Tuesday's Overlooked A/V: A Gun for George

A Gun for George offers the new Walter Mitty for a 21st century.

Terry Finch is a frustrated pulp fiction author and eternal loner looking for brutal revenge on the mean streets of East Kent.

This short film offers a fascinating (and funny!) look at a few tropes that are instantly recognisable to any film fan. It has a vintage look, but takes place now(ish), deliberately mashing up past and present to embody those colliding impulses.

Hard-bitten, gritty, pulpy crime narratives: British television used to rule on this front, as Mr B has written about a few times here and there. It's a trend that's exploding again lately: tough, he-man grit, but it's often one that can seemingly only happen in fantasy -- either hedged around with nostalgia or set in an unquestioned past.

The appeal rests on the idea that average men, who once had the unquestioned assumption of male power and privilege, find that has been taken away or at least become complicated. Some blame the usual targets (women and minorities rather than patriarchy and capitalism), but these films and similar books show a world that many long for --  one with uncomplicated interactions where good triumphs over evil even if it has to bend the rules to do so (think Dirty Harry and Charles Bronson films). It's not purely a male fantasy.
 
However it has often been a genre without women, except as easily-discarded sex partners, dames to be rescued or mirrors for their manliness, and as well as one where the Other can be easily distinguished by visible markers (i.e. race or ethnicity). It's a genre I'm writing in a lot lately, so I'm intrigued by all this backward splashing of nostalgia and modernity. Sometimes it is deliberately set in the past (like my story "Chickens") but other times it's happening right now ("Bill is Dead"). It's about world building in either case: that's what a lot of mimetic fiction writers don't always get -- it's all about world building.* 

[Need I add that most of the writers I've met working in the genre are not like Terry Finch, fine gentlemen and ladies who play nice and prove generally kind and inclusive to everyone? Naah, you know that.]

Let me get back to the film (instead of writing what will probably be my next PCA presentation on gender and nostalgia in noir fiction judging by this >_<).  Yes, the film examines the place of the displaced 70s man of action. It's also hilarious! It's pure Dunning-Kruger in action (oh dear, another paper that wants to be written) because Terry Finch thinks he's really an awesome tough-guy writer and everything we see demonstrates that he is not.

East Kent Grit: what a lovely concept.

Best laugh perhaps comes when a doctor cautions him, "If you must write, do it away from the sick and the vulnerable." And his caravan! HAHAHAHA!

See the site for The Reprisalizer, Terry Fincher's pulp star ("Real Name: Bob Shuter"). While it's a bit neglected of late, it provides dead on, awesomely realistic creations of vintage pulpy goodness. The whole created world of Terry Finch shows such care and attention to detail. Wonderful!

See Todd's blog for the round-up of overlooked gems.

*One of the reasons I have to spend so much time getting my students to visualise the medieval world; without a lot of explanation, my students tend to see history as just now with a hat on (a funny medieval hat in that instance). A lot of mimetic fiction neglects world building and often readers assume they know the world in which a story takes place only to be brought up short when they stumble across something that doesn't fit their own experience.

Six Sentence Sunday: Grotesque

Another Sunday has rolled around, giving you the opportunity to spot new writers you might like with the Six Sentence Sunday crew. A great, simple concept that seems to be very effective. My six this week come from a short that's been under submission for a bit now; I've become so good at the "submit & forget" that until a chance bump to the memory regurgitated it, I had forgotten the story existed and also where I had sent it, so I had to dig around to find it. Some detective work, eh? All I knew: it was named after a Fall reference.

Yeah, that narrows it down.

So here's a bit from "Grotesque" which is out there trying its luck (and now I know where). I picked a few lines describing the pub where most of the story takes place. Loosely based on a pub I know, but made much much worse, naturally; that's what fiction's all about. The scene begins with an explanation why no women have ever crossed its threshold:

Perhaps that could be blamed on the décor, which ranged from brown to more brown. Or the ambience that derived from unwashed and mostly middle aged men just off shift. The young lads all went to the shiny new sports pubs with their cacophonous screens and drinks with asinine names that they swilled back like candy. 

We had two kinds of lager here and one of ale, with Guinness on the side for the old men from the isle. In the summer you could also get cans of Budweiser to take out into the 'beer garden': a picnic table on a concrete square between the rubbish tip and the gray wall of the car park. The chief appeal seemed to be you were allowed to spit out there.

I'll let you know if/when something comes of it. I'm sure it will eventually.



       

Friday's Forgotten Books: The Life of Christina of Markyate

I don't think there's much chance of overlap with this week's choice. The life of a twelfth century recluse: it doesn't scream popular appeal, I suppose. But it should! A fascinating story and an early biography of a woman in a time when few but kings and saints got their stories told (fortunately at least someone important considered Christina close enough to the latter). I have begun writing a play about Christina's life in hopes of making it known to a broader audience, but as with so many things, it has had to wait in the queue for a bit. I have actually been spending these months in Ireland completing long delayed projects and jettisoning ones that are no longer relevant to my path.

Of course my brain insists on constantly coming up with new ideas, so it's a rather hopeless cause. If I had all the time in the world, it still wouldn't be enough.

Christina is born in Huntingdon to noble Anglo-Saxon parents, Autti and Beatrix. The story is a dove flew over to Christina's mother from the monastery and nestled in her sleeve and stayed there a week while she was pregnant, demonstrating of course that the child was touched by the Holy Spirit. You'd think after such a clear sign, her parents would resign themselves to offering her to the church, but no.

They get her engaged to a rich young man despite her protests that she'd like to devote her life to quiet contemplation. While we tend to think of the church as a repressive organisation in the current age, for women in the Middle Ages it offered one of the few opportunities for independence and a little authority (assuming you weren't born to a royal family or likely to be married into one). So they married her against her will, but she refused to consummate the marriage. So the bishop tried to rape her to make her more compliant; in a hilarious scene, she's divinely assisted to resist him.

She ends up running away to live dressed as a man with a monk: talk about a modern gal! Eventually she's allowed to take up the life of a recluse as she wished, but there are always problems. Christina's peerless conduct evokes envy in others and she has to frequently chastise her superiors because those men would rather wheel and deal wealth than praise god. So it's a busy life, fighting off demons and receiving prognostications from the Holy Spirit -- and only a few recognised her for what she was:

Hence, some of them called her a dreamer, others a seducer of souls, others more moderately, just a worldly-wise business woman...others who could think nothing better to say spread the rumour that she was attracted to the abbot by earthly love.

It's a wonderful capsule of twelfth century life; it's a familiar tale of the difficulties of being an exceptional woman. The Talbot edition has a terrific introduction, but can be a bit pricey unless you find a used copy. There's a more inexpensive edition of her life available now:





Drop by Patti Abbott's blog for the round up of other FFBs.

Writer Wednesday: Danielle Ackley-McPhaill

Award-winning author Danielle Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing industry for over sixteen years. Currently, she is a project editor and promotions manager for Dark Quest Books.

Her published works include four urban fantasy novels, Yesterday's Dreams, Tomorrow's Memories, the upcoming Today’s Promise, and The Halfling’s Court: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale. She is also the author of the non-fiction writers guide, The Literary Handyman and is the senior editor of the Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series, Dragon’s Lure, and In An Iron Cage. Her work is included in numerous other anthologies and collections, including Rum and Runestones, Dark Furies, Breach the Hull, So It Begins, By Other Means, No Man’s Land, Space Pirates, Space Horrors, Barbarians at the Jumpgate, and New Blood.

She is a member of The Garden State Horror Writers, the New Jersey Authors Network, and Broad Universe, a writer’s organization focusing on promoting the works of women authors in the speculative genres.

Danielle lives somewhere in New Jersey with husband and fellow writer, Mike McPhail, mother-in-law Teresa, and three extremely spoiled cats. She can be found on LiveJournal (damcphail, badassfaeries, darkquestbooks, lit_handyman), Facebook (Danielle Ackley-McPhail), and Twitter (DMcPhail). To learn more about her work, visit www.sidhenadaire.com, www.literaryhandyman.com, or www.badassfaeries.com.

Q: What do you write on? Computer, pad o' paper, battered Underwood? Give us a vivid picture.

Wow…it really depends on where I am. I grab every chance I can to write when I am in the middle of a project so I’ve written on my personal laptop, a previously finicky Gateway that had a backlighting short that made the screen go out on an all too regular basis, an ancient PalmPilot when I’ve gone back and forth to work, a lovely notebook—drattedly unlined—in a leather cover pressed with Celtic knotwork, and now my wonderful new Droid…which admittedly sees more game playing than writing at the moment, but only because I received it right as I was finishing the final pages of my new novel, Today’s Promise.

Q: Do you listen to music while you write? Does it influence what you write?

I almost always listen to music. Mostly Celtic instrumentals, or where they are singing in Irish, so that the content doesn’t distract me, but I’ve also been known to pull out the movie soundtracks when I need something with a really good sci fi or military theme. I don’t know about the music influencing me, exactly, but I do use it to get into a mindset. Not quite the same thing.

Q: Do you write in short bursts or carve out long periods of time to work? Is it a habit or a vice?

Wow…It depends. Above I mentioned I was working on Today’s Promise, the last book in my Eternal Cycle series. Through a moment of insanity I ended up with a five month writing window for that before it needed to be sent to press. I lost a month of that to illness and surgery. With only four months to write, revise, and then go through the formal edit process I was sweating it big time. At the very end I went 44 hours without a proper sleep and wrote about 12,000 words in that time. I finished the book in three months by dedicating every free moment obsessively to writing it. That’s not how I usually am, though. Mostly I’ll have a couple hours here and there when an idea comes to me, and more rarely I’ll write the day through to finish a short story. Of course, I’ve been known to go prolonged times without writing anything at all…

Q: What writer would you most want to read your work? What would you want to hear them say?

LOL…Well… I just gave my biker faerie novel, The Halfling’s Court, to Sherrilyn Kenyon…and I’m REALLY hoping what she says is that it doesn’t suck! [Ed. Fingers crossed!]

Q: On the days where the writing doesn't go so well, what other art or career do you fantasize about pursuing instead?

You know I’d like to be a chef, or a vagabond…though costumer or make-up artist would be really cool too…not like Lancôme. Like Face Off!

Q: What do you read? What do you re-read?

I read just about everything except for Horror and Manga. Mostly fantasy, urban fantasy, some sci fi. My guilty pleasure is romance, which I call my junkfood reading. Not because there is anything wrong with the quality of the writing, but because I can read them quickly, easily and enjoyable without too much having to keep things straight, like alien names and who is scheming against who.

Q: Where did the idea for your latest publication come from? Do you have a surefire way of sparking inspiration?

Most of my ideas come from the odd connections my mind makes when I’m in conversation with other people, mostly other writers. The Eternal Cycle series started as the story Yesterday’s Dreams. Originally it was only supposed to be a short story just for the heck of it. I’d never even considered it would become a novel or get published. I was in a chat room with other writers and one of them, my friend Bill Hicks, was talking about all the different jobs he’d had. One of them was a pawn broker. That triggered in my mind the idea of a pawnshop where an evil man claimed items that had an attachment to the owner’s soul. In the end it turned into a Celtic themed story where the pawnbroker was a good elf, still collecting soul-imbued items, but for the purpose of protecting them, not exploiting them. Yesterday’s Dreams was followed by Tomorrow’s Memories, and in May, concludes with Today’s Promise, and none of them would exist if not for talking with creative, like-minded people and letting my mind play with the possibilities.

From Danielle Ackley-McPhail’s novel Today’s Promise, Book Three in the Eternal Cycle Series, Dark Quest Books, May 2012:

The hall was weighted with oppressive silence. Hushed and packed, with no unnecessary movement. Every member of the elven race the world over had been summoned. No. Compelled. Kara had been swept along, driven to follow by an impulse deep within. Though not precisely included in the charge, her way had not been barred. More, she figured, because she’d gone unnoticed than for any other reason.

She made her way to where Maggie stood, careful to draw no attention to herself. Not that that was likely as the Sidhe all stood bound together by tension, every eye drawn to the Great Wall. More than architecture, more than art, that one wall represented the experiences of every Sidhe alive…and ever born. The intricate knotwork was more than decoration; in color and shape, it grew and changed as the Tuatha de Danaan did. This was the living history of their race. For Bran to be stricken from it for all time was testament to the severity of his offenses. Kara was floored by the grave nature of what she was about to witness. Silently, she took in the changes that had been made to the Hall.

On the dais in front of the wall Goibhniu’s massive throne was gone from its place. Where once it rested an enormous wrought-iron anvil stood ready; ancient, dark and unyielding, like the Smith that worked upon its surface. Kara’s eyes grew wide and beside her Maggie gasped. Goibhniu’s expression was completely neutral, as was his voice when he finally spoke.

“Two things the Daoine Maithé honor above all else: kin an’ oath. To betray either is to be banned from the Land. To betray both is to be banished from all Lands. The Cursed One has added treachery beyond measure to his crime, betraying not one o’ us, but all o’ us. As ruler o’ this Land an’ first betrayed, I invoke the Unraveling.”
 

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Friday's Forgotten Books: Angelica Lost and Found

When Russell Hoban died, I was among those who went first to Riddley Walker in mourning his passing. Somewhat neglected in the encomia was his latest book at the time, Angelica Lost and Found (though now Soonchild is out, too).

Angelica finds its inspiration from Ariosto's Orlando Furioso and from a painting of a key scene from the epic poem. Angelica is the woman chained to the rocks on the beach. The hero Ruggerio flies down on a hippogriff to rescue her from the sea monster, Orca. Girolamo da Carpi captured the scene in oils, now hanging in the Museum of Art in El Paso, Texas.

In Hoban's novel, our hero is the hippogriff who names himself Volatore and seeks out Angelica with whom he has fallen in love. How can an imaginary animal love a woman from a poem? He makes himself real, but finds she has become real, too, far away in San Francisco. Even when they find each other, their joy is momentary because reality just can't bear such dreams being made real. Some bon mots:

"Everything is real, Angelica. Reality is a house of many rooms, and sometimes we can enter more than one. Ariosto's words put real wind under my wings, made me fly. It was not only words on paper--I remember the air rushing past me, remember looking down on plains and forests, mountains and oceans. I lived, I flew over the sea in a painting by Girolamo da Carpi in a time long past."

"Why are you in my dream of reality?" 
"I don't know. Reality is a mystery to me and that's how I like it; an understood reality can only be an illusion." 

"Ok, Liv. If I told you I've had sex with an imaginary animal, what would your reaction be?"
"An imaginary animal?"
"That's right."
"What kind of imaginary animal?"
"A hippogriff."
"A hippogriff!"
"Named Volatore."
"Volatore!"
"Does repeating everything I say in italics help you to take it in?"

What can I say? It's Hoban-esque: playful, intelligent, sexy, irrational, thoughtful, sad, happy and fun. If you like that, you'll like this.

Look for the full list of overlooked books over at Patti Abbott's blog. er, Todd's blog.

Writer Wednesday: Victoria Watson

Victoria Watson was awarded 'Young Reviewer of the Year' in 2009 and completed a Masters degree in Creative Writing in 2010. Victoria has contributed to publications including True Faith (Newcastle United fanzine), NCJ Media's north-east titles The Journal, Evening Chronicle and Sunday Sun. She has also reviewed for Amazon, Waterstones and Closer Magazine. Victoria had a story published in the Home Tomorrow anthology published by 6th Edition Publishing in 2011. Her work is also featured Off the Record. Her collection Letting Go has been in the Kindle Top 100 free downloads for a week. Victoria currently lives in the North-East of England and dreams of living somewhere hot and sunny, paying the bills with her writing.

Letting Go is a collection of eight short stories. Each of these tales has a twist that the reader won’t be expecting. Regret and how just one moment or snap decision can change your life forever are key themes in each of these stories.


Q: What do you write on? Computer, pad o' paper, battered Underwood? Give us a vivid picture.

I always carry a notepad and paper around just in case inspiration strikes when I’m away from my laptop but I prefer to type directly onto my laptop. I also use my mobile phone as a way of making notes – if you’re in public, it’s easier than pulling your notebook out of you battered handbag and scribbling. Next time I upgrade my laptop, I’m looking forward to getting a really tiny one so it’ll fit in my handbag – along with my Kindle and god knows what other detritus.

Q: Do you listen to music while you write? Does it influence what you write?

I listen to music, I listen to the radio, and I watch TV. I’m a big Radio 4 fan so I find that I listen to a range of things while writing – it could be news, drama or something educational. I’m a multi-tasker. If I could read and write at the same time, I would! I think listening to Radio 4 sometimes gives me new ideas though, which is great. I don’t think the other stuff I do when I’m writing influences what I write although if I need to get into a certain mood to write a particular scene, I sometimes listen to a certain song or album. When I need a hit of energy, I like to listen to Beyoncé or Lady Gaga. I’m not well-known for my musical tastes!


Q: Do you write in short bursts or carve out long periods of time to work? Is it a habit or a vice?

I write while I can so some days could be a full day’s writing and other days it might just be a snatched 15 minutes. Other days, I must confess, I don’t write at all. It’s not as much of a habit as I’d like it to be. But my life isn’t very routine at the moment which is guess is why I don’t have a strict schedule. When I’m lucky enough to have a lot of ideas, I write as much as I can to make the most of it. Also, if I’m thinking about ideas, I find they keep me awake at night so if I have to write to get a decent night’s sleep!

Q: What writer would you most want to read your work? What would you want to hear them say?

I’d love for Alan Bennett to give them a read and say he liked them. If Roald Dahl was alive, I’d love for his opinion but sadly that is not longer possible. I respect a lot of authors so I wouldn’t be picky about who read them! I also respect the opinions of the readers so any positive feedback is always a big boost.

Q: On the days where the writing doesn't go so well, what other art or career do you fantasize about pursuing instead?

I never describe myself as artistic which people often disagree with because they say writing is a form of art. Other arts don’t come easy to me – I always have great ideas but can never put them into practice. I often fantasize about being a TV or radio presenter. I’d love a job like Mariella Frostrup’s – she gets to read books and interview authors and she gets paid for it. How lucky is she?!


Q: What do you read? What do you re-read?

The only books I’ve ever re-read are Talking Heads by Alan Bennett, Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I find that there are so many amazing writers out there that I like to read new books all the time. There are other books, like A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and Mark Haddon’s books that I intend to re-read at some point. I get sent a lot of review copies of books by publishers, writers and book stores so I generally end up reading things I don’t necessarily choose but that’s nice in a way as it means I read more books that I wouldn’t choose myself. Often, the only time I read books I choose is when I’m on holiday. I love writers like Roddy Doyle and Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche as well as Tony Parsons and I really like to read books about cultures I haven’t experienced.

Q: Where did the idea for ‘Letting Go’ come from? Do you have a surefire way of sparking inspiration?

Letting Go is a collection of my short stories. The common thread through each of the stories is that they hinge on how one moment or choice can change everything. I’m now working on a follow-up collection. I don’t have one way that’s guaranteed to inspire me but if I’m stuck for ideas, I listen to the radio and read the news. Generally, I don’t find issue with getting initial ideas; it’s more like padding out the story that takes a lot of time and effort. What I often do in that circumstance, is spend a lot of time thinking about it before I start typing. They’re the nights that keep me awake.

You can find Victoria on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads. Visit her blog or check out her author page on Amazon.

Writer Wednesday: Jan Kozlowski

My pal and fellow Horror in Film and Literature lister, Jan Kozlowski, first fell in love with the horror genre in 1975 when the single drop of ruby blood on the engraved black cover of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot hypnotized her into buying it. She sold her first story, Psychological Bacchanal to the EWG E-zine in 1997. Her short story, Parts is Parts, won awards in both the International Writing Competition sponsored by DarkEcho’s E-zine and Quoth the Raven’s Bad Stephen King contest. Another short story, Stuff It, was sold to an independent film producer and went into production as a movie short called Sweet Goodbyes. Her short stories have appeared in: Remittance Girl’s A Slip of the Lip Anthology, Lori Perkins’ Hungry for Your Love: An Anthology of Zombie Romance and Fangbangers: An Erotic Anthology of Fangs, Claws, Sex and Love.

She is extremely proud and excited to announce that her first novel, Die, You Bastard! Die! debuted February 7, 2012 as part of Lori Perkins’ new horror line, Ravenous Shadows, edited by the legendary John Skipp.

Q: What do you write on? Computer, pad o' paper, battered Underwood? Give us a vivid picture.

I do the majority of my writing on my cherished MacBookPro laptop. I tend to turn my MacBook on at 6:30am and not shut down until 9pm or later most days [Ed: Hmmm, you can shut them down?]. If I either get stuck or get a jones to feel pen against paper, I’ll pull out my old white L&M Ambulance Company clipboard loaded with scrap paper and start scribbling. The board is a souvenir of my days as an urban EMT in Hartford, CT and I keep it around as a reminder of what I COULD be doing for a living.

Q: Do you listen to music while you write? Does it influence what you write?

I almost always listen to my local Dinosaur (Classic) Rock radio station when I’m working. Since Die, You Bastard! Die! is such an ultra violent story, I tried putting together a play list of heavier metal like Avenged Sevenfold (my granddaughter’s favorite band), Testament, Broken Hope, Disturbed, but I ended up distracted by the unfamiliar songs. Listening to the rock I grew up with in the 70’s like Bob Seger, The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen and Aerosmith, with a little Tom Waits, Frank Zappa, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha-Chas, Bon Jovi and Bacon Brothers thrown in via iTunes works best for me.

Q: Do you write in short bursts or carve out long periods of time to work? Is it a habit or a vice?

For me, writing is a business. I’ve been freelancing since I was about 12 and sold articles about raising tropical fish to my hometown newspaper. For the past 15 years or so I’ve run my own freelance writing shop doing all sorts of business and web related writing, editing and research work. Over the past two years, I’ve slowly been moving away from the business projects in order to focus on my horror fiction, but whether I’m writing fiction or non-fiction my work style is the same….commit to the project and write until the client, the editor or I’m happy with the finished product.

Q: What writer would you most want to read your work? What would you want to hear them say?

That’s already happened…on one of the drafts of Die, You Bastard! Die! I think I managed to gross out my editor, legendary Splatterpunk King, John Skipp! Now if I can, one day, pay Dean Koontz back for the creeps he gave me with his novel Whispers, I’ll die a happy writer.

Q: On the days where the writing doesn't go so well, what other art or career do you fantasize about pursuing instead?

When I was a little girl my grandfather used to tell me stories about his adventures working for a funeral home during the pre-embalming fluid days. I always thought I would have loved working in mortuary sciences, but when I was going to school women weren’t exactly welcomed into the funeral services industry. Now that times have changed and we have a first class Mortuary Sciences degree program at our local college, I’ve always thought that would make a fabulous Plan B, even now at age 50+.

Q: What do you read? What do you re-read?

I try to read a little bit of everything. I get some great ideas from newspapers and magazines. I just discovered and am now devouring Mad Money Wall Street guru, Jim Cramer’s books. I try and read as much classic horror like Robert Bloch, M.R. James, Fritz Leiber, H.P. Lovecraft, Richard Matheson, Edgar Allan Poe and J.N. Williamson as possible. I also try to keep up with who’s publishing today beyond Bestsellersaurus Rexes Stephen King and Dean Koontz. I’m a huge fan of Edward Lee, Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Joe R. Landsdale, Jonathan Maberry, Elizabeth Massie, Yvonne Navarro, Weston Ochse, Monica O’Rourke, John Skipp and Andrew Vachss.

I rarely find time to re-read anything unless I’m researching a specific writing technique, like how Jonathan Maberry handled the fight scenes in his Pine Deep trilogy or how Dean Koontz ramped up to the reveal of the cockroaches in Whispers.

Q: Where did the idea for  Die, You Bastard! Die! come from? Do you have a surefire way of sparking inspiration? And is that an awesome title or what?!

The idea for Die, You Bastard! Die! came out of a lovely dinner Ravenous Shadows publisher Lori Perkins and I had during the 2011 Northeast Writer’s Conference, known as NECON. Lori mentioned she was looking for a story about an adult child coming home to take care of her abusive parent and it matched up with a story I had been kicking around for years about a survivor of childhood sexual abuse coming home to deal with her past. After the conference I got home, wrote up the proposal, Skipp green-lighted it and we took off from there. I realize that’s not the way most writers get a book deal but it goes to prove that if you consistently put the hard work in, you WILL find yourself at the right place, at the right time with the right story. 

Writing inspiration and story/character/plot ideas are everywhere if you’re open to them…and my motivation for being open to them usually is based on my memories of being paid $5 an hour to be projectile vomited on as an EMT or waitressing at Friendly’s for .60 below minimum wage. 

John Skipp raves about this book:

Die, You Bastard! Die! is one hard-as-nails crime story indeed, with a crime at its core so heinous it boggles both mind and soul. That said, it is also a horror story, a mystery, and an insanely taut suspense thriller. Categories are funny like that. 

But human monsters don’t get more humanly monstrous than Big Daddy. And it don’t get much rougher and tougher than Jan Kozlowski’s violently matter-of-fact, emotionally ass-kicking, downright incendiary son of a bitch. 

I love this book, and stand behind it 100%. Hope it blows you away, as it did me. And has you coming back for more. 

Drop by Jan's blog or website and follow her on Twitter. Find her on Facebook and check out her Amazon author page. Thanks, Jan!

Writer Wednesday: Graham Smith

Graham Smith is married with a young son. A time served joiner he has built bridges, houses, dug drains and slated roofs to make ends meet. For the last eleven years he has been manager of a busy hotel and wedding venue near Gretna Green, Scotland. An avid fan of crime fiction since being given one of Enid Blyton's Famous Five books at the age of eight, he has also been a regular reviewer for the well respected review site Crimesquad.com for over two years. As well as reviewing for Crimesquad.com Graham has also interviewed such stellar names as David Baldacci, Dennis Lehane, Lee Child, Matt Hilton, current CWA Chair Peter James, Mark Billingham and many others. When not working, his time is spent reading, writing and playing games with his son. He enjoys socialising and spending time with friends and family.

Q: What do you write on? Computer, pad o' paper, battered Underwood? Give us a vivid picture.

I write on a laptop while sitting on the couch in our living room. There’s usually a dog at my feet and the TV or radio playing quietly in the background. There’s nothing exciting or sexy about my writing space. It’s just normal.

Q: Do you listen to music while you write? Does it influence what you write?

As the first question I have the radio on through the day and the TV at night. I get bashed on better with background noise although when I get going it just become white noise for me. My musical tastes are rock and heavy metal so if I wrote while listening to that all I would write would be car chases, explosions and gunfights with perhaps a spot of unrequited love if a ballad came on.

Q: Do you write in short bursts or carve out long periods of time to work? Is it a habit or a vice?

Writing comes in bursts for me and I’ve not written much lately as I’ve been very busy promoting my two E-books. I work full time in a very demanding job and with the reviewing and family life I find that most of my writing is done late at night or when I’m off work and my son is at school.

Q: What writer would you most want to read your work? What would you want to hear them say?

As I love a good twist in a book and love to include twists in my own tales I would have to choose the modern master of twists Jeffrey Deaver. I’ve met him and interviewed him for www.crimesquad.com and he is a very nice guy. For him to say “cool twist” would be fantastic for me. I actually had this comment from Joseph Finder on a short piece I wrote in a writing class he conducted at Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. To say I was thrilled would be an understatement.

Q: On the days where the writing doesn't go so well, what other art or career do you fantasize about pursuing instead?

Rock god, professional footballer or stuntman. All very predictable really.

Q: What do you read? What do you re-read?

I read crime fiction and I currently have a to read pile that is threatening to engulf a whole room. My reviewing keeps me furnished with a constant stream of great books and I have at the last time of counting fifteen books specifically awaiting my humble opinion. I don’t get to re-read these days but I have re-read all the Alistair Maclean, Ian Fleming, Dick Francis and of course Lord of the Rings books many times.

Q: Where did the idea for Harry Charters come from? Do you have a surefire way of sparking inspiration?

I was invited by Kate Pilarcik to write a noir piece and that’s where Harry Charters came from. I take my inspiration from all kinds of places but especially jokes as I like to dismantle the punchline before rebuilding it as a twist. Once I know the twist at the end then the rest of the story tends to fall into place. How I get there is a surprise for me as well as my readers.

Blurb:

Join gumshoe detective Harry Charters as he tries to escape his demons with a shot of bourbon and a mystery chaser. His investigations include a rigged poker game, a missing teenager and tales of domestic strife. He also gets himself into the middle of gangland power struggles and comes head to head with a crime family who run an entire town.


Harry Charters is not the kinda guy who calls the cops. Instead he dispenses his own brutal justice as he rights wrongs and settles balances. Will he come out on top or will the bottle get the better of him? Read Harry Charters Chronicles to find out. 

 Find Graham on Facebook and Twitter, as well as on Goodreads and Amazon.Be sure to check his reviews on CrimeSquad. Harry Charters' Chronicles and Eleven the Hardest Way both available on Amazon now!

Writer Wednesday: Joshua J. Mark

Joshua J. Mark is a freelance writer with over twenty years experience who has lived in Greece and Germany, traveled through Egypt and Scotland, and, presently, lives in upstate New York, USA with his family. His published works include `To Memory’ through Edge Piece Magazine, `Civil Serpents' through Open Heart Publishing, `After the Funeral’ through Five Stop Stories, and `When There Were Trees' through Writes For All Magazine, as well as other stories through print and on-line. Mark is also a site moderator for and has been published in Ancient History Encyclopedia, where he writes primarily on Mesopotamia, Greece and Egypt. He is a part-time teacher of philosophy and writing at Marist College where he is a recipient of the Faculty of the Year Award. He is looking for a publisher for his Paranormal Young Adult novel, The Girl from Yesterday (it's in the hands of an agent right now).


Q: What do you write on? Computer, pad o' paper, battered Underwood? Give us a vivid picture.

I write on anything, as my too-patient wife will tell you, from napkins to scraps of paper and even, one time, on the wall of the back porch when a story came to me and I didn't have any paper at hand. Usually, though, I write on the computer, hunched over the keyboard in the foyer.


Q: Do you listen to music while you write? Does it influence what you write?

I never listen to music when I write a first draft because I know whatever I'm listening to will change the direction and tone of the story. When I write a first draft I don't need complete silence or solitude and I'm glad of it - most of the time my house is full of teenagers hanging out and making plenty of noise - but I can't have music playing. I do, however, sometimes play music intentionally when working the second draft re-write if I want a certain tone/flavor to the piece. I played the CD `The Black Parade' from the band My Chemical Romance to get a certain feeling in a story I just recently finished on the afterlife and, before that, played Breaking Benjamin's tune `Here We Are' to infuse the tone/imagery of another piece. I don't often do that but, when I do, I choose the music carefully and only on second draft re-writes. Berlioz's `Requiem', for example, can spin a piece completely around and off into the ether and should be used only if a piece seems to really call for it.

Q: Do you write in short bursts or carve out long periods of time to work? Is it a habit or a vice?

I write all the time. I write in short bursts and I also carve out large chunks of time. When I'm writing a long work nothing else in my life matters but finishing that piece and, then, I carve out pretty much the totality of my life until I reach the end. It's both a habit and a vice. I'm eternally grateful to my wife, Betsy, for not only understanding my insanity but actually encouraging it. If it were not for Betsy I wouldn't have written any of the work I've produced. I simply wouldn't have had the opportunity or encouragement to do so.


Q: What writer would you most want to read your work? What would you want to hear them say?

Well, as far as writers living today, I'd say it'd be Tom Robbins and I'd want to hear him say, simply, "Nice work. I really liked the piece." He wouldn't have to say another thing. I'd also appreciate hearing Kurt Vonnegut speaking from `the other side’saying something about the work like, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is."

Q: On the days where the writing doesn't go so well, what other art or career do you fantasize about pursuing instead?

On those days I think I should have been a plumber. First of all, it's an ancient profession going back to Rome and, secondly, it's an essential occupation. Humans will always need plumbers. Even so, no one would want me as their plumber. I don't know the difference between a wrench and pliers and I've absolutely no skill with any kind of tool. It's just my great good fortune that colleges exist which pay people to stand in front of an audience and talk about books.


Q: What do you read? What do you re-read?

I can't read fiction when I'm writing fiction so I usually read history. I've read and re-read Will Durant's `The Story of Civilization' countless times. I also re-read Shakespeare and Plato when I'm writing because I find their style doesn't bleed itself into my own but their ideas strike sparks in my mind and sometimes lend themselves to the piece. I've read Hemingway many times (his work was my Master's thesis in English long ago) but I can't read him when I'm writing. I think Hemingway can be very dangerous for a writer because his style is so distinctive and so seductive. One can easily find oneself writing `bad Hemingway' instead of finding one's own voice.


Q: Where did the idea for The Girl from Yesterday come from? Do you have a surefire way of sparking inspiration?

I do not have any surefire way of sparking inspiration. When asked a similar question about inspiration, Faulkner once said something like, "I'm inspired every morning when I sit down at the typewriter." I feel pretty much that same way. I consider writing both a joy and work. When I sit down at the keyboard, if the energy of the day is in my favor, I'm always inspired. When I'm not `feeling it' I go out and roam in the woods with my dog Sophie and that usually sparks plenty of inspiration. The idea for The Girl from Yesterday came from this abandoned mansion near where I live. When my daughter Emily was younger I'd walk her out to the bus and, on the way, I'd ask her if there was any story she'd like me to write for her which I would then read to her as a bedtime story. One morning she said something like, 'A ghost story about the old house in the woods' and so I wrote it that day and read it to her that night. That story lay around in first draft form from 2005 until 2011 when I took it out and turned it into a novel. Emily is also responsible for the name of my protagonist. She had a little stuffed animal named `Pender' back then and suggested I use that name for Rebecca Pender. `Rebecca' is Emily's middle name so she gave me the totality of that character right down to Rebecca's habit of talking in long, twining, twists of words. Emily is, for the most part, Rebecca Pender. She's a very interesting person to have around.

An excerpt from The Girl from Yesterday:

All through the night my dreams fell in whispers, soft whispers, behind my eyes. I was with my mom in the silver Subaru wagon driving down from Maine in the darkness and the fog was thick and the trees ran toward us from the sides of the road. We were leaving something behind us. Long, slender reeds of rain twisted down from the night sky into the headlights and vanished and I felt so sad at whatever it was we had lost and left back behind us at the old house on the familiar road.


Inside the car, by the dim light of the dashboard, I looked over at mom and then the whole thing slowly dissolved, piece by piece, like watching a puzzle come apart, and I was below deck on a ship sitting up quickly in bed. There was water at my feet and I screamed and ran toward the door, yelling someone's name, someone who was behind me. The water was rising quickly, ice cold, up my legs, and then I had the door open and in the corridor there were many other figures in the darkness hurrying through the water and some crying and others screaming. I remembered where the stairs were from my room but I could not find them in the darkness and then, just as quickly, I was again sitting back in the car on the long, long ride down from my home, passing by tall houses which seemed to flinch and hunch under the down pouring rain...

Thanks, Josh! Follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook and Goodreads.

Writer Wednesday: Michel R. Vaillancourt

I'm kicking off a new feature today: Writer Wednesday. So many of my colleagues have been kind enough to feature me on their blogs, I'm well overdue for returning the favour. First up is my fellow Trestle Press author, Michel R. Vaillancourt.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, Michel.

In brief about me, I am forty-two years old, currently living in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.  My day job is CEO & Alpha-Geek for a video conference hosting company.  I’m married, I have a son and I have been reading and writing for most of my life.  I have been involved in Steampunk for two years and a fan of adventure stories since I was twelve.

Q: What do you write on? Computer, pad o' paper, battered Underwood?

I'm a story teller, in terms of mindset.  So for me, the challenge is keeping myself "surrounded by the magic" that story telling brings me in front of a spoken-word audience.  Distractions that remind me that it's "just me here" are my bane.  So, I tend to write with most of the lights off, at my computer, using a full-screen won't-let-you-format-or-spell-check application called OmmWriter.


 The lights are out, because that "shrinks the world" the way that being on a stage or at a campfire does.  I can't see my audience, I just have to trust they are there.  I use a computer because my thoughts tumble out of my fingers, and I can't hand-write fast enough to keep up, and for some reason dictation never works for me.  OmmWriter gives me a visual and auditory ambiance that washes away the rest of the house noises, the sound of the five cats, four birds and a dog, etc, and allows me to emotionally drill into the scene I am trying to capture.

Q: Do you listen to music while you write? Does it influence what you write?

Absolutely, I do.  My listening music tends to be based on my mood.  Sometimes, I just want quiet, or I pick one of the ambiance sequences that is part of OmmWriter.  I either listen to Steampunk music from groups like Abney Park, Vernian Process and Vagabond Opera, or I listen to trance/ electronica from Tiesto or Armin Van Burren.  Other times, I listen to atmospherics like Brian Eno's "Music For Airports" or "Music for Films".


 A few times, I've used music to help me craft a scene...  for that I dig out movie sound tracks and find the right "feel" I am looking for.  Most of the time, though, the music is there to work as creative grease, not to actually be a direct influence.

Q: Do you write in short bursts or carve out long periods of time to work? Is it a habit or a vice?

I write when I have a story to tell.  I don't write because I "have" to because of an "external" influence, like a deadline or a screaming publisher.  I already have a job, so I have the luxury of writing my stories out because I feel like telling the next part of my story. How much I write at a session really depends on how much I have to say.  I write "until I'm done" and nothing more.  If that is 100 words, okay.  Some days it is 3200 words.  My wife knows that my story writing is a joy in my life, so when it is what I want to do, she encourages me and lets me go to it. That makes me very lucky on many fronts and I know that.

Q: What writer would you most want to read your work? What would you want to hear them say?


These days, it would Cherie M. Priest.  I'd love to have them publish a review of my work.  She's pretty much the benchmark for Steampunk writing these days, given the success of "Boneshaker".

Q: On the days where the writing doesn't go so well, what other art or career do you fantasize about pursuing instead?

Other way around for me.  On the days my IT business isn't going so well, I fantasize about doing well enough as an author to go full time pro with it.  I haven't had a "bad writing day" so far;  I'm fortunate that way.

Q: What do you read? What do you re-read?

Right now, not much.  I'm pretty busy, and I'm trying to stay focused on my own story world and my own story writing.  I'm a dreamer, so I get caught up really easily in other people's worlds.  So, until I get my second novel sealed and delivered, I'm keeping my reading pretty narrow.  Mostly period research and associated Steampunk-themed blogs.

Q: Where did the idea for The Sauder Diaries: By Any Other Name come from? Do you have a surefire way of sparking inspiration?

The full explanation is on my blog site with a complaint, an argument and two pretty girls. The short version is that I wanted to answer the question "who are the sort of people that live in a world where airship pirates are possible?"  That's why the main character, Hans Sauder, starts off into the world of airship piracy with as little knowledge as the reader at the beginning of the book.  It is an exploratory work.

 I added to that the idea that I wanted to write a really -strong- female character.  One that would really be very counter-culture to the Victorian ideals of womanhood.  One of the things that the Victorian Era served as was a kind of watershed for the Sufferage Movement.  To me, to be true to "Steampunk" as I see it, you pretty much need a female lead or supporting character to be ahead of the curve;  already be out there, doing the sort of things that women of the time rallying in the streets could only dream about.


 As far as sparking inspiration, one of my favorite comments about the nature of human discovery is that "... more great moments in science have been heralded with the words 'that's funny...' than 'eureka!'."  So, when I want to tell a compelling story, I start with a compelling question and then figure out how to make the answer feel like "that's funny...";  a sense of discovery or disbelief that grows into wonder.

 The Sauder Diaries: By Any Other Name

The Sauder Diaries take place in an alternate-history Earth, in the year 1888.  The Crimean War ended as a stalemate and Europe is divided along the Allied and Russian Imperial borders by the Scorchlands. Large sections of “civilized Europe” cannot be traveled due to bandits, renegade armies, and rogue mad science experiments.


 Hans Sauder is the son of a German industrialist, on his way to University to study airship engineering. His passenger airship is attacked by the legendary pirate ship the Bloody Rose.  Hans is taken prisoner and given the choice of joining the crew, or taking his chances with parachuting into the wilds of Europe.


 Thus begins the “diaries”, detailing his travels — the reader is first treated to Hans' impressions of events and then gets to see what really happened.


 Hans and his new crewmates are hunted by the airship navies of Allied Europe, chased into hiding in Egypt, board merchant ships over Germany, and visit hidden black market trade centers.  Things really get rough when they are hired to undertake a dangerous mission in the skies of the Russian Empire.


 As the story unfolds, Hans' new life is further complicated by the romantic advances of the leader of the ship's gunner-marines, a ruthless and no-nonsense woman with a chip on her shoulder.  As well, Hans is perpetually dogged by a deep conflict between his sense of morals and duty to his family, and the challenges and adventure of this new life he has discovered.

     He had made remarkable friends, found an improbable love, fought, killed, saved lives, wept and laughed all over a half-a-mile in the sky for three remarkable months.  He knew what it was he had been missing his entire life.

     “But I cannot stay,” he said quietly to himself.  

Michel can be found at his website, on Twitter and Facebook as well as Amazon and Goodreads. Look for him on the Steampunk Writers Ning, too.
 

Friday's Forgotten Books: Riddley Walker

Russell Hoban was a singular writer; when asked what kind of a writing I do, I have generally offered up Hoban as the "genre" in which I write. Sadly, his name didn't always resonate with people -- and that includes NY Times obit writers; though most memorials mentioned Riddley Walker, too many seemed to be speaking of his masterpiece second hand. While many of Hoban's works deserve the accolade of 'masterpiece' this is the one that resonated most deeply for me. I read Riddley first in high school around the time I also read A Clockwork Orange: these books cemented my love of languages in a fictional context, though when I re-read Riddley as an adult, it was as if I had never read it before. Becoming a medievalist brought a further level of amazement, and visiting Canterbury Cathedral to see the St. Eustace painting was the ultimate pilgrimage for me.

Along with the art of "being friends with your head" Hoban's books taught me to trust in my muse and just write the stories I had to tell and trust that somewhere out there might be readers who would find resonance with them (and that they wouldn't do so if I didn't write them). Fans of Hoban might not be as numerous as those of more popular writers, but my experiences with the Kraken show me they are extraordinary and devoted.

My obsessions with storytelling and ritual feature here. The essay originally appeared in Puppetry International back in 2006, one of the first academic essays of mine to appear in a  non-academic publication that I nonetheless listed on my CV. At the time it seemed a bit radical (is it peer reviewed?!) however since then  I have continued my slide into publishing with abandon wherever my words might be of interest. No regrets there. I suppose I could blame tenure, but I only got that last year, so I suppose it's just my lax attitude. (>_<) I recommend picking up the issue of PI  if you have any interest in puppetry: fascinating publication. I think there's more I have to write about puppets, even more about Punch, but things leak out of my brain at their own pace.

Here's the opening: I've put the rest up on Scribd (restoring my original title which I prefer). Be sure to see Todd's round-up of this week's Forgotten Books (Pattii's taking a break for the holidays).

Future Medieval Space: Performing “Punch” in Riddley Walker

Although he sets his novel Riddley Walker (published in 1980) in a post-apocalyptic future, Russell Hoban makes use of the medieval world to mark this future as a site of the “primitive.” For this stunted society, the most apparent aspect of the Middle Ages is the explicitly medieval legend and wall painting of St. Eustace, which still exists faintly on the wall of Canterbury Cathedral. Perhaps more important is his appropriation of the medieval mystery plays, which illuminate bibilical narratives and are traditionally performed on mobile wagons. As performed in Riddley Walker, the “Eusa Show” (a garbled version of the St. Eustace story) takes on many of the mystery plays’ aspects, transmitting the truths of the culture and entertaining people with education. This modified Punch and Judy show conveys the only narrative that remains after the apocalyptic devastation of English society. The ritual of the puppet show picks up the religious meaning of the mystery plays, but it also takes on a social and governmental function that medieval dramas typically lacked. Just as various dissenters from Lollards to Pelagians threatened the orthodoxy of Christianity in the middle ages, the young protagonist’s discovery of a real Punch puppet sets off a chain of events that destroys the carefully scripted Eusa show. Hoban’s use of Punch history gives this superb novel its authority, while the familiar art of puppetry provides a vivid connection to this bizarre future world for the modern reader...

Goodbye, Russ

Sad news today that Russell Hoban has died. The author of Riddley Walker and so many other wonderful books has left this world without me ever having the chance to say how much I loved his books and how much I learned from them and from him. He taught me to trust being "friends with your head" and believing an audience would find you. If you are unlucky enough to be unfamiliar with him, drop by the Head of Orpheus and find out more. My thoughts go out to his family and to my fellow Krakenites.

I am that astonishment from which you write in those brief moments when you can write.
      —The Head of Orpheus in Russell Hoban's The Medusa Frequency

Friday's Forgotten Books: Young Men in Spats

"I never want to see anyone, and I never want to go anywhere or do anything. I just want to write." 

-- P. G. Wodehouse

There's some kind of fundamental perversity in my nature that made me choose at the library this week a 5 CD unabridged set of Beckett's Malone Dies as well as P. G. Wodehouse's Young Men in Spats, but I'll leave you to sort out what that means.

Wodehouse's prose delights. A simple yet profound pleasure, one that most Americans in particular seem immune to -- a phenomenon I cannot comprehend. I suppose I can grasp there are those who dislike spending time with the (mostly) rich young things idling their time in (mostly) frivolous ways, as does Wodehouse's most well-known creation Bertie Wooster. More folks became enamored of them when Bertie and the inimitably shimmering Jeeves were brought to vivid life by Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry (who seemed born to take the roles). But it's also true that Wodehouse has never received the acclaim more dour writers regularly do, because he makes everything seem so effortless. The key word there is seem: as Oscar Wilde could tell you, there's nothing that takes more effort than creating prose that feels effortless.

Wodehouse is a genius. While his topics may be nothing earth-shattering, his prose captures a crystalline brightness that seems impossible to replicate. It's so deft. So I will just share some of the delights from this volume detailing the exploits of some of the young men of "a little group of Eggs and Beans and Crumpets" who often regard women as a separate species:

"It saddened him, he tells me, when he opened his illustrated tabloid of a morning, to have to try to eat eggs and bacon while gazing at a photograph of Mae Belle McGinnis, taken when she was not looking her best because Mr. McGinnis had just settled some domestic dispute with the meat-axe."

"The foundation of the beverage manufactured by Mr. Silvers seemed to be neat vitriol, but, once you had got used to the top of your head going up and down like the lid of a kettle with boiling water in it, the effects were far from unpleasant."

"And on the morning of which I speak they had strolled into into the Thorpe and Widgery emporium to lay in a few little odds and ends, and there, putting in a bid for five pounds of streaky bacon, was a girl so lovely that they congealed in their tracks."

"The first intimation Barmy had that the binge was going to be run on lines other than those which he had anticipated was when a very stout Mother in a pink bonnet and a dress covered with bugles suddenly picked off a passing cyclist with a well-directed tomato, causing him to skid into a ditch, Upon which, all sixteen mothers laughed like fiends in hell, and it was plain that they considered the proceedings had now been formally opened."

"Already the barmaid's ears had begun to work loose at the roots as she pricked them up."

"Well, Freddie, as you know, has never been the dreamy meditative type. I would describe him as essentially the man of action. And he acted now as never before. He tells me he doubts if a chamois of the Alps, unless at the end of a most intensive spell of training, could have got down the stairs quicker than he did."

"He had studied Woman, and he knew that when Woman gets into a tight place her first act is to shovel the blame off on to the nearest male."

   See the rest of the overlooked books at Patti Abbott's blog.

My Birthday Month Wish

I mentioned this yesterday, but I'll provide helpful links today. I'm claiming the whole of December for my birthday. Why not? I already have to share my birthday month with both Markos, Jane Austen, Hannukah and Xmas, so there's barely any month left for me!

But I'm not demanding to be showered with gifts!

All I want for my birthday is for you to like me -- well, not me really: my books.

The most difficult thing for a writer is not to get published (especially now with ebook publishing) but to get noticed once you are published. People are eager to find new writers they might enjoy, but they are reluctant to try things blind. How do they know my books are great if someone else hasn't read them first and said, yes, these are good? Reviews help with that.

So if you're feeling kindly toward me, head over to my Amazon Author Page and like, rate, tag or review my books. I'd be especially grateful for any attention to Kit Marlowe over at All Romance eBooks (only The Big Splash is on Amazon, though The Mangrove Legacy is supposed to be there soon...), but any help would be appreciated.

I've also got profiles on GoodReads, LibraryThing and Shelfari if you spend some of your time there. Sadly, not all my books are even listed under my name! If you see one missing and feel like adding it, I would be ever so grateful. I've got a new profile on CrimeSpace, too; if you're over there at all, friend me. If you actually do book reviews on your blog or website, let me know: I'll be happy to give you review copies of books you're interested in reading. I have confidence that my words are worth reading. I just need to find ways to let more people know that!

Thank you for your help. I appreciate it greatly! With luck I will have news about It's a Curse later today -- whoohoo! Now I shall get back to dancing.

Know-vember: Byron Ballard

Yes, it's your Village Witch, the Appalachian wise woman, Ms Ballard. We first met at the witchcraft conference at Harvard and managed to keep up with one another ever since. I'm hoping Byron will be able to manage a trip over here while I'm in Ireland. Should be wonderful to have her in the land of the ancient Celts -- many megaliths and pubs to visit. Of course she would be welcome company any time, any where.

1. What's the first thing you do upon waking in the morning?

I lie still for a few minutes and imagine the day ahead. Then I get up, put away the futon that is my bed, open the shades at the window. And go pee.

2. What's a song you might be persuaded to dance to?

I will waggle my ample backside to almost any kind of music--yes, I have danced to Mozart's Requiem--but I love classic metal, trad Brit, bluegrass. They require different dances...or do they?

3. Where in the world do you live?

I live in the oldest mountains in the world in the southern highlands of Appalachia. From my window, I can see the third oldest river in the world. So here in NC, I feel pretty young.

4. What's a great night out for you?

A great night out would be seeing a play done well (a rarity), a bottle of excellent French wine, and something delicious to eat--all with friends.

5. What's a great night in?

A few friends in for high tea that morphs into us making dinner, listening to or playing music, telling stories and jokes. Perhaps a fire outside in the fire pit.

6. If you were offered an all expenses paid trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?


My first thought is always either Meath or London but since someone else is picking up the tab, I'll go a bit further afield. Crete or Greece, I think.

7. What book do you wish everyone would read so you could talk about it?


Whichever book I'm reading at the time. Schiff's Cleopatra bio is my current one.

8. What movie makes you cry?

Gad, I cry at all of them. I'm a big sap. So, Love Actually, Calendar Girls all that sentimental rubbish. I love it.

9. What makes you laugh?

I never tire of Hot Fuzz. I've seen it a zillion times and I still fall out at "NWA" on the door of the Neighborhood Watch group.

10. Are there fairies at the bottom of your garden?


Um, yes. I call them the Cousins and we have a fair working relationship in the growing of veg, as long as I remember my place. There is also a disgruntled djinn who can't figure out how to get home and has taken up residence in the shed. Long story, I'll show you the scar sometime.

Thank you!

Know-vember: Paul D. Brazill

Welcome, Mr B, the bard of Hartlepool, the dazzler of Bydgoszcz, intoxicating scribe of darkly funny tales, like the mordantly funny but gruesome Drunk on the Moon. What's better than a werewolf PI? How about six more rip-snorting, can't-put-'em-down stories about Roman Dalton, all just a bargain at 99¢? Best of all, lucky number seven It's a Curse is by yours truly (more on that soon). You'll enjoy getting to know Dalton's dark world. Mr B and I appear together in the pages of the noir issue of Blink|Ink and in the premier International Noir anthology from Dark Pages, a new imprint from Trestle Press (out today!). I could go on, but let's have a few words from the man himself. I suggest you pour yourself a stiff drink first.

1. What's the first thing you do upon waking in the morning?

I never wake up in the morning. I need be up and about for at least three hours before I start to wake up. It usually goes downhill after that.

2. What's a song you might be persuaded to dance to?

Agadoo by Black Lace. Including the movements. Especially the dirty version.

3. Where in the world do you live?

Bydgoszcz. I discovered it after getting a really bad collection of letters when playing scrabble.

4. What's a great night out for you?

Something to do with boozing.

5. What's a great night in?

See above.

6. If you were offered an all expenses paid trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?

The Edith Beales' Grey Gardens.

7. What book do you wish everyone would read so you could talk about it?

Anything written by me. I'd never lose interest.

8. What movie makes you cry?

Terminator: Sarah Connor's fringe is tragic.

9. What makes you laugh?

Bono.

10. Are there fairies at the bottom of your garden?

Yes, but they're buried deep, deep, down.

You're a cruel man, but fair. Cheers.