Tag - Interview with Me about Upcoming Projects

Author Paul Ben Jr. tagged me(and four other authors) on Facebook with a post where he answered these questions. He was tagged by Jason Brock. I was given a week to answer and tag five other authors. They have till next Wednesday to answer the same questions on Facebook/and or their blog. I am going to tag five authors who I am interested in who I think my FB friends should learn about.

Jordan Krall, Lisa Morton, Edward Morris, James Newman and Garrett Cook.

Question: What is the [working] title of your book/work in progress?

Answer: I'm working on three projects at the moment. The second draft of a coming of age horror novel called “Bootboys of The Wolf-reich,” and a collection pulp themed short stories and novellas with punk rock settings and characters. There are eight horror tales (all the classic tropes explored), a western, a spy story, a Fantasy and two sci-fi stories. The project I am about to dive into is a Science Fiction novel I'm co-writing with my friend Edward Morris (author of the Blackguard and the forthcoming There is a Crooked man series) called Flesh Trade. Were outlining and researching at the moment but should start first drafting soon.

Q: Where did the idea for the book/work come from?

A: Bootboys was inspired by my young adulthood. Stephen King wrote about coming of age walking the tracks in 1950's Maine, my story is about being a Skinhead in late 80's Chicago. Of course I added Nazi cultists and monsters. The punk collection kinda came organically I just wrote a few punk themed stories and then I thought it would make a fun themed collection.

Q: Which actors would you choose to play the characters from your book?

A: I did that a lot in my early work, but I have not thought about with these books. It is funny in my novel Hunting the Moon Tribe (2011 Little Otick press) I cast pretty much every characters with actors in my mind. The funny thing about it is that it came out about 10 years after I first seriously outlined it. A lot of the actors have aged out of some of the roles. The other thing is they are all Chinese actors, so unless your a serious Hong Kong movie fan your not going to care that I would cast Simon Yam as the master vampire.

Q: What is a one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A: Bootboys of the Wolf-Reich is about Anti-racist Skinheads in a gang war with Nazi werewolves.

Q: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agent?

A: I am currently published by Eraserhead press so my books are published around the various Presses under that label. My novel Vegan Revolution...with Zombies was on Deadite the Eraserhead press cult horror line. Bootboys will be on Deadite, not sure which imprint will do the others. Edward Morris and I will probably shop our collaboration novel to an agent, but that is on down the line.

Q: How long did it take you to write the first-draft of your manuscript?

A: Bootboys took me about two months, The short story collection was written mostly over five months, but one of the novellas was written awhile back. The longest a novel took me was a year and half, the quickest was 33 days.

Q: What other books in your genre would you compare this story to?

A: I think of Bootboys as a coming of age novel. I know hollywood has trained us to say it's like this meets that. If I was forced to do that I would cringe and say it's like Romper Stomper meets The Howling. Oh that hurts. Honestly I am super proud of it, I grew up in the anti-racist skinhead culture. This might be my Boy's Life (Robert McCammon).

Q: Who or what inspired you to write this book?

A: With the punk pulp collection I was inspired by lots of authors and styles. The idea was to have punk themed stories that explored all the different genres of pulp genre fiction. The story “Reunion Show” is very Phillip K. Dick influenced yet it is about the 1980's hardcore scene in D.C. The fantasy novella “Punkupine Moshers of the Apocalypse is like an eighties pun rock Tolkien style heroes journey fantasy, and my favorite story in it “Last Show at the Mortuary Collective” is a very Clive Barker influenced psychosexual haunted house story. That being said I don't think anyone but me could write these stories. It is very much me.

Q: What else might pique the reader’s interest in your book?

A: The collection has a lot of stories floating around. 'Punkupines Moshers of the Apocalypse' has been re-printed in the Best Bizarro Fiction of the Decade. 'Reunion Show' will be in the 22nd issue of Dark Discoveries, and the Twilight Zone style story 'Tasha and the Foutain,' is the new seventh issue of the magazine of Bizarro Fiction.

Book Review: Westlake Soul by Rio Youers

Westlake Soul by Rio Youers

243 pages Chizine publications

I discovered this novel from author Nick Cato's top ten books of 2012 where it took his top prize. It is also blurbed on the back cover by one of the most respected horror writers alive Peter Straub. I looked through quite a few Good Reads reviews and the worst review I found was three stars. I went into as blind as possible, not even reading the back cover description. Glad I didn't.

Westlake Soul is not a novel that sounds thrilling plot wise, it is the story of a champion Canadian surfer named Westlake. He is in a surfing accident that leaves him in a vegetative state. This is like modern sarcastic Johnny Got His Gun. You see Rio Youers is an excellent writer takes the story of a man and a vegetative state and makes it funny and compelling. It is also suspenseful at times, and tragic.

Westlake sees himself as a superhero with the ability to use the 90% of his brain, most humans can't use. Too bad he can't use the 10% we take for granted. His family attend to broken body, while he travels around the spiritual realm. The stress of seeing their Westlake only able to drool is hard on them and they are thinking about letting him die.

Westlake Soul is a powerful character driven slow burn horror novel. Others might tell you it is not a horror novel, but I found it to be very much a horror novel. It would not work if Rio Youers was not a gifted writer. This is not an easy story to carry over 200 plus pages but he pulls it off. The story is powerful because the characters are rich, the events are both funny and tragic. Very impressive debut novel.

Top 11 movies I am excited about in 2013

1.The Sorcerer and the White Snake Is a total cheat as it was made in China in 2011, but it will be released in the U.S. this year and I can't wait. Ching Siu Tung The director of my favorite Kung Fu movie of all time (Duel to the Death) reunites with Jet Li whose fights he directed in Hero. This movie looks amazing. Jet Li, Snake Demons and Wire fu. 'Nuff said. 2.Pacific Rim I am so glad that Del Toro quit the Hobbit! While I am bummed that he didn't get At the Mountains of Madness made the idea of a 3D Japanese giant monster by Del Toro...it is hard to beat that. 3.ELYSIUM New sci-fi movie from the director of district 9. Need I say more? The trailer does show much, I think they are trying to keep the story mum. 4. Journey to the West Stephen Chow writer/director/star of Kung fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer adapts a big budget adaptation of the classic fantasy novel of ancient China. For real it was first written in the sixteenth century. Chow starred in a series of FX challenged movies based in this novel in the 80's. There is also a movie based on the same book coming this year featuring Donnie Yen as the main character the Monkey King. (Jet Li played the character in Forbidden Kingdom) 5. Star Trek Into Darkness I am a huge Trek nerd, so I am stoked. I would be even more happy if they were not doing a Khan storyline as I wish they were doing something new. I know they will do it bigger and better. Also I still can't get over the whole ice planet scene from the first one. Spock just happens to be hiding in the one cave Kirk happens into after getting dumped on a random planet? Come on. 6. Mad Max Fury Road George Miller director of Happy Feet returns to the movies that made him famous. This would have happened years ago but the new Max Heath ledger was not available when filming was set to start. So Miller recruited the next Batman baddie to fill the role. No trailer yet, but check out this video of the cars, trucks and props. If you are a fan of the Mad Max trilogy you'll be stoked to see it. 7. Oblivion Say what you will about Avatar and 3D but it has been good for big budget sci-fi. District 9 helped too. So I liked the new Tron so I am excited to see what this director does with an original universe. This trailer looks good. 8. Grandmasters Arthouse director Wong Kar Wai is the man behind In the Mood for Love and Ashes of Time. His movies are often delayed as he re-does them over and over. Grandmasters is already on it's third delay. So it might be on my 2014 list. 9.THE GUILLOTINES 《血滴子》 Despite a few bad reviews, and a troubled production by Peter Chan (The promise, Warlords)I still want to see this one. It was set to be the first wuxia pan movie by Hong Kong crime director Dante Lam. After he dropped out the film was taken over by Andrew Lau. Lau is director of Infernal Affairs,(remade as the Departed)Storm Riders and A man Called Hero. I dig his movies. 10.After Earth I am aware that M.Night's last three movies were so bad. At least The happening was so bad it was funny. Lady in the water...ugh. Still he made Unbreakable which is a masterpiece in my opinion. Say what you will about Will Smith he knows how to pick em. I believe the script had to be good. I could be wrong but it looks amazing. 11. Stoker One of my favorite directors (Park Chan Wook) of the last decade the man behind one of the most disturbing revenge movies Oldboy making his English language debut. How creepy does Kidman look in this movie, reminds me of her in The Others which I Loved. How creepy does this movie look. I am nervous about Spike Lee re-making one of my favorite Korean movies Oldboy and Man of Steel, I am excited about kick ass 2. I am excited about the new Swarzenegger only because it is directed by an amazing Korean director.

My Story 'Tasha and The Fountain' in The Magazine of Bizarro Fiction #7

"The premier magazine of the bizarro genre. Issue seven features the novella "Noah's Arkopolis" by David W. Barbee, short fiction by David Agranoff, Molly Tanzer, Andrew Wayne Adams, Shane McKenzie and Dustin Reade, comics by Andrew Goldfarb and SCAR, articles by Constance Ann Fitzgerald, Carlton Mellick III, Kirsten Alene, Garrett Cook and Bradley Sands, a spotlight on author Jordan Krall, reviews, and more!" Buy it now on Amazon.

Top Ten Reads of 2012

So this is a strange reading year for me. I read 130 books over the year, but I read almost no brand new releases. That is why there are only four new books on the list. I kept a pattern of reading two books at one time most of the year. I was reading one original fictional novel and one tie-in novel (mostly Star Wars/Trek but several other franchises as well).

I devoted a lot of my reading this year to F.Paul Wilson's Secret History of the World. This is a saga that starts in his classic horror novel The Keep and spans four different series (Repairman Jack /Adversary Cycle/ Secret Histories with Young Jack/ Cold City Jack novels), two dozen or so novels and ends in one novel Nightworld. I am finishing the secret history as I write this with 150 pages left in Nightworld.

Wilson was my plotting teacher at Borderlands(writer's boot camp). The Secret history is like a four train narrative track that ends with them all crashing together in Nightworld. It is an amazing feat of narrative story telling. I could have filled my list with F.Paul Wilson titles but choose my favorite Repairman Jack novel. I am intending to write at length about the series in the future.

1. Harbingers (Repairman Jack #10) by F.Paul Wilson:

In a series that spans fifteen books with a major character whose name is in the title suspense can be hard to manufacture book after book. You know Jack is going to be around for fifteen books and he is the hero. F.Paul Wilson plays with the expectations and puts our heroand his journey through an unexpected wringer that would surprise the hell out of Joesph Campbell. This is a dark and brutal twist on the clasic mythology of the hero's journey that I read in just over 26 hours. When I put it down I was floored. Just blown away and could not believe what just happened. Best read of the series, and the year.

2. A Matter of Blood (Forgotten Gods #1) by Sarah Pinborough

This trilogy was released in England under the title Dog Faced Gods, but will be published here in America in April under the title Forgotten Gods. I wouldn't wait for the American grammar version. This is a brutal mystery with a weird crime backbone. The world that Pinborough has created here is filled with very dark shades of grey with almost zero characters worth rooting for. Oh you’ll be interested in them; you’ll want to keep turning pages.

On top of all those elements this novel also has a powerful plot line about a serial killer, including one of the creepiest killers I have read about since Brite’s Exquisite Corpse, but at the same time were talking about a novel with a subtle social conscience. I'm dying to read the next two books when I can get my hands on them.

3. All Monster Action by Cody Goodfellow

Jeremy Robert Johnson's Swallowdown Press has a focus on horrific dark bizarro, and Goodfellow's new short story collection might be the most gonzo of releases that the press has done. That doesn't make it any less of gem and fits perfectly into Goodfellow's expanding catalog of fucked up weird-ness. There is no author in genre fiction that is more deserving of the title Mad Scientist. That is what he is, a straight up batshit crazy mad scientist of prose.

4. One Second After by William R. Forstche

I am I am not in the habit of reading books with a forward by Newt Gingrich. I still think Newt is a far right wing windbag, but we now have something to agree on – This is a must read book. One Second After is a warning novel, the author wasn’t shy about telling us up front that he wanted to make this book a entry in a pantheon that includes classics like On the Beach and Alas Babylon. I personally would add John Brunner’s classic “The Sheep Look Up” Or Norman Spinrad’s “Greenhouse Summer.” He is warning about the effect that an EMP would have on our world. Most important is the characters are rich, the setting detailed and the drama intense. It is a story so well told you don't feel preached at you just feel uncomfortable.

5. Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry

The series and it’s story is a cross between Fringe and Repairman Jack, but don’t take that comparison the wrong way – it has an original feel to it. Maberry weaves several influences together so well it is hard not to do comparisons. It’s part Tech-thriller, part zombie, part military sci-fi/horror, part witty crime novel, and part character study. Great read for horror, action and weird crime fans. I’m ready for the second book, here is hoping Maberry keeps this series going strong for a long time.

6. Everything is Broken by John Shirley

Shirley’s original title was “Welcome to Freedom,” While probably a more proper title it might have been a bit too much on the nose. It would be easy to say this novel is a 280 page argument against libertarianism, but it is much deeper than that. It is also about social controls that hold the socio-paths among us from running wild.

I’d put it up there with some of the great non-supernatural horror novels like David Morrell’s Testament or Jack Ketchum’s Girl Next Door. At the same time it’s an important novel that explores issues we as a society need to discuss.

7. Ghost Brigades/ The Last Colony (Old Man's War #2 and 3) by John Scalzi:

The best and fastest Science Fiction read of the 21st century in my opinion is Old Man’s War In Ghost Brigades I can say that Scalzi has crafted a second flawless masterpiece of military sci-fi that expneat ideas just hinted at in the first book. Far future special forces that are badass and not written with a right kneejerk that makes some military sci-fi hard to swallow. The last Colony wraps up the story with a honest look at the effects of intersteller Colonization.

8. Leather Maiden by Joe R. Lansdale:

This novel Leather Maiden is a murder mystery and the humor comes mostly in the third person narration of Iraq war vet and small town Reporter named Cason. The fantastic dialogue between characters is a highlight, Lansdale shares the skill for dialogue that is only matched by Tarantino, Elmore Leonard, and Gregory Macdonald. If you have a dark or grumpy sense of humor you can’t really go wrong with this, or any other Lansdale novel.

9. Monsters of LA By Lisa Morton.

of LA is a concept collection. Lisa Morton is a creature of LA and her work is as firmly placed in LA as Early Stephen King was placed in Maine. This is an excellent and diverse collection of horror, dark humor and weird fiction. It is also an informative love letter to the city Morton calls home. Each story comes with a short explanation that has insight into the ways that the city inspired each story. What we need now is a collection of Morton's already vast amount of published short stories.

10. Star Wars: Darth Maul Shadow Hunter by Michael Reeves:

I read a ton of Tie-in novels this year, and this one took me by surprise. This might for real be the best Star Wars novel I have ever read. None of the major characters, no problem. This novel is perfectly paced action adventure with strong characters that set up characters for novels Reeves wrote down the line.

Star Noirs really... Reaves did such a great job they brought him back to do a trilogy of Coruscant nights noir novels set against the dark times after the fall of the empire.

Honorable Mentions: The Fury and The Terror by John Farris, Keepers by Gary Braunbeck, Raylan by Elmore Leonard, Redshirts by John Scalzi, 3001 by Arthur Clarke, Hellhole by KJ Anderson and Brian Herbert and Full Dark,No Stars by Stephen King.

Product Review: Stephen King Desktop Planner 2013

The Stephen King Library Desk Calendar 2013

This stylish, hard-cover, 8 ½ x 11 – inch spiral bound desk calendar/planner is a great gift idea for the holidays if you have a Stephen King fan in your life. Since King is the world's best selling author, I assume that everyone knows a fan. The cover art on this is a very cool collage, and – it's a hologram!

I love King as an ambassador of the horror genre. I mean that he is the archetypal horror writer, and people think of King when the horror genre is discussed. His early novels still present some of the best material that the genre has seen. While the more recent novels have been hit or miss with me, I remain a huge fan of the author who has produced some of the greatest works of horror fiction, and has balanced fame with remaining a good person.

This calendar celebrates Stephen King's career. While functional, it provides fun moments throughout the year for fans. Each two-page spread contains around five or seven calendared memorable events, with plenty of room for writing down important dates, appointments or birthdays. This calendar includes well-known genre authors' birthdays - Harlan Ellison and HP Lovecraft, for example. Probably more interesting for serious Stephen King nerds, also listed are the birthdays of SK characters and events from his classic novels. Imagine your opening to Monday, May 27th, and noting that it is not only Memorial Day, but also Harlan Ellison's birthday, AND the anniversary of prom night in Chamberlain, Maine, from the pages of Carrie. Might want to pencil in a screening of Carrie that night with friends. As you work through the calendar over the year you'll find out the date that It ended, when Captain Trips was released, and the day that The Mist was released over Maine.

Along the bottom of the pages are excerpts from King books, articles about books, and pages of trivia devoted to a few different titles. The trivia is fun, and I liked the articles; however, most were by Jay Franco. I don't know who he is. Not that that matters; he knows his King, but it seems that including more voices from the King community like Bev Vincent, Robin Firth, or similar authors would improve the value of these. It would also be nice to have author bios, which are unfortunately not included. This would allow the readers to know what expertise on or relationship to King's work each has.

Overall I think that this is a cool, unique product. Maybe I'll provide an update in 2014, after having used it for a year, but so far I think it is a great gift idea. Pick it up.

Book Review: Redshirts by John Scalzi

RedShirts by John Scalzi

316 pages Tor hardcover

This satire had to happen, in fact in many ways it happened before. It would be easy to compare this novel to Galaxy Quest as it is a send-up of Star Trek, but in many ways it is a send up more of the standard science fiction television narrative that Trek developed and buried deep in the collect subconscious of its fans. Look the bottom line before I go any further this book is super funny. If you are fans of Trek, stargate, or Battlestar Galactica there is lots of subtle but perfect told jokes that are perfectly woven into the story. It is more meta than Galaxy Quest with Phil K. Dick mind bending aspect to the story.

John Scalzi is the perfect writer to tell this tale. His debut novel Old Man's War is my favorite military space opera of the 21st century and the entire trilogy it spawned is ridiculously good. The author has an amazing knack for bringing both humor and the the inventive awe and wonder that is needed in the best speculative fiction. Hell of a story teller who creates vivid and likable characters and that in this novel is the point.

Redshirts you see was inspired by the unfortunate members of the Enterprise crew who went on away missions in redshirts. You didn't know there names, they were extras whose only role was die. In a narrative sense the Trek writers set them up like bowling pins. If this something you knew about Trek and were amused by then you understand the jumping off point of this book.

Taking place on a Trek like ship called the Intrepid the main characters are members of the crew in the lower ranks who start to sense a pattern. The command crew never seem to be in danger but all their friends in the lower ranks can't seem to survive giant worms, diseases, space battles or killer robots.

Look if you trust me that this book is smart, funny and inventive then you already know more than you need to know. Go into this book as blind on the plot as possible. Great concept almost perfectly executed with a laugh-out-loud moment on almost every page. The novel ends with Three “codas” one in first person, one in second person and the last chapter is in Third person. I enjoyed this interesting experiment which adds some insight into the story. However I didn't enjoy it as much as the main narrative of the novel. Considering how much I enjoyed the novel it is a little thing.