Giving Thanks

Well, wouldn't you know it? As I pen this note it is Monday evening, and I am sick. Yes, Thanksgiving week! Can you believe it? I hope none of you are feeling under the weather. I was ill once before during this holiday, but, thankfully, it was many years ago. So, right there I guess I should be thankful and complain less. That time I had an allergic reaction which made it extremely difficult to eat. I recall wondering whether I would end up missing out on all of the great holiday food. Thankfully, the problem then began to dissipate just in time, allowing me to be able to eat relatively well.

This time it seems that my regular allergies have kicked in. I began to feel my infamous post-nasal drip begin to choke me last Friday, just as California was being hit with a nice winter storm which brought us a lot of much-needed rain. It was particularly stressing because my wife was having some elective work, which meant that I needed to be on my feet for her. I managed to get through the day, but barely. Saturday night I was hit with a fever. All weekend long I was heading for the tissue box and choking on you-know-what.

I was bummed out because I had hoped to make some headway with the edits on Dance on Fire: Flashpoint, the sequel to my novel. I had thought that by the end of that weekend I might be in great shape. Unfortunately, between going line by line and getting up seemingly every ten minutes, I really didn't get very far, and certainly nowhere near as far as I had hoped. At this writing, I am barely half way, and I have given myself a deadline of December 1st. We'll see what this cold thinks about my deadlines. It might be one thing if all that I had to do between now and then was my day job, celebrate Thanksgiving and complete editing. On top of that, however, I had this post as well as an article due for Kings River Life Magazine, a local on-line magazine that I write for.

[caption id="attachment_3885" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Garcia Men"][/caption]

Now, having written all of this, a part of me is poking me in the shoulder. I really do not have to turn around to know who it is and what it is that he want to tell me. The PG version is probably something along the lines of "Stop Your Sobbing". I say that because I'm a big Pretenders fan and that was one of their early hits. Really, I think it's something like "stop your whining". Without going back over old territory, I have way too much to be thankful for. I've been married 20 years, which is one hell of a lot longer than many these days. My boys are great and healthy and talented, and well on their way. My wife and I are both working, and we have money to do things. And finally, I have been spending this past year writing. I haven't made any money doing it, as of yet, but I can see that it's coming.

I could complain about a few things, but it would be more of a shame-on-me-thing for doing it. You know what I mean? So the doctor gave me an antibiotic, which I will start taking tonight after I eat something. I took some Advil this afternoon and now my fever has broken, and perhaps more importantly, at least mentally, they gave me another allergy shot. I say that because I swear by those shots! I'm surprised that it did not quite make it a complete year, but whatever! I feel so much better already and it's only been a few hours.

One of the other things that was bumming me out was my potentially not being well enough for Black Friday. Hold your horses! That's not what I mean. I already have to get up that early for work; why would I want to get up that early on a day off...for shopping? The day after Thanksgiving is my day for decorating the house. It will take the entire day, and I will be rearranging two rooms along with a bunch of furniture, but at the end of the afternoon Christmas will have arrived. So, if I am too sick for that, I will really be bummed.

[caption id="attachment_3886" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Our living area"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3887" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Our Dining Room (Read: my office. See trusty lap top?)"][/caption]

As I said, I am feeling better already, so I'm optimistic it will be a good week after all, and that these two photos will look completely different in a few days time. Come back in December and I'll show you the "after" photos.

How about you? Will it be a good and thankful week for you and yours? I hope so. If your year has been less than spectacular, then I hope the holidays will be a magical time that restores your optimism for 2011.

Your new friend,

James

Transitioning

[caption id="attachment_3815" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="I love to read. I used to have time for that."][/caption]

Some of you may know this, some may not, but one year ago at this time I had just found a publisher. Vamplit Publishing had my debut novel about vampires with a Christian twist, and I was simply waiting for the editor to send back my carved-up manuscript. At that time, I had one MySpace account which was gathering dust (for spying on my teenager, don't you know), as well as one Facebook account. With that, however, all that I was doing was looking for old friends and playing Vampire Wars. Other than checking my e-mail multiple times per day for my edits which would ultimately not come in until Christmas Eve day, I had nothing to do in terms of writing.

     Oh, what a difference a year can make.

     Why am I telling you this, you ask? Some may be wondering why I am retelling it. Faithful readers of this hallowed page may have noticed that what was once fairly regimented has grown, shall we say: loose. There’s a reason for that and our hope here is it will be temporary. You see, many of us have gotten busy at quite the same time with regards to writing projects becoming published novels, and blogging evolving into PR campaigns and book tours.

     For me, 2010 transitioned from checking my e-mail every day, waiting for my novel to be published - to being published nearly every week. First came the blog. I didn’t design that. My publisher handed me the keys, but it was certainly up to me to fill it with stuff. I posted information about my novel, as well as film and music reviews and the occasional rant or editorial. A guest post on Wicked Writers transitioned over to a regular spot every other Friday. A review in a local magazine brought me to the attention of an editor who had just launched her own on-line magazine. I had never written articles before, nor did I have any kind of experience in Journalism; however, I have now been writing articles for her since the summer. I now have a second Facebook page (The Official James Garcia... You get the idea) as well as a Twitter Account.

     The point I’m attempting to make is, we spent a lot of time dreaming that these days might come; that we might be writing. Little did we realize, perhaps, just what form that might take; or how it might all come together. I think many of you have probably gone through the same things. Notice how I’ve mentioned nothing at all about us having houses to maintain, or children or grandchildren to parent. Or day jobs! Many of you are writing and running blogs; others are reading, reviewing and running blogs; and a whole bunch of us are trying like heck to do it all. Busy, huh?

[caption id="attachment_3816" align="alignright" width="225" caption="There's a few DVDs there I still haven't seen yet."][/caption]

 This brings me to the heart of the matter: please hang in there if we suddenly seem to have neglected to post on our day; or if we fail to update the poll or go a while without offering another contest. I think everyone here would agree that this site is very special to us, as well as all of the interaction with you fine people. Many of us are simply coping with transitioning at the moment. C.J.’s flying about the country on the Wicked Writer’s corporate jet, doing lectures and signings. NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month) has claimed a few of us braver ones who are endeavoring to write a complete novel in one month (Anastasia and J.D.), Greg can’t hardly get any work done with Hollywood pleading with him to save some blockbuster project of their's by taking the lead role. And for me, between writing posts and articles, I’m supposed to be overseeing the PR machine as it figures out new and improved ways to get the information out about my positively reviewed novel that few know about. I am also supposed to be polishing up its sequel and getting it ready for the moment that my trusty publisher asks for it.

     John Lennon is famous for a great many things, but in the Beatles’ song, “The Ballad of John and Yoko”, he sang, “Christ, you know it ain’t easy…”. It isn’t one of my favorite Beatle’s songs. In fact, I typically skip it. However, being motivated by music, it was the one lyric to leap into my head as I was crafting the paragraph. You may also notice one of these days that the blog appears a bit different. Potentially, we’re moving. I’m told it will be seamless and you will not have to be redirected or find one of those notices that we’ve moved. You will not have to pick up our mail or kick the pile of newspapers out of your way while walking to the front door. Nothing like that.

[caption id="attachment_3817" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Jones is waiting for someone to come play with him! "][/caption]

     Just please hang in there (like my cat), because that’s all that we are attempting to do as well, amongst all of the stuff.

     As I like to say over on my blog…

     …We’ll talk soon.

Halloween: Season of the Witch

I suppose that I should apologize for borrowing from the film, Halloween III: Season of the Witch for using part of their title for my heading; however, since that film is so universally [Censored by WW editorial staff], they may actually wish to offer us some residuals for bringing it up in the first place. In any event, I mean only to speak of the season that we are currently in, which is, of course, Halloween.

Now, being a church-going, Bible-thumping, Bible-believing kind of guy, I could easily write a very long post about several reasons why we should not want anything to do with such a date and the supposed thinning of the veil. Thankfully, this is not the forum for such posts, and personally I let this particular “holiday” pass by like water off the proverbial duck’s back. We have never really decorated our house or yard, but that wasn't because we had taken some concrete, unyielding stance or another. We just never have. My sons did go trick or treating. How else was my wife going to get her chocolate fix? Okay, I wanted some candy, too. I kind of like the whole ghosts and goblins craziness...as long as there are no "real" apparitions to be seen in my house in the middle of the night. Some of you may know just how early I have to get up in the morning for my day-job; if there were some "things in the dead of night", I would definitely "bump" into them.

How about some of you folks? Are there any traditions that you enjoy, regarding this particular season? Do you decorate your yard or the inside of the house? Do you have small children or grandchildren that you dress up and escort about town, hunting for treats? The following photo is of Disney's Haunted Mansion after it has been transformed into The Nightmare Before Christmas. They do this for the holidays and not necessarily every year. Speaking of someone who has visited Disneyland in Anaheim, California quite often, it is spectacular to behold.

[caption id="attachment_3756" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Disney's Haunted Mansion"][/caption]There is one thing that I would like to do, but continue to fail at and that is hunting for horror films to watch. When I was a teenager, back when Nosferatu was a new film, I used to enjoy watching scary things (I was kidding about Nosferatu; I hope you caught that). I grew up with Friday the 13^th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, John Carpenter films, and several other movies commonly regarded as Slasher Films. However, now that I think about it, I question whether we actually enjoyed those films, or simply partook of them because they were a bit of a taboo. Perhaps it was simply the thrill of watching something that our parents were barely allowing us to view, or that we were not allowed to do, but were doing so behind their backs anyway. Maybe it was a bit like that first drink, or the day we passed our driving test and could finally drive alone or our first [Once again,Censored by WW editorial staff] .

My problem now is I don’t think I have the stomach for senseless violence. I’m not terribly interested in something so formula-driven: several teenagers get together for drinking, doing drugs and having sex (yeah, I let that one go-the Censored joke had run its course) only to be hunted down, one by one, until the last one defeats the villain and survives; at least until the sequel. I’m not interested in torture porn, either. These days I prefer to be pulled along by The Sixth Sense or White Noise or The Silence of the Lambs or something that is more mentally frightening than physically disgusting.

How about you folks? Do you enjoy scary movies during this season of the year? If so, what are your favorites? Perhaps you may even help me by pointing out some films that I should really give a chance to. I’m always ready for a good ghost story, for example. Recently I have thought about watching certain films, The Messengers or The Skeleton Key come to mind, but I just never really took the plunge. Part of the reason has to do with having no one to view these films with; my wife can’t watch anything the least bit scary and my oldest son is barely at that age now. I let him watch Silence about a year ago and he sat there quiet as that lamb that finally stopped screaming when it was over, mind fully blown. When I have watched these films, I have had to do it on a laptop in the privacy of the back bedroom, so nobody else would see what they most definitely did not wish to see.

In any event, I am open, so what have you got? I would love to hear from any and all of you on this subject.

No matter how you view Halloween, may it be a safe one.

And if you must say Candyman or Beetlejuice, please refrain from saying it no more than twice…

…and never in my presence. I like all of my ghosts on the printed page.
[caption id="attachment_3757" align="aligncenter" width="198" caption="Watch out for hitchhiking ghosts."][/caption]

Scary Fictional Creature

[caption id="attachment_3646" align="alignleft" width="247" caption=""It doesn't know we're here...""][/caption]

This was a most difficult topic to decide upon which character to write about. My first thought was to write about the fabled Sasquatch. Unfortunately, there was a sighting, so that canceled that notion. Then, because I was listening to “Synchronicity 2” by The Police, I decided to write about Nessie. You know the lyric, “…something crawls from the slime at the bottom of a dark Scottish Lake”. Sadly, a Twitter news alert came through that there was yet another sighting there, too. Delete, delete, delete.

[caption id="attachment_3648" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Nessie"][/caption]

Stymied yet again, I simply stared at the monitor while I awaited the muse. Eventually, she brought me something terrible, but incredibly useful. Glancing out the front window, I happened to notice perhaps the ugliest dog that I have ever seen, which sparked a memory. Here in the Americas we have this urban legend about wild reptilian dogs that attacks goats and other farm animals. They are called El Chupacabra. Just when I started getting all excited, juices flowing, fingers flying over the keyboard as if not really touching them, beautiful elegant prose singing across the monitor…the muse tapped me on the shoulder. She was pointing at the television and shaking her head from side to side, wearing a most disappointed frown. There, on a cable tabloid news show, a farmer in Texas was claiming that he had recently killed two of the creatures on his farm. It was then that I quoted the great John Hammond from Jurassic Park when he uttered arguably the most eloquent line ever heard on the screen, “Damn!”

(editor's note: the writer had planned to post a photo of the Chupacabras, but since every one was so freakin' ugly, he decided against it. You're welcome, by the way)

[caption id="attachment_3650" align="alignleft" width="229" caption="I miss the West Wing"][/caption]

I knew in the back of my mind, were I to fail to decide on something to write about, that I had a couple of go-to characters that I could use: honest politicians being one of them. However, I felt that there were some others; I simply needed to keep my nose to the grindstone until I figured out what they were. Eventually it came to me: the flying monkeys in the classic film, The Wizard of Oz. Those things scared the heck out of me when I was a kid. Even now (Anyone else hear Manilow singing just now? "Even now"?), should I start to reach for the DVD in order to put it inside the shopping cart, it is the first thought that comes to me. I don’t remember exactly just what is was about them, but I have yet to forget them, even after all of these years.

Have you had enough of my futile attempts at humor?

Alright then, perhaps a moment of seriousness is in order. There are but two fictional characters that stay with me. Linda Blair’s demon-possessed Regan MacNeil from The Exorcist and the creature from the film adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Unnamable.

Being the church-going fellow that I am, nothing gets any worse for me than the works of the devil. I have mentioned many times across the blogs this year, and should be firmly on record, as having scared myself with The Exorcist on every occasion. Other than reruns on television with edited versions of the film, I had never really seen it until about ten years ago when I bought my first DVD player and began snatching up special editions of DVDs as fast as humanly possible, and much to my wife’s chagrin. I have seen this film another two or three times since then and it never fails to ruin my sleep for a couple of days. One might ask why I continue to put myself in such positions. You can ask, but I don’t have a good answer for that. Dropped on my head as an infant?

While I'm at it, I have a chilling anecdote which I have shared before on the blog of Wicked Writer friend, Carole Gill. The first time that I watched the film, I did so over a couple of days. I had an hour or so between the time that I got off work and the time when my mother would bring my young children home from school. I was across the living room from the television, sitting on a couch. Beside me there on the right was a large table and upon it sat a large potted plant. On the second day when little Regan's transformation was complete, the DVD froze and that nasty demon-possessed girl stared at me. During this moment while I was waiting to see whether the film would resume or not, one of the plant's leaves slid down the wall, making the most audible of rubbing sounds. I turned toward the sound with a jump that I'll not soon forget and yelled at the plant, "Don't do that!" Here's what I was staring at:

[caption id="attachment_3651" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption=""Your momma knits socks that smell!""][/caption]

The other film that I mentioned is one of those that I came across by accident in a video store. (What’s that, you ask? A video store? A topic for another week, perhaps.) Anyway, I had read some Lovecraft during that time and thought that I would give it a go. There is nothing creepier than laying awake at night, waiting for sleep to come upon you and suddenly imagining a terrible apparition or monster coming at you while you are unable to get away. That is precisely what I recall about this film. The characters investigate this house that had a terrible legend and they could not get away. See for yourself just how horrible it was:

[caption id="attachment_3653" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="I've got a name for it!"][/caption]

Well, that's my list. What might be on your list? We have seen many films this week, some gruesome and some laughable due to the passage of time. Sometimes the scare is real and fresh. Sometimes the scare feels all-too real but is decades old. Tell us what scares you this or any other Halloween.

Contest: My friends, now that I've got you all creeped out, I'm hosting our latest contest. Once again I'm offering an e-book copy of my first novel, Dance on Fire. I guarantee that it is much scarier than flying monkees, but not nearly as frightening as a demon-possessed Regan MacNeil. I hope you'll ask for it and give it a chance.

Pushing the Envelope

[caption id="attachment_3550" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Dirty Harry and his loaded question."][/caption]This week’s prompt is: Pushing the Envelope. Therefore, the first question one must ask is: "Do I feel lucky?" Okay, that's really a bit of dialogue from the classic motion picture, Dirty Harry, but a very good point which we will get to. I mean, really, what does that mean, pushing the envelope? What envelope?

For me it means just the opposite of what I have been doing since this amazing turn of events began last year when I found that publisher. With regards to my writing, I haven’t been pushing anything, other than myself to do so much more. Yet, we're not discussing working hard, meeting impossible deadlines or making our presence felt to the masses. I believe that "pushing the envelope" refers to pushing past one's comfort zone. To move beyond self constructed barriers. To do what is not comfortable.

I am not a marketing guy, but I think I have been bright enough to know not to alienate potential buyers of my novel. Therefore, I have not mentioned in any short story, novel, post or article which side of the political fence I may or may not reside. I have stayed away from any and all incendiary topics. Not only this, but I have also attempted to shy away from small things which could also get feathers ruffled, such as what form of music I have little appreciation for, or which sports teams I follow. Some of these things probably sound rather trivial to some, and most certainly, some of these things will eventually be made known (Country Music; Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Cubs). My point is that in the beginning I wanted to try to be able to reach every facet of my potential audience.

[caption id="attachment_3551" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Draper Street, Swedish Festival"][/caption]One example that I can give is The Kingsburg Swedish Festival. The city that I live in has Swedish roots. Therefore, our colors are Swedish; our buildings have a Swedish architecture; for all intents and purposes, we are a Swedish town. Once a year in May, we hold a festival which draws thousands. Years ago, the festival used to be held in our large park. Before and after our Saturday parade, people would head back to the park where the vendors and food booths were located. We had shade and comfortable grass to walk upon. Eventually, it was moved downtown to what we call our main street. Now we have to walk on cement and asphalt, and have little shade from the sun; but the consumers can walk amongst the shops and thus boost the downtown. Recently, there was a Facebook movement began which hoped to move the festival back to the park. However, since I am now a member of the Chamber of Commerce, you must now see that I declined the invitation to side with one side or the other. I think any reasonable person who has attended the festival would probably know which choice is best, but I am staying away from the subject.



Now, having said all of that, is this really what we mean? Or is it something more?

There is another way that one could push the envelope. My novel is a Christian/Horror crossover. It has a little bit of both and, I hope, is just the right combination to make the novel interesting, fresh and gripping. Now that it has been out for seven months, and I have begun to grow a small following across social networking sites as well as in my hometown, and the audience has begun to know what to expect from me, could it be time to push against their comfort zone? Do I now release a dark and pure horror novel where the devil seems to win more than he loses? Or do I release a purely Christian novel? How about Romance? I could do that, you know. I reach for the romantic comedy DVDs quicker than my wife does. Don’t think I couldn’t! Perhaps I could really shake things up by writing about the rape and murder a young girl much like The Lovely Bones.

What do you guys think? When might it be time to do such a thing? Too early and one might lose an audience before they have that trust factor where they’ll follow you anywhere; too late and they might feel abandoned. I was going to cite Stephen King, but because his writing is so prolific and his audience so varied that he probably did not notice the couple of times that I quit reading him. Of course, he knows that we sometimes come back.

[caption id="attachment_3552" align="alignleft" width="212" caption="See! I told you."][/caption]

Outlining: A Personal Journey

[caption id="attachment_3437" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Taken last winter with 100 other potential author photos. The beard did not last the spring."][/caption]

      To outline or not to outline; that is the question. At least that is one burning question this week at Wicked Writers, where we endeavor to discuss, convince or even lecture on the necessity of plotting one’s course when beginning that next bestseller. Some might suggest that it is in fact the most important writing one will ever do.

     As I contemplated this week's prompt, I was unsure just which side of the fence I was standing behind. I have written by simply sitting down and blazing ahead, come Hell or high water. More recently, I have written with more of a plan. It wasn't until I had written this post's rough draft that I came to fully realize just which side of the fence I should be standing behind. Walk with me, won't you...

     I might be a special case and I will leave that for you to decide just how special needs that might be. What I mean by this is, I have done quite a lot of writing where I have started madly typing away, allowing the visuals in my head to play out as if they were the scenes in a motion picture that had yet to be written down. A script in reverse, if you will. Regular readers of mine will recall that I have mentioned this before. In fact, my first novel was written just this way. It did take twenty years to write, so it would be extremely difficult for me to champion this method of writing. It took much editing and many rewrites to get it where it is now, and may be one of the reasons why it took so long. Perhaps if I would have mapped it out with an outline it might not have taken so long to complete. I have also written all of my short stories in this fashion, but the size and scope was so much easier to rein in, if and when things began to go astray.

     For my second novel I did map it out. I don’t know whether it was the greatest outline in the world since I had never tried writing a novel with one before. I think it did help me to map out the action beforehand and to narrow my focus. That novel only took eight months to write from beginning to end of second draft. My third novel in the series currently only exists as an outline. Yet, even now, as I contemplate working on that project this winter, I can hear the outline speaking to me. I grow excited just thinking about it, most likely since I don't have to do the heavy lifting now. I am confident that once I blow the dust off of that thing, the images will begin to play and the writing will be quite easy. Whether it is good or not remains to be seen!

     You will be visited by three ghosts... Okay, perhaps just one.

     Come just a little further please...

     I recall a painful writing experience that occurred in my youth. Today, not only does every home have a computer, but there is one in every other room. However, what you are about to see occurred back in the 1980's when there were only one or two computers on every block. You know, the dark ages! Anyway, my neighbors allowed me access to their pc for my writing. I spent many an afternoon there, but one particular evening I must have been late getting home and neglected to save my work. I recall leaving their home, feeling horrible as I walked back across the street. That night I spent hours jumping out of my bed as bits of action, dialogue, etc., came flooding back as I was attempting to go to sleep. Eventually, I got enough of it back, or at least enough to save the story. If I would have had an outline, it might have saved me from a lot of stress, unless of course I had neglected to save that, too.

     As you have taken this journey with me, you must realize, as I have, just how important outlines can be.  Mine are not great sketches of character or the latitude and longitude of every single subplot. They are only a few sentences that essentially script out where I need to be with each chapter. They still allow me the freedom to create, unshackled to strict rules, while helping me to focus on what should to be happening next. Perhaps more importantly than anything for me has been how helpful they have been with my pacing. Studying my outlines I have come to realize just what was needed and exactly when it was needed, much like a film director planning his shots by storyboard.

     If one would have asked me how much stock I put into outlining prior to this week, I might have said that I was not a believer. However, as you and I have found as we walked the terrain of this subject, I believe that I can be firmly counted among the converted. How about you? Are you reluctant to sit down and outline for fear that it zaps the creative process? Is it far too mundane a task? Are some of you other Wicked Writers out there believers in simply sketching your writing, and thus leaving plenty of opportunity for creativity or spontaneity? Do some of you actually prefer the shackles? (Poor attempt to entice comments?)

     The Wicked Writers Staff thank you for all of your comments this week and every week, and hope that you will keep them coming. We are reclining about Headquarters, snacking on Maple Bars and sipping coffee, eagerly awaiting more. Or is it just me?

     Oh, and thanks for taking the walk with me...

Size Matters & four other needs

This week the prompt at Wicked Writers was: Five things that we would like to see in the genre that we write in. Since my debut novel is a Christian/Horror crossover, and aimed more for a PG-13 type of rating, I am commenting today somewhere between thrillers and horror. And no, this is not C.J.’s post, I was simply looking for something sensational to entitle the thing with. If you were looking for something else, you might try Everything Erotic on Kindle. Shameless plug for C.J., I know (smiles).

Before I begin, please allow me to fill you in on what it is that I like.

[caption id="attachment_3337" align="alignright" width="196" caption="The novel"][/caption]One of the first novels that I ever read was The Amityville Horror, by Jay Anson. I am not here today to debate with you whether or not George and Kathleen Lutz concocted their story. I will leave that to others. There are plenty of sites on the web devoted to which side of the fence one might reside on with regards to this subject. If nothing else, it is simply one of the scariest “haunted house” stories that you will ever read. And you must read it at night, alone, while the rest of your household is quiet, if you want the best effect.

I think I like haunted house stories or ghost stories, if you will, due to the fact that it is something that every one of us can relate to. We all live in buildings that make noises in the middle of the night, and at some point or another every one of us have been alone in one…in the dark.

Serial killer stories are another of my favorites. Of course I refer to the fictionalized versions! I don't like it at all when it is real and being reported in the newspaper or on the evening news. What I love is the intrigue, the criminology work that must be done and the chase as the authorities close in. On the other hand, part of the reason that we can believe these stories, unfortunately, is due to the fact that these killers really are in the news every year.

Now that I have explained a bit of the “what”, I would like to explain the “why”. What I enjoy is the sitting on the edge of my seat kind of stories. I am not interested in crazed lunatics with chain saws, running around tirelessly, hacking up everyone that they can find into indescribable pieces. Nor am I interested in Saw XXIII or whatever number the filmmakers are on. I want to be thrilled by dark material, but not shocked, revolted or disgusted by torture porn and the like.

Having said all of that, the following are five things that I would like to see different. I will weave between print and film to help better illustrate some of the points.

1)  Something new. Since much has been done before, it simply makes it that much more challenging to come up with new ideas or fresh twists. M. Night Shyamalan hit the first pitch that he ever saw for a grand slam with The Sixth Sense. Unfortunately, he has only managed a few weak singles and a double since then, but I like him, so I wish him well. The thing was that his idea was totally fresh, and it invigorated the genre. Of course, we then saw a lot of folks simply coming up with a great reveal for the end of their film or book, with little but a weak story to get us there, as if we cared by then.

[caption id="attachment_3338" align="alignleft" width="160" caption="A scene from The Sixth Sense"][/caption]

2)  Stop showing us. When I was in high school I once heard that a poll conducted with prisoners revealed that they would much rather have a Sears catalogue then a playboy magazine. Less was actually more. I thought the notion ridiculous at the time, but I was a teenager who could only think about women, so what did I know? One of the reasons why the film, Jaws was so successful was apparently by accident. The mechanical shark, Bruce, named after Mr. Spielberg’s then-lawyer, did not work often enough, so they did the best that they could under the circumstances and it ended up making everyone involved look brilliant. The reason why the original Friday the 13^th part 1 & 2 were good was due to the fact that the audience was rarely given any glimpse of either Mrs. Voorhees or eventually her son, Jason. In these cases, what we received mostly was the expectation of the killer. My good friend, Carole Gill, who recently blogged here made a very good point of this on her own blog. You should look her up if you have yet to do so. We're hoping to enlist her talents here soon on a more permanent basis. She's the real horror writer.

[caption id="attachment_3339" align="alignright" width="160" caption="Where's that bigger boat?"][/caption]

3)  About Length. I know, I know; stop it already. The point here would be that the most important aspect is for the author to tell their story. I would hope that market concerns would not be the driving factor. Stephen King’s The Stand was far too long for a newer author, so the publisher had him trim it down. It was very good; however, when his name became so much bigger than any of theirs’, he was allowed to put back all of the pages that he had trimmed. What is key is that each chapter, every paragraph, and ultimately even the shortest of sentences be necessary. If it takes longer to give the reader the proper back-story, then make it longer. If it’s too short, don’t give us filler simply to stretch it out. The story is what it is. Thankfully, Mr. Jackson gave us additional footage for the dvds because there were times in all three Lord of the Rings films, and especially in Return of the King where I felt rushed through the original theatrical release. I recall Clive Barker’s Nightbreed making me feel that way, too.

4)   Unnecessary murder. Why does each of Dirty Harry’s partners end up dead or physically incapacitated? I would have thought that once would have been enough. I have killed off a few characters in my writing, but am conscious of the fact that others feel the same about this subject. Let’s not erase someone simply because they are in the way, or in order to give the lead character the motivation necessary to kill every deviant that comes there way, ala Charles Bronson in Deathwish. What about this 70's idea that every sex-starved teenager should die, leaving only one left to survive. Did those screenwriters think  that it made it a fairer fight? My 16 year old and I were watching Predator recently. Thankfully, the woman survived and was helicoptered out of the forest with Arnold the Governator, otherwise it’s not a great story any more as it is a star turn for the leading man. How about killing off the lead somewhere near the end of the movie? How’s that for original? I know it’s been done before, but so infrequently that only John Wayne in Sands of Iwo Jima comes to mind or Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan.

[caption id="attachment_3340" align="alignright" width="106" caption=""I 'ain't got time to bleed!""][/caption]

5)  Too many twists. I love twists and turns and surprise endings that you never saw coming, just as much as the next person; however, not all at the same time. In The Dark Knight, although a very good film, I doubted that Batman would actually ever catch Heath Ledger's masterful Joker, when he had made him look so pathetic for the entire film. I thought Dan Brown's Angels and Demons was a terrific book until three-quarters of the way through when it took one twist too many for my believability.

Perhaps I am being too picky, making much ado about nothing. Perhaps not.

What do you say? I'd love to hear what you think. Did I miss anything? Did I go too far?

What about the rest of the panel for this week? We would love to hear your comments. If nothing else, have a great long weekend. Just not here...

[caption id="attachment_3341" align="aligncenter" width="220" caption="112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, Long Island "][/caption]

The Top Shelf

Were you expecting Long Island Iced Teas? Sadly, so was I.

     Our prompt this week was to answer the following question: “Who are the great authors writing today?” Thankfully, there was a second prompt. 

     What I mean by this is the fact that I don’t necessarily feel as if I read enough to be able to answer that kind of question. When I was a teenager I used to read all of the time. Even in the early years of my marriage, when the plant used to shut down for a week here or there during the slow season, I was able to lie around the apartment, reading to my heart’s content. Eventually, as life became more hectic, I was only able to read my favorite authors' new releases. Now, I am attempting to read more, but it is a discipline that I am having to master. If I had the time I would read so much more.

     Our secondary prompt was: “Who are your favorite authors writing today?”

     Now we’re talking…

[caption id="attachment_3245" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="A view of one shelf"][/caption]

As I mentioned there was a time when I was only able to follow my favorites. Over the years that list has included: Stephen King, the late Michael Crichton, Patricia Cornwell, Michael Slade, Clive Barker and Pat Conroy. 

     Citing Stephen King as a favorite author is like rock bands citing The Beatles or Led Zeppelin as influences, but in my case it is still a fact. I must say that I do not read everything that Uncle Stevie puts out. As prolific and as varied as he is, I tend to examine each novel and see whether it strikes my fancy before putting it into my cart or e-cart. I love when people tell me that they refuse to read his work because it is too creepy, frightening, etc. Of course, that’s when I ask them whether they liked The Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me or The Green Mile. When they answer that they loved those films, that is when I rock their world.

     My favorites in the cannon that is Mr. King would be The Stand, Pet Sematary, Misery, The Dark Half, Gerald’s Game, Bag of Bones and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. The latter is a particular favorite of mine, and not because of the baseball references. I like it because of the young girl's strength and determination as she deals with finding herself lost in the deep woods.

     Michael Crichton was brilliant at filling his fiction with so much science that by the time he was done, none would question whether it might be possible for dinosaurs to roam the earth. Some might suggest that it was too much, but I think it gave his work so much believability. I thought Congo and Sphere were good books, but the terrible films really put a bad taste in my mouth. Uncle Stevie's fans can say the same about some of his as well. I was fairly dedicated between those two and Airframe, although it and Disclosure were very similar. I did not read again until Prey and State of Fear.

[caption id="attachment_3246" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Some Slade for your day."][/caption]

Patricia Cornwell hooked me with her Doctor Kay Scarpetta Series. My wife and I have followed religiously since Postmortem. We have followed her, FBI Profiler Benton Wesley, Detective Pete Marino and Scarpetta's niece Lucy, through the highs and lows of their lives as well as the peaks and valleys that is Ms. Cornwell’s creativity. There have been some great ones, a couple of lackluster ones, but for the most part she keeps us coming back for more.

     Which brings us to Michael Slade. I did a guest post on this subject just recently (http://wickedwriters.com/2010/06/16/special-x-thrillers/), so I will not bore the Wicked Readers with a rehash; however, I will say that he should be given a chance, especially if one likes their horror on the cutting edge. Why he remains largely undiscovered after all of these years, I still cannot figure out. Those of us who do know Slade enthusiastically consider ourselves “Sladists”.

     “Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we’re opened, we’re red.” So began my interest in Clive Barker. You may recall Pinhead from the Hellraiser series of films. That’s him. I started with his collection of shorts, Books of Blood. Eventually I followed him along from The Damnation Game, The Great and Secret Show, Imajica, Everville and The Thief of Always. I highly recommend that last one. It is a fable and suitable for children. I read that one to my two boys while they were growing up.

     Lastly, I will leave you with Pat Conroy. Writers of every flavor very often like to show off their mastery of the English Language. As a reader, we can easily find ourselves tripping up and losing interest in the characters, plot and ultimately in the book itself. Pat Conroy is not one of those. His prose simply must be some of the most beautiful ever published; reading his sentences just has to be like fine dining at it's finest. I have an image in my head of a non-wine drinker, tasting the bouquet that are his sentences and falling in love immediately with the vintage.

     This past year I did a book review over on my blog on Mr. Conroy’s latest release, South of Broad (http://jamesgarciajr.blogspot.com/2010/05/sunday-morning-musings_15.html). In it, I answered the following: “How did a horror enthusiast end up reading Pat Conroy?” I explained that a sister-in-law highly recommended what I would call his masterpiece, Beach Music. I had proclaimed that I never read anything unless someone died in the first chapter. As it turned out, the first page recounted the story of how Shyla McCall leapt from the Silas Pearlman Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina, setting off an amazing and unforgettable chain of events. Encompassing many years, multiple characters and almost too many subplots to count, it is simply the finest piece of fiction that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I have read it many times and sometimes pick it up not necessarily intending to finish. I’ll grab it off of my bookshelf as if the intent is to give myself a delightful snack. It’s that good. How he tied every loose end into perfect and beautiful little bows, I’ll never know, and could only hope to be able to emulate.

     It is so good that I refused to read any of his other works, fearing that they would be such a colossal let down. In the end, I finally buckled and have read a few more, though I have yet to work my way through his bibliography. I have also read The Prince of Tides, and Conroy’s memoir, My Losing Season. I have not been disappointed as of yet. He is a fantastic writer.

     We read different things and we read them for different reasons. This was not an exhaustive list, but a list. What might be on your list? What might you recommend? I'd love to hear what others think. Hopefully, you can leave me with something new to discover as I hope I have left you.

[caption id="attachment_3247" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Thorn Birds? How the hell did that get there?"][/caption]

I would like to thank Julie Musil for commenting two weeks ago during our contest then about being interested in reading my e-book, Dance on Fire. You, my dear, are getting that chance. Thank you for participating. I hope you enjoy it.

The Future of Books and a Contest

When I realized that our subject this week was the future of books and e-books in the next five years, it gave me pause. It wasn't as if I was completely clueless with regard to the task at hand; I have had the good fortune of having my debut novel published as an e-book. The issue for me was not the meat and potatoes of the dish, but rather the art of preparing the meal. I wrote the novel, but my wonderful publisher Gaynor was the one who handled all of the details.

The e-book: By this time, most people are aware of just exactly what this is. "What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet" (My thanks to Mr. Shakespeare). It's just a book. It won't bite you! Although, a good one will leave a mark. One can download an e-book to their computer, iPhone, e-reader, etc. Most of us not only have personal computers, Laptops and gadgets galore, but have multiples of each! 

The e-future: Imagine if you will that you have just finished reading a very good book. Are you ready to put it down? What if there was more content? Books often carry advertisements for past works by the author or for a forthcoming title, other times the book might include a sample of what's coming. What if the e-book was something called an enhanced e-book? Not only could it carry the usual, but so much more. Picture if you will the ordinary Facebook wall. Most of us have a Facebook account or at least have seen one. Can you see the video links and photos there? Instead of snippets of what the individual has been up to or what their friends have posted on their wall, I want you to envision the pages of a book. Are you reading The Lord of the Rings? Off to the right there is a series of photos. Are you reading Stephen King? Between paragraph one and two is a photo of Bangor, Maine. Better yet, how about a short video walk-thru of the town. Pat Conroy? Now you do not have to imagine what his south looks like, you could simply click the link. 

I know what you are going to say. It's the same argument against music video. Now that I have seen the stupid video, it has robbed my imaginative mind of being able to simply take the lyrics and create my own visual in my head. Okay, forget the photos and links. What if the start of the enhanced e-book contained a brief author's note, where a film began upon your choosing and the author herself thanked you, her faithful reader, for purchasing her work and gave the simplest of introductions. What if the end of the e-book contained an interview session where the author explained the muse for his story or offered other tidbits. Wouldn't that be something? Who knows exactly what the future might bring, but folks, it is coming. 

The Real topic: That was what I was hoping to write about this week. Unfortunately, thanks to all of the comments that I have seen recently from readers claiming that you can take their books from them when you pry them from their cold, dead fingers - we have to talk about something else. Has everybody seen Moonstruck? I hadn't until recently. I love romantic comedies, but must have had some sort of bias against this one for some crazy reason. In any event, I finally saw it, and liked it. So, with regard to the bias that many continue to cling to in terms of being unwilling to embrace e-books: I say, (borrowing Cher's famous line) "Snap out of it!" 

[caption id="attachment_3123" align="alignleft" width="160" caption="Cher and Nicholas Cage in Moonstruck"][/caption]

Forgive me, I'm not writing of those who have said that they cannot yet afford a Kindle or one of the other e-readers out there. It was easy for me. My wife has money! Just kidding. I'm speaking to those who get all nostalgic for paper, curling up in bed with their favorite book or simply their love of  bookstores. This is not the first time that this kind of thing has happened. We have gone through this before.  

This past spring the Blockbuster in my small town of 12,000 or so souls closed. It's a Real Estate now. When I was a teenager we went through periods where we had between two and five video rental stores. Then everyone decided that they should abandon the mom and pop places for the big sexy chain, thus forcing the mom and pops out of business. Now that we can order movies through cable, our computers, our Wii's, etc., we don't necessarily need Blockbuster anymore. And so it goes...  

Quick, somebody hand me a cassette. A what? Yeah, that's what I thought. I might still have a few cassettes lying around the house, probably stored in the garage. If so, they won't work now. Not that I have anything to play them on anymore! Not only that, I've long-since replaced those with CD. While we're on the subject, all of those CD's have been digitally transferred to my pc. They are available for me to listen to when I'm on my pc (like now - I'm listening to Asia), or my iPod (I'm pushing 7000 songs there) or my iPhone. My dad still has an old reel to reel. I haven't seen it in a while, but I'm certain that it is there since my parents don't believe in tossing anything out! Soon, we might not even need to store music. Our devices will simply access "the cloud" where our account is recognized and our purchased/stored music content simply streamed to our device. I don't know a lot about it just yet, but guess what: it's coming, too!  

Back to my wife. When the Kindle showed up magically at our doorstep a few months ago, she gave me that frown. "What did you do?" the frown asked. Yet, guess who uses it more than I do? And so will you. Trust me.  

The Contest: If you are still speaking to me after all of that, we have a contest for you. Wicked Writers is giving away a copy of my e-book, Dance on Fire. Ha! What else could it have been? The contest will run for two weeks. To be eligible, please leave a comment, along with your e-mail address in case you are declared the winner. We also would love it if you signed up for the e-mail delivery option, but will not make it mandatory. I would like to leave you with a note about my book. It is a horror/Christian crossover about vampires. It is a PG-13 story, so don't let the horror label scare you away. It is Christian, but contains some blood and guts and does not get too preachy. There's a bit of romance, too! See, it has everything. How could one possibly lose? Okay, don't answer that.

Beginnings...

Where to begin? This is the part of the movie where one has to wait for the flashback, or the narrator to fill in the back-story. You know: the boring stuff.

“In the beginning, good always overpowered the evils of all man’s sins…” Oops! That’s Mötley Crüe.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God…” Oops! That’s the Bible.

Sigh!

I’m just kidding around; however, in doing so, I wanted to illustrate what one can expect from me: a sprinkle of God, a large measure of music and a ton of humor. Why? Because it’s who I am.

1) Ultimately, I’m a church guy.

2) I think laughter is a fantastic medicine for what ails people.

3) I would curl up into a ball and die if I didn’t have my music. No food; dead in a couple of weeks. No water; a couple of days. No music; hours. You should see me. I used to take ten minutes looking for a cd to listen to for a five-minute drive to work. My wife knows this: there will be no doing the dishes, no vacuuming, no dusting, and no yard work until I have that iPod firmly strapped to my ears.

That’s me.

What else? Well, I can write a little bit. I know, you’re saying to yourself, “you call this writing?” This cocktail napkin is only so big, you know? I don’t know how you figured that I could give you Pat Conroy on something so small. Lol!

I first discovered the writing bug about the same time I discovered I loved to read. I didn’t know I loved to read until I stumbled upon Jay Anson’s The Amityville Horror, Peter Benchley’s Jaws and Michael Slade’s Headhunter to name a few. Originally, I thought my first attempt at writing was a good one until the summer I pulled it out, dusted it off and began to read a few paragraphs. “Who in the hell wrote this?”, I exclaimed to no one. Naturally, the first read turned into the first re-write! The following summer, the events of the previous summer were repeated. “Who in the hell…?”

Isn’t that pretty much how everyone begins? Or was it just me?

Fast forward a few years through high school and some junior college. I wrote a couple of novellas and a few short stories, and soon thereafter, I began to write Dance on Fire. I always thought I would end up changing the title, but never did come up with anything better. Eventually, it grew on me. Unfortunately, the title did not end up being the largest obstacle. That was reserved for the fact the book ended up taking twenty years to complete.

Why twenty years? Well, I met my wife in college. We started a life together, children, careers, etc. Over the years, I attempted to dust off the manuscript, but something always ended up derailing me. Not too many actually realize their dreams, right? Why should I be any different? Yet, the dream would not die. About the time that I hit my 38^th birthday, I began to feel that fire in the belly to not only kick-start the project, but also to see it to the end as well. When I did finish, I spent a year and a half looking for representation. Then came the realization that I had not attempted to write anything new in two decades, followed by a concern as to whether I actually could. Thankfully, the sequel to Dance on Fire took only eight months, from blank page to the end of the second draft (author wiping forehead in mock relief).

I came to understand it was not an easy thing to sell someone the idea of a Horror/Christian vampire crossover novel. The secular folks tended not to be so interested in anything Biblical, while the church folks tended to cringe anytime there was profanity or someone being butchered and used as food. I’m not sure why?

Eventually, call it fate or divine intervention, the good people over at Vamplit Publishing saw something in my writing and wrote back. I’m glad they did. The novel was published as an e-book this past February with the paperback version slated for sometime this fall. At the same time I will be handing over Dance on Fire: Flash Point to Vamplit Publishing once again for a winter 2010/spring 2011 release in both physical and e-book formats.

There. I told you it was dull…unless you were living it, of course.

And live it, I have. I have joined the blogosphere where I have met so many wonderful people and hope to continue the trend. I am also writing for a local on-line magazine in my area where I am penning non-fiction now, too. My experiences have brought me to this cool new place: Wicked Writers.

I want to thank C.J. and the team for welcoming me here. I want to thank you, dear faithful readers for enduring the back-story. I will endeavor not to bore you with those details again. For anyone among you who has a dream, I want to encourage you to see it through. Something inside me simply did not want me to grow old with regrets. I hope you won’t either.

Now that I have gotten these beginnings out of the way, we can move on to more interesting and engaging conversations. I am uncertain just what those might be, but I am eager to the challenge and looking forward to meeting more interesting people and having a lot of fun while doing it. Thanks for your time.

And as I like to say over on my blog:

We’ll talk soon.