Ultra-Short Competition

My Ultra-Short piece, "The Man in the Cold," was just released as an Honoree for the The Binnacle Eighth Annual Ultra-Short Competition! 

The Binnacle is University of Maine at Machias's Literary & Arts Journal.  UMM is currently accepting entries for it's 9th Annual Ultra-Short Competition.  150 word limit and deadline is February 15th.

PODCAST REVIEW: Dead of Night by Jonathon Maberry

Over at Dark Discussions podcast I co-hosted a review of Jonathon Maberry's new novel, Dead of Night.  Dead of Night is an excellent book that made me crave zombies again. Check it out!

THE REVIEW

Last Minute Holiday Gifts for Writers

Today I purchased a little Christmas present for myself....Scrivener! And it inspired me to publish a little list on the books I've accumulated over the past year. All are excellent and are sure to be enjoyed by your writer friends and loved ones.

What If? - Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter : What If? was highly recommended to me by an instructor who found it to be a great teaching tool.  This is more of a 'text book' but as someone who has little formal writing education outside of Grub Street, I've found this to be invaluable.  What If? contains over 100 exercises (much more than just prompts) that focus on the elements of writing and a collection of short stories.

On Writing Horror - Horror Writers Association : The HWA's official book on writing in the Horror genre.

Danse Macabre - Stephen King : Stephen King's journey through the history of the Horror genre. Not to be missed by Horror fans.

On Writing - Stephen King : Stephen King's memoir - not just a biography. It's a quick read and a valuable learning tool.

Essentials of Screenwriting - Richard Walter : A great book on the art and craft of film and television writing.

The Elements of Style - Strunk and White : Classic, short and to the point. Perfect stocking stuffer...though it might be like getting clothes for Christmas when you were a little kid.

On Writing Well - William Zinsser : I have yet to read this one but I heard such great things about it that I recently picked it up.  It's target audience is non-fiction writers but it looks to contain great material no matter what your favored genre.

Write. - Karen Peterson : For writers block and to instill passion and confidence.  A book to check in on every once in awhile to remind one to just sit down and write. It's all about confidence people! If you write, call yourself a writer. Just sit down and get to work!

The Storymatic - The Storymatic is a huge set of writing prompts on cards that can be used for exercises or games (Six trillion stories in on little box...so it states...on the box). I've used them to force myself to sit down and write on whatever crazy combination pops out...like //pulls cards// "Person who should not be in charge" and "wrong number."  I might just start on that one right now...

There you have it folks. Now go out and spend those hard earned monies!!

I'm off to Scrivener...

REVIEW: Epitaphs edited by Tracy L. Carbone

The second book I had the pleasure of reading from my AnthoCon binge (5 anthologies and 3 novels) was Epitaphs: The Journal of the New England Horror Writers.  The New England Horror Writers released the anthology at AnthoCon and had several of the authors on hand to read during a panel. Trisha J. Wooldridge was exceptional in her reading of her poem, Kali's Promise.  I've read it twice and each time I hear her voice in my head as I read the words.  Epitaphs brings a wide range of dark fiction (23 short stories and 3 poems) and while several didn't appeal to me, there seems to be something for everyone.  I was disappointed at first to see two reprints but Rick Hautala's Perfect Witness, originally published in 1995, ended up being one of my favorites in the anthology.  Overall I thought Epitaphs was a great read and contained several stories that I will want to revisit in the future.  Below are my favorite pieces from Epitaphs:

A Case of the Quiets: A poem by Kurt Newton that reminded me of Jack Ketchum's Bram Stoker award winning short story, The Box.

The Possessor Worm: Editor Tracy L. Carbone introduced B. Adrian White's The Possessor Worm stating that it was Lovecraftian in nature and she hates Lovecraft. No love for Lovecraft?! Come on! I was pumped to read it, however, as I am a huge fan of Lovecraft.  White does not disappoint.  The story updates the letter format of some Lovecraft tales with emails back and forth between two characters on opposite coasts of the U.S. and the horror that one of them finds in an old home in the North End of Boston.

Make a Choice: The situation in Make a Choice by John McIlveen is one that I think we see in a lot of contemporary horror (Strangers, Last House on the Left, etc.) But the tale is very well written and makes the reader question what really is the best outcome for the family.

Perfect Witness: Mentioned above - don't want to say much else to spoil the story other than I loved it!

Kali's Promise: Also mentioned above. The poem is about a woman who doesn't exactly get the revenge she was looking for. Voices for the demon and the main character come through loud and distinct.

Malfeasance: I really like the questions that David North-Martino delves into with this story: How does the individual react when presented a situation vs. how is the same situation viewed by society as a whole? Murder and torture are accepted as wrong by society, but as an individual, would you commit the crime to save a loved one, for example?

A Deeper Kind of Cold: Great sci-fi horror story from K. Allen Wood. I love the setting in the space station and it screams Alien to me.  Brutal revelations for characters with a lot of pent up emotion and an ending that I'm still tossing around in my head.

Legend of the Wormley Farms: Philip Roberts, this may be my favorite piece in the anthology.  A family farm fallen on hard times. Cue the horror!

The Church of Thunder and Lightning: I'm a news junkie so I loved this story.  Peter N. Dudar tells the tale of a reporter who is so desperate for a big story she sneaks into a cult ceremony with disastrous results. 

To Sleep, Perchance to Die: In which an obese man suffering from a sleep disorder doesn't find the cure he's looking for with a CPAP machine.  I have a like/dislike relationship with this story.  It's not something that I would rave about but wow, does Jeffrey C. Pettengill know how to keep the reader in the moment or what? This story is so visceral and keeps the reader in such a gruesome - albeit very short - moment, one that Pettengill drags on over six pages. I could tell where the story was headed after things started to go wrong but I think that was part of what kept my eyes glued to the page even though I wanted to look away.

Next Up: Dead of Night by Jonathon Maberry (And maybe I'll get some damn writing done!)

REVIEW: The Armageddon Chord by Jeremy Wagner

While attending Anthocon in Portsmouth, NH last month (an excellent convention on speculative fiction and I'm very much looking forward to next year's Con) I had the pleasure of meeting author/musician Jeremy Wagner.  A friend of mine and I are fans of metal music so I figured I'd check out The Armageddon Chord and maybe pick up a copy.  Jeremy and I got to talking and found out we grew up in the same city north of Chicago (small world!) and that cinched it; I had to read his book. And I'm glad I did.

The Armageddon Chord is a crazy over-the-top romp of good versus evil and is exploding with little music Easter eggs for fans who know where to look.  The story switches back and forth between the protagonist, Kirk  'God of Guitar' Vaisto, compared to real-life guitarist Michel Angelo in the novel, a clean metal guitarist who never really fit into the band that made him rich and famous, and the antagonists Helmut Hartkopff (metal reference!) and Festus Baustone.  Hartkopff is straight out of Indiana Jones and I liken Baustone to an evil mastermind from a James Bond movie. Crazy, yes, but it works.  The antagonists' motivations are explained and it makes sense how events pull both sides together. 

Wagner does a great job of weaving in secondary characters to assist in fleshing out Vaisto and Baustone. I was pleasantly surprised with the character Mona and I enjoyed her scenes with Vaisto after her introduction through another character (not to be spoiled).  My only real complaint character-wise is the Priest could have been more developed. I thought he came out of nowhere and I would have liked to know more. 

Wagner fills the pages of The Armageddon Chord with his knowledge and experience as a musician.  From Vaisto's guitar playing to scenes in the studio to industry details, it's obvious Wagner poured his passions into the novel.  And the chapter titles--Dream Evil, The Cabal, Nocturnal Emissions, Diabolus in Musica, Metal Heart, etc.--all metal music references that were fun to find and that I could tell Wagner had fun slipping in.

I had no idea what I was getting into with The Armageddon Chord but it was a lot of fun.  At times it felt like the story struggled balancing its over-the-top nature with serious tones; the strong religious themes near the end didn't fit with the characters as well as I'd like them to but overall it was a great read. And the pace of the final act is just awesome.  I'm looking forward to Wagner's next book. Check out The Armageddon Chord!

Recommended: 8/10 (10/10 for metal music fans)


Next up: Epitaphs: The Journal of the New England Horror Writers edited by Tracy L. Carbone.

Starla intro

Well...after changing the back story and driving force behind Starla, I'm currently left with an unfinished product.  I started this story after reading "The Monster's Corner" anthology edited by Christopher Golden. I'm pretty set on the first 400 words (looking like 2500 is the goal) so here it is...and I'll have the rest up by mid-week.

Starla

When lightning struck the island for the third time, sundering the remaining wall of Winchester Light and tearing her chains from its crumbling foundation, Starla bit her tongue, severing the end.  Her mouth contorted into a crimson grin and she savored the metallic tang of blood and algae and freedom.  The storm raged overhead, whipping the sea around the ruined lighthouse into a fury, crashing waves salting the rain.  She roared back at the hurricane with lungs full of hatred for her past, the sea and for Him. One hundred years chained to that cursed rock.  Ninety-nine ships led by her damned voice to be devoured by Him, the ever-thirsting drain, a whirlpool in the deep darkness of the sea.  She’d filed the tips of her webbed claws into sharp points and chiseled deep lines into the volcanic rock to mark the passing of ship and season.  The carvings were a wasted attempt to calm her mind and maintain some kind of order.  Over the years hope dwindled and her sanity seemed to come and go as it pleased, burying itself deep within some hidden corner of Starla’s fragile mind and leaving her to wander alone through haunting dreams.  On those nights, she relived the horrors of her capture and expedition across the Atlantic aboard the Negro Marie.  She would wake with a start, choking herself on the collar as she thrashed about reaching for her brother Martin as he burned in the wreckage of her father’s Irish cutter, her eyes wet from the memory of the black smoke. 

“This ends tonight,” thought Starla.  Another bolt lit the charcoal sky, reflecting her grotesque image in a puddle of brine.  Her long braided hair hung brackish and tangled, flecked with bits of broken shell.  Milk white cockle shells adorned her gray-green breasts, chipped and cracked yet permanent, an extension of her weather beaten skin and the dark, mottled scales that formed her tail.  Starla grimaced, tearing her eyes from the image.  She’d been beautiful once.  But that was before she had become broken and lost.  Betrayed and discarded to the sea.  Behind her, at the base of the lighthouse, the broken chain attached to her neck glowed white hot in a charred crater.  Starla took the tarnished ring around her throat in her webbed fingers and gripped until her knuckles turned bone white.  Tiny barnacles encrusting the back of her gray-green hands stirred in their shells from the warmth of the collar.  Wind whistled through holes in the base of the rock, chorus spiraling in gusts ranging from bass to soprano. 

October Horror Hiatus

I've been devouring horror stories and movies over the past month in honor of October, which has kept me away from writing.  But I do have one piece that I am finishing up this week (posting over Halloween weekend) and two more in the pipe.

October Books
The Monster's Corner Anthology by Christopher Golden
Red by Jack Ketchum
Criminal Macabre Omnibus by Steve Niles
The Road to Roma by Dave Kuhne
Blood Stone by Nate Kenyon

October Movies
30 Days of Night: Dark Days
The People Under the Stairs
Tale of Two Sisters
Sleepy Hollow
Dawn of the Dead
Stake Land
Shaun of the Dead
Mimic Director's Cut
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Black Swan
Let Me In
Midnight Meat Train

What are you watching/reading?

An Evening on the T

The evening train is crammed with bodies tormented by the cold and eager to get home.  They clog the doors and scoff at those unwilling to move until the conductor is yelling and pumping her red close door button.  Worn eyes and tired hands are kept to themselves; headphones and cellphones our only friends.  I'm lucky to get a seat.

“I wish it cost more,” she says.  “Then I feel like it might be worth it.”

My mind filters in the sweet voice, yearning for conclusion.  I can't see her face, but her friend nods in agreement.  And so do I.  I want whatever she's having.

A quick stop later and they are are off; two school girls looking for trouble. Or ice cream.

My gaze shifts to my reflection in the window and I fade into the hum of the crowd finding its way home.

Keep the Devil Down the Hole

Pudge jabbed his shovel into the frozen earth, letting out a sigh as it toppled over, clanking against the headstone.

"Will you cut the shit and just keep digging?" Derrick thrust his shovel back into the fresh grave, grunting as he heaved another scoop of dirt. Fisher's grave was a mess of mud and snow; recent visitors' footprints having left an outline of some macabre dance.

Pudge blew over his blisters, his cold hands as lifeless as the cemetery around them. He stuffed his hands into his jacket searching for a fix. Yellow pills, blue pills, a cigarette; anything to take his mind away from the cold. He came up empty, only finding a candy wrapper which he threw on the ground. His stomach grumbled. "I got blisters, D. Shit, how long do we have to be out here, man? We've been digging for over an hour already." His bloodshot eyes glanced around, shifting from side to side. "Fisher ain't even been buried for a day. We can come back."

Here We Go...

hi!

I'm a fledgling writer who has a passion for dark fiction. Each week I plan to post new short and flash fiction. I'm learning more every day and I will continue to post my writing as it evolves over the coming years.

Hope you enjoy.

chris