The 88th Delusion

Extreme Horror as Little Debbie Snack Cakes?

The good news is Disco Rice has been nominated for a Splatterpunk Award in the best novella category. I couldn’t be more pleased with this. I am not a writer who lobbies for awards and, honestly, puts much stock in them. But the Splatterpunk Awards are a little bit different. To make the ballot means readers emailed the award committee telling them which books they liked and thought were award worthy for the year. That’s what matters. That’s why making the ballot is so cool. Winning the award would be icing on the cake. Master of Bodies was up for the same award last year. Though I think it was a worthy book, I knew I had no chance. It was an honor to make the ballot, as it is this year, though I do think Disco Rice has a chance. You can see the full ballot HERE.

Also in good news, my latest book co-authored with Chuck Nasty, Of Flesh and Metal, is now available in paperback and eBook! I will have signed copies available soon. This one is a trippy sci-fi/horror blend with hints of 80s action and Troma exploitation. It’s a fun bit of workplace horror, something most of us can relate to in one way or the other. And it’s paranoid. Really fucking paranoid!!! If you’re one of my regular ARC readers, you were sent a copy a couple weeks ago. If you didn’t get it, let me know or check your SPAM folder.

I finished the first draft of Back Alley Baby Fights. It didn’t end the way I thought it would, as often happens with writing a book. There will be a third instalment completing the trilogy. At some point, I knew I was going to write a trilogy but wasn’t sure about the last book. As I wrote this one, it all came clear. If you enjoyed Baby Fights, I think you’ll like Back Alley Baby Fights. It will be out this summer.

I just finished Thrift Store Puzzles by John Boden. As expected, I loved it. Boden has a way of weaving melancholy and compelling stories centered around people I feel I know. Character comes first. Emotion comes first. The story itself is like something submerged in tar that oozes out through the lives of folks with relatable concerns and grief. In this story, a teenager is best friends with his uncle who works at an elderly care facility where they have befriended an aging horror author who claims to be a couple hundred years old, with stories to back up said claims. His stories are fascinating and compelling but he’s suffering from dementia and it’s really beginning to show. A bizarre series of murders are happening in the small town and the kid and his uncle decide to cut the middleman—the local detectives—and investigate themselves.

This story speaks to anyone who has had a friend or family member in assisted living or dealing with memory loss and dementia. It’s a story of friendship, the bonds we make, sorrow, and grief. The spooky stuff is there too but, as you know if you’ve read Boden, he really cares about his cast of characters and he makes sure you care about them too. That’s what makes for great storytelling. That’s what makes a story memorable.

Piggybacking on the tail end of my review (go out and buy Thrift Store Puzzles!) I want to address something that bothers me about some indie horror out there. Now, this might be for any genre, but I’m only referring to horror because that is the genre I love. That’s the pool I swim in. This is particularly aimed at the more extreme side of the tracks. Now, I don’t read a whole lot of extreme material. It’s not my jam, despite being the author of Disco Rice and Eat Shit and Die/When the Fall Consumes—two very hardcore stories. But when I do dip my toes in said subgenre something I have noticed over the past number of years, and who knows that number—what a stupid way to give a timeframe—is that some authors seem to enjoy writing the sex and gore and violence and gross stuff but lack the ability or care to write interesting, nuanced characters and a compelling plot for said exploitative window dressing. I understand that some readers enjoy that sort of thing, but it comes off as a flash in the pan. It’s eating a Little Debbie snack cake over a cake from a bakery. Sure, some people love Little Debbie snacks, but most fans of confectionary delights will swoon over a gourmet cake, and it will certainly linger in their memory and have a lasting effect that demands they tell their friends and family about the experience. The Little Debbie snack foods will always be there, but you’d be surprised how many of them are thrown away each time the vendor comes into your local Dollar General to put out the ones with fresh dates. Bags full of them, tossed into the dumpster and hauled to a landfill. But worry not, there are replacements. And they’re exactly like the ones thrown out. Sometimes they even dress them up for the holidays and give them new packaging to try and fool consumers. Some people really like them, but many don’t. Thing is, no one forgets that incredible cake they had, the one the baker spent so much time and care creating. Or even the Nothing Bunt Cake, which is to show that being prolific isn’t always a negative thing, though some folks will always prefer their confections from a local, stand-alone bakery. Sure, Little Debbie will always be there, but what would you rather eat?

Now I’m hungry.

Who knows what kind of pastry my own work is. I try to write better books than the Little Debbie variety but many of them seem to have been taken out and left at the bottom of the dumpster. Some people will tell you Disco Rice is the store brand of Little Debbie and some folks will tell you otherwise. All I know is I’ve read many shallow books and have seen complaints that there is a glut of indie fiction heavy on the extreme but forgetting the horror. I try to always remember the horror. On top of that, there’s a problem with poorly edited stories that is prevalent in the Splatterpunk and extreme horror sub-genres. Just yesterday there was a post in the group Splatterpunk Horror Readers on Facebook about reading too many indie books with an excess of typos and no editing much less proof reading. The comment section had way too many people claiming that didn’t bother them or was to be expected from self-publishing. I just about jumped out of my skin. This was my response:

“In response to some of the comments, I couldn't disagree more about accepting a less polished book because it's self-published. Editors are expensive, that is true, but they are necessary. A good editor is someone to cherish and worth every dollar. On top of that, there are a lot of eager readers who love getting to see a book ahead of release and will proofread. Typos will get through. They always do. But I find accepting poorly edited books and a glut of typos because it's indie or Splatterpunk or extreme to be disheartening. A few typos are always gonna get in there, but if the book reads like an early draft, that's a problem.”

All that aside, I ask of you one thing: when you read a book you like, tell the world about it. That’s how authors get their names out there. Word of mouth is key. Readers are key. And I appreciate the hell out of you!