I took the Thanksgiving week off. It’s nice having a job that gives me PTO. It’s something I didn’t have for so many years. Well, I always got five days, but you can blow through five days in no time, and that didn’t include holidays.
On Monday my wife, son, and I drove to North Carolina to check out a used bookstore I’d never been to yet. Morrison’s Used Book Palace, Guns and Ammo. It was a pretty cool place. The owner told me someone scalped his horror book section just the week before. That’s the kind of bad luck that pervades me. I found some good ones, but can’t help wondering what the scalper bought the week before. And by scalper, I was informed that it was someone who was buying for a booth in a flea market or something. Someone flipping the books. Yeah, I do that sometimes, so I guess I’m a scalper too.
On our way up we drove through a smoldering fire on the side of the freeway. There were signs warning of low visibility due to smoke. There were all these little spot fires. It was kind of bizarre. We ate at a great Greek place. I was bummed they didn’t have spanakopita. That seems to be difficult to get in the south, not that I’ve tried that hard to get it. But so far every Greek restaurant I’ve eaten at doesn’t serve it.
It was a nice family outing. We had a nice, low-key Thanksgiving. It’s good to take a week away from the day job. Good for the soul.
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CYBER MONDAY SALE!
Get 20% off your entire order in my Big Cartel store today, Monday November 27th, only! Use discount code HORROR at checkout. Most of my titles are in stock such as Baby Fights, Secret Basements, This Damned House, Infected Voices, Tweaker Creatures, Sick! Sick! Sick!, and more!
The Baby Fights audiobook should go live any day now. ACX is taking their sweet-ass time approving it. When they say up to ten business days, they’re not joking.
Pre-orders are now up for Thomas R. Clark’s new short story collection Immoral Dilemmas. I read an ARC for the book and loved it!
Immoral Dilemmas is a great collection of stories, deep and dreadful, written with precision and care for every blood-drenched detail. These thoughtful, terrifying tales will resonate long after reading them. Thomas Clark shows us yet again that he isn’t fucking around.
Recent Reads from Hell
I read Altered States by Paddy Chayefsky. I enjoyed the hell out of it. I am a huge fan of the movie. I’ve seen it no less than fifteen times. The movie is an adaptation of the book, and what a spot-on adaptation it is. Hardly anything at all was changed. There were longer scenes in the book, and a couple of superfluous scenes that were better left on the cutting room floor. The dialogue was straight out of the book as well, though certain monologues were cut, thankfully. I thought the pacing of the book was great until the point where Eddie regresses after doing a tank trip by himself. That whole scene was way too long. From that point on, it made the rest of the book drag. I feel that if the author would have shortened that scene it would have been far more effective and continued a decent pace. But that’s just me being critical of a brilliant work I could never write on my best days, so take that with a grain of salt.
Also finished Irish Gothic by Ronald Kelly. I have to say I’m amazed that a southern boy like ol’ Ron tapped into his inner Irish ancestry and knocked out a seriously compelling series of tales as if he’d grown up across the pond rather than in middle Tennessee. I mean, I’m amazed, but not surprised. Ronald Kelly is that good an author. I imagine he did some research for this book, what with the Gaelic passages, the mythical creatures, and the Irish lore. This was a truly remarkable collection.
Currently reading Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl, Bluejay by Megan Stockton and The Breeze Horror by Candace Caponegro.
Free Fiction
I teased publishing that opening scene of the zombie opus Go Red! I was going to write years ago when zombies were the in thing. I’ve always kind of liked it, but I had no interest in continuing. Maybe I could have weaved it into a short story, but again, I had no interest in writing anything zombie. I still don’t. Same with vampires and werewolves. Turns out I’d written more than I expected. 11K words! I thought I’d only written the opening scene. Well, I’ll be posting that opening scene in a bonus newsletter very soon. Warts and all. I was going to include it here, but I like to keep the newsletters fairly short to compete with our fairly short attention spans, and my final thoughts got a little longwinded this time ‘round.
Final Thoughts
I was thinking about similarities between music and writing. Namely, the writers and the performers. I was considering what echelon us writers fall into as compared to what kind of gigs musicians play as they’re climbing (stumbling up?) the ladder of success.
Let’s see, a rock band starts in a garage or basement writing songs, getting a feel for playing together. A writer sits behind their keyboard writing stories, getting a feel for the craft and hashing out ideas.
Bands play parties and get local gigs that pay dick. Writers submit their short stories to micro-markets that pay in contributor copies and token payments. Wait, you’re not giving your stories away for free, are you? Well, that’s like playing a party, I guess. At least you got some experience by writing the story. Or playing the tunes in front of an audience.
Bands get some bigger and better gigs, even opening slots for touring bands looking to help out local artists. Writers begin to sell their stories to better paying zines and anthologies. Maybe they start self-publishing or find indie publishers to work with. They help each other out by pushing each other’s books. Well, sometimes. When they’re not pushing their own books.
The band gets an opening slot on a tour and hits the road. The writer begins to find an audience through self-publishing or traditional publishing. They begin to develop a social media presence. They get some fans.
The band becomes popular enough to headline their own tour, hitting clubs and music halls across the country. The author begins to sell enough books that they can rely on a certain number of sales with each release as they build their audience. There are even some people who claim to want to read their books and look forward to new releases.
The band releases an album with a serious hit and embarks on an arena tour. They bring opening acts who they feel deserve a break. The author actually makes money at what they do whether self-published or traditional. They help out other authors when they can. Authors they believe in who should be getting attention as well, but are stuck in the clubs or even back at local venues.
Metallica and Guns N Roses embark on stadium tours with other giants opening for them. Or even big artists who don’t belong on a rock ‘n roll bill like, say, Carrie Underwood. Stephen King writes whatever the fuck he wants and the masses gobble it up like the heavens are raining chocolate. Yes, other bands and authors make it here, but very few. And many fall back down to arena tours and even the clubs.
This is over simplified, yes, I know. But it was a fun exercise. I often think about my writing career like a touring musician and wonder where I’d be in comparison. Would I continue playing the same clubs night after night? Would I keep hoping for a tour to pick me up, just to break the monotony? That hit song to spark interest in what I’ve been doing for years and years?
How many great bands never got a break and just faded into obscurity? How many great writers have done the same? Makes you think.
Until next time . . .