear in the pages of this exciting new publishing (ad)venture, in which the stories are small but the impact powerful. It was my pleasure to speak with Mister Fomley regarding the red planet -- and what viewers can expect to read in <a href="https://www.patreon.com/martianmag/overview">Martian</a>.<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><br /></span>
<b><u><span style="text-align: center;">Please share with us your vision for </span><i style="text-align: center;">Martian
</i><span style="text-align: center;">Magazine</span><i style="text-align: center;">.</i></u></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Readers
can expect high quality micro science fiction. We specialize in the drabble, a
story of exactly 100 words. At first, we will publish one story weekly, with a
yearly anthology collecting all published stories in paper, eBook, and audio.
But as interest and funds increase, our end goal would be to publish a drabble
every weekday but Friday. On Fridays, we would feature a story of up to 300
words. Twitter fiction would be incorporated at that point as well and featured
all seven days. We would then publish an issue every month. But that’s end goal
talk. Right now, you can expect <i>Martian </i>Magazine to share a high quality
drabble every week, collected into a yearly anthology. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><b>All
stories will have exactly 100 words. I also love in your guidelines that you
stated the stories must be actual stories, with a beginning, middle, and end.
What inspired you to focus on this specific length? <o:p></o:p></b></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two things actually prompted my focus on
Drabbles. The first, I’ve always had a love for micro fiction. Reading the
famous Hemingway 6-word story and many great micro publications on the web such
as Daily Science Fiction and the now defunct SpeckLit incited my curiosity
about a story so small having the ability to make me feel something. The
ability to entertain me. The second thing is that I have a very busy schedule
with children, work and just life in general. I don’t always have time to sit
and read a novel or short story collection. But I love to read and I want to be
entertained by what I’m reading, as I assume everyone does. So micro fiction is
a way for me to do this on a commute, or break time, and I want to share a venue
full of these. I think it’s funny you mention my guidelines and, I’m sure, it
may be hard for some to believe a 100 word story can have much of an arc. But,
I find that the best micro fiction has all of the elements of a good story.
I’ve found many in our submission window and I look forward to sharing all of
them with you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Your
acceptance of my story “Catching Snowflakes” must be the quickest in my career.
I appreciate that, as a writer yourself, you are devoted to a quick turnaround. </u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There
have been many times where a market has had my story in their slush pile for 6+
months only to tell me they couldn’t use it. This is natural for all of us and
something that’s part of the business. However, it doesn’t mean when I’ve
worked so hard to produce a story I’m proud of and send it off that I am
pleased to wait so long for a venue to take a look at it. I like getting my
acceptance or rejection. There’s a
special advantage with running a micro fiction magazine and that’s that I can
read a story in a mere minute. If I’m intrigued, I come back to it and read it
again. If I really like it, I will read it several times. This process does not
take long and few writers had to wait more than four hours for me to get back
to them during the submission window. It’s an advantage to the form, and I, as
a writer, would love if a professional venue got back with me in a week let
alone a day. Therefore, I will use the length to my advantage and always work
hard to get back very quickly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQbI6-0fd515YHLmXsVuAv98cD0j1jEWoKFLug2xTgQjHTfvFBRJOL2BziNfSavdYGlsodNUWiLDUdTJF5OVSUDoeH88QPnxPgVWuvF_AxC_UWihftddcjh0C-lr2CuYeLCkpwCZY4lo51/s1600/Mars+2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQbI6-0fd515YHLmXsVuAv98cD0j1jEWoKFLug2xTgQjHTfvFBRJOL2BziNfSavdYGlsodNUWiLDUdTJF5OVSUDoeH88QPnxPgVWuvF_AxC_UWihftddcjh0C-lr2CuYeLCkpwCZY4lo51/s400/Mars+2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Martian Magazine Editor/Publisher Eric Fomley)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="text-align: center;">Please talk about your
writing.</span> <o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
write speculative flash fiction. I have written horror, fantasy, and science
fiction but I always seem to gravitate towards science fiction. I like flash
because it allows me to try out cool ideas, concepts, and characters without
spending a large amount of time. I tend to write on the darker side of the
genres, dealing with darker themes and tones. I feel as though flash fiction is
growing in popularity and I’m along for the ride.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Finally,
the title of the magazine. Why <i>Martian</i>? <o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
word Martian has always indicated something different or strange to humanity.
Before scientists could see what was on Mars, science fiction dwelled on the
red planet. Martians are weird, different creatures than us and that’s what I
want to grasp in this magazine. I want to publish stories of other worlds, or
other versions of our world, strange characters, strange futures, classic
stories and new. But all of it on <i>Martian</i> will be sci-fi. An exploration
of what could be. Or what is without our knowing. The different. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<br />Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-54064666953773685632018-05-06T08:58:00.000-07:002018-07-15T05:36:22.879-07:00The Number 1300<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj02aJF5NtksXGRFuNkrO9GVo3_eyokrmBD7reyTrKe3dPg-_ppPcF_T4nHhFQWd3zg8fxEGnV96OZuyPOtFJ7pZhxYe0gq71qeX94eltaw44aUjpLk3P2RWVuu-1XtQlMtHj-wgoPAP2KA/s1600/Number+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj02aJF5NtksXGRFuNkrO9GVo3_eyokrmBD7reyTrKe3dPg-_ppPcF_T4nHhFQWd3zg8fxEGnV96OZuyPOtFJ7pZhxYe0gq71qeX94eltaw44aUjpLk3P2RWVuu-1XtQlMtHj-wgoPAP2KA/s400/Number+1.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
Back in the early days of my writing career, I got it into my head that I would strive to pen 1,000 completed works of fiction. This likely owes to one of those biography shows on the late, great <a href="https://www.metv.com/lists/15-fascinating-facts-about-rod-serling">Rod Serling</a>, one of my lifelong role models and as prolific and supremely talented a scribe as there ever was. In January of 2013, I attained that goal and hit <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-number-1000.html">the Number 1000</a>. For the longest while (decades?), I assumed that I'd stop at 1000. But my imagination didn't retire at the millennium mark, and I've kept writing, past 1100 completed works of fiction, 1200, and, at the end of 2017, toward the Number 1300.<br />
<br />
In early March of this year, as another notable anniversary date readied to be celebrated, I wrapped my sequel to last year's novelization of the classic made-for-TV Gerry Anderson movie, <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-light-ship-altares-flies-again.html">The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity</a>. <i>The Day After Tomorrow: Planetfall</i> all but consumed me during the start of 2018. Pages flew off notepads at a ridiculous clip -- one of those lovely instances where the writer seems to be channeling spirits. I absolutely loved the experience, and wrapped the longhand draft well in advance of my deadline with Anderson Entertainment. <i>Planetfall</i> is scheduled for publication in September, and landed on my list of completed works at #1299. Without delay, I pulled out a fresh notepad of lined paper, uncapped my pen, and began work on #1300, my <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072564/">Space:1999</a> fan fiction "Ninth".<br />
<br />
Dating back to the start, most of my big numbers have been odes to the series that put the pen in my hand at an early age -- 1, 50, 100, 500, 700, 800, 1000, and 1200. 900 was my one and only <i>Lost in Space</i> fan fic, which came to me in a dream back in 1982, and was a joy to pen. The title, "Ninth", refers to John Robert Koenig, the ninth commander of Moonbase Alpha (as unforgettably referenced in the first season episode "War Games"), who finds himself alone capable of saving his people from a malevolent intelligence being beamed to Alpha from a point on the nearby starmap. The idea came from one of six I drafted for a failed revival of the series several years ago. While doing a forensic exam through every notebook (and stray note) last November to corral all of my as-yet-unwritten ideas, I came across those episode treatments and, along with "Plato's Tears", deemed them worthy of translation into short stories. And "Ninth" did not disappoint.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxuoJyD4NXA8cdoNqCKV9nibg4hARGf3ukysWvF7v_mIA94dQak9_NrQ4bNXIwxNarw2OcUeOm24z0pn7p5-qg1mQRT04omq6VmRGxPMGBGqWLvWtqbviaiDlk0OyZ64HnFFtchs-teDEt/s1600/Number+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxuoJyD4NXA8cdoNqCKV9nibg4hARGf3ukysWvF7v_mIA94dQak9_NrQ4bNXIwxNarw2OcUeOm24z0pn7p5-qg1mQRT04omq6VmRGxPMGBGqWLvWtqbviaiDlk0OyZ64HnFFtchs-teDEt/s400/Number+2.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
I tore through the story in a similar daze, putting down the words and pages and loving the experience. A full week before our writers' group would celebrate it's fifth anniversary with a big party, readings, food, and guests, I finished "Ninth" and hit the Number 1300. And when the Berlin Writers' Group gathered to mark its fifth year in existence, I was able to celebrate another milestone by reading the opening to "Ninth".<br />
<br />
As of today, with the novel sequel edited and turned in and other deadlines calling, I've reached #1303. Sitting in my catalog of story ideas waiting to be written are eighty individual cards, containing one adventure apiece. New ideas this year have been slow in coming, which could mean my prolific imagination is slowing down or that I'm finally, after a lifetime of courting the muse, being granted a reprieve to catch up. Either way, I continue to write, finish, edit, and submit my work. I continue to dream and love the writing life. Will there be a Number 1500? First, I have to reach #1400!Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-2859832871771675152018-03-31T10:14:00.000-07:002018-03-31T10:14:18.783-07:00Black Infinity 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've often spoken of my childhood spent in an enchanted cottage located between deep woods and vast lake, and of the healthy diet of creature double features and classic SF television I grew up on. Last summer, I sold the first of several short stories and novellas to <a href="http://departmentofdeadletters.blogspot.com/">Black Infinity</a>, published by the fine folks at Dead Letter Press. "The Tree Surgeon" -- which I'd penned during my unforgettable time at Christine Woodside's <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2016/07/writing-from-nature.html">Writing From Nature</a> retreat and workshop -- is an homage to my late, great grandfather, Wallace Runge. In my youth, my mother regaled me with amazing stories that fed my young imagination, including the fact that Grampy Wally had been a tree surgeon in his earlier years. I doubt he ever encountered a tree anything like the one my main character does; I sent out the story and it was accepted on its maiden voyage into <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Black-Infinity-Blobs-Globs-Spores/dp/0996693688/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1522513289&sr=8-2&keywords=Black+Infinity+Dead+Letter+Press">Black Infinity 2</a>'s special "Blobs, Globs, Slime and Spores" issue by publisher Tom English. Contributor copies arrived on a recent snowy Friday afternoon, and they were, frankly, stunning, the oversize pages filled with classic reprints, stories by new master writers like the brilliant Kurt Newton, comics, movie reviews, and a foreword by English referencing some of my all-time favorite TV series and movies: <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2011/09/september-13-1999.html">Space:1999</a>, <i>Lost in Space</i>, and the ultra-creepiest of creature features, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matango">Attack of the Mushroom People</a> -- when that film ran on Saturday afternoons, I refused to go outside afterward, too terrified to consider playing in those green forest wilds.<br />
<br />
Reading an issue of <i>Black Infinity</i> is like a trip through time back to my boyhood; to bigger worlds and universes. It was my pleasure to sit down with publisher Tom English to discuss the publication, and the deep love behind its production.<br />
<u><b><br /></b></u>
<u><b>Talk
about the 'vibe' if you would -- the wonderful retro tone of BLACK INFINITY and
your own taste regarding a time when, even if it was dark, SF was fun.</b></u><br />
Well,
I grew up in the late sixties and early seventies -- a wonderful time, I think,
for TV, comics, and old SF magazines. The Silver Age of comics was coming to an
end, but the local thrift stores were stocked with back issues of books
originally published in the 50s. Kids were able to pick up old copies of <i>Mystery
in Space,</i> <i>Amazing Fantasy </i>and, occasionally, EC’s <i>Weird Science. </i>There
were also plenty of dog-eared copies of old SF digests, like <i>Astounding</i> <i>SF</i>,
<i>Fantastic</i>, and <i>Imaginative</i> <i>Tales, </i>to name a few. That’s
what I was reading. <o:p></o:p>Meanwhile,
broadcast TV was awash with the first waves of syndication of some classic (and
groundbreaking) SF shows, namely <i>The Twilight Zone </i>and <i>The Outer
Limits.</i> And on weeknights Chiller Theater (or some variation) was airing
movies such as Howard Hawks’ <i>The Thing From Another World </i>and<i> It Came
From Outer Space. </i>For the most part, all these movies, shows, comics and
books shared common themes: alien worlds aren’t always welcoming, science isn’t
always your friend, and space can hold its share of horrors. This
is the kind of stuff that hooked me as a kid. After all, who doesn’t enjoy a
good haunted house story, for example? Or the creepy SF equivalent, a creepy
derelict spaceship? But the SF genre was shifting. Space travel, as depicted in
movies and TV, was becoming routine and a little dull; science always had the
right answers; and aliens were just misunderstood. Okay,
there’s nothing wrong with this overly optimistic take. I’m certainly not a
doom-and-gloom guy, but I missed the sense of foreboding, the moody eeriness,
and ... the monstrous creatures. I think the genre is returning to much of
this. I think movies like the original <i>Alien </i>and John Carpenter’s <i>The
Thing </i>started this return. But I wanted to do a magazine that fully
embraced this type of SF, and which celebrated all the comics and movies and
books and shows that helped shape spooky SF. Hence,
the birth of <i>Black Infinity, </i>an idea I’ve had for almost a decade. Issue
#1 explores the most obvious theme: Deadly Planets. Issue #2 features “Blobs,
Globs, Slime and Spores” (which frequently menace humankind in SF). For each
issue I tried to pull together the classic stories featuring the theme or
element, added fresh takes by some of today’s best writers, threw in columns on
weird science and retro movie reviews, and tied everything together with an
introductory overview of each theme. Oh yeah, and lots of movie photos and
illustrations. Is
<i>Black Infinity </i>for everyone? I seriously doubt it. Does everybody like
everything? But my hope is that, for those of us who fondly remember 1950s
Sci-fi movies and stories, <i>Black Infinity </i>will be a lazy Saturday
afternoon must-read.<br />
<br />
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<u><b>Can you share themes for upcoming issues, and also the fantastic classic tales
you'll be reprinting?</b></u></div>
<div class="Default">
I’m
working on #3 at the moment. The theme is Body Snatchers: alien control/alien possession/alien
replacement. John W. Campbell’s “Who Goes There?” is among the classics
scheduled, with new stories by (so far) Douglas Smith, Scath Beorh, Kurt Newton
and a guy named Gregory Norris.Issue
#4 is being planned also. Theme is Strange Dimensions. Future issues will
feature Rogue Robots, Derelicts in Space, Cosmic Canines and.... Well, big
plans.</div>
<br />
<div class="Default">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
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<div class="Default">
<u><b>I
had a great chat with Kurt Newton, and we both pretty much made it a love
letter to working with you and BLACK INFINITY. You treat your authors well, Tom
English. Why is that important?</b></u></div>
<div class="Default">
I
don’t really think I’m doing anything any other good editor wouldn’t do. But
several things influence me. First, I love books and I put that love into all
my projects. Second, I’m a writer, too. And I abide by The Golden Rule: I treat
my writers the way I hope to be treated, and present their stories with as much
care as I’d want for my own tales.I feel, for the most part, writers are
under-appreciated. What writers do is magical. It’s hard work. It’s lonely work.
And I try to do my part to facilitate their efforts.</div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<u><b>What
do you want today's readers to know about the publication?</b></u></div>
<div class="Default">
Simple
mathematics. I put a lot of time and money, sweat and inspiration into every
issue. I try to make the magazine fun and cool and entertaining, nostalgic and
thought-provoking -- without being offensive or preachy. But I can only do this
as long as people buy the magazine. I’m a small, independent press trying to
maintain a foothold in the market. So if you want a good read, or if you need
to give a gift to someone who loves SF, support <i>Black Infinity </i>by
purchasing a copy. Leave a review or just tell a friend. You’ll have my
sincerest thanks -- and I can continue to provide an attractive forum for
talented writers. </div>
Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-22395625940058049752018-02-23T08:27:00.000-08:002018-02-23T08:27:02.744-08:00BEHOLD: MURDER INK 3!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sometime in the late 1990s, part of a story came to me involving a son born and kept secret from his father for nefarious reasons. Said father was Latin; in my imagination, the son resembled Boxing's then-Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya. I envisioned the story as a mystery, but nothing came of it at the time. I had a huge plate of weekly nonfiction deadlines during that stage of my writing career, many for prestigious national magazines like <i>Soap Opera Update</i>, <i>Cinescape</i>, <i>Heartland USA</i>, and <i>Sci Fi</i>, the official magazine of the Sci Fi Channel. Flash forward to a few springs ago. We were invited to Saturday Easter services where one of our writers' group friends was being confirmed. The church was stunning, the service some four hours long. While plunked on that wooden seat, my mind wandered, as did my writer's eye. Over to the confessional, primarily. As the service continued, that old story partial from long ago resurfaced, becoming one with a tale about a reporter who vows to go to any length to get the dirt on a notorious town figure -- even into the church confessional. I scribbled notes on the program, which came back with me, and clipped it to a story note card. The first draft wrote itself in two sittings. Now it's my honor to announce that "Only Begotten Son" appears in the third volume of the celebrated <a href="http://www.nhbooksellers.com/product-page/murder-ink-3-pre-pub-ordering">Murder Ink</a> series, even more tales of New England newsroom crime.<br />
<br />
Being part of all three releases -- <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2016/02/behold-murder-ink.html">Murder Ink</a> with my short story "Exhuming Secrets on a Hot August Day", and my sports-themed "Murder at Channel Ten" in 2017's <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2017/02/behold-murder-ink-2.html">Murder Ink 2</a> -- has been a complete joy, and I would like to thank <a href="http://www.nhbooksellers.com/">Plaidswede</a> publisher George Geers and series editor <a href="https://danszczesny.wordpress.com/">Dan Szczesny</a> for giving my work such an incredible home. While conducting a forensic-style run through every notebook I've kept since I was fifteen for stray ideas last December, I discovered notes for a sequel to "Murder at Channel Ten" -- whether or not the <i>Murder Ink</i> franchise continues for a fourth volume, I plan to dive into that tale this spring.<br />
<br />
Many of my fellow <i>Murder</i>ers shared the back-stories behind their stories in <i>Murder Ink 3.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<a href="https://sistersdent.wordpress.com/">Karen Dent</a> and <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2015/07/from-bookshelf-janus-demon-by-roxanne.html">Roxanne Dent</a> on "Killing Secrets": "Our last story in <i>Murder Ink 2 </i>ended in 1948 with
Ruby solving ‘The Werewolf Murders.’ Judi Calhoun, a friend and fellow scribe (who
is also included in <i>Murder</i> <i>Ink</i> <i>3</i>), suggested we write
about Ruby’s early years. “Killing Secrets” was born. In 1935, the Depression
is far from over. Ruby is sixteen-years-old, and working on the Portsmouth High
school newspaper. Her goal is to be a journalist. Walking to school, Ruby is
almost flattened when Betty, the resident mean girl, takes a nosedive from a
third story window. With no evidence of foul play, it’s declared a suicide.
Ruby’s gut tells her different. This is her chance to prove herself. Ruby’s
dogged determination to follow clues leads her to uncover a long-buried secret
that could get her killed."<br />
<br />
Patrick Sullivan on "You Never Know What You've Hooked": "Connecticut’s Northwest
Corner, like everyplace else, has a bad problem with opioid drug use. We have
dealers who are not exactly subtle about their trade. We have overdoses and
occasional drug-related violence. And we have meetings -- oh boy, do we have
meetings -- about the problem. It was at one of these meetings that a woman --
a minister, no less -- suggested that if something wasn’t done about the dope
dealers, people might take matters into their own hands. Nobody formed a posse
as a result, as far as I know. But the remark, made in a room full of people
and with print and television reporters present, did get my attention. The main
events in this story all happened, with the exception of the murder itself. All
I did was change them around to avoid libel lawsuits and work in a few jokes."<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://marygermanottaduquette.com/2017/09/16/murder-ink-3/">Mary Duquette</a> on "Masterpieces": "I have a literary fiction background, so I suppose because
I originated from that angle, I was initially inspired by the characters. As I
wrote the story, it sort of unfolded itself, and I wasn’t sure where it was going
until the end. The idea of creating art using a dead body was intriguing and
horrifying and was the running-off point for the plot of the piece. Also
interesting to me was the idea of a reporter becoming fixated with a story (and
the person in the story) to the point of obsession -- particularly when the
fixation reveals something going on within that person’s own life. I also wanted
to explore how deep love and grief can propel people to act in dangerous,
unthinking ways. And, that something gruesome and tragic can also somehow be crazily
gorgeous -- that there is a certain magic in finding magnificence in the ghastly,
the moral within the immoral, the divine in the macabre. Is there an inherent art
and beauty in all things? If not, where do you draw the line? I’m also
fascinated by the idea of loving characters, and forgiving them, even when they
do horrible things. I hope I achieved that!"<br />
<br />
Oreste D'Arconte on "Beta Theta Pieman": "The last book in the Randy Dixon
trilogy has some of my favorite elements in it: college fraternity life, the
wonderful game of women’s rugby, witchcraft, the Patriots fan train to
Gillette, Kurt Vonnegut, legal pot and Alcatraz. Oh, and a couple of murders
and attempted murders along the way. Newspaper reporter Randy Dixon is in the
middle of it, as usual, and pays in the end a heavy price for eluding a
crushing conclusion of certain death. This third story follows ‘One Way Dead
End’ and ‘Obituary Mambo’ (in <i>Murder</i> <i>Ink</i> anthologies 1 and 2) and
ends with a broken Randy seeking a less exciting career than the noir-ish
newsrooms of New England."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.writeramyray.com/">Amy Ray</a> on "Last Resort": "This
is my third story to be included in the <i>Murder
Ink</i> series and all have featured Kay Leavitt, a reporter for a small weekly
newspaper. Kay finds it hard to make ends meet on a reporter’s salary so she
takes a second job caring for an elderly woman, Evelyn Lea. Evelyn is the owner
of a sprawling beach resort and when she dies on Kay’s watch, Kay teams up with
her bumbling editor and his crime-solving pug named Poe to investigate the
suspicious death. I got the victim’s name from my first car, a secondhand Volvo
nicknamed Evelyn. ‘Last Resort’ is set in Hampton Beach and I’ve spent many
happy hours there listening to music at the Sea Shell Stage, just like Evelyn
does in the opening of the story. Evelyn’s fictional resort would be located on
Ashworth Avenue, one block from the ocean. It’s not my first story to use the picturesque
coast of New Hampshire as a backdrop -- my novel, <i>Dangerous Denial</i>, was set there as well. The ocean spray and crisp summer
breeze will always be a source of inspiration for me.”<br />
<br />
S. J. Cahill on "The Canine Solution": "In <i>Murder Ink 1,</i> Gailene Palmer, an ambitious young
reporter, murders the publisher-owner of <i>Granite State Press</i> as a
short-cut to the top. In the ‘Solution 151’<i> </i>story,<i> </i>Gailene
introduces 151 proof rum as a weapon of convenience and a cover for the murder.
With her name on the masthead of the paper, she begins using police detective
Sanford Moulton as a background source for her prize-winning columns and
writing her way to a Pulitzer.
Unfortunately for her, Dan Szczesny created <i>Murder Ink 2</i> and in <i>‘</i>The
Moulton Solution’ story,<i> </i>Sanford Moulton discovers that Gailene is a
serial killer. Realizing he can’t prove it, he goes rogue, t<span lang="IT">ell</span>ing us that ‘Cops make the best
killers.’ and becomes a vigilante.
Unfortunately for Detective Moulton, Editor Szczesny extends the series
to <i>Murder Ink 3</i> and freelance pet columnist Alexis Logan, who runs a
Doggie daycare, discovers what detective Moulton is doing and realizes he is
coming for her. In ‘The Canine Solution’ story<i>, </i>Lexie Logan is able to
stop him by letting every dog have its day. Let’s hope Dan Szczesny convinces Plaidswede Press
to publish <i>Murder Inc 4</i> before Lexie Logan comes down off the porch to
run with the big dogs."<br />
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<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://judithjanoowriter.blogspot.com/">Judith Janoo</a> on "Tangled Trawl Lines": "<span style="background-color: white;">Ted Holmes, owner and editor
of a small weekly newspaper, </span><i>The Coastal
Chronicle,</i><span style="background-color: white;"> plunges into a new mystery. He’s been working a feature on the
lobster industry in his coastal Maine town but finds the subject of his
profile, a seasoned lobsterman, has drowned. Why would an experienced
fisherman, cautious and meticulous, end up overboard tangled in his own trap
line? And did someone want him out of the harbor? Ted sets aside his profile
casting a light on the industry that sustains his community to get at the truth
of this man’s death. Ted has had a few successes, like stumbling into the
murderer in Volume II of this series and covering that story, but mostly he struggles
to sell enough papers to pay Rocko, his ace reporter, and a few part-time
columnists. In matters of the heart Ted’s been schooled in the hard knocks of
female rejection. But like any real newshound, he considers persistence his
virtue. Holmesport may resemble the harbor town where I learned many of the
mysteries of life, but the characters and events of this story floated in from
somewhere miles offshore."</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: white;">Lisa Eckelbecker on "Flea Market Felony": "</span></span>If you’ve ever
thought that shopping could be the death of you, you might be right. My story
was inspired by a real death in 2008 at the Brimfield Antique Flea Markets in
Brimfield, Mass. A Florida man who’d been selling general merchandise at the ‘fleas’
for years was found dead in a sleeping bag in his van. A brief news report
indicated he’d been feeling ill the day before. I don’t know what killed him,
but I was struck by how the fields of a New England flea market could be the
backdrop for tragedy. I’ve shopped at the Brimfield market for years, and I’ve
written about it more than once, so I had a lot of experience to bring to this
story. However, I’m also indebted to photographer Christine Peterson, who has
sold antiques at Brimfield and offered invaluable suggestions about how
collectibles dealers think and operate. This is my first piece of fictional
writing, and I’m also incredibly grateful to author and journalist Hank Phillippi
Ryan, whose mystery writing workshop at a Goat Hill Writers conference in Rhode
Island gave me the confidence and tools to write this."<br />
<br />
And artist <a href="http://www.donnacat.com/">Donna Catanzaro</a> on creating <i>Murder Ink 3</i>'s cover: "The bombshell
blonde and the handsome hulk return for the third <i>Murder</i> <i>Ink</i>
cover. Here the two reporters investigate a murder on a shadowy city street.
The police have come and gone, their chalk tracings of a body and a tommie gun
remain on the slick cobblestone street. A gunshot-laden, leaking wooden crate
of rum gives a clue as to the nature of the crime: it’s the height of
Prohibition, and a rum-runner has had a run-in with the competition. But the
two reporters are not alone. In the distance a man stands outside a car,
watching. The shadow of a man with a gun lurks behind the female reporter. If
you look closely you’ll see she has a weapon in the pocket of her trench coat.
She senses the danger, from the strangers in the shadows who may be the
murderers, and from the other reporter, who she has had an on-again off-again
romantic relationship with since the cover of <i>Murder</i> <i>Ink</i> <i>1</i>.
Will they get back together someday, and grace the cover of a hot and steamy
romance novel?'<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-67008411797664030082017-11-12T09:53:00.001-08:002017-11-12T11:21:59.117-08:00BEHOLD: THE MAD VISIONS OF AL-HAZRED!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLqKLinRzc7IDKkrcbRUUumt9QGGVw-xwfeJFudVsH00No_r1KdAfnAfVWYxS91NpczfcjJ-u15kp4VZQDnC4tGr3qT-_-_FGgH1YykampXLvTeaaIBWLp9ASVdIeJ9V7Kn5wVm8839H6R/s1600/HazredCover600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="394" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLqKLinRzc7IDKkrcbRUUumt9QGGVw-xwfeJFudVsH00No_r1KdAfnAfVWYxS91NpczfcjJ-u15kp4VZQDnC4tGr3qT-_-_FGgH1YykampXLvTeaaIBWLp9ASVdIeJ9V7Kn5wVm8839H6R/s400/HazredCover600.jpg" width="262" /></a></div>
My 2017 began in a challenging manner. Newly returned from a long hospital stay and working on a novelization of the classic made-for-TV movie I'd been hired to write, <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-light-ship-altares-flies-again.html">The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity</a>, my creative batteries were somewhat depleted. Editor H. David Blalock had rolled out his usual wonderful welcome for me to submit to his third Lovecraftian anthology for the fine folks at <a href="http://albanlake.com/">Alban Lake Publishing</a> -- I'd been accepted into the first two, and this year's focused around the mysteries and horrors concerning the fictional "Mad Arab", <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Alhazred">Abdul Al-Hazred</a>. But ideas for the submission call eluded me, which I found fairly maddening.<br />
<br />
Until I departed on a brisk Friday morning for Massachussetts with good friend and fellow writers' group moderator, Jonathan Dubey. Jonathan had also been featured in the previous two years' releases, and had his Al-Hazred story ready for submission. We were headed south to stay with friends for the weekend, and from there were off to Boston to enjoy the launch party of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Alhazred">Murder Ink 2</a>, a mystery anthology we'd both been accepted into. On the long ride, I mentioned the germ of an idea I had concerning a memorial time capsule being opened, the most I'd managed to come up with before setting out for our big literary weekend. By the time we arrived some three hours later, I had the entire story outlined in my mind. Before Boston and the book party and luncheon, I'd also recorded the rough outline of "For Sale by Owner" on a note card. I dashed off a draft, polished, and made Mr. Blalock's deadline, and my story joins others in Alban Lake's new release, <a href="http://store.albanlake.com/product/the-mad-visions-of-al-hazred/">The Mad Visions of Al-Hazred</a>.<br />
<br />
Many of my fellow authors shared the back-stories behind their stories.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/IdolatersCthulhu">Jordan King-Lacroix</a> on "My Eyes Were Set Aflame": "<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The back-story to my work might seem a bit banal, but
really once I read the prompt, the idea just kind of came. I have always been
fascinated by madness in fiction, and unreliable narrators in general. My
favourite novel is </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">, so that
probably has something to do with it. The complete freedom I had to express
al-Hazred's harrowing experiences was a big draw as well: with Lovecraftian
horror, it's kind of a wonderful 'anything goes' territory."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://paulstjohnmackintosh.com/">Paul StJohn Mackintosh</a> on "The Howling in the Sands": "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">I wanted to use Abdul Al-Hazred’s fictional history to dig
deeper into historic Islam, especially Sufi mysticism. The Jinn have always
appealed to me as entirely credible beings of pure force that could have easily
come to Earth on an iron meteorite. What better source for the mad Arab’s
visions? The faux etymology of the ‘Al-Azif’ gave me all I needed to connect
all of these. I had Muslim friends look the draft over, and they liked it.
Islamic culture has a bad and bigoted press currently, and I wanted to help
redress the balance on behalf of one of humanity’s great traditions. Plus, I
have a Miyazakiesque love of weird flying machines of all kinds. When I
unearthed the Imperial Airship Scheme, and the plans to fly the R101 over
Arabia, that pulled the whole story together."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Bryan Dyke on "The Andalusian": "</span>I
penned a massive term paper in high school on ‘Al-Andalus: the Tragedy of
Moslem Spain’, it was a grand, sprawling forty-page treatise and one of the
biggest papers I had ever written at the time. I remember buying yellow parchment
paper to print it on, so it was a pretty big deal. I think since then I’ve
always been fascinated by that period. For this anthology, I wanted to also
dive into what could drive Al-Hazred insane and push him to write down such a
maligned book. Enter the Yith; who, despite their oft-benign status, were
always one of Lovecraft’s most terrifying beasts. The Yith represent a sort of
twist on the ‘Body Snatcher’ concept and their entire relationship with their rivals,
the awkwardly named ‘Flying Polyps’, was vintage Lovecraftian brilliance.That
set the stage for me to write a sort of two-fisted tale from a villain’s
perspective in and around ancient Damascus in Syria. I wanted the lead
character to be somewhat evil. If not a true villain than a character with
obtuse motivations and morals, that is, ‘mostly’ beyond our understanding, but
not entirely. Thus, ‘The Andalusian’ was born."<br />
<br />
Allen Mackey on "The Buzzing": "<i><span lang="EN">Pssst, hey you, come
here. I have a juicy secret to tell
you...</span></i><span lang="EN">Okay, here's the story behind the story, or as I like to call it: Behind-the-Scenes of ‘The Buzzing’. One
Wednesday morning in late June 2017 I was looking online for for Lovecraftian
fiction markets and found a listing for an original anthology based on the Mad
Arab! The deadline was the next
day. I wrote ‘The Buzzing’ right then
and there in one draft, sent it off and it was accepted. Thank you David and everyone at Alban Lake
Publishing. See you next time."</span><br />
<span lang="EN"><br /></span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://www.jonathandubey.com/">Jonathan Dubey</a> on "The Horrid Fate of Professor Merchant": "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">So I was at a garage sale with my mom, don't judge me,
and I came across some old books. I opened one up because it was so old I
couldn't read the spine and I could smell this musty, dusty, odor. For a
minute I wondered what I'd just taken into my lungs, then something else
distracted me, so I moved on. Some time later, I read the submission guidelines
for </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The Mad Visions of Al-Hazred </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">and that afternoon came back
to me. That was the start of ‘The Horrid Fate of Professor Merchant’. When
I noticed the story becoming too dialog heavy, I chose to try something
different; I cut out everything else. Why not tell a story with dialog and
nothing else? People including the publisher and editor seemed to think it
worked and so it was. Being entirely dialog lent itself well to being an
old-fashioned horror radio show, so I did that too. Listen to it here: </span><span style="background-color: white;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.ghostshipradio.com/the-horrid-fate-of-professor-merchant.html&source=gmail&ust=1510593938879000&usg=AFQjCNGf9u7Hm9txsq2lVgeDyVfcYhB_Pw" href="http://www.ghostshipradio.com/the-horrid-fate-of-professor-merchant.html" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.<wbr></wbr>ghostshipradio.com/the-horrid-<wbr></wbr>fate-of-professor-merchant.<wbr></wbr>html</a>."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://aaronvlek.wordpress.com/about/">Aaron Vlek</a> on "The Prophet of the Black Hajj": "</span>When I saw the anthology call for works exploring possible
origin stories of the Mad Arab Abdul Al-Hazred, to say I was excited is an
understatement of epic proportions. Beyond a few thin references that could be
gleaned from bad Hollywood movies, I had never seen the character of Abdul Al-Hazred
placed firmly within his Islamic cultural tableau. My own lifelong study of
Islam, including a degree, and my personal closeness to many elements of Muslim
practice, as well as being a lifelong lover of all things Lovecraft, gave me
just the opportunity I needed to rectify this and to offer what I believe is a
unique look at what a Muslim mystic who is lured to the proverbial Dark Side
might actually look like in a historic context."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://djtyrer.blogspot.com/p/welcome.html">DJ Tyrer</a> on "The Coils of Apedemak": "<span style="background-color: white;">I wrote ‘The Coils of Apedemak’ because I wanted to look at
Al-Hazred in the early days of his career, when he was still more knowledgeable
than most, yet some distance from becoming the author of the Al-Azif, and I
wanted to take him somewhere beyond his more usual Arabian haunts. So, I took
out an Atlas of Islamic History and began looking at places he could visit and
decided to take down the Nile to the kingdom of Makurria, or Al-Muqurra. As I
researched the region, I discovered the existence of Apedemak, a god of
pre-Christian Meroe and the story coalesced from the wonderful images of the
deity."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Morgan Griffith on "Withered Moon Obsidian Black": "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">I first discovered Lovecraft tales in a used bookstore back
in the ‘70’s. The place was a maze of shadowy aisles where silverfish darted
across walls and soft, degrading cardboard boxes were stacked high with books
at the end of each aisle. It was an incredible, and sometimes disturbing,
treasure hunt. It’s been a while since I’ve read HPL, but the manuscript call
for <i>Mad</i> <i>Visions</i> was intriguing. Research to refresh my memory of Al-Hazred
sparked images of insects and moonlight; a creature in yellow, and the
discovery of his cryptic manuscript. It’s an honor to be included in this
collection."</span>Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-83148725223583407662017-11-04T12:52:00.001-07:002017-11-05T13:46:52.784-08:00BEHOLD: DARK LUMINOUS WINGS!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd0X4Y9rizY0mz4VbD3dJGBADpsKWXqlbod22hiHCUiIfl-zDQIh2TzqMzpTDK3bmzhhLeJ2xyvwi79Xd7BAm3t7nB-OQJV6pzsXO85WA0kCJkGNTbWslAJOqektze1Yte5HzPYZhk2tIs/s1600/DLW+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="432" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd0X4Y9rizY0mz4VbD3dJGBADpsKWXqlbod22hiHCUiIfl-zDQIh2TzqMzpTDK3bmzhhLeJ2xyvwi79Xd7BAm3t7nB-OQJV6pzsXO85WA0kCJkGNTbWslAJOqektze1Yte5HzPYZhk2tIs/s400/DLW+1.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
I have a certain fondness for my dark SF short story, "Alchemy." On December 22, 2016 I returned from a long hospital stay during which I dreamed daily of coming home to family and muse. It wasn't that the latter was acting scarce as 2017 began -- in fact, my constant hospital companion helped me dive almost directly into a big project, the novelization of the classic made-for-TV movie I'd been hired to write the previous October, <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-light-ship-altares-flies-again.html">The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity</a> (I escaped from Room 384 with a tiny scrap of paper covered in notes for the novel and one short story that I penned in first draft on Christmas Day, a long and beloved tradition). But as 2017 unfolded and the weeks progressed, something seemed to be missing.<br />
<br />
My imagination is a new idea factory. Among the results are wonderful ideas and quite a few not-so-pretty ones. I write across a broad spectrum of genres, unable or unwilling to judge the good from the bad from the ugly. They're all my babies, I love each and every one, and I've learned more about writing from difficult efforts than pretty, shiny tales that wrote and sold themselves with ease. No, the problem was that for the first time in a very long time, new ideas eluded me. I thought about writing a story concerning my hospital bed, which tortured me for twenty-three nights, destroyed my spine, and made sleep impossible. I grasped at invisible story threads while translating the movie script into novel format. Nothing. It's not that I didn't have enough banked material to work on once the novelization was done -- I kicked off 2017 with ninety-nine unwritten ideas on note cards. But the new births had waned to nothing following my hospital stay, and a voice inside my skull wondered if the well had dried up. Not so, it turned out. A story about an alien planet and technology discovered in caves and beneath the soil crept upon me one winter day while seated at my desk, and the idea blossomed. I took a two-day break from the novelization to pen a first draft and, upon conclusion, was exhausted -- and unsure if what I had was even of quality. But I let the longhand draft sit, polished it up, and sent it off on its maiden voyage to the fine folks at <a href="http://poletopolepublishing.com/">Pole to Pole Publishing</a>, the wonderful team responsible for last year's magnificent release, <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2016/10/behold-in-cats-eye.html">In A Cat's Eye</a>, who were reading for a new project, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Luminous-Wings-Brian-Trent/dp/1941559204/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509819446&sr=8-1&keywords=Dark+Luminous+Wings&dpID=51BbMDnENfL&preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch">Dark Luminous Wings</a>. Within two days, the verdict came back, "Alchemy" was accepted. And as for that drought? As of November 2017, I've been deluged by thirty-eight new ideas, all but four of which (including a short novel and a screenplay) have already been written in first draft.<br />
<br />
Why this theme?<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;">“[Fellow Pole to Pole publisher] Vonnie Winslow Crist and I
like to read fantasy, science fiction and horror. So, we're always looking for
a theme which allows us to collect stories that will work with any of those
genres. And when we put together a collection, we like to narrow the focus so
that the stories we choose will blend together to form one cohesive collection.
We usually start with a poem -- or an adage -- to give us the flavor of the
anthology. We make a point to include the inspiration when we make our call for
submissions so that authors can keep it in mind when they write their stories,” says publisher Kelly A. Harmon. "</span><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">This worked extraordinarily well for <i>Hides</i> <i>the</i> <i>Dark</i>
<i>Tower</i> and <i>In</i> <i>a</i> <i>Cat’s</i> <i>Eye</i>.</span> <i>Dark</i>
<i>Luminous</i> <i>Wings</i> was inspired by the second stanza of the poem Mors
et Vita by Richard Henry Stoddard:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;">‘Under the awful wings</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"> Which brood over land and sea,</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"> And whose shadows nor lift nor flee –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;">This is the order of things,</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;">And hath been from of old:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"> First production,</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"> And last destruction;</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;">So the pendulum swings,</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;">While cradles are rocked and bells are tolled.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;">What we were expecting was an influx of dragon stories -- and
what we got was altogether different -- which we were ecstatic about. <i>Dark
Luminous Wings </i>does include one dragon story, but it’s not what you’d expect,
we guarantee it. And there are a host of other stories that are equally
fabulous and different -- each including wings."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;">Many of my fellow authors shared the back-stories behind their stories in <i>Dark Luminous Wings.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.nancyspringer.com/">Nancy Springer</a> on "the Raptor": "My good friend and neighbor, a remarkable woman raised in
a circus family, suffered and struggled with cancer for five years before she
died. Her death was recent when I received the invitation to write a
story for <i>Dark Luminous Wings</i>, and it was an event in my life that
required exorcism via words. Around the same time I saw a swallowtail
kite swoop low over my car. These are magnificent birds. Looking up
at its white breast, I nearly drove off the road. In some mysterious and
symbolic way guided by the unconscious mind, the two events mixed to set
off my story. I had to change the bird's markings, but only a
little. The swallowtail kites visit my area once a year, in May, and they
do indeed soar at treetop level hunting for snakes."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.acrowsflying.com/">Todd Sullivan</a> on "Wheels and Deals": "<span style="background-color: transparent;">I came up with
the idea for my story, ‘Wheels and Deals’, years ago while attending
university. The idea was supposed to be for a novel, and I actually wrote
twenty or thirty pages before putting it down. In 2015, I finished my most recent
novel, NATURAL POLICE. When I began to work on its sequel, GWI’SHIN, I decided
to explore some of the less developed subplots of the narrative. One of the
minor characters in NATURAL POLICE is possessed by a darkness that only he sees
and interacts with, and I wanted to give a back-story to the darkness. I
thought back to the idea I had conceived years ago in university and decided to
recycle many of its narrative components to flesh out the history of the dark
entity. ‘Wheels and Deals’ is a short story meant to develop the character of
the dark force that will play a major role in the sequel to NATURAL POLICE.
Readers have not seen the end of the fallen angel from ‘Wheels and Deals’. When
the angel appears in GWI’SHIN, it will be significantly more malignant as it
strives for individuality."</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="http://www.rebeccagomezfarrell.com/">Rebecca Gomez Farrell</a> on "Treasure": "</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">‘Treasure’ is one of the first short stories I wrote after
deciding to pursue writing as a career. It was initially titled ‘Black and
White’ as it was an exercise in exploring how someone with a harsh worldview
might react to encountering people very different from themselves, people who
prize taking care of each other and the greater good over personal enrichment.
The ultimate test in this fantasy fable is Enkid’s, the protagonist. She must
decide what’s most worth treasuring -- the peacefulness and love of the
community she’s discovered or the tangible wealth that could set her for life
back home. Can she overcome the avarice she’s cultivated to survive? Enkid is
quite similar to one of the three main characters in my first fantasy novel, </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">Wing Unseen,</i><span style="background-color: transparent;"> that came out this summer
from Meerkat Press. But their ultimate ends are very different, although both
stories feature a flying menace."</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="https://jasonjmccuiston.wixsite.com/shadowcrusade">Jason J. McCuiston</a> on "The <i>Wyvern"</i>: "</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">When
my wife and I first moved to our new town, I was blessed with the opportunity
to write almost full-time, but also cut off from everyone and everything I’d
ever known. To battle the creeping funk of this new isolation, and to improve
my craft, I decided to create a world to use as my sandbox for writing.
Inspired by my love of the </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">Fallout 3</i><span style="background-color: transparent;">
video game and the horror movie, </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">The
Atticus Institute</i><span style="background-color: transparent;">, I came up with a post-apocalyptic world devastated by
magic and monsters, where I could write in pretty much any genre I like. To
date, I’ve done a high-fantasy story, a western, a military adventure, a sci-fi
tale, a neo-noir detective yarn, and of course the story in question, which is
a blend of steampunk and horror, set in the skies above the Mojave Desert. Like
in Stephen King’s “The Mist,” the real horror is not the supernatural threat
encountered by the protagonist, but rather his ongoing series of bad decisions,
which only makes matters worse. For me, that’s where real fear lives; in the
place where we can no longer trust ourselves to do what is right in a crisis."</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="http://www.dhr2believe.net/">D.H. Aire</a> on "Knight of the Broken Table": "</span>I first wrote ‘Knight of the
Broken Table’ six years ago. A couple of months later I received my first
book contract. I believe there’s a lesson in perseverance here somewhere. You
see, when I wrote ‘Knight’ I had just gotten divorced. Looking to
find myself again, I’d turned to writing and seeking to getting published. That
first published novel I’d actually copyrighted over twenty-five years before.
After a number of rejections, I’d stopped sending anything out. I decided to
just write for myself and as I re-wrote draft after draft, my writing got
better and better -- I just didn’t realize it until my life went into the
toilet, as it were. I then began entering my stories in contests, getting a few
Honorable Mentions in Writers of the Future, and ‘Knight’ came this close to
getting published early on through another contest. The editor wrote me his
reason for rejecting the story, which got a thumbs-up from all the judging
readers but him. It came down to his not liking the tone. So, I took that to
heart and believing in the tale kept honing it. Definitely a lesson in
perseverance and learning to believe in yourself."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3iRlngMKnhtX3-Xt3okF0jK5LXIH3IIEA7-6D09VuIPOIinls_qvQ-TMZEzIpQnRg3uLlhEpTxf3kTKgsCDiIzpXnUYswsJQNddVWWN0ylq0KwAPvmwi9YXB4UkePy_cXPGNu_oCM9wNP/s1600/DLW+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="432" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3iRlngMKnhtX3-Xt3okF0jK5LXIH3IIEA7-6D09VuIPOIinls_qvQ-TMZEzIpQnRg3uLlhEpTxf3kTKgsCDiIzpXnUYswsJQNddVWWN0ylq0KwAPvmwi9YXB4UkePy_cXPGNu_oCM9wNP/s320/DLW+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(the fabulous Ms. Harmon)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007355719203">Nemma Wollenfang</a> on "The Devil You Know": "<span style="color: #1d2129;">I’ve always been fascinated by the way one culture can invade another and,
in some cases, obliterate it, leaving only tantalizing traces of what once was.
You see it throughout history -- when the Romans invaded Britain, when the Old
World colonized the New. Pagan religions are particularly obscure, as most
existed pre-record. Very little is known about them and what </span><i style="color: #1d2129;">is</i><span style="color: #1d2129;"> has
often been vilified and altered by the new order. With ‘The Devil You Know’,
I explored this concept a little -- in my own darkly speculative way -- how one
religion takes over another, how aspects of the former become twisted into a
more abominable light. In this case, my focus lay particularly on dying
paganism in Celtic Britannia. I read somewhere that the Devil wasn’t always
depicted as a cloven-footed, horn-headed, half-beast man. That, however, was
how pagan gods such as Pan and Cernunnos were depicted -- this overlap was
supposedly created by early Christians in an effort to throw the old pagan gods
out of favor and push conversion. While I don’t know how true this is, the idea
is what gave birth to this dark little number."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><a href="http://stevenrsouthard.com/">Steven R. Southard</a> on "Instability": "</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">Seeking
inspiration for a ‘wings’ story, I came across an account of a medieval monk in
England who supposedly flew from the abbey’s tower on a pair of homemade wings.
I’d written plenty of historical stories, but none from the Middle Ages, mainly
because I focus on my characters’ reaction to new technology. I couldn’t resist
the idea of a Benedictine monk attempting to fly. Why would he do that? What
did his fellow brothers and the abbot think of him? The resulting story has its
dark elements in keeping with the anthology’s theme, but also humorous ones.
Some readers will laugh at my unimaginative and skeptical monks. Other readers
will wonder whether today’s society treats its more innovative thinkers any
better in our more enlightened age, as they invent their own metaphorical wings
and attempt to fly."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="http://kellyaharmon.com/">Kelly A. Harmon</a> on what's next for Pole to Pole Publishing: "</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">You’re hearing this first: As an
experiment, P2P is going to publish two reprint anthologies in 2018. One will
be dark science fiction, the other will be dark fantasy and horror. P2P is
still firming up details, but look for that announcement soon!</span> And, of
course, P2P will be publishing their annual new-fiction anthology in October
next year. Vonnie and I have been looking at artwork and dreaming of themes.
We’ll make our pitch to the folks a P2P in a few weeks to see what they think.
P2P will open that call for submissions some time in February. Finally, P2P will be publishing a short book that Vonnie and I
have written about writing for anthologies. (In it, we divulge the secrets of
how to get your work looked at more seriously by editors!) It’s in the final
editing stages now. Look for it in a few months!"</span></div>
Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-52091672757896932942017-10-29T11:21:00.000-07:002017-11-03T07:19:04.787-07:00BEHOLD: DOWN WITH THE FALLEN!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvjDDCFiPGq5JZ1t_Z-UzUY6-eDycDzuUs4X6rvNdQa7GkJUICHOMyLhvzTwWCz3jDC-u5rec1FiMycN39BW6rME5OjKEekL1_l22SdaEK_wFyzZif-Vy9rrY5ejOjemwLdCAIz3wl4lXC/s1600/DWTF+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1119" data-original-width="700" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvjDDCFiPGq5JZ1t_Z-UzUY6-eDycDzuUs4X6rvNdQa7GkJUICHOMyLhvzTwWCz3jDC-u5rec1FiMycN39BW6rME5OjKEekL1_l22SdaEK_wFyzZif-Vy9rrY5ejOjemwLdCAIz3wl4lXC/s400/DWTF+1.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>
On Christmas Eve in 2009, I shot awake in the darkness of our old house struggling to breathe. I'd just experienced one of the most terrifying and memorable nightmares of my life. In it, I was walking along New Hampshire's Route 93, surrounded by devastation and other survivors of an alien invasion. Chasing us was an enormous vortex, which looked like a massive bruise in the sky. A tornado touched down from the vortex, and, right before waking up, I felt myself being drawn up into its maw. My last memory was of looking into the vortex and seeing a hateful alien face, massive, unforgettable, merciless. Dating back to when I was fifteen, the year I had that big <i>Eureka!</i> moment about living the writing life, I've penned an entire short story on Christmas Day. That year was no different. Possessed by the same lingering terror that chased me through the dream, I put pen to paper and bled out the words. By the time dinner came out of the oven, I had a completed first draft.<br />
<br />
I sent out "Vortex" several times in 2010, and had quite a few near misses. As other projects and deadlines drew my focus, I stopped sending the story out -- until this year, when I read the call for <a href="https://franklinkerr.com/">Franklin/Kerr Press</a>'s apocalyptic-themed anthology, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Down-Fallen-Post-Apocalyptic-Horror-Anthology/dp/0998391352/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509296743&sr=8-1&keywords=Down+with+the+fallen">Down With the Fallen</a>. Not long after submitting, I received a glowing acceptance by editor Jordon Greene. <i>Down </i>will soon be released, containing work by an amazing group of authors. Many shared the back-stories behind their stories in <i>Down With the Fallen.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<a href="https://www.franklinkerr.com/authors/9">J.C. Raye</a> on "To Market, To Market": "<i>Justice</i>. Interesting word,
isn’t it? Sometimes, in the darkest place of our heart, we’d maybe like to see
a little more of it rear its head, now and again. For real. For…right. Witness
it <i>dispensed</i> a little more evenly.
More publicly. Over a wider array of <i>truly
worthy</i> recipients. For example, do you secretly wish that driver who ran
the red in front of you would accidentally wrap their Hummer around an oak? No
deaths or injuries or anything like that. Just a trashed car. Well, of course
not! Evil to even think about. Would you love to see that shoplifter discover
an angry scorpion in their jacket pocket, replacing the stolen pair of earrings
dropped there only moments before? Please. What’s a few baubles in the scheme
of things? Ever fantasize about making that <i>oh
so delicious</i> short film, documenting your neighbor’s majestic belly flop
into his pool while still collecting state disability payments? Oh no. Not you.
Not your brother’s keeper and all that jazz, right? But hey, what if there was
someone who could dispense that kind of justice? We’re talking payback folks.
Accurate, swift, righteous. And right to your door."<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://franklinkerr.com/authors/6">Garrett R. Kirby</a> on "The Other": "I
will never forget coming up with my idea for ‘The Other’. I was suffering from
a serious case of insomnia at the time, and it was somewhere around five in the
morning. My alarm wouldn’t go off for another hour, but suddenly, in that odd
state between consciousness and dreaming, I found myself imagining something
that truly horrified me. It was the idea of a mother, carrying two unborn
twins, dying of exposure in a nuclear fallout. The idea was that while she lay
dying, something alien had sprung up in her womb, and began leaching life off
of the fetuss’, creating this symbiotic relationship that caused this thing -- this
Other -- to grow from the radiation, while also keeping the fetuses alive,
meshing with them like some mutant cancer. The thought chilled me to the bone,
and while none of this is directly in ‘The Other’, you do certainly see the
aftermath: a world where these monstrous Others have become the apex predators;
things which must be avoided by the remaining humans at all costs. I also
thought it would be a bit more frightening if that little tumor wasn’t quite so
small anymore…"<br />
<br />
<a href="https://franklinkerr.com/authors/7">Jeremy Megargee</a> on "The Rip": "<i>Limax maximus </i>literally
translates to “biggest slug”, and I’ll be the first to tell you, these slimy
bastards are BIG. Another common name for them is the leopard slug, and if you
live in North America, chances are you’ve seen them sliming across your porch
or your deck on a damp night and leaving a trail of grimy mucus in their wake.<i> </i>If you’re ever bored after midnight,
take a seat and watch their progress. There’s something alien about their
movements. The twisted contortions of their bulging forms mesmerize and repulse
all at the same time. And on some level, if you watch them, you get the strange
feeling that those stalk eyes are watching you right back. I’d watch these
creepy little crawlies as a kid, and I guess something about it resonated, and
that memory became the inspiration for ‘The<i> </i>Rip’<i>.</i> There’s something otherworldly about a
slug, and I did my best to expand upon that concept. Don’t take my word for it.
Watch them. Study them. Marvel at them."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.tobeyalexander.com/">Tobey Alexander</a> on "Thirteen Days": "‘Thirteen
Days’ was born from a whim but ended up being something to test me as a writer.
I’ve always focussed on longer stories and thought I’d challenge myself to
write a short story, it was October so the Halloween mood took me. When I asked
my helpers (my two sons who thankfully often act as my brainstorming medium)
they told me I should write a zombie story. I was worried about being too
cliché and sat down to think how I would want it to be different, a little away
from the norm and yet chilling in itself. I came up with the idea of taking a
first person perspective. Not only did I decide to write a short story where I
normally write novels or novelettes, I wrote in the first person instead of the
third and so ‘Thirteen Days’ became my ‘out of my comfort zone’ tester.
Hopefully, I’ve given you all something entertaining and chilling at the same
time with a little feeling of humanity in a situation where humankind is not
necessarily top of the food chain anymore. That said, what really separates us
from the monsters? I’d guess...not a lot!"<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/client/jack-lothian">Jack Lothian</a> on "Men of Tomorrow": "<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt";">It
was a few years ago, Halloween night. We were making our way home in the wee
small hours. The streets weren’t exactly empty but most of the parties were
over. As we crossed over the main road, we passed a small alleyway and I could
see someone standing at the end it. It was man, dressed in tights and a cape,
an emblem on his front, hair slicked into a S-curl that had got messier as the
evening had gone on. He was staring off into the distance with this look on his
face… it wasn’t annoyance or anger. It was more like some kind of revulsion for
the world he found himself in. Now, I understand that in reality he was
probably a partygoer who’d had one Jäger shot too many and was now dealing with
a rebellious gut, but there was something about him standing there, in the
shadows, in that costume, with that expression of disgust… Anyone with the
power to save the world would have the power to destroy it too, should they be
so inclined. I hope he had a good Halloween anyway."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt";"> <a href="https://twitter.com/mbvujacic?lang=en">M.B. Vujacic</a> on "Freshmint": "</span>‘Freshmint’ draws more
from my own life than most of my stories. I'm a big fan of hookahs, and the
hookah lounges where the story takes place are inspired by actual places in my
hometown, Belgrade. The two male characters are caricatures of me and a buddy
of mine, and freshmint was our favorite flavor at the time I wrote this story.
Finally, as far as I'm concerned, the forearm-length centipedes that live in
South America and hunt bats are among the scariest creatures on Earth. Even the
small, black ones that occasionally find their way into my house give me the
creeps. Fun fact: I'm currently writing a full length novel set in the same
apocalyptic universe in which ‘Freshmint’<i> </i>takes place, so I guess you
could say ‘Freshmint’ is a prototype of sorts. A prototype I'm rather fond of.
Here's to hoping the readers will share the sentiment."<br />
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<a href="https://rohitsawantfiction.wordpress.com/">Rohit Sawant</a> on "The Pack": "Usually when you trace the origin of a story,
you can follow the thread leading to the collision of ideas that sparked it,
but sometimes, like in the case of <br />
<ins cite="mailto:Central%20Computer" datetime="2017-10-29T13:53">‘</ins><span class="msoDel"><del cite="mailto:Central%20Computer" datetime="2017-10-29T13:53">“</del></span>The
Pack’, it’s like waking up to find a mound of puzzle pieces on your doorstep. I
only had a rough storyline, but even in its half-formed state, the characters
and the imagery fascinated me, but most of all I was drawn to exploring how
certain situations were likely to throw a harsh light on the fickleness of
alliances when the chips are down; however, it still felt incomplete so I set
it aside. It wasn’t until I saw this photograph my dad took of a New Jersey
neighborhood when he visited the states late last year that things clicked,
which was odd since the location doesn’t feature specifically in the story, but
in that mysterious way, something about it brought everything together, and I
began work on the piece about these two characters who butt heads in a
post-apocalyptic setting while carrying out a task. Now that might sound pretty
vague but revealing more would only spoil the fun!"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.marvincbrown.com/">Marvin Brown</a> on "Grandfather's Room": "<span style="text-indent: 0in;">I set two ground rules
before tackling my post-apocalyptic tale: first, there would be no zombies or
mutants or aliens. Second, the planet couldn’t be destroyed by nuclear mayhem, climate
catastrophe, pestilence, asteroids, extraterrestrial invasion, or electromagnetic
pulse -- any of the usual ways we get to the end of the world in these types of
stories. Oh, there will be a collapse of civilization and my New Creatures will
roam, but anywhere I can sidestep common tropes of the subgenre I did. I like
the </span><i style="text-indent: 0in;">texture</i><span style="text-indent: 0in;"> of post-apocalyptic
stories: vast man-made structures in ruin, unmanaged nature taking back its
planet, the devastating silence. Most unnerving, though, are the echoes and
footprints and fading photos of the extinct. So, as your tour guide, I aim to provoke
with these time-tested horrors, and point out some new ones as we cross this
dystopian terrain."</span><br />
<span style="text-indent: 0in;"><br /></span>
<span style="text-indent: 0in;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/IrinaDSlav/">Irina Slav</a> on "A Year Later": "</span>My first thought when
I saw the phrase ‘post-apocalyptic anthology’ in the Franklin/Kerr call was ‘Disease!
Zombies! Yay!’ My second thought was ‘Oh, how banal can you get?’ I still
wanted my disease-caused Apocalypse, though, I’m kind of pigheaded with my ideas,
so I looked for a way around the banality of disease-zombies-survival. I left
the disease, dispensed with the zombies as we know them, and decided to make
the story personal. What happens to Haley and Julianne in ‘A Year Later’ is pretty
run-of-the-mill survival in a post-apocalyptic world where every human touch is
death up to one point. For that point, I had to reach into that darkest corner
of my mind when the most gruesome horrors lurk. The horror I pulled out this
time is kind of disturbing but it had to be in the story. There was no other
way, as Haley would probably say."<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.franklinkerr.com/authors/10">Christine Stabile</a> on "Dry Leaves": "This story was born from a nightmare. The kind
that jolts you awake drenched in sweat and sobbing. Unlike most of my vivid
dreams, this one didn’t fade away. It plagued me until it was written and
Jill’s story was told. Was it a glimpse into the future? I hope not. You can
find me on Facebook -- I’d love to hear from you."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.jordongreene.com/">Jordon Greene</a> on "Forbidden": "<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">You
know what I hate more than anything? It's not people who drive too slow in the
left lane, though they do rank near the top of the list, or liars and thieves
even. No, what I hate more than anything is when people use the government to
oppress others who don't follow or agree with their religious views. What is
more high minded than that? ‘Forbidden’ takes this deep distaste for religious
tyranny to the next level in a world that I hope we'll never live in. It takes
a current issue that seems to rile up a lot of fuss in our day and throws it in
the middle of a horrifying political system only a theocrat could appreciate to
make a point. Tyranny is tyranny, no matter what label you put on it. As a
person of faith myself, I don't have a problem with religion, I have a problem
with its abuse.</span>"<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://franklinkerr.com/authors/5">Jessica Clem</a> on "Slits": "<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt";">In the dystopian world of ‘Slits’, the First Battles of the
extremist True Cross militia has eliminated law and order in a small community.
Those who remain must obey their commandments, including participation in the
annual, bloody Holy Arcturus. This gruesome game pits eight randomly selected
people against each other, where they must cut and gut their way to victory
inside the claustrophobic confines of a mega trailer home. This story follows
Charlotte, one of the chosen who is afflicted with PTSD flashbacks. We follow
her from room to room as she battles former acquaintances and neighbors, and
the crazed ringleader known as The Gorgeous Man. She knows whomever remains
will become a member of the militia. But whomever doesn’t... This story was
inspired by a terrifying nightmare of mine. The trailer was original to my
dream, but the extremist mania of the army was inspired by the ‘The Handmaid’s
Tale’, ‘The Long Walk’, and the Crusades. I wanted to the horror to be inside
and out of the trailer, bleeding into every edge of the community. Is there a
world worth fighting for in ‘Slits’? It’s up to YOU, brave reader, to decide!"</span><br />
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Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-23313213793906162592017-10-16T10:45:00.000-07:002017-10-16T12:18:14.091-07:00BEHOLD: HAUNT!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_3pfdeJe0BtJrm-_tGwkWOEKk0LBYV-YWV-z5Jea-p6bxKUbUThX1gy1QWPb5xFbML8MUA_Uw8TesfKPRKeQUenLl7LEKRmvZhaX3JZOMpcvGPm4PgIpnJLrRnVCS4ubPL7x2vbty9_VD/s1600/Haunt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="686" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_3pfdeJe0BtJrm-_tGwkWOEKk0LBYV-YWV-z5Jea-p6bxKUbUThX1gy1QWPb5xFbML8MUA_Uw8TesfKPRKeQUenLl7LEKRmvZhaX3JZOMpcvGPm4PgIpnJLrRnVCS4ubPL7x2vbty9_VD/s400/Haunt.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>
In June 2016, I had the great luck of attending <a href="https://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2016/07/writing-from-nature.html">Writing From Nature</a>, a workshop/retreat set in the wild shadows of Mount Monadnock (which I climbed almost to the summit the autumn I was fifteen). On the Saturday of <a href="http://chriswoodside.com/">Christine Woodside</a>'s excellent weekend experience, she sent us out into the woods without notebooks and pens -- which I found supremely unnerving. We were to walk, observe, and return after an hour. I like to be challenged, and this facet really tasked me. Rarely have I ever found myself without pen and paper by my side. I ambled down to the little chapel near the lake, sitting on a granite bench set beside a field stone wall at water's edge, and was supremely inspired. So much so that I couldn't get back quickly enough to work on my short story "The Shut-in", of which so many details came to me from that one hour sans writing utensils. Over that afternoon and the next morning, I belted out most of the story, about a young man who finds a kind of counterfeit happiness in a haunted lakeside bungalow over the course of a troubled summer. But returning home and to other deadlines, the folder went into the 'works-in-progress' pile on top of the second of the two big four-drawer lateral file cabinets in my Writing Room, and there it stayed until late December. In between my return from Writing From Nature and the time I again picked up the story was a twenty-four day stay in the hospital. The very last completed project of 2016 was "The Shut-in", and only one day following its 'The End' I received a personal invitation from Marie Piper to submit to a new charity project being planned -- <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Haunt-Marie-Piper-ebook/dp/B075HZ2XW1/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1508173256&sr=8-4&keywords=%22Haunt%22">Haunt</a>, which would benefit Chicago-area homeless initiatives. Would I be interested, and did I have anything that fit the particular guidelines? Did I? "The Shut-in" seemed the perfect submission, and it was. Within days of sending it in, I received a wonderful acceptance from Ms. Piper. Tomorrow, my tale appears in <i>Haunt</i> alongside eight others by some of the most talented contemporary writers out there, with a stunning cover by artist <a href="http://www.aleishaevans.com/ren0lf3lhmk0z8icvj866d6pntmc2i">Aleisha Knight Evans</a>.<br />
<br />
Many of my fellow authors shared the back-stories behind their stories in <i>Haunt.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<a href="http://randiperrin.com/">Randi Perrin</a> on "Redemption Hill": "This story was all about stepping outside of comfort
zones. I’ve written paranormal/fantasy romance, m/m romance, and contemporary
romance. I’ve never done anything in the horror vein. So when this project was
pitched to me I was excited, which then gave way to fear. I had written the
project off, and emailed Marie and told her I was too damn busy to do it. The
truth behind that was that I was too damn scared to do it. I can’t write
horror. What the hell had I gotten myself into? Then one day this character
appeared to me, little spunky thing she was. The problem was that she was
seventeen. I. Don’t. Do. YA. It’s my general hard and fast rule. I’m willing to
do all kinds of things, but write about high schoolers? Are you kidding
me? Still, Amelia wouldn’t shut the hell up. Once she gave me her first
joke I knew I couldn’t just bury her and pretend she never existed. As a
result, this story was born, which is everything I said I wouldn’t do: horror,
YA, and not a romance. That’s extra scary for me. If you need me, I’ll be
over here biting my nails while I rock in the corner."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.harleyeaston.com/">Harley Easton</a> on "People Who Live in Glass Sanitoriums": " <span style="background: rgb(241, 240, 240); letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">I often find myself inspired by multiple sources. Elements of places,
stories, and interactions that shouldn’t make sense together sit in my brain
until they gel into something more solid. In my area, there is an old insane
asylum that is rumored to be haunted. It has been the subject of neglect and
vandalism. A beautiful building, the local historical society had been trying
to raise money to save it by offering history walks and haunted tours. At one
point, it was rumored that the asylum might be renovated for a haunted bed and
breakfast location. The city keeps trying to tear it down and sell off the
land, but they haven’t done it yet. The idea of this old asylum’s tenuous fate
combined with the glass brick walls of an early 1920s house in our area and my
teenage fascination, pre-reality television shows, with all things ghost
hunting. Thus came the idea of an old sanitorium turned hotel and paranormal
research center that had a stunning glass wall as a distinctive feature. </span><span style="background: rgb(241, 240, 240);">My characters
came out of real life as well. People will tell you that irritated authors will
write you into their stories. Believe them. In my early twenties, I had a
particularly bad series of dates with an individual who grew into my character
Drew. It took over a decade, and several story revisions, for the character to
soften out to someone likable enough to be the narrator and still flawed enough
to ignore some rather blatant hints about where his actions were leading the
story. In the end, I was much kinder about my character and his eventual fate
than I could have been when I originally conceived the story."</span><br />
<span style="background: rgb(241, 240, 240);"><br /></span>
<span style="background: rgb(241, 240, 240);"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/people/Katey-Tattrie/100009989018883?fref=mentions">Katey Tattrie</a> on "Roommates": "<span style="background-color: transparent;">Ryan Headley loves the outdoors and working with
his hands. After a long search, he finds the perfect house, with land big
enough for his dog to enjoy, for just the right price. But he soon finds out
why; it’s haunted. Would you knowingly share your house with a ghost? What if
it was the ghost’s dream house and it didn’t want to leave? If you could talk
with them, would you hang out like friends? Especially if your dog loves them? Curiosity
soon takes over, and Ryan can’t help but go digging into the ghost’s life,
stirring up stories. Can he find out the mystery, of what has tied it here in
death?"</span></span><br />
<span style="background: rgb(241, 240, 240);"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background: rgb(241, 240, 240);"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13527673.C_M_Peters">C.M. Peters</a> on "The B Room": "</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">Manors. Big ol’ huge manors. I’ve always had a
weakness for those fabulous looking homes but only got the chance to visit one,
Casa Loma. It’s a beautiful Gothic Revival style house in Toronto built between
1911 and 1914. Large bedrooms, huge windows letting the light in, but
frightening at night with all the creaking and wind drafts coming through the
cracks. Although it’s not the setting I used for The B-Room, I kept it in the
back of my mind while I wrote Beth’s story. So, when the time came for a
haunted house story, what better to use a house I’ve visited and was terrified
in -- an 800-meter long tunnel runs under the manor and feels like it’s
suffocating you at every corner. Now add a young woman, which I see as the
lovely Alicia Vikander, suddenly having to deal with his house as an inheritance
and all that comes with it -- even if it might not be of this realm. This is
what I began with and thus ‘The B Room’ was born."</span></span><br />
<span style="background: rgb(241, 240, 240);"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUza8u-wDm5xJTgvSb_zK5PdD9IvbejGCLUzdkDQsCAWKISFuElHV-dkhxDyzoA9Vp0ZjJqkUQKeJ39Y0KP5GXRpalazWn5We4T9dg4XV7CWLrLrud1RQXMRksbEp7VuSuvOKQhBzf2cwQ/s1600/Haunt+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="940" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUza8u-wDm5xJTgvSb_zK5PdD9IvbejGCLUzdkDQsCAWKISFuElHV-dkhxDyzoA9Vp0ZjJqkUQKeJ39Y0KP5GXRpalazWn5We4T9dg4XV7CWLrLrud1RQXMRksbEp7VuSuvOKQhBzf2cwQ/s320/Haunt+2.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background: rgb(241, 240, 240);"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="http://www.mariepiper.com/">Marie Piper</a> on "Jessie": "</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">My story came to me in a roundabout way. It
exists in the same universe, and serves as a sort of epilogue, for my </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">Maidens & Monsters</i><span style="background-color: transparent;"> serial, which is
comprised of classic gothic/horror tales re-told in a Kansas town in 1880. But,
while those books were all based on classics like </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">Dracula</i><span style="background-color: transparent;"> and </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">The Phantom of
the Opera</i><span style="background-color: transparent;">, I decided that Jessie needed to pay tribute to a more modern
horror master…Stephen King. It was inspired by </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">Gerald’s Game</i><span style="background-color: transparent;">, a book that still haunts me to this day (and was
just recently made into a movie by Netflix!) I’ve always been fascinated by the
American west, and the spirit of exploration that sent people crossing the
country to find something new. Jessie and her husband, Daniel, came to Kansas
to be free of prejudice they faced back home. But after Daniel disappears,
Jessie is alone, trapped in her bed in an isolated farmhouse, with only her
thoughts to keep her company. But is she alone? You’ll have to read to find
out."</span></span><br />
<span style="background: rgb(241, 240, 240);"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background: rgb(241, 240, 240);"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="https://siennasaintcyr.wordpress.com/">Sienna Saint-Cyr</a> on "Possessed": "</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">When asked what
my inspiration for Possessed was, I huffed, then promptly felt my cheeks
filling with heat. Normally, I’d have a real answer. Like, </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">I had this experience that I wanted to write about</i><span style="background-color: transparent;">, but not this
time. I really didn’t have an inspiration for this story. I was dealing with
depression and horny as heck at the same time. Thus, a story of tragedy and
sex. While this isn’t the most creative of inspirations, I do connect to the
main character in a deep way. Not only that, but I’m very into tantric sex. So
I brought some of the energy/spirit scenes in to honor that part of me. All in
all, this story was super fun to write. I enjoyed it </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">because </i><span style="background-color: transparent;">it wasn’t heavy in me dealing with trauma through writing,
or rewriting some part of my life I wish had gone differently. It was simply
fun. So for me, this is a huge win! I hope you enjoy my sexy little story of
heartache and pleasure!"</span></span><br />
<span style="background: rgb(241, 240, 240);"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background: rgb(241, 240, 240);"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/S.B.Roark/">S.B. Roark</a> on "By Tethers Bound": "<span style="background-color: white; color: #212121;">Every horror
story needs a memorable antagonist. I am a fan of vampires. The
bloody monstrous kind, no sparkles added. I like my monsters with bite
and unafraid to explore the bloodlust in us all. Vampires have
always been a mirror to humanity, showing us the demons which lurk inside our ‘civilized’
minds. When I wrote ‘By Tethers Bound,’ I asked myself the question ‘What
would it take for a vampire to truly dwell in civilized society?’
Inspired by Jekyll and Hyde and the tales of Jack the Ripper, I decided that
the only answer was that they would have to let the monster out at times.
But what if they could cut out the monster completely and set it free on an
unsuspecting world? Would this person be responsible for the actions
their monster took? And to what lengths would they go to avoid facing
their own personal demon?" </span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-66295604028529829202017-10-11T10:31:00.000-07:002017-10-11T13:32:41.505-07:00The Light Ship Altares Flies Again!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVARxUscoO0xQeL-_CldWoBdhbVBYFiGjBFZDdMChZ5ShNFZBFfYZdEEOp4pdxkVch7gPtopRkdnvxPxyKso4qeLuQz83ddSQVWmAFKDuPGxqE18gxpbh7OuCa34WIU4ousvyCXkVCSfs5/s1600/DAT_final.tif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1247" data-original-width="1600" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVARxUscoO0xQeL-_CldWoBdhbVBYFiGjBFZDdMChZ5ShNFZBFfYZdEEOp4pdxkVch7gPtopRkdnvxPxyKso4qeLuQz83ddSQVWmAFKDuPGxqE18gxpbh7OuCa34WIU4ousvyCXkVCSfs5/s400/DAT_final.tif" width="400" /></a></div>
I was raised on a healthy diet of creatures double features and classic TV science fiction. When I was eleven, sitting cross-legged on the living room floor in the enchanted cottage where I grew up, I briefly got lost in Gerry Anderson's made-for-TV movie, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF6YBU0bqR4">The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity</a>, in which the crew of the light ship <i>Altares</i> launches to nearby Alpha Centauri in search of answers that might heal a dying Earth. I was captivated -- not only by the story and visuals, but by the common DNA the project shared with my beloved <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2011/09/september-13-1999.html">Space:1999</a>, a television show that forever changed my life. <i>Day</i>'s entire adult cast had performed on <i>1999</i> -- Joanna Dunham, <i>Altares</i>'<i> </i>CMO, played "Vanna", Raan's (the late, great Peter Cushing) daughter in the first season episode "Missing Link." Brian Blessed, navigator "Tom Bowen" was "Dr. Cabot Rowland" in "Death's Other Dominion" and Maya's father, "Mentor", in the second season "The Metamorph". And of course, Nick Tate was Eagle pilot "Alan Carter" and fittingly helmed <i>Altares</i> as her captain. I simply loved <i>The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Flash ahead some four decades to a Saturday night in New Hampshire's North Country, where I and several members of my writers' group were enjoying a late September retreat at <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2016/10/two-september-writing-adventures.html">the Waterfall House</a>. After a long, productive day of writing (and exquisite dining!), I retired to my room and found a message from Robert Wood, who, with the late Gerry Anderson's son, Jamie, sought my help in bringing the crew of <i>Altares</i> back to life for a new generation of Science Fiction fans and readers. Would I be interested in writing a novelization of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Byrne_(writer)">Johnny Byrne</a>'s pilot episode script? Feeling both humbled and also daunted by the prospect of adapting a legendary writer's beloved work from script to novel, I said yes. On January 1, 2017 with the movie playing on my laptop's screen, the original script open on the desk before me, and a fresh pad of lined paper and pen in hand, I began to write.<br />
<br />
The going was, at first, slow. But like the light ship's charge across space, I built momentum. Both Robert and Jamie Anderson requested certain additions and enhancements to the story, namely a bigger reason for the crew to willingly enter the black hole at the climax of the original movie. Immersed in the script and the film, I woke late one snowy winter night from a terrifying dream involving the crew and consequences caused by their mission. I found myself reaching for paper and pen in the drawer beside my bed, jotting down rough notes, and in the morning they still stood up. I was able to weave these darker elements seamlessly into the original storyline, thus fulfilling the task assigned to me. Those changes -- and the completed novel -- were praised upon delivery. My novelization of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gerry-Andersons-Day-After-Tomorrow-ebook/dp/B075VCK796/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506953194&sr=8-1&keywords=the+day+after+tomorrow+gregory+norris#customerReviews">The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity</a> was recently published by <a href="http://www.anderson-entertainment.co.uk/">Anderson Entertainment</a> to great reviews and the potential for more adventures to follow.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt;">"The instant the possibility arose to be involved with <i>Day</i>
it felt like an inspirational lightning bolt struck me," says Robert, who proved himself a wonderful editor on the project. "Suddenly my mind was
swirling with possibilities. Being a life-long fan of <i>Space:1999</i>, one of
the things that inspires me most about <i>Day</i> is that it shares a lot of
genetic material with <i>1999</i>. From the cast to the music, production
design, special effects, models, and of course, the script by Johnny Byrne!
Johnny’s connection is of utmost importance, because although the original TV
pilot has certain limitations and is hindered a bit by the educational aspect
that was built into it, I have no doubt that if it had indeed gone to series,
and had Johnny Byrne continued to be involved in it, that it would have gone on
to engage with the same kinds of story elements that he had been exploring in
his episodes of <i>1999</i>. I feel very strongly that <i>Day</i> is a natural inheritor of the <i>Space:1999</i> storytelling
format, just with a smaller crew. The <i>Altares</i> crew, like the Alphans
before them, find themselves unable to return to Earth, lost on the other side
of a black hole (or "black sun" in <i>1999</i>’s case), and at the
mercy of whatever lies ahead of them as they search for a new home in the
unknown depths of space. So I think that the storytelling style, as well as the
feel and look of the show, would have been very much in line with <i>Space:1999</i>.
It really is a bit of a hybrid between <i>1999</i>’s Year One and Year Two, so
all the elements <i>1999</i> fans love about Johnny’s episodes could be
utilized as a launching pad for further adventures of the <i>Altares</i>
crew. I think the relevance of <i>Day</i> lies in its core premise, just
like in <i>1999</i>. It’s a metaphor for life. Just as the Breakaway blast was
the moment of birth for a new tribe of humans -- the Alphans -- roaming the
universe, so too the <i>Altares'</i> journey through the black hole and their
subsequent exit into a new universe represents the birth of another new tribe
of humans (the Altareans?). All of us have felt at one time or another alone or
lost or adrift in our own world, just as they do in their new universe.
Confronting unknown challenges ahead. Making do with the limited resources they
have. Both excited by and afraid of the unknown, but unable to stop the
inevitable movement forward in their search for a new home. Finding strength and
support amongst those closest to you, whether they are family by birth or by
choice. The human will to survive. I could go on, but the point is that there
are a lot of big topics intrinsically tied to the premise of <i>Day</i>, and
immense storytelling potential. There’s a line I remember Johnny Byrne saying
about <i>Space:1999</i> when he came to write the script for the short film <i>Message
From Moonbase Alpha</i> years later. He said, ‘You only have to dip your
fingers into this quirky, magical pool before all sorts of other chemical
things start happening.; I think with <i>The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity</i>
we’re dipping our fingers into that same magical pool, and the chemical
reaction is just beginning."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYa0ixjTwUPgiZswEUzy0b88DbinRNJPIOTEYDAanbn-fzwRA1tsaTkj2b3sleDrHowU_IfzW26ioU1jebuC8g8wwe1YTvkSmJLixs6E7INwN9DdSyR0MgIrTZ01QYEJlZqrIAxggUppn0/s1600/Altares.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="269" data-original-width="347" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYa0ixjTwUPgiZswEUzy0b88DbinRNJPIOTEYDAanbn-fzwRA1tsaTkj2b3sleDrHowU_IfzW26ioU1jebuC8g8wwe1YTvkSmJLixs6E7INwN9DdSyR0MgIrTZ01QYEJlZqrIAxggUppn0/s400/Altares.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(The Altares crew, image from novel)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt;">Throughout the writing of the novelization, it was imperative to me to honor Mr. Byrne by keeping his dialogue intact. Also, I tried to flesh out the main characters, particularly Dr. Anna Bowen and Jane Masters, the ship's copilot. At one point, I felt as though I was with them, not as an observer but along for the actual ride, which I'd experienced way-back-when during the movie's original TV broadcast. There's a paradox central to the enhanced storyline I was asked to create. But another one took place while seated at my desk, and for most of the writing of my adaptation, I was eleven again, which I believe is one of the many great blessings of this particular project. But now once more in the present, is there a future for the <i>Altares</i> and her crew?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt;">"</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">When you look at the core premise of </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">The Day
After Tomorrow: Into Infinity</i><span style="background-color: transparent;"> I think it can work very well as a platform
for modern storytelling that is both exciting and philosophical," Robert adds. "There were
just a couple of key concerns that Jamie and I discussed, agreed upon, and then
subsequently shared as guiding points for the novelization. One was that we
wanted to minimize the overtly educational aspect of the original TV pilot as
it hinders the storytelling and adventure, particularly in the context of an
ongoing series, where you don’t want to have to essentially stop the flow of
the story for a mini-tutorial on E=mc2, or whatever other scientific lesson was
being shoe-horned into the adventure of the week. That really wouldn’t have
been an asset for an ongoing series. Two was that we wanted there to be more
depth brought to the characterizations than was possible in the scope of the
original. They only had 47 minutes, and they had to get from A to B to C, so
Johnny’s script was driven by plot more than characterization. Although there
were warm moments and worries, but there could have been more if there was
additional time. The novelization provided the space to expand the story and
characters a little bit, while at the same time not straying too far from the
original, and I think does that job marvelously. The twist added to the
relationship between Tom and Anna Bowen is my favourite because -- without
giving it away for those who haven’t read the book -- although it’s immediately
obvious the instant you read it in the book, it’s also something that never
would have occurred to most people watching the pilot. It’s a genius twist that
is seamlessly integrated with the original, while also suddenly adding a wealth
of character depth. I love it, and I’m sure Johnny Byrne would have been very
happy with the new life that’s been brought to his old script."</span></div>
Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-32766825701622194092017-05-18T10:50:00.000-07:002017-05-18T11:09:21.740-07:00This, That, and the Other<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiSvNWN2-L5VG8D_XhD61lIRAx1hEXwtY8NgCcb3L3Xx9vcmZNb35SLGOI6Vytfe0RAviO-6RhkyAxEh4SUjbcoAVDaSS7VI6h6kylYvURQ1Ic0aC4UP4wQVqMjpG-ll6GAQgmgp6bovOU/s1600/This+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiSvNWN2-L5VG8D_XhD61lIRAx1hEXwtY8NgCcb3L3Xx9vcmZNb35SLGOI6Vytfe0RAviO-6RhkyAxEh4SUjbcoAVDaSS7VI6h6kylYvURQ1Ic0aC4UP4wQVqMjpG-ll6GAQgmgp6bovOU/s400/This+1.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(writing at the White Mountain Cafe)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My 2017 started on quite shaky ground. I returned from a long hospital stay a mere week before the New Year, barely able to walk following surgery and easily exhausted. But I was also excited by the prospect of what the year would bring, and happier than I thought humanly possible to be home at Xanadu with family and muse. Now nearly six months into 2017, I have plenty to show for the time -- I just wrapped my 1241st work of fiction, a mystery novella, have placed numerous short stories in publications, and will soon depart for my second writing retreat of the year (my fourth if you count two book launches, readings, and signings that took me to Massachusetts), with two more scheduled for June, including my return to the wonderful <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2016/07/writing-from-nature.html">Writing From Nature</a>, where I plan to complete one of my oldest unwritten tales. As for walking? Just try to hold me back.<br />
<br />
Early in the year, I sold a long Science Fiction tale, "South of Human", to the fine publication <a href="http://www.perihelionsf.com/1702/fiction_6.htm">Perihelion Science Fiction</a>. The story is a free read, and <i>Perihelion</i> is one of those credits writers love to show on their resumes. I'm excited to report that a follow-up sale, "The Goldfish", is scheduled for their June issue.<br />
<br />
Often on winter days -- especially when it snowed -- I found myself working in bed, with my right leg elevated and episodes of <a href="http://stargate.mgm.com/view/series/2/">Stargate Atlantis</a> playing on the TV (during my hospitalization, Bruce dvr'ed most of the series when it ran on Comet TV in December). I worked on short and long projects, a screenplay, and submitted manuscripts to editors for consideration. I read of the new literary magazine <a href="http://www.riddledwitharrows.com/">Riddled With Arrows</a> edited by Shannon Connor Winward during one of those luxurious snow days, and submitted my short SF meta fiction, "Lessons in the Garden of Lost Language". I soon heard back with a minor rewrite request. I made those few changes days later while traveling home from the book launch and party of <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2017/02/behold-murder-ink-2.html">Murder Ink 2</a>. The story sold and is presented with some fairly bad-ass writers in <i>Riddled</i>'s debut issue.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj7xCvLykNO-QhAndxfh8etQ_5bFX4L9UWnbAwZOdHuuc3fwgAlwFXw-GBs_AFmOdNmY58cI2ndoUWFm18sBS1eiCNg2vOzkGvxNq40Q8gBF8aRfaov9o7AGrflfQ8po0ku46pUhWH2iwa/s1600/This+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj7xCvLykNO-QhAndxfh8etQ_5bFX4L9UWnbAwZOdHuuc3fwgAlwFXw-GBs_AFmOdNmY58cI2ndoUWFm18sBS1eiCNg2vOzkGvxNq40Q8gBF8aRfaov9o7AGrflfQ8po0ku46pUhWH2iwa/s400/This+2.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(reading from <i>Murder Ink 2 </i>in Boston)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Speaking of <i>Murder Ink 2 </i>-- I owe more to publisher <a href="http://www.nhbooksellers.com/">George Geers</a> and editor extraordinaire <a href="https://danszczesny.wordpress.com/">Dan Szczesny</a> than merely including my sports-themed mystery, "Murder at Channel Ten" in the follow up to <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2016/02/behold-murder-ink.html">last year's release</a>; in a very real way, I credit them with my ability to walk again. During my hospital stay, I was bemoaning to one of the fabulous physical therapists, Claire, how I was likely going to miss the book launch in Boston. In her colorful Irish brogue, she said the launch was still two months off, and I'd sure as hell better plan to attend it. Her passion charged me, and I began to take to physical therapy like it was my religion. Not only did that effort lead to my release from the hospital, but two months later I found myself ambling without the aid of a walker or a surgical boot up the two flights of cast iron stairs to the third floor of Boston's famous <a href="http://www.chart-house.com/locations/boston/menus.asp">Chart House</a> restaurant, which was once John Hancock's office space. There, I signed copies of the anthology, read from my tale, and lunched on an incredible lobster roll, thanks to our generous and wonderful publisher. On the drive into Boston, I jokingly said that I'd order the lobster, even though we didn't yet know what our menu options for the luncheon were!<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkkj8Pe-vY0IjRci82CWiEGCcKhwc4UeMg8otoclYsLuHGQ4ZmHvF9UTiDWstRfxhsWYSDyN9LVcz6Miy1JvJnoR-4dHqYRsGRkwlVfGQDAs6Bs-eu4znFuCxlHKcI2PBZNMNnd-ctbnag/s1600/This+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkkj8Pe-vY0IjRci82CWiEGCcKhwc4UeMg8otoclYsLuHGQ4ZmHvF9UTiDWstRfxhsWYSDyN9LVcz6Miy1JvJnoR-4dHqYRsGRkwlVfGQDAs6Bs-eu4znFuCxlHKcI2PBZNMNnd-ctbnag/s400/This+3.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(with Judi Calhoun and others at the<br />
Whittier Farm and Birthplace)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Earlier in February, I enjoyed a fantastic three-day retreat at a writers' group friend's sprawling manor house a few towns over. With his parents' blessing (they were away on a trip), seven of us wrote, dined in decadence, and enjoyed pizza on Superbowl Sunday -- and watched the New England Patriots win in perhaps the most famous comeback in NFL history.<br />
<br />
During the first week of May, I again traveled to Massachusetts, this time for the launch, reading, and luncheon to celebrate <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Among-Friends-Mysteries-Greenleaf/dp/1545208859/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1495128655&sr=8-3&keywords=Murder+Among+Friends">Murder Among Friends</a>, edited by the stellar <a href="http://goudsward.com/dave/">Dave Goudsward</a>. <i>Murder</i> contains my cozy mystery "Antiques". All of the stories are inspired by the works of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Greenleaf_Whittier">John Greenleaf Whittier</a>, with proceeds going to maintaining the Whittier Farm and Birthplace, where the launch was held. It was my pleasure to again appear alongside the talented <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2013/07/meet-talented-and-luminous-judi-calhoun.html">Judi Ann Calhoun</a> in the Table of Contents. We stayed with our famous friends, <a href="https://sistersdent.wordpress.com/">The Sisters Dent</a>, ate well all weekend, and wrote together for much of those four days in the Bay State.<br />
<br />
And soon, I depart for my fifth stay at <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2012/10/when-words-count-writers-retreat-part-1.html">When Words Count</a>, a luxury retreat center for writers in Vermont. This time around, I'm staying in the F. Scott Fitzgerald Suite, the center's finest room. There, I plan to write on several projects, including the editing for submission of the screenplay I powered through during my winter writing sessions in bed. When not writing, reading, or dining on cuisine by the center's celebrated chef, I'm going in the pool -- and walking the vast grounds. Here's to an even better second half of 2017!<br />
<br />Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-41205864377678494232017-04-10T13:04:00.000-07:002017-04-10T13:10:26.438-07:00BEHOLD: SHATTERED SPACE!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUau_O-6bPltei-e7fzIJYSKo8SAKxzww9S6KMR_oJzn2dvQKBF2dNhF7XjKzX4coiV5kgrBmKNiGuE8fIcTeqv9qIFmajg3syGU2G3pjo3Hcb9paqq0xyUN7zYmTbK-H7TzgM016IaXeu/s1600/Space+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUau_O-6bPltei-e7fzIJYSKo8SAKxzww9S6KMR_oJzn2dvQKBF2dNhF7XjKzX4coiV5kgrBmKNiGuE8fIcTeqv9qIFmajg3syGU2G3pjo3Hcb9paqq0xyUN7zYmTbK-H7TzgM016IaXeu/s400/Space+1.jpg" width="271" /></a></div>
In early September of 2014, I joined many of my wonderful writers' group's members for a long weekend retreat at <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2014/09/autumn-2014-writers-retreat-to.html">the Waterfall House</a>. During that time, my pen moved nonstop, and I traveled unthinkable distances through the magic of the fresh page. One of those destinations was deep space, via a story I committed to writing during the retreat called "The Rats in the Bulkheads". That summer, I'd devoured an old beat-up paperback of Lovecraft's stories, and I got the bug to write a version of his <a href="http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/rw.aspx">"The Rats in the Walls"</a>, which had always terrified me as a young reader (and still does as an adult past his fiftieth year), only my version would be set in the dark wasteland of the unexplored galaxy. Early on the Saturday morning of the weekend, I picked a fresh notepad, put pen to page, and started free-writing a story about survivors of a generational exodus ship far from their new home who discover a threat to their existence, creeping closer from a region of the ship long ago sealed off during the catastrophe that diverted them off course.<br />
<br />
I wrote the story through morning, paused for lunch, and completed it after preparing our big prime rib for dinner and setting it on a slow simmer. By the time the meal was served, I'd completed the longhand draft -- and was looking over my shoulders, unnerved by what I'd written. The perfect market presented itself in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Shattered-Space-James-S-Austin/dp/098486122X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491852005&sr=8-1&keywords=shattered+space">Shattered Space</a> by the fine folks at <a href="http://www.tacituspublishing.com/">Tacitus Publishing</a>. It has been my pleasure to appear in Tacitus' <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2015/03/behold-its-grimm-life.html">two previous anthology releases</a>, and I was thrilled to have "The Rats in the Bulkheads" find such a great home among so many unforgettable tales of outer space terror.<br />
<br />
Many of my fellow contributors shared the back-stories behind their wonderful stories.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://rosen659.wixsite.com/avantgardens">Daniel Rosen</a> on "Little Deaths": "‘Little
Deaths’ is part of a series of stories taking place on driftcolonies
(generation ships). <a href="http://www.apex-magazine.com/anabaptist/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">‘</span></a><span style="color: #1155cc;"><a href="http://www.apex-magazine.com/anabaptist/">Anabaptist</a><u>'</u></span>, about personal
religious faith came out in February 2016, from Apex. In April 2017, ‘The Ship
That Forgot Itself’ will be coming out in <a href="http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">IGMS</span></a>. I've always been
fascinated by the idea of slow space travel, and the way that cultures change
in isolation. ‘Little Deaths’ in particular is an exploration on how taboos
related to death might change if death was no longer a permanent obstacle.
Anyway, I figured murder would probably become a lot more common, and besides
that, how do we form relationships if no one ever dies? Are people really
interested in spending more than one lifetime with another person? Americans
don't seem interested in that, statistically speaking. Would monogamy be
effective if we lived forever? Perhaps. Perhaps not."<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://www.colinhinckley.com/">Colin Hinckley</a> on "Red Shift": "The idea for
‘Red Shift’ came to me in the form of a night terror. A night terror is
different from a nightmare in that while you’re in the midst of a night terror,
you can feel yourself in bed and see whatever invading presence is visiting as
if it were in the room with you. This one was slightly different in that it
wasn’t exactly terrifying. I became aware that I was in bed, swimming out of a
deep sleep, and saw a red square floating in the middle of my room. I could
sense its sentience, but no malice or ill will. It was just a floating, red
square, watching me as I slept. Then it disappeared. This image of a sentient
floating shape followed me around for a few weeks before I put it to paper. The
scale, as with most things I write, turned out to be much bigger than I
anticipated. And I watched with alarm as what started as a red square turned
into a giant red space octagon. The piece came out more or less intact over the
course of a feverish two-hour writing session and much bleaker than I would
have guessed."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://the%20idea%20for%20%E2%80%98red%20shift%E2%80%99%20came%20to%20me%20in%20the%20form%20of%20a%20night%20terror.%20a%20night%20terror%20is%20different%20from%20a%20nightmare%20in%20that%20while%20you%E2%80%99re%20in%20the%20midst%20of%20a%20night%20terror%2C%20you%20can%20feel%20yourself%20in%20bed%20and%20see%20whatever%20invading%20presence%20is%20visiting%20as%20if%20it%20were%20in%20the%20room%20with%20you.%20this%20one%20was%20slightly%20different%20in%20that%20it%20wasn%E2%80%99t%20exactly%20terrifying.%20i%20became%20aware%20that%20i%20was%20in%20bed%2C%20swimming%20out%20of%20a%20deep%20sleep%2C%20and%20saw%20a%20red%20square%20floating%20in%20the%20middle%20of%20my%20room.%20i%20could%20sense%20its%20sentience%2C%20but%20no%20malice%20or%20ill%20will.%20it%20was%20just%20a%20floating%2C%20red%20square%2C%20watching%20me%20as%20i%20slept.%20then%20it%20disappeared.%20this%20image%20of%20a%20sentient%20floating%20shape%20followed%20me%20around%20for%20a%20few%20weeks%20before%20i%20put%20it%20to%20paper.%20the%20scale%2C%20as%20with%20most%20things%20i%20write%2C%20turned%20out%20to%20be%20much%20bigger%20than%20i%20anticipated.%20and%20i%20watched%20with%20alarm%20as%20what%20started%20as%20a%20red%20square%20turned%20into%20a%20giant%20red%20space%20octagon.%20the%20piece%20came%20out%20more%20or%20less%20intact%20over%20the%20course%20of%20a%20feverish%20two-hour%20writing%20session%20and%20much%20bleaker%20than%20i%20would%20have%20guessed./">David F. Gray</a> on "The Stars Denied": "In 1971, while
mucking my way through eighth grade, I ran across a trade paperback entitled
The <i>Shadow Over Innsmouth and Other
Stories Of Horror</i>, by H.P. Lovecraft.
It was tucked away on a dusty shelf in the back of the school library. I
took it home, expecting a collection of run-of-the-mill ghost stories. What I
got was an introduction into what is commonly known as The Cthulhu Mythos. My
mind was not blown. It was nuked. While I can name several authors who have
influenced me over the decades, it was Mr. Lovecraft who stoked that initial
desire to write. Flash forward to 2015 and the New Horizons flyby of
Pluto. Its stunning pictures, coupled
with Lovecraft's story ‘The Whisperer in the Darkness’, collided in my brain
and brought about ‘The Stars Denied’.
While not a part of the Cthulhu Mythos, nor in any way a sequel to “The
Whisperer in the Darkness’, it's DNA is nevertheless steeped in Lovecraft's
hellish visions and the nightmares he gave that middle school kid all those
years ago."<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXMSopTR8drDtig-8rzBTtTS1TNvHiUBiLxziIh9P9g24efXeAzziAPQY9znyktwZJno-2yHMbdSgaW0ttr4PRjhQalyzIrDGwQMygULGJphHxmoQrENGHL2iMUXz2bXniYDThHzwGJG-w/s1600/Space+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXMSopTR8drDtig-8rzBTtTS1TNvHiUBiLxziIh9P9g24efXeAzziAPQY9znyktwZJno-2yHMbdSgaW0ttr4PRjhQalyzIrDGwQMygULGJphHxmoQrENGHL2iMUXz2bXniYDThHzwGJG-w/s320/Space+2.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(interior illo for "The Rats in the Bulkheads)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/james.austin.31">James Austin</a> on "Laundry" and "Heat Lightning": "‘Laundry’ was an enjoyable story to write. The idea started simple enough, someone
doing a mundane task in a futuristic setting.
As you can imagine, it came to me while sitting in a laundromat, wait
for it… doing laundry. Please hold in
the surprise gasps. There have been
plenty of stories that include aliens, starships, and advanced technology
without ever addressing those daily and weekly chores we all dread. This offered my chance to explore my love of
taking a look at the normal elements of life in a setting not typically
observed. ‘Heat Lightning’ emerged from a seed planted long ago, and took a few
years to develop into something I found edible. Living in the Tampa Bay Area, you are exposed to plenty of
lightning. But what I always found so
curious was ‘heat lightning’. It would
dance around in the sky, seeming to come from nothing, and no rain following
the extraordinary display. You have to
understand, Florida storms can be legendary at times. Running from your front door to your car would leave you
drenched, maybe even a little scarred from the traumatic event. But with heat lightning, what really happens
in those peculiar clouds? For this story, I felt that there had to be a number
of layers incorporated to tell one particular possibility, while trying to
balance simplicity with complex tech jargon.
Also, keeping in mind the first rule of writing Science Fiction, never
forget the human condition. With so many
moving parts, writing it was a difficult process and required a number of
run-throughs before getting close to completion. The final result was not even
close to where I expected it to end and I was enlightened from the
experience."<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/tskummelman/">T. S. Kummelman</a> on "The Space of Gods": "When James first
told me about the theme of the book, I figured this one would be easy. Horror and science fiction -- my two
favorite genres! I immediately thought
of Lovecraft; so much of his horror has a Science Fiction element to it, the
leap to horror in space (opposed to his usual theme of horror <i>from</i> space) was automatic. The challenge was keeping to the
Lovecraftian elements: madness, terrifying oppressiveness, the need for the
voice of the story to not necessarily meet a happy end…working these elements
in was the challenge. My original draft
was too descriptive -- another Lovecraftian touch which, in this case, did not
work so well. Taking a hint from
certain Hollywood storytellers, I opted to keep the horror itself ‘off screen’,
as it were. I gave minimal description
of the ‘monster’ itself, which allowed me to keep some of the mystery. I managed to keep to my original idea, which
was basically ‘tentacles in space’ -- most of my stories never turn out the way
I originally intended, but ‘Gods’ was (pardon the pun) a beast unto itself."<br />
<br />
Brett Parker on "Space Cookies": "I got the idea for
this story on a flight into Bangor, Maine.
The plane had descended through a cloud bank, which seemed pretty
frigging big to me. I mean, we entered
the dang thing as soon as we started our descent, and it felt like we were
flying into Carpenter’s <i>The Fog</i> or King’s ‘The Mist’. Sure enough, we come out of the clouds and
the runway looks to be about a hundred feet below us. Made me wonder: ‘what business did this cloud have being that
close to the damned ground?!’. So I put
a cloud where there shouldn’t be one -- in space. The rest was balls-to-the-wall sarcasm; if there could be a cloud
in space, why not a bunch of smart-asses, too?
The bitch of this story was the ending -- re-wrote it five times before
it finally felt right. That final
ending was nothing like the other four, as all the others had a previously
unseen character “returning” to the ship.
I had the right idea, just the wrong freaking character… "<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-49184861594919440382017-03-26T13:10:00.001-07:002017-03-26T13:10:59.473-07:00Meet the Talented and Luminous Kyle Rader<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhR1nDknb_60pmFdssjorg_IazS1wFZpJmL55iP9IPWqWQTLqFpyqjiHZXZ-3GpsmE8gbIptBxBPyQHP7lkfttgR6Xg7Ht8sN0-lWGsunoWwE1M3u5ZDxJZjfC9y6xbgHmkV0YqERc1cJ1/s1600/Kyle+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhR1nDknb_60pmFdssjorg_IazS1wFZpJmL55iP9IPWqWQTLqFpyqjiHZXZ-3GpsmE8gbIptBxBPyQHP7lkfttgR6Xg7Ht8sN0-lWGsunoWwE1M3u5ZDxJZjfC9y6xbgHmkV0YqERc1cJ1/s400/Kyle+1.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
Six years ago on one of those scorching August dog day Wednesday nights I remember so fondly, I had the pleasure of meeting a young writer eager to learn the business side of the literary life. I was immediately impressed by both his chops and his passion for the words -- he shared a chapter of his first novel, and was receptive of the feedback provided by the members who make up the divine experience that is <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2013/02/wednesday-lovely-wednesday.html">the Nashua Writers' Group</a>. As the weeks progressed, I grew more fond of Kyle Rader -- the writer with, I often say, the most action-y/adventure-y byline ever. My new friend listened, worked to improve, shrugged off criticism, and put down the pages. Soon after joining the group, he began to submit his short fiction. Not long after that, Kyle earned the first of numerous acceptance letters.<br />
<br />
Before our move north, Kyle started work on a Western/Horror hybrid novel about a triggerman trapped in a dangerous town in a blizzard who finds himself stalked by five of his mortal enemies, and with only four bullets to defend himself. It was my pleasure to hear early chapters during Wednesday writers' group meetings, the occasional Sunday party, or at the Friday night literary salons held at our former apartment with friends and food. Kyle finished <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Four-Bullets-Kyle-Rader/dp/1944044485/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1490557172&sr=8-1&keywords=Four+Bullets">Four Bullets</a> after our move (while also penning new novels, novellas, and short stories at an admirable pace), and the novel found a home at <a href="http://sinistergrinpress.com/">Sinister Grin Press</a>. It was my pleasure to sit down and talk with Kyle about Drake Travis, the shadowy lead in <i>Four Bullets</i>, his process, and what he's got in store for the future.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><u>I love your novel. Bold,
unapologetic, beautifully written. What’s the genesis behind your original idea
for <i>Four Bullets</i>?</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
Thank you very much! <i>Four</i> <i>Bullets</i> is a
source of pride and pain for me. Pride, because, it is my debut novel,
obviously. Pain, because it took me so damn long to complete! The seed of the
idea that became <i>Four</i> <i>Bullets</i> actually started as a dream, as
clichéd as that sounds, it is true. The dream, which I scribbled down on some
piece of paper I’d been using to capture story prompts and ideas (I now use my
Idea Notebook), was quite removed from the end product of the story. In the
dream, it took place in a desert, kind of like any Western town you’ve seen in
the countless movies/TV shows that have come before. And, in the dream, the
story played out as one long action sequence, so, all I knew was that the
protagonist was released from a jail cell, given a gun with four bullets and
told to head out into the town square and defeat five people. I thought the
idea was cool enough that I decided I would turn that into a short story. This
was fairly early on in what I am considering my ‘professional’ writing career,
meaning, I was writing with the expressed goal of being published, so I was
fairly green. When I sat to write the story, I fully intended to make it as
close to that dream as I possibly could. However, when I sat down to outline --
I used to outline ALL my works, not just novels -- I rolled my eyes at how
clichéd it was. A Western in the desert? Really original. The hero saving the
day? Played out. So, I made the decision to change the setting from the summer
and the desert to the dead of winter in the middle of a blizzard. It was that
simple really. Coming to create Drake Travis, the Devil’s Claw, Captain Marsden
and the rest of the cast, was trickier. I realized that making the protagonist
the hero of the story was boring to me. All I could think of was Dudley
Do-Right and I nearly abandoned the story altogether. I then remembered, of all
things, reading a story arc in <i>Action</i> <i>Comics</i>, where the
protagonist was Lex Luthor, and not Superman. He was still the evil guy you’d
expect, yet, he was written in such a way where he got to do all the villainous
things, and still be the one you were rooting for! I took that principle and
decided to apply it to <i>Four</i> <i>Bullets</i>, and, thus, Drake Travis came
to be. So, kiddies, if you ever wanted to know how to write a villain as your
protagonist, there is your answer. Surround him or her with people that SEEM
much worse by comparison. They may NOT be worse, but your audience just needs
to think they are, otherwise, they won’t stay onboard with you as you make your
character do terrible things. Anyways, it quickly became apparent that a short
story wouldn’t be able to cover everything I wanted to say, so <i>Four</i> <i>Bullets</i>
became a novella, and was COMPLETED as one, actually, until I went over it
again and realized that I STILL had more to say, and had to add more in. The
entire process of writing took longer than I feel it should’ve, but it taught
me a lot of about writing longer pieces and outlining and editing that I use to
this day.</div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>In Drake Travis, you’ve created a hell of a
protagonist. Not necessarily a hero. A flawed man with blood on his hands. And
you clearly had a great deal of fun writing for him. When Hollywood casts
Drake, who do you want in the role?<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP7CqF174fJNRo6E9Q4jnywWqsInHYDJ1GeQZTotFhfHUBafURVEGgVSNueqoXnVMt414WULGwTxEQc1CulP9LZggRTZ-YRple2dR7_6Mw7nVu-1VJHAyWAqFYSbutuLDO_stWp3UnnJm8/s1600/Kyle+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP7CqF174fJNRo6E9Q4jnywWqsInHYDJ1GeQZTotFhfHUBafURVEGgVSNueqoXnVMt414WULGwTxEQc1CulP9LZggRTZ-YRple2dR7_6Mw7nVu-1VJHAyWAqFYSbutuLDO_stWp3UnnJm8/s400/Kyle+2.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ah, the question every writer asks
him/herself about their stories! It’s certainly a fun one to ponder, that is
for sure. Physically speaking, Drake Travis is rather unassuming. I essentially
modeled his physique after my own, in that, he’s your average height and fairly
lean. Not exactly the kind of person you think of when it comes to gunfights
and action, which was my point. There is an actor, of whom, I actually never
considered would make a good Drake until fairly recently and now that he’s in
my head, I can see Drake as being anyone but. That guy is named Ben Foster.
You’ve most likely seen him in many films, but the one that really, really
stands out, at least for me, is <i>30</i> <i>Days</i> <i>of</i> <i>Night</i>,
based on the graphic novel by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith. The movie
itself, is all right; good, but doesn’t quite reach the heights that the
concept allows for. Ben Foster is only in two or three scenes and, in those scenes,
completely steals the entire movie. He makes a lot of interesting choices in
his acting and I feel he’s got the look, but the depth of his craft to ‘get’
who Drake really is. On paper, Drake Travis is just a psychopathic killer. The
ultimate bad guy. In reality, he’s so much more. I don’t consider him to be
evil, because I don’t consider him to truly be human. Earlier drafts of <i>Four</i>
<i>Bullets</i> had Drake with a lot more humorous things to say, but I cut a
bulk of them because I wanted to really strip him down and see how it played,
and, I think it played out quite well.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>You know I’m a fan of your work. Where can readers
read your short fiction?<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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The easiest place to track down my
stuff is to go to my website: <a href="https://kylerader.net/">www.kylerader.net</a>. I’ve got a section for all my published
works there, and, I’ve even got a couple of freebies I created exclusively for
the site up as well! So, hit me up over there and leave me some love.</div>
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<u><b>Would you share with readers the story of your Idea Notebook?
I’m always so impressed to see you flipping through that monstrosity!</b></u></div>
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Before I got serious about writing, if I had an idea, I’d
scrawl it down (FYI: I have the WORST penmanship. It’s embarrassing!) on any
random piece of paper I could find. In fact, I wrote down an idea for a short
story two years ago on the back of a receipt from a brewery and I still have
it! (story should be coming out soon, too!). As one can imagine, this becomes
problematic from an organizational standpoint. While some people enjoy chaos,
and even thrive in it, it simply wasn’t cutting it for me. So, I went out and
bought a three-subject notebook and began to transfer some of the more
prominent ideas into it; I also shoved some of the random scraps inside of the
pages as well. I started using this notebook to not only capture new ideas for
stories, but to outline them as well. In fact, the first outline of Four
Bullets currently exists inside Idea Notebook Number One, I’ve a second one
that I’ve been using for the capture of new ideas, a beautiful, one-of-a-kind
one made for me by the uber-awesome <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2013/07/meet-talented-and-luminous-judi-calhoun.html">Judi Calhoun</a> (NAME DROP!!) I’ve toyed with
exactly HOW I log things into the notebook over the years, but my main entry is
really just to write down a sentence or two that describes the idea I’ve had.
Most times, I am lucky enough to even come up with the title of the story along
with the idea, so that will go in as well. For example, that story I mentioned
that I wrote on the receipt? I came up with the title at the same time as the
idea because it was taken directly from something my wife said at the time I
wrote it. She was speaking about how, when she was a child, they’d buy honey
from this old man who lived at the top of this windy hill down in South
Carolina. ‘Let’s go see the honey-man!’, is what she said, and that is what the
story is named. FYI, if you’re looking for a quaint story with a happy ending,
you won’t find it in that one.</div>
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<u><b>You often juggle numerous novel projects. What are you
presently working on, and what are your writing plans for 2017?</b></u></div>
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Writing hasn’t been coming as easy
to your old pal as of late. Been a bit distracted by life, the day job, and all
that comes along with it. Lately, it kind of feels like pulling teeth when I
sit down to get some of my REAL work in, yet, I press on. Even if its only two
hundred words in a couple hours of work, that is still two hundred words down
in my story that weren’t there before! I’m planning on an ambitious 2017. I’m
currently at work on four novels, and am putting the finishing touches on a
fifth, which my goal is to begin submitting for consideration early next year.
I have this desire in me to be able to stop the daily grind of corporate work
and write for a living, and, because of that, I’m taking on so, so much more
than I used to, writing-wise. It’s a double-edged sword, of course, because
that very ambition pushes down on me too hard, as it is lately, I think, and
then I become far too hard on myself and get in a mind-set where I am
counter-productive and am not getting ANYTHING done! I’ve also a novella that I
am shopping around, which I hope to land a home for shortly! Fans of <i>Four</i>
<i>Bullets</i> may not recognize these stories, as they range from
transgressive comedy all the way to crime fiction, but, the same bold,
unapologetic style that I have is still present, of that I can guarantee! I’m
very punk rock/heavy metal when it comes to my writing, at least, in attitude,
anyway.</div>
Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-29220437526632692562017-03-19T12:56:00.000-07:002017-03-19T13:05:02.178-07:00BEHOLD: THIS WISH TONIGHT!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This past Christmas was, perhaps, the best of my life. I spent almost the entire month of December hospitalized, struggling to recover from surgery. On December 22, the morning after the shortest day of the year, I pulled up to our home, lovely Xanadu, after twenty-four days away, and stepping into the house was like opening the biggest, most wonderful gift ever. Slowly and unsteadily, I moved from room to room, balanced on a walker (less than two weeks later, I abandoned that extra set of legs completely). During my hospital stay, I thought nonstop of spouse, cats, and Muse (who, I imagined, spent every second with me during my time away from home). Christmas was only three days later. We celebrated it with an amazing dinner, the first movie I'd seen in a month (we watch movies every Saturday night when I'm not traveling), savored the new propane 'wood stove' and its luxurious heat (it had been installed mere days before my hospitalization), and the gift of our small family's reuniting beneath the protective roof of our home. On Christmas morning, I wrote a story -- a long tradition I've maintained since I was fifteen. Yes, the best Christmas ever!<br />
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Waiting for me upon my return and adding to the joyousness were my beautiful contributor copies of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/This-Tonight-Mischief-Corner-Collections/dp/1540736679/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489950824&sr=8-1&keywords=this+wish+tonight">This Wish Tonight</a>, a holiday-themed anthology by the fine folks at <a href="http://www.mischiefcornerbooks.com/">Mischief Corner Books</a>. <i>Wish</i> contains my novelette-length story of M/M love set during one troubled Christmas, in which a glass artist and a fireman meet, fall deeply in love, and ultimately solve a series of hate crimes in their fair New England town. The story came to me back in the summer of 2000, when I saw a neat magazine piece about a glass artist on TV's <a href="http://www.wmur.com/chronicle">New Hampshire Chronicle</a> (which would, years later in 2013, run a segment on <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2013/06/my-new-hampshire-chronicle.html">my writing career.</a>). At the end of last July, during a NaNoWriMo spell in which my pen was on fire, I dashed off the first draft of "Fear of Fire", a story I'd wanted to write for so long. It was accepted and appears with two other holiday-themed tales within the covers of an exceptional book. My fabulously talented co-authors shared the back-stories behind their stories in <i>This Wish Tonight.</i><br />
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<a href="http://wendyrathbone.blogspot.com/">Wendy Rathbone</a> on "Eve of the Great Frost": "My stories and novels often start with one image in my mind
and go from there. Many of my stories come from phrases in my own poems. For
this tale I was inspired by a December poem I wrote with images of a gothic
castle made of ice, black carriages delivering party-goers and cloaked kings,
and snow all around like rippled white satin. This was a seat-of-my-pants tale,
meaning I had no outline, just an idea of a young man who has trained hard to
become the perfect erotic holiday gift fit for a king. Because I love science
fiction settings, I created a slice of alien culture with a ritual of giving
people as holiday gifts to royalty. I set the story in the far distant future
where the galaxy is human-colonized, and where starships and faster than light
travel are taken for granted. Toss in the gothic images from my poem, mix them
up with future technology, a grand party, and a male/male romance and everything
started to come together. Many of my novels and poems are set in this future of
mine which I call my Starshiptopia universe. It is not all that important to
know that, though, when reading this story. It simply stands alone as a tale of
a man who has high hopes and a single wish to become the king’s chosen on a perfect
night of winter beauty and celebration…and then everything goes wrong. In spite
of all that, he perseveres and ends up with a night to remember. A wish
fulfilled."<br />
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<a href="https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com/">J. Scott Coatsworth</a> on "Wonderland": "<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222;">I'd wanted to do a holiday story for this
anthology since I saw the original call. But I didn't have time. Then the
deadline was delayed a couple weeks, and suddenly I had a little space in
my writing schedule.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> I tried (I really did) to make this a standard
contemporary story, but it turns out I am just constitutionally incapable of
writing a regular romance. So my story morphed into a post zombie
apocalypse, midlife crisis, OCD romance. The OCD part necessitated
a bit of research, so I ran the story by a few friends with OCD experience --
one therapist and two folks who have dealt with it in their own lives. I
did learn an awful lot about it, too, including the fact that OCD can be
brought on by a strep infection that goes to the patient's brain, a fact I
used in the story. It has a cool name -- PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune
Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcus). And of
course, i set it in rural Montana, a place I've never been to. So I got to look
for a little town that would suit my needs, and to research it down to the
last gas station, drug store and (now empty) grocery store. I really
enjoyed writing a character with OCD -- it was a stretch for me as a writer.
And I also enjoyed writing a love story for characters in their forties.</span><span style="color: #222222;"> Love shouldn't be limited to
twinks."</span><br />
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Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-27874835856236801652017-02-19T11:15:00.001-08:002017-02-22T06:22:18.862-08:00BEHOLD: MURDER INK 2!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUInKNrF7ruw-NFd8LFDY9Dq8aClqFgy_zDeRwai98n541vjORZfQzhdR0GLDDVDQ5YxjOYZj5S0qcgyT5Gob8QBKtfQFiEYo4ZeRFJf_Q45VZTy7cy_7IezY7-TWGVI-8xsC6eNb9bIxf/s1600/MurderInk2_Cover%2528Front%2529+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUInKNrF7ruw-NFd8LFDY9Dq8aClqFgy_zDeRwai98n541vjORZfQzhdR0GLDDVDQ5YxjOYZj5S0qcgyT5Gob8QBKtfQFiEYo4ZeRFJf_Q45VZTy7cy_7IezY7-TWGVI-8xsC6eNb9bIxf/s400/MurderInk2_Cover%2528Front%2529+%25281%2529.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
For fifteen years, I wrote sports/action & adventure/celebrity features for the late, great magazine, <a href="http://www.outgatemedia.com/portfolio_husa.php">Heartland USA</a>. During that time, I covered such diverse topics as the X-Games, building demolition, the Softball World Series, and the Cape Cod Baseball League. I conducted one story from the dugout at Fenway Park, did a ride-along with the U.S. Coast Guard (a float-along?), and interviewed such notables as Keith Olbermann, Guy Fieri (for a special football tailgate grilling story), <i>Dirty Jobs </i>star Mike Rowe, PGA golfer Boo Weekley, and the bad boy of bowling, Pete Weber. I also had the joy of appearing in the second-largest men's general interest magazine after <i>Playboy</i> -- <i>Heartland USA </i>boasted a bi-monthly circulation of 3.5 million issues.<br />
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During one of those late nights writing to deadline for the magazine, I fell asleep at my desk with ESPN playing in the background (in 1999, I was invited as part of a select group of reporters to the sports giant's 20th Anniversary party, held at ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut). I jolted awake and immediately reached for pen and a blank note card, upon which I recorded an unforgettable dream about a former Major League pitcher, his career derailed by injury, who is brought aboard at a big sports network to help its media director determine whether a series of seemingly natural deaths are really the work of a murderer. This past June, camped on my sun porch, I long last penned 'Murder at Channel Ten', and fired off the edited draft to <a href="http://www.nhbooksellers.com/_p/prd1/4599476861/product/murder-ink-2">Murder Ink 2</a>, edited by <a href="https://danszczesny.wordpress.com/">Dan Szczesny</a> (my tale of small town crime, "Exhuming Secrets on a Hot August Day', appeared in the first <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2016/02/behold-murder-ink.html">Murder Ink</a>). Submitting a story set in a sports network newsroom was something of a risk -- though 'Murder at Channel Ten' technically adhered to all of the guidelines. The risk paid off, and my story now appears in an impressive Table of Contents.<br />
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Many of my fellow <i>Murder</i>ers shared the back-stories behind their stories.<br />
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<a href="https://sistersdent.wordpress.com/">Karen Dent</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheSistersDent/">Roxanne Dent</a> on "The Werewolf Murders": "Many of
the same characters Karen and Roxanne Dent created in, ‘The Death of
Honeysuckle Rose,’ Volume 1, <i>Murder</i> <i>Ink</i>, insisted they be
included in Volume II and ‘The Werewolf Murders’ was born. The story takes
place three years later, April 1948. The war is over and big changes have
occurred in Portsmouth, NH. Peace and prosperity are on the rise, along with a drug
trade snaking its way up north. Ruby, promoted to senior crime reporter, is checking
out a lead down at the docks, when a particularly savage murder occurs. The howl
of a wolf, vicious lacerations, and an eyewitness who swears they saw a werewolf,
has all the earmarks of a sensational exclusive. But Ruby doesn’t believe in
the supernatural, and follows the twisted trail of clues straight into the jaws
of a brutal murderer."<br />
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<a href="https://dcrothman.wordpress.com/">Dan Rothman</a> on "The Devil's Tail": "The first newspaper in the Americas was printed in Boston in
1689. Exactly one issue of ‘Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick’
was published before it was shut down by the government. (The Governor and
Council complained of ‘sundry doubtful and uncertain Reports’; i.e., fake
news.)<br />
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I read all four pages of ‘Publick Occurrences’, curious to
see what was of interest to the 17<sup>th</sup>-century reader. I was not too surprised
to find a story which began: ‘A very Tragical Accident happened at Water-Town’ --
a story which ended with an Old Man swinging from a rope in his own cow-house!</div>
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Tales of untimely death have sold newspapers for hundreds of
years. One such untimely death was that of John McLaughlen, who was found dead
in the well of his New Hampshire tavern in 1787. My story ‘The Devil's Tail’
imagines how an early newspaper might handle John’s tragical accident. Warning:
the tavern-keeper may not be the only character who shuffles off this mortal
coil!"</div>
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O. Lucio d'Arc on "Obituary Mambo": "My first story in <i>Murder</i> <i>Ink</i> Vol. 1 was ‘One
Way Dead End’ and many of the characters are the same in my second story, ‘Obituary
Mambo’ -- the title of a Tom Waits song, by the way -- which is in <i>Murder</i>
<i>Ink</i>, Vol. 2. A key line in the story is, ‘Some things are worse than
reading your own obituary.’ The main character, the reporter Randy Dixon, is
the same but the real star of this story -- which includes murder by cremation
-- is a cadaver dog, Boner. A lot of the action takes place on Cape Cod. This
story also includes an ‘erotic’ sex scene between the reporter and the female
publisher. As far as writing goes, I write when I feel like it, morning, noon
or night, with no particular schedule. Every time I work on a story in
progress, I start reading it from the beginning, changing phrases or actions or
characters as I go, until I get to where I left off the last time and then I
continue from there. That eliminates a lot of the bumps in the narrative. For my second story, for
the first time I thought a little bit ahead and doped out in my mind where I
wanted the story to go. For my third one, ‘Beta Theta Pie Man,’ written but
unpublished, I actually made a list of the characters so I could keep track of
them. Some of the fiction in my stories is based on real life, because it’s
always better when you write what you know. In ‘Obituary Mambo’ I’m actually
two people, the reporter and the old guy helping out his son at his breakfast
restaurant. The third book in the Randy Dixon trilogy, ‘Beta Theta Pie Man,’
also has a lot of noir and pulp fiction elements: atrocious murders of innocent
young people, a women’s rugby team that’s into human sacrifice, a little
mutilation, a secret symbol taken from a Kurt Vonnegut book. I am currently
working on another work, ‘Kindergarten,’ which is a first-person account of a
woman who stumbles into a series of gruesome murders."</div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/BostonGlobeMark">Mark Arsenault</a> on 'Hashtag Splat': "<span style="background-color: white;">I
started working on my story idea for ‘Hashtag Splat’ back in the 1990s, when
I was working in Lowell, Mass. Driving around the city, you’re always crossing
one of the bridges over the Merrimack River. One time I started daydreaming
about a scenario in which a man climbs to the top of one of those bridges and
demands to talk to a reporter. For seriously the next 20 years or so, I would
be reminded of this idea every time I drove over a bridge -- any bridge,
anywhere. And I’d slip back into that daydream. What makes this a good idea for
a story is that the situation immediately brings up a lot of whys. Why would he
climb up there? Why would he want to talk to a reporter? These are the kind of
questions that drive a narrative forward, and pull readers along. I dropped my
characters from </span><i>Murder</i><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><i>Ink</i><span style="background-color: white;"> 1 into this situation and let them
figure out the whys. Not that I want to make it sound easy. It wasn’t. This
story was written by the trial-and-error method, and that’s a grind. Too bad I
didn't daydream an ending 20 years ago."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://judithjanoowriter.blogspot.com/">Judith Janoo</a> on "Bitter Pills": "</span>I grew up watching
fishing boats come in and out of our small Maine harbor. When the opportunity
arose to write a mystery story for possible publication in <i>Murder</i> <i>Ink</i>
<i>2</i>, my mind was already climbing over the rocks to get to the sea. ‘Bitter
Pills’ scratches the surface of quirky, gutsy, eccentric characters that
inhabit this coastline. It addresses the fact that fishermen, when the fishing
grounds are depleted, have no one to bail them out. The ocean belongs to no
one, and there’s international competition, too, for its dwindling resources. Ted
Holmes, aspiring to be the Michael Moore of the Maine Coast, bought the local
weekly newspaper. The news thus far in this fishing town consisting of who
launched the longest mid-water trawler, caught the most herring, or took in the
most stray beagles. But now, out of the blue, Ted finds himself investigating a
disappearance, and uncovering the story behind a murder. This was so much fun
to write. There’s something about a dead body that gets the ink flowing."</div>
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<a href="https://srichardwilkcom.wordpress.com/">Stephen R. Wilk</a> on "Unexpected": "There are two roots for my mystery ‘Unexpected’. The setting in a small
New England newspaper office derives from my own experiences in small papers
and magazines, all of which were pretty grungy and kind of cheap. It was light
years removed from the classy, polished world of publishing portrayed in the TV
series <i>Name of the Game</i>, with their
pristine offices in a mid-town Manhattan high-rise. In particular, I was
inspired by a university magazine my mother worked for, which ran out of two
old Army Barracks buildings at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, with creaking wooden
floors, temperamental heating, and the presence of their mascot, Kelty the
Retarded Dog. I thought that title a little un-PC, so I changed it and made him
a cat. The other root was a supposedly true story I heard from someone at a
research lab I worked at. I’ve since learned that a similar story has been told
about other research labs, so this might simply be a science-tinged urban
legend. I had actually written it up, but couldn’t figure out where to use it
until the call for submissions for <i>Murder
Ink 2</i> came along."</div>
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<a href="http://www.writeramyray.com/">Amy Ray</a> on "Kittery Killer's Club": "This story revisits the characters from ‘A Nose For News’
which was featured in the original <i>Murder</i> <i>Ink</i> anthology. Kay
Leavitt works for a small weekly -- much like the newspaper I worked for ten
years ago as a reporter covering the ‘exciting’ school board and town meeting
beat. Kay prefers mundane news, but murder seems to follow her, as it did the evening
of her writers’ group meeting. For many years, I’ve been privileged to be in a
group of talented writers who critique my work, including this short story (and
my upcoming mystery/thriller <i>Color</i> <i>of</i> <i>Betrayal</i>, due out
next year from Barking Rain Press.) Kay’s group, which includes her boss Wayne
and his faithful pug companion Poe, are awaiting the arrival of their featured
speaker when they learn he has been found dead. Murdered. In a most heinous
way. With no shortage of suspects, Kay -- and invariably, Poe -- set out to
solve the mystery of who killed their esteemed speaker. The motivating
circumstances that precipitated the killing in the story actually happened, but
luckily it was not resolved with murder. That end is better left on the pages
of a fictional short story."</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://robinbaskerville.com/index.html">Robin G. Baskerville</a> on "Obit Desk": "When I was a child I used to watch hard-boiled
detective movies in the afternoon with my mother. These black and white
beauties were full of hard-boiled dames and equally jaded dicks. When I sat
down to write something, anything, for <i>Murder
Ink</i>, the phrase ‘ . . . trading on the entrée that my job affords me, not
carte blanche, but carte noir, assured access via back entries and alleys, the
forgotten ways in that rats, mice and reporters use,’ came to me, and I built my
story ‘Obit<i> </i>Desk’ around that.
Work with enough people and there’s always that one who is too tightly wound.
Work the obit desk and/or letters to the editor beat and you will meet a lot of
colorful characters, some whose reality is not shared by the majority of us, or
– perhaps -- by any of us. I took these three elements, added some social
commentary and wound up with ‘Obit<i> </i>Desk’<i>,</i> a tight little package of a story
written in the style of an aspiring (expiring?) ace reporter."</div>
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<a href="http://jeffdeck.com/">Jeff Deck</a> on "Making the Transition": "Though I’ve held several editing jobs, my
experience in actual journalism was brief. I happened into a copy-editing and
page layout job at Seacoast Media Group in Portsmouth, N.H., a few years ago,
mostly because I needed income but also out of some lingering nostalgia for my
college paper days. The work was fast-paced and demanding, the hours were not
great (my fiancée was often asleep when I came home; 11 p.m. would be an ‘early’
night), and the pay frankly sucked. But nobody was there to get rich. These
were people with a deep commitment to facts and the truth. My comrades on the
copy desk were the most delightful group of snarky English-major nerds you
could ever meet. Unfortunately, the job didn’t always love them back. As the
newspaper group was shuffled from one behemoth corporate owner to the next,
freezes on raises and ever-multiplying responsibilities per staffer made it
hard to be loyal. Every time a reporter bailed for a saner job with a more
livable wage, their replacement got younger and greener. I lucked out with a
job offer out of the blue that basically doubled my income. The rest of the
copy desk hung in there until several months later, when the latest corporate
giant to own SMG decided to consolidate the copy desks at all of its ‘assets’
around the U.S. into one centralized editing and layout center in Austin. Sure,
you could keep your job; you just had to move halfway across the country. I was
working on a supernatural mystery / urban fantasy series, <i>The Shadow Over Portsmouth, </i>when I saw the call for submissions for
<i>Murder Ink Vol. 2. </i>I realized that a
side character in my series, a copy editor for the <i>Portsmouth</i> <i>Porthole</i>,
would be going through the same type of difficulties as my old colleagues at
SMG -- and that corporate downsizing would be only the beginning of her
nightmare . . ."</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidG1XnZJe1Rqfl1L5vhYVXOg3S6M0mNEixgQoEveQr3f3XktRgMv3jsNHhm2W3gt5P7p50nPlFSm70ALII-q2-qdaRR8ix0XjNUNl_pvf5mDFUjaJDjpch-7S9J0_PgnWuS-f4DRlGUQys/s1600/murder+ink+2+post-it+note.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidG1XnZJe1Rqfl1L5vhYVXOg3S6M0mNEixgQoEveQr3f3XktRgMv3jsNHhm2W3gt5P7p50nPlFSm70ALII-q2-qdaRR8ix0XjNUNl_pvf5mDFUjaJDjpch-7S9J0_PgnWuS-f4DRlGUQys/s400/murder+ink+2+post-it+note.jpg" width="357" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Patrick Sullivan on "The Confession of Mike Reardon": "My editor at <i>The</i> <i>Lakeville</i> <i>Journal</i>, Cynthia Hochswender, met Dan Szczesny at the 2016 New England Newspaper and Press Association conference and informed him I would submit an entry for the second volume of <i>Murder</i> <i>Ink</i>. She promised ‘murder, fly-fishing and nekkidity.’ I have avoided the NENPA event the last few years, mostly because I made a joke about it being ‘the world’s longest funeral’ and nobody laughed. Informed I had months to write something, I naturally put it off until a couple days before the deadline. I made a couple of false starts. They were horrible. I put it out of my mind. Then I had a dream. I woke up and fumbled around for a piece of paper, scrawled a couple lines, and went back to bed. Come morning, there it was, on a Post-It note: ‘Always wanted to be a detective. So when found body hoped for best.’ So my detective, a reporter with a sort of Walter Mitty thing going on with fictional gumshoes, was born. I didn’t fulfill Ye Editor’s promise exactly, but I did provide a corpse, some angling, and partial nekkidity. And I did it in one four-hour sitting."</div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/DonnaCatanzaroArtist/">Donna Catanzaro</a> on the creation of <i>Murder Ink 2</i>'s cover: "<span style="background: white; color: #222222;">Like most of my work, creating the cover for
Murder Ink 2 is was like writing a story. I searched old pulp magazine
covers for sleazy characters and imagined a who-done-it, complete with noir
characters that could be either heroes or villains. Due to the number of bullet
holes (they were fun to make!) it’s clear a murder has happened here. The
female reporter has crossed the police line. Is she the perpetrator back to
scrub her prints, or a faithful reporter back to</span> do her job? Next to her
is a dagger, ready for her to defend or attack. But notice that there
are two cigarettes in the ash tray. Is there another person in the room
with her, sitting to the left out of view? Is the man in the doorway,
the villain, her sidekick, or a jealous lover? I leave the rest of
the story to your imagination."</div>
Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-68519518250912251472017-02-12T12:09:00.000-08:002017-02-12T12:09:54.118-08:00BEHOLD: FINAL MASQUERADE!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhN0MBbdCM8PwTB2j1T1rfMmNT03IQ7VQUPPu2O_vVfxn5ddnXxaFc_Aqiw-bsU-HYWVSqn6ywg64jT5ghGZukiRyp42hLPfOijMwOcGJsE6pOe79mS9UaQXqix174iA63Y__1H9hDZ7xA/s1600/finalmasqueradecover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhN0MBbdCM8PwTB2j1T1rfMmNT03IQ7VQUPPu2O_vVfxn5ddnXxaFc_Aqiw-bsU-HYWVSqn6ywg64jT5ghGZukiRyp42hLPfOijMwOcGJsE6pOe79mS9UaQXqix174iA63Y__1H9hDZ7xA/s400/finalmasqueradecover.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
A few summers ago, I gave myself permission to spend almost two weeks in June <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2014/07/freedom.html">free writing</a> -- the act of putting pen to blank page and just allowing my writer's imagination to wander. From those weeks, a plethora of completed first drafts emerged -- a Western for one of my publishers in Germany, a <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2015/10/behold-bleak-new-world.html">dystopian tale</a> that sold on its first time out to another, and several flash tales. In and among that wonderful time of creativity, I penned a story about a woman who'd suffered from blood cancer, declared healthy following a radical procedure but with little memory or proof of the actual treatment. At night, she's haunted -- and taunted -- by images of a man in a cage with silver bars. "End of Nights", like the other stories written during that warm, bright spell, jumped from pen to page, and then its first draft went into my filing cabinets for possible future submission.<br />
<br />
Two summers later, I pulled out the manuscript and submitted it to <a href="https://twitter.com/LycanValley?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Lycan Valley Press</a>'s newest anthology, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Final-Masquerade-Lycan-Valley-Press/dp/1539898563/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486926773&sr=8-1&keywords=Final+Masquerade">Final Masquerade</a>. The project's wonderful editor, <a href="http://staceyturner-authorspot.blogspot.com/">Stacey Turner</a>, accepted "End" with a request for a little tweaking to the ending. That was a gray and humid Sunday. Lightning crackled and thunder boomed, and, rarest of rarities in this part of New Hampshire's North Country, we lost power. And so, by the waning battery charge in my laptop, I tackled that minor rewrite -- and actually scared myself as the storm raged outside!<br />
<br />
Several of my talented co-authors shared the back-stories behind their stories in <i>Final Masquerade.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<a href="https://joshuachaplinsky.com/">Joshua Chaplinksky</a> on "Mummer's Parade": "I wrote the original version for a different themed
anthology, one about clowns. I figured there’d be a lot of Pennywise-inspired
killer clown stories and I wanted my piece to stand out. I had the idea of
mummers in my head (probably from reading <i>Game</i>
<i>of Thrones</i>) and discovered there was
an actual thing called the mummer’s parade, so I started doing research into
that. That led to the idea of masks and ‘animals with human faces.’ The opening
came to me pretty early on -- <i>Triboulet
was known throughout the realm for having the King’s ear. He wore it around his
neck on a silver chain</i> -- and it just got weirder from there. Ultimately
the story was rejected, which was fortuitous, because it was too short and I am
much happier with the final product. When I came across the Lycan Valley
anthology call, I knew it was a perfect fit. I’m glad they agreed!"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.samanthalienhard.com/">Samantha Lienhard</a> on "The Artist": "When I first wrote ‘The Artist,’ it was a very different
story. I’d heard a criticism of someone as not being a ‘real artist,’ and that
inspired the initial version of Ian -- a bitter, arrogant man out to ruin the
artist whose work got more attention than his. I wrote this story, and while it
covered the same basic beats as the version in <i>Final Masquerade</i>, it had one major problem: neither character was
likable. I took ‘The Artist’ to a critique session at Seton Hill University,
where I was working toward my MFA in Writing Popular Fiction. During that
critique, I not only realized this flaw, I also saw how Ian could be
sympathetic. I altered his past and revised the story through that lens, which led
to the version you see today."<br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/briancbaer?lang=en">Brian C. Baer</a> on "Make Believe": "My girlfriend is a big fan of scary stories. Anytime she is
doing homework or housework or just dozing on the couch, she's listening to
them. Her phone is constantly playing the spooky, supposedly real life tales
read aloud on podcasts like "Creepy Pasta". I decided to write a
story for her but quickly ran into trouble. She was only scared by gritty
stories of psychological torment and life-or-death panic, and those were well outside
of my creative wheelhouse. As I kept hammering away at the various drafts, more
and more of my own interests leaked in. I added all-night dive bars, a noir-ish
sense of sarcasm and cynicism, and a love of the schlocky slasher films of the
1980s. The disparate elements all merged together in an unexpected way. ‘Make
Believe’ became a story of existential horror, of being terrified of the
randomness of real life. It explored what bizarre lengths mankind will go
through to find some kind of order. I finished the final draft, and I loved it.
Then I read it to my girlfriend. She said it wasn't scary enough."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://frightenme.weebly.com/">Naching Kassa</a> on "Hero": "‘Hero’ is a story near and dear to my heart. My
father was an Army veteran and a dog trainer. When he passed away in 2014, I
became involved with a charity called Operation Dog Tag. The purpose of ODT is
to provide veterans who suffer from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and
other disabilities, with a dog who will assist them in routine activities. Not
only is the dog a helper, he is a companion and friend. I wrote ‘Hero’ to honor
these service dogs as well as the veterans they love. Sarge, the narrator of
the story, is a German Shepherd dog. He’s based on my dad’s dog, Ranger. Ranger
was one of the best dogs I have ever known. He was brave, strong, smart,
mischievous, and loyal. Sarge is loyal too, loyal to a fault. And, it’s his
love for his master and his mistress that leads him into the final masquerade.
I hope you enjoy reading this story and that you will take time to honor all
veterans, whoever they may be."<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/D.S.-Ullery/e/B00IGU0Z8I">D. S. Ullery</a> on "Delivery": "In the grand tradition
of EC Comics titles such as <i>The Vault of
Horror </i>or <i>Tales from the Crypt</i>,
my stories are frequently morality plays disguised as horror. I was wondering
what to write about next when I saw a news item about a serial rapist. I got to
thinking what sort of Hell would await a man like that. Once I began to apply
the notion of ironic justice to the equation, all manner of wonderfully dark
things started cooking inside my frankly twisted imagination. I hit upon the
notion of having him experience the same degree of torment he exposed women to
from their perspective, while feeling helpless the entire time. From that, my
little monstrosity was born."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://sheldonwoodbury.blogspot.com/">Sheldon Woodbury</a> on "The God of Flesh": "I’ve always been attracted to characters that engage in horrible acts,
but do so out of an emotional need we can all relate to. Stories that are just
about a mindless monster or a cartoon villain are easy to dismiss. But real
horror is when you realize you’re never truly safe, because bad things can happen
in the most innocent of places, and the cause might even be you. I came up with the title first, then the
idea of a surgeon as the main character came next. If you want guts and gore, they’re
bloody warriors fighting death every day. That takes more than a little
arrogance to believe that you have the godlike skill to cheat death. The story began
with a simple question. ‘How far would you be willing to go for the person you
love?’ ‘The God of Flesh’ is a horror story, but it’s also about the power of love."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.archivesofpain.com/">Adrian Chamberlin</a> on "Urban Renewal": "The Green Man and its mysteries is a
subject that has long fascinated me, as can be seen in my 2011 novel <i>The Caretakers</i> and the short story ‘The
Spirit of Summer’ (in the 2013
collection <i>The Dark Side of the
Sun</i>). I also love writing post-apocalyptic stories, and exploring how
humanity either thrives or destroys itself under such extreme conditions, when
new standards of morality have been established. With this story, I wanted to
put a new spin on the Green Man mythos and explore what really lurks beneath
the mask of civilisation when the bombs have long since dropped and mankind believes
itself to be redeemed. ‘Urban Renewal’ takes place in a post- apocalyptic
Britain where social divisions are stark, and the few areas that survived have
raised barriers -- real and imagined -- between their prosperous lands and the
industrial areas blighted by nuclear destruction. The relationship between
humanity and the natural world has become perverted, twisted; a promised land
for those who believe themselves to be superior, even blessed. This new
civilisation is merely a mask that hides the dark nature of humanity, and as is
always the case, it is the innocent who suffer -- we see this in the alienation
of the orphan boy from the wasted lands who arrives at the new boarding school
in this seemingly bucolic paradise; he is alone, alienated and isolated, but
has a unique artistic talent that peels back the fake mask of beauty and order
to reveal a primal force of nature that too has become corrupted. It is the eve
of May Day, and the schoolchildren have been tasked with creating models of the
Green Man, an iconic image that appears in churches and cathedrals throughout
Britain; it is an archetype of humanity’s connection to the natural world. What
the boy creates reverses that. It is a mask of the Green Man in retreat,
composed of scrap metal and dangerous materials from the devastated lands of
the apocalypse that he once called home, and an act of malice from one of his
schoolmates awakens the power within the icon -- and himself."Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-89538696576576884052017-01-22T08:25:00.002-08:002017-01-22T09:59:49.874-08:00BEHOLD: THE PRISON COMPENDIUM!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4imEwJKYQzGF5vqEW9iWWqlQHfOtYd5abjK0B1P3Du-EY6FUkfAM26uvxSCrDRZ0S6pclrv7HRHYJlgOnXiYjXpeMEBmKn3eZgrNq5R0GnrE9iWLdxTK7O69JtmwWRLchr6yrVw6ULB5B/s1600/Prison+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4imEwJKYQzGF5vqEW9iWWqlQHfOtYd5abjK0B1P3Du-EY6FUkfAM26uvxSCrDRZ0S6pclrv7HRHYJlgOnXiYjXpeMEBmKn3eZgrNq5R0GnrE9iWLdxTK7O69JtmwWRLchr6yrVw6ULB5B/s400/Prison+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
One glance at the cover of <a href="http://www.emppublishing.com/">EMP Publishing</a>'s newest project, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Prison-Compendium-Multiple-Authors/dp/0998086029/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485097833&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Prison+Compendium">The Prison Compendium</a>, and I knew I wanted in. The only problem was, a run through my lists of written manuscripts and yet-to-be-written titles and ideas didn't match up. I had nothing that fit the guidelines.<br />
<br />
Soon after the call was announced, we found ourselves enjoying an old classic during our weekly Saturday night movie date -- 1963's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_and_the_Argonauts_(1963_film)">Jason and the Argonauts</a>. I grew up loving Greek mythology (and also the Norse tales), and remembered this movie from the one time I watched it via rabbit ears in my youth. Halfway through -- and in desperate need of a bathroom break -- I paused the movie and hurried downstairs to my Writing Room, where I jotted down notes about one-time deities from dead religions being held for crimes of blasphemy in a big house like no other, one ruled over by heraldic hacks and a warden with an Old Testament temper. The Greek gods would forge an uneasy alliance with the Norse, Egyptian, and other prisoners to stage an escape. My story, "A Farewell to Apotheosis", was born and wrote itself fairly quickly over the following two days. Off it went to editor Jennifer Word, who contracted for "Apotheosis" with a glowing acceptance letter. It now appears among an impressive Table of Contents, in a beautiful volume devoted to an ugly subject.<br />
<br />
Many of my wonderful fellow authors shared the back-stories behind their stories in <i>The Prison Compendium</i>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://paulstansfield.blogspot.com/">Paul Stansfield</a> on "A Ray of Hope": "I’m guessing most writers want their stories to
stand out in some way, to be different from what’s come before. In horror tales, the villain, the looming
danger, is often a character that’s evil.
So, for my story, ‘A Ray of Hope,’ I wanted to put a twist on this
cliché. Most real life people who do
terrible things nonetheless usually believe that what they’re doing is
justified, or even moral, in some way.
Therefore, I created a main character who commits what could be
considered to be the worst possible crime, but he has a justification which is
arguably reasonable, given certain religious beliefs. His point of view is clearly extremely warped, but he believes in
what he’s doing, and is sane. I think
(I hope) this makes for a compelling character, and a thought-provoking
story. And because the main character
is more realistic, this helps increase how frightening and disturbing it is,
since it’s more likely to happen in real life.
I’m not saying that imaginary monsters can’t be scary, of course -- just
that sometimes a cold dose of reality might keep the reader awake more than
something that’s safely impossible."<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/4846794.Larry_Lefkowitz">Larry Lefkowitz</a> on "A Rose is a Rose?": "<span style="background-color: white;">I don’t recall where the idea for my story ‘A Rose is a Rose?’
first germinated. Surely it did not occur at the Parisian salon of Gertrude
Stein (I am not quite that aged), where Gertrude tossed out her now famous, ‘A
rose is a rose is a rose.’ I hope she will forgive my cutting down the original
to two roses instead of three. There are those who prefer Four Roses (the
bourbon), including, perhaps, the Rose named Pete. Pete Rose is supposed
to have a good sense of humor, so maybe he will excuse my borrowing him for the
story. Most of the stories in </span><i style="background-color: white;">The</i><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><i style="background-color: white;">Compendium</i><span style="background-color: white;">, I assume, are
serious ones -- given the importance of the topic. Mine is humorous, and I am
curious whether any prisoner reading it in the prison library would enjoy it or
dismiss it. If it provides him or her with a brief escape from the tedium of
prison life, I will be pleased."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.adrianludens.com/">Adrian Ludens</a> on "Solitary Man": "</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222;">It's no secret some authors employ ghostwriters
to complete their work. I worked several years in a bookstore and noticed two
successful western authors kept cranking out books despite the fact that both
had died. I later learned that in one case, the publisher was releasing pulp
stories the author had written under a pseudonym early in his career, while in
the other instance, the publisher had hired other authors to ghost write new
novels under the deceased author's name. The idea of a ‘ghostwriter,’ literal
or otherwise, must have stuck in my head because years later the last line of
the story popped into my head. Once I had that, the rest of the story wrote
itself almost immediately. </span><span style="color: #222222;">The framework of the story,
which involves a man visiting his comatose son, is based on a distant relative
of mine. He was hospitalized with a severe illness and his prognosis was very
poor. He recovered -- only to be struck by a truck while riding his motorcycle
a mere<span class="apple-converted-space"> <span style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;"></span><span class="aqj"><span data-term="goog_2099191171" style="position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0">three months later</span></span></span>.
He remained in a coma for seven years before he died. I can't imagine how hard
that was for his mother (a single parent) to endure, but I tried, in some small
way, to honor his memory with this story."</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/bruce.harris.5015?fref=ts">Bruce Harris</a> on "In the Jailhouse": "</span>My first
submission to <i>The Prison Compendium</i>,
a pulpy western story about a small town sheriff and a jail cell was rejected.
Undaunted, I conceived of the idea for ‘In the Jailhouse’ after hearing Elvis
sing, ‘Jailhouse Rock’ on an oldies radio station."<br />
<br />
<a href="https://breakingintothecraft.wordpress.com/">James Miller</a> on "Smaller": "After I first
learned about some of the models of the universe, I became infatuated with the
idea of a space that folded back upon itself in a way that made for a volume
with no boundaries. Mentally playing with the scale of such a space, it became
easy to see how this construct would make for a perfect prison, as there were
no edges to pry up, and no place for anyone to work against for escape. It became apparent the only escape from a
prison like this would be psychological and not physical. I combined this
concept with the idea that there are some things worth going to prison for and
feel pretty good about the outcome. Hopefully it is as enjoyable to read as it
was to write."<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14718998.Bryan_Grafton">Bryan Grafton</a> on "Misconceptions": "My story is
about my son with the exception of the ending
which I have horrible ized. I did so to make the story a complete tragedy. My
son is out now, on parole, has a job and appears to be making his way in the
world. Nevertheless every day I live in fear of the horrible ized ending
becoming true. My wife is adopted too. Through the years raising our son it
became the age old question of nature vs. nurture. We have both come to the
conclusion that nature wins, that we are programmed a certain way from the
moment of conception and there is nothing one can do to change that. We don’t
have free choice. The existentialists are wrong. They are wishful thinkers."<br />
<br />
Ken Goldman on "Swing a Sparrow on a String": "<span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white;">While a high school English
teacher, I had this gorgeous blonde student -- let’s call her Donna. She sat
near my desk where I could see her in the corner of my eye, and whatever
literary question I asked my 11th graders, Donna’s hand always went up. She
was the brightest student in the room, and (well, okay) she also was the best
looking with her golden hair and clear blue eyes. But somehow she seemed apart
from the other kids in her class.</span><span lang="EN-GB">
</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: #1a1a1a;">Donna asked for some after school tutoring (I’m
sure she didn’t need it) and I made sure to meet her in the English office
where no eyebrows would be raised. The school term had been into several
months, and when Donna sat at the table only then did I notice that her left
hand was severely misshapen. ‘Baby hand,’ I believe they call it. Donna
tried to keep it covered, but there it was! Here was this beautiful and gifted
student inhibited by this one damned mistake of nature that in some twisted way
defined her, and in her mind must have separated her from the other kids.
Somehow she managed to muster the courage to say as much at the end of the hour
-- and her words aren’t far off from what Angela says towards the end of ‘Swing
a Sparrow on a String.’"</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lee-F-Duffy/e/B01DEALAEW">Lee Duffy</a> on "Redemption": "This story takes a privileged, wealthy, self-centered,
pampered, ivy-league educated young socialite and drops him into a Mississippi
prison farm -- as a prisoner. I grew up roaming the deep woods that Steven
Darlington finds himself in during his escape. It’s difficult terrain. And if
you’ve ever seen a chain gang working along a southern highway, you probably
know that a prison farm is no picnic. I wanted to see how someone like Steven
would handle prison, and how he would fare alone in a Mississippi forest with
bloodhounds on his trail. He surprised me. Still, we have to ask, where does
privilege end and justice begin? And what does chicken soup have to do with any
of it? Well, you will just have to read it to find out about the soup, but in
the grand scheme of things this story is about a clash of cultures. It explores
the idea that some among us feel they are above the law. Are they really?
Sometimes they are. And does life <i>always</i>
come full circle? Often it does."<br />
<br />
<a href="https://laylacummins.com/">Layla Cummins</a> on "The Flea Jar": "<span style="background-color: white;">Reader, I
have a dirty secret. Back when I lived in a grotty house with my ex, we had a
pet cat named George. He was a tubby little white and tabby-patched feline with
a big heart and a flea problem. I was surprised to discover that I was quite
adept at picking fleas off him and drowning them in water while he happily
snoozed in my lap, and I was even more surprised to find </span><i>I enjoyed it</i><span style="background-color: white;">… Before anyone reports me for animal cruelty, I’ll
stop there and tell you that we did treat his flea problem and he remained
healthy and happy. I originally wrote ‘The Flea Jar’ after seeing a submission
call for the anthology </span><i>Bugs: Tales That
Slither Creep and Crawl</i><span style="background-color: white;">. It was probably the first time the advice ‘write
what you know’ ever applied to a story I’d attempted, and it was a lot of fun!
There’s one part in the tale that, as I wrote it, made me retch as I put myself
in the shoes of my main character as he ate and tried to imagine the
mouthfeel... I hope you feel the same way."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.tsrichardson.com/">Travis Richardson</a> on "Finding the Answer": "</span>I originally wrote a 200-word story for a
contest with a photo of an abandoned house with a murder of crows on the roof.
I wrote about a woman looking at the house and remembering her past. The story
didn't win, but it was mentioned as an (unpublished) finalist. I decided to go
back to the story a few years ago and dig deeper, discovering more about the
woman and her quest to find to find an answer to a question that had been
bothering her. This became the story, ‘Finding The Answer.’"<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://calvindemmer.com/">Calvin Demmer</a> on "Prisoner Reincarnated": "I’d seen the birds on <i>The</i>
<i>Prison</i> <i>Compendium</i>’s cover and knew immediately I wanted to somehow
incorporate at least one of them into my story. At the time, I’d been writing a
lot of serious horror stories and felt like trying a different approach. When I
began focusing on a dark humor story, something new for me, I was able to play around
with different ways to include a bird. One of my ideas was of a prisoner who
believed in reincarnation. This idea stuck, and I thought it would be great if
he dreamed of coming back as a bird so that he may soar across the skies (a
nice contrast to his being behind bars)…except in my tale he doesn’t get quite
what he hoped for."<br />
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Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-72252705668475956162017-01-15T13:23:00.001-08:002017-01-21T08:19:51.702-08:00The Numbers Game<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAQx_kvynpNVRk9xRniowhvqkKr3gPot11G1CIlEJ1kxyZlbUV6Sc3QxPMWOWPWrR1JFO-tGNtRhHyv9smCfEiXGf9pTB8rQZf4YfjDoB9fyvVzHcXiCpjltRYp401603NvPn8V2HG7UUH/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAQx_kvynpNVRk9xRniowhvqkKr3gPot11G1CIlEJ1kxyZlbUV6Sc3QxPMWOWPWrR1JFO-tGNtRhHyv9smCfEiXGf9pTB8rQZf4YfjDoB9fyvVzHcXiCpjltRYp401603NvPn8V2HG7UUH/s400/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Math was my weakest subject in high school. Starting when I was fifteen -- though I'd always been a doodler, a scribbler, a daydreamer -- the right side of my brain got the better of me, and it has, thank the stars, resulted in a happy creative life. Still, I use just enough basic arithmetic to get by.<br />
<br />
2016 was one of my most productive years ever -- my second best in term of number of words written, totaling some 478,000 and change. Add to that number at least another 30,000 in the form of a novel started in November, three short stories, and a screenplay all waiting to be completed in 2017. I finished 75 individual fiction projects -- 1 novel in July, 14 novellas, and the rest a mix of short stories and 1 flash weighing in at 100 words ("Catching Snowflakes" is presently on a very short list at a major publication project, waiting to learn if it's going to the dance). Last year, I sold 50 short stories and 4 of those novellas. In early October, on a warm, bright afternoon spent writing on my sun porch, I penned The End on my 1,200th work of fiction. All of my big numbers, dating back to my teen years, have been <a href="http://www.alpha-2017.com/">Space:1999</a> stories -- 1, 50, 100, 500, and <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-number-1000.html">1,000</a>. 1,200 was no different, thanks to my novella, "The Tomorrows", a powerfully personal, emotional experience that I was fortunate enough to share with the members of my writers' group over several weeks of meetings.<br />
<br />
I went on 8 adventures in 2016 to destinations far and wide. Starting last February, I spent a wonderful weekend in Massachusetts, taking in the gala book launch of <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2016/02/behold-murder-ink.html">Murder Ink</a> (which contains my short mystery, "Exhuming Secrets on a Hot August Day") in Boston, where the publisher treated us like royalty during a <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2016/05/adventure-2016.html">luncheon</a>, reading, and signing. A month later, I was off to the first of 2 5-day trips to When Words Count, a luxury retreat center for writers in Vermont, where I split time between the Hemingway Room and Mark Twain Suite, and banged out a total of 6 first drafts (and much of that aforementioned screenplay). In May, I jetted off to Hollywood to attend <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-roswell-awards.html">the Roswell Awards</a>, where my short story "Mandered" won Honorable Mention. In June, I enjoyed the wonderful retreat/workshop <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2016/07/writing-from-nature.html">Writing From Nature</a>. In September, I was off to not 1 but <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2016/10/two-september-writing-adventures.html">2 writing adventures</a> -- to the annual Writelines conference and workshop held on Star Island in the Isles of Shoals, and a return to the Waterfall House with members of my stellar writers' group. That same month, on September 18, I also got married to my longtime partner Bruce on the front lawn of our beautiful old house on the hill, Xanadu. The ceremony was attended by 37 friends and family members, who somehow all squeezed into our downstairs for the reception.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn61AI7_GmfjmCw-YzQM8sKIjclVRZWJvCC3eyu4u2ZytzIyozhpphSiQh4vq6ZIwJSXNvI7QD7xWWexcuzExiOYXiXHim7mbP_95bSbQHv3HtqeqtUneUiZXfFhcOBKqBhIKHImJaKDxP/s1600/Twain+room+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn61AI7_GmfjmCw-YzQM8sKIjclVRZWJvCC3eyu4u2ZytzIyozhpphSiQh4vq6ZIwJSXNvI7QD7xWWexcuzExiOYXiXHim7mbP_95bSbQHv3HtqeqtUneUiZXfFhcOBKqBhIKHImJaKDxP/s400/Twain+room+1.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(arrival to the Twain Suite in mid-October)</td></tr>
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As the autumn progressed, I was writing with a kind of tireless fire, and knew I was in for excellent numbers come the end of the year. But I also sensed a kink in my health, which I noticed (and foolishly ignored) on the first day of my Star Island adventure. The day after a marvelous Thanksgiving, I started to shiver, and over the course of the next two days, it grew worse. I also found myself unable to stand upright for long. On November 28, I went to our local hospital and was admitted. It would be 24 days before I was released to come home to family, Xanadu, and muse. During that time, I had surgery to remove a deep bone infection, suffered a severe allergic reaction to IV antibiotics, and, spurred on by the overwhelming desire to be home (and to attend the second Murder Ink gala launch in Boston at the end of February -- Ink 2 contains my sports-themed mystery "Murder at Channel Ten"), dove into a fierce commitment to physical therapy -- if the wonderful therapists suggested I do 5 minutes of reps on a machine in the gym, I did 8. If they wanted me to do 20 leg lifts, I did 30. During my hospital stay, I wrote 3 short stories based upon hallucinations I suffered the night following surgery. I jotted notes on a 4th (which I wrote upon my return home days before Christmas). Back at Xanadu, I was able to walk again -- for every 1 day spent bedridden in the hospital, according to the nursing staff, it takes 3 to get back on steady legs, a mathematical figure that terrified me...and one I was determined to best.<br />
<br />
Healthy (and down some 13 pounds), I found my way back to my desk and loved every second of being in my home once more, my own bed, and, especially, my home office, where I got into my old groove and completed several more stories before 2016 ran out. So many, in fact, that for the first time since I was in my middle-20s, my list of as-yet-unwritten story ideas dropped below 100. January 1, 2017 kicked off with 99!<br />
<br />
And I have 1 last number to report about. As I type this post, this small, beloved blog is just 53 reads shy of earning it's 100,000th. Thank you to all the readers from across the globe who've taken time to follow my writing adventures -- here's to a million more!Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912077057396199315.post-66732971881083619062016-11-17T10:57:00.002-08:002016-11-18T09:11:02.552-08:00BEHOLD: MISKATONIC DREAMS!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I love it when a personal invitation to submit to a publisher or editor's newest project comes my way. I almost always say yes, even though an invite isn't a guarantee of an acceptance, and do my best to honor the invitation by bringing my A Game to the table. Early in 2016, I received such an invitation from the brilliant <a href="http://www.thrankeep.com/">H. David Blalock</a>, whom I had the pleasure of publishing when I edited <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2012/06/answering-call-of-lovecraft.html">The Call of Lovecraft</a> for EJP in 2011. Last year, Mr. Blalock asked me to submit to <a href="http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/2015/08/behold-idolaters-of-cthulhu.html">The Idolaters of Cthulhu</a>, an anthology he was editing for the fine folks at <a href="http://albanlake.com/">Alban Lake Publishing</a>. I wrote a story that was almost instantly contracted for, and got to be part of a beautiful release. This year's anthology would focus on the strange goings-on at Lovecraft's school of the mysterious and bizarre, fabled <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miskatonic_University">Miskatonic University</a>. I was immediately smitten...if not quite so sure about what to submit. I have hundreds of first-draft manuscripts held in inventory inside my filing cabinets waiting to be trotted out and edited on the computer for future calls-for-submission, but nothing already written or jotted down on a note card in my catalog of unwritten ideas even remotely met the guidelines.<br />
<br />
2016 has been one of my most productive years of writing ever, and one I'll remember for a number of adventures -- writing awards, fantastic retreats, my wedding, and book launches among the highlights. But before any of those adventures were enjoyed, the call for <a href="http://store.albanlake.com/product/miskatonic-dreams/">Miskatonic Dreams</a> stands out for setting what became a wonderful tone for this year. I had nothing to submit. And then, one dark winter early morning, I woke up with an idea about two students failing class who are given a chance at extra-credit -- if they agree to catalog part of the university's collection of rare oddities housed in the vaults beneath Miskatonic U. Later that same morning, I put pen to blank page, and the following day had a completed rough draft. "Residue" dashed itself off at a fairly quick clip, and was accepted into another stunning volume (in fact, Mr. Blalock received enough quality submissions to justify the publishing of a companion anthology, <a href="http://store.albanlake.com/product/miskatonic-nightmares/">Miskatonic Nightmares</a>).<br />
<br />
It was my pleasure to speak with my fellow authors regarding the back-stories behind their dark Miskatonic dreams.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/story/list/7728554-aaron-vlek">Aaron Vlek</a> on "The Accursed Lineage": "I have always had a special place in my heart for the
batrachians in the Lovecraft mythos. When the call came out for his anthology I
loved the idea of mixing my favorite things, libraries, batrachians, and
Christmas into a disturbing nog that pushed the questions further. How might
these creatures view their human relatives? Why wouldn’t the library at
Miskatonic University hold just as much awe, fascination, and possibility, for
the batrachians than it does the sometimes too curious human species? I loved
getting into the head of this priggish fellow hunkered down at his studies over
Christmas break when he has the run of the place to himself. But as the musty
tomes and glittering horrors of the library wreck havoc on the human psyche,
what lies within those hallowed walls, and below, to test the mettle and
fortitude of a proud batrachian researcher shunning both humans, and his own
fellows, when his research takes an unexpected turn? What would bring monstrous
horror and seductive wonder to the batrachian denizen of the deep black sea? In
‘The Accursed Lineage’, that was a lot of fun to explore!"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.xenotechsupport.com/">Dave Shroeder</a> on "Dear Mother and Father": "Dave
Schroeder was inspired to write his story for <i>Miskatonic Dreams </i>when a friend he’d met at LibertyCon invited him
to submit a piece for consideration. Dave is known for humor more than horror,
so it was a stretch for him write something in Lovecraft’s universe. His only
exposure to Lovecraft was through voice acting with the Atlanta Radio Theatre
Company, which frequently performs works by the master of the macabre. To find
a funny angle on a dark topic, Dave thought the idea of a college student’s
letters home to his parents would be an entertaining way to explore both the
comic and serious aspects of student life at Miskatonic. For humor <i>without</i> the horror, Dave recommends
checking out his Xenotech Support science fiction series from Spiral Arm Press
about an entrepreneur doing tech support for alien technology after Earth has
joined the Galactic Free Trade Association. To find out how the fun begins,
look for <i>Xenotech Rising </i>on Amazon
and see why reviewers are comparing Dave to Jim Butcher, Terry Pratchett and
Douglas Adams."<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://www.dimestoreriot.com/">Chad Eagleton</a> on "Your Special Advocate": "<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">There was never any question that
I would submit to</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Miskatonic<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="il">Dreams</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">. To
pay my bills, I work in student affairs at a real-life university. Our purview
covers anything that has to do with student health, conduct, and safety -- all
issues that would be doubly important to an actual Miskatonic University. While
my relationship to Lovecraft’s work has changed drastically over the years and
my worldview is certainly nothing like his, what has never waned is my desire
to play in his cosmos. To me, the richness, the depth, and the sheer breadth of
Lovecraft’s imaginative creations, I think, are far more interesting and
engaging than either his style or his nihilism. So I jumped at the chance
to tie my real life knowledge in with ‘The Dunwich Horror’ -- the only Lovecraft</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><span class="il" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">story</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">where the good guys win -- and create ‘Your
Special Advocate,’ a wholly modern and, in some ways, more upbeat mythos tale
than you’ll normally find anywhere else."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Horse-Jill-Hand/dp/1518871283/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1479406247&sr=8-2&keywords=Jill+Hand">Jill Hand</a> on "How I Died": "</span>I
need you to get me a book.” The
white-haired woman slid into the coffee shop’s black vinyl booth, across from
Olivia. Not ‘I want you to get me a
book,’ Olivia noted, but ‘I <i>need </i>you to.’<br />
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Olivia,
no stranger when it came to nuance, raised her eyebrows. This could be interesting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
“A
special order?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The
woman nodded her head and took a sip of coffee. Her lips were blood-red but they left no smudge on the cup’s rim. Not lipstick then, or maybe it was a kind of
lipstick that didn’t come off. Despite
her white hair, the woman didn’t look much older than Olivia, who was nineteen
and a freshman at Miskatonic University.</div>
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The
woman slid a thick envelope across the table.
Olivia looked inside.
Hundred-dollar bills, twenty of them.
This <i>was</i> interesting.</div>
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She
asked, “What book do you need?”</div>
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The
woman’s red lips curved in a smile. “<i>The Book of Eibon</i>. I imagine a smart girl like you can find a
way to get it out of the special collections room. Do it and you’ll be richly rewarded.”</div>
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Olivia
put the money in her purse and smiled back at her.</div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/sledwardswrite/">S. L. Edwards</a> on "The Darkness Makes Us Whole": "I
wrote ‘The Darkness Makes Us Whole’ shortly after beginning graduate school.
Being in grad school allowed me to think of Miskatonic less as a creation of
Lovecraft’s and more as an actual university. What would such an esteemed
institution, supposedly inspired by Brown and other Ivy League colleges, do
after several scandals of faculty in the social and natural sciences losing
their minds? What would happen when an expedition returned to Antarctica, finding
no temples and plateaus, but only ice? That’s how ‘The Darkness Makes Us Whole’
began, Miskatonic has been disgraced by these scandals, its academic reputation
never having fully recovered. Enter a zealous graduate student. Enter Secrets. Enter
Madness. But the story took on a life of its own. It became one of the very
real curses that weave their way across bloodlines and echo into the blackness
of the lonely mind. I began to wonder why only the artists, only the fringe-dwellers
of society would be attracted to Lovecraft’s monsters. Was it loss? Was it
giving into the idea of insignificance, and somehow making this world more
manageable? Enter Loss. Enter Depression.’ The Darkness Makes Us Whole.’ We can
only hope."</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3oodOumYvzkHipfW2OuVuxk8kLqMqIzy9_NyFWv4TtkVRn8Tr1qGNUxunYCXfs4u9dZDrtx3gFVTUY-OmJ0lV6RAZRfo0Z2k_GpqQSLfp3swfAeh80E2RMfC8ZUcfVIBbaRWiy3eeCw5p/s1600/Misk+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3oodOumYvzkHipfW2OuVuxk8kLqMqIzy9_NyFWv4TtkVRn8Tr1qGNUxunYCXfs4u9dZDrtx3gFVTUY-OmJ0lV6RAZRfo0Z2k_GpqQSLfp3swfAeh80E2RMfC8ZUcfVIBbaRWiy3eeCw5p/s400/Misk+2.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Eric-Tarango/e/B00ISE6ZCC">Eric Tarango</a> on "One Last Death": "I was Facebook surfing and came across the
announcement from Alban Lake and read the guidelines and submission subject. I
usually zone out when I am thinking and letting images come to mind. I kept
imagining what the hallways of an empty university would look like, and who
would be wandering the hallways. I saw my character come into mind standing by
the corner of a wall and peering around to see if it was safe to travel the
hallway. I knew she was dead when I saw her, and that she had died at the
university. What I did not know was why she was afraid if she was dead. I put a
few sentences down to get the feel of the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="il">story</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and it took
on a life of its own from there. I love when that happens with a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="il">story</span>. I was
writing for about an hour on my couch, I lived alone, recently divorced; a
stack of books on my nightstand, been there for days untouched, and suddenly
the top one just fell over onto the floor. Scared the crap out of me. I jumped
and almost dropped my laptop. That was not cool, but I was wide awake and alert
and kept going in and out of the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="il">story</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>to check my
surroundings. Not the only time it happened to me, too."</div>
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<a href="http://djtyrer.blogspot.com/p/welcome.html">DJ Tyrer</a> on "Authorised Librarians Only": "<span style="background-color: white;">My story was inspired by thoughts about what Miskatonic
University's library would be like in the present age, as obviously, they know
exactly what sort of crazy stuff they're sitting on. I suspect</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">Theo may have been born from thoughts
for a</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="il">story</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">for a different anthology, but if that
was her genesis, she was very much her own, three-dimensional character by the
time she emerged from my subconscious to play her part here.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">Beyond those details, I can't recall
much about the way I arrived at the</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="il">story</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">- it was
one of those that came together without too much conscious thought, as if I was
reporting on something that happened rather than inventing it: a wonderful way
to write a</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="il">story</span><span style="background-color: white;">,
but not one that lends itself to writing a terribly interesting</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="il">back-story</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">about its creation!"</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://entirelybonkers.deviantart.com/">Lyssa Wilhelm</a> on "Miskatonic University Email Updates": "</span>‘Miskatonic University Email Updates’ was heavily inspired
by <i>Nightvale</i> (a show inspired by H.P. Lovecraft). I enjoyed the
first-person aspect of the podcast and thought it would be interesting to have
something similar to that. I didn't want to do anything too similar to <i>Nightvale</i>,
so instead of coming up with weird things on my own, I delved deep into the pit
of Lovecraft lore and short stories. Almost every email has a reference to one
of H.P's works, if not multiple. My father was a big help with this story, as
he is an encyclopedia of Lovecraft stories and helped me with how certain
references should be done if I didn't have any ideas. He was a big help. An
example of harder to see references would be ‘The Outsider’. Since it was so
short, there wasn't an easy way to reference it in the emails. But, I loved the
story and wanted to include it. So, I made an anagram of the name Outsider =
Stu Dorie, as well as making him the guidance councilor. There are many other
references in the story and I hope that people can find them and enjoy how they
were done."</div>
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<a href="http://www.guyriessen.com/">Guy Riessen</a> on "The Bridges of Arkham County": "<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">When I read the
call for stories for </span><i style="color: #222222;">Miskatonic</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><i style="color: #222222;">Dreams</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">, ‘what happens in the
halls of MU after all the human students are gone,’ I immediately thought ‘professorial
love story.’ Of course the irony of a mythos love story was too good to pass
up, and it had to be a human professor and a mythos creature. I knew I wanted
to write a tale of love-that-couldn't-be -- something like </span><i style="color: #222222;">Bridges</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><i style="color: #222222;">of</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
</span><i style="color: #222222;">Madison</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><i style="color: #222222;">County</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">, and the title was born. I don't write an outline
for my short stories, so watching them unfold is quite a lot of fun. It's a bit
like watching TV only on super slo-mo because I can only type so fast, you
know. I wasn't sure how the story would end until I was writing it. Would the
professor get eaten at the end? Go insane when he realized the cosmic horror of
his ‘girlfriend’? Would the lovers discover they were both different mythos
creatures masquerading as human? Just like watching a TV mystery I tried to
guess the twist, but it ended up something very different than even I expected!"</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://albanlake.com/potters-field-six/">James Simpson</a> on "If These Shadows Could Talk": "</span>I think the idea for this story was really meant as a
celebration not just of Lovecraft's work, which I make references to, but also
several of his own inspirations. There are pieces of Hodgson, Chambers and
Machen in there along with a touch of Poe, Shelley and Stoker. It would be fun
to expand upon this somewhat. I suppose there's a melancholic edge to it as
well. There's this loneliness to evil and these creatures display that even
among their kind. There's a tinge of sadness that pervades the whole thing as
if these creatures are just stuck in perpetual motion, quietly hoping for
release and, perhaps, envying the human race that they supposedly despise so
much. There's symbolism to the light and how these beings belong to the
darkness. It reminds us that we have never quite mastered the night despite our
progression with technology and science. The darkness has always been home to
the unknown and we all remember what Lovecraft considered the oldest and
strongest fear..." </div>
Gregory L. Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01401923332700261746noreply@blogger.com3