Category: The Art of Writing

“Diabolical: Three Tales of Jack Thurston and Revenge” is Available on Kindle and in Print

Please go to amazon.com/author/philslattery or Goodreads or any other social media to leave a review.

Jack Thurston is a retired professor of medieval literature and history. He is also a widower and father and a retired sorcerer who has returned to the black arts to exact revenge for the death of his wife, daughter, and brother. He has an intriguing position in the universe at a focal point of life, the afterlife, logic and reason, anger and hatred, the ancient and the modern worlds, grief and his attempts to escape grief through self-destruction. Though he wants to have the peace he once found with his wife, Agatha, he is pulled in many directions by circumstance and by his powerful negative emotions.

I am a fan of the old school horror practiced by such authors as H.P. Lovecraft, Poe, Edward Lucas White, and Arthur Machen.  I endeavor to make a story as terrifying and suspenseful for the reader as possible without resorting to gratuitous blood and gore for a simple shock or quick feeling of disgust.

This collection of three short tales is perfect for those who have only a few short breaks to escape into the hidden world of horror, black magic, sorcery, and anger-fueled revenge.

You can find this and other works at my Amazon author’s page:  www.amazon.com/author/philslattery.

Currently, Jack has a Twitter account (@jthurston666), where he has attracted a small following and where it has only recently been revealed that he is fictional. Jack has his own blog at jackthurstonblog.wordpress.com (a work in progress) and his own e-mail at jackthurston666@gmail.com.

Information on more social media accounts and other characters (as they are developed) can be found at: philslattery.wordpress.com. Please interact with him at any of his social media accounts as you would with a real person.

Show your appreciation for these stories by leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or other social media.

If you enjoy horror, check out my collection of horror short stories A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror: Stories of wizards, werewolves, serial killers, alien worlds, and the damned, which includes these stories.

Mulling over Plans for the Website

I am thinking about restarting the Saturday Night Special, which was a weekly short horror story I ran a couple of years ago. I used stories primarily from before 1923 for their historical interest and to ensure they were from the public domain to avoid copyright issues. This time I will probably add some more mainstream stories into the mix, though still having a lot of horror. I will probably rerun some of the past stories initially to give me time to find newer ones.

I am also considering taking submissions of new material from new and established writers. There will be no pay, of course, just a publication credit.

Let me know what you think.

Update: June 3, 2019, 6:01 p.m.

Back home now. Here are a few photos I snapped along the way. The tall, red cliffs are north of the town of Thoreau. The bizarre rock formations are along the highway as it passes through the Bisti badlands. A couple are just of the road to show the expansiveness of New Mexico. I had no earth-shattering ideas for the novel on my return.

Update: June 3, 2019, 2:29 p.m.

I traveled to Milan, NM, today on (non-writing) business. It’s about a 5-6 hour round trip from Aztec, so I am glad I brought along my voice recorder to take notes on the road for Shadows and Stars… I have already recorded a couple. I have concluded my business and have just finished lunch at El Ranchero Mexican restaurant in Milan and am about to head home. I had tacos 🌮 al pastor, which were good. I have eaten here before and it is a nice, quaint place with tasty food.

Update: June 2, 2019, 7:24 p.m.

I couldn’t come up with an idea at Angel Peak, so I changed locations. I had a taste for the minestrone at Olive Garden, so here I am. I went over the very short chapters before and after where I wanted to insert the new chapter, and decided that they worked better as one chapter and that I didn’t need the new chapter. Now on to another chapter.

Update: June 2, 2019, 5:35 p.m.

For those wondering about my preferred writing ✍🏻 habits, here they are in a nutshell: iced tea/coffee (today water in the cup), smoking good tobacco in my pipe, writing notes and ideas on the back of the manuscript I am editing, a reasonably quiet place (outdoors during good weather; indoors during bad), writing by hand with a pen, and taking photos or walking around or posting when stuck for an idea. The satchel contains manuscripts, pens, notes, phone-recharging stuff, and maybe a few other odds and ends for the day.

Update: June 2, 2019, 1:25 p.m.

Slept late today. Had a late breakfast/early lunch of thick pork steak cooked with onions and seasoned with Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, and lots of black pepper. Milk 🥛 to drink.

Listening to the Tangerine Dream channel on I❤️Radio. This really captures the spirit of emotions I would like to instill in my writing. Right now, the song playing is “Phaedra” by Tangerine Dream. I would like to weave this emotion/spiritual effect throughout Shadows and Stars Lying Down.

Heading over to Angel Peak now to smoke my pipe and write. Did this yesterday and it was very pleasant. Will post an update after I return. The photo shows my wife at Angel Peak a year or two ago.

Update: June 1, 2019, 12:11 pm

Sitting at home now, laundry finished (except putting away), toying with social media, and listening to the Enigma channel on I❤️Radio. I love this channel and have loved Enigma for years. Besides Enigma, they play a lot of Enigma-like groups and singers (e.g. Dido, Robert Miles, Lesiem, etc.). Their music captures a spirit I would like to capture in my writing, which I will starting soon for the day.

Update: May 30, 2019–Visit to Texas

Working on “Shadows and Stars Lying Down”. May 24 or 25, 2019, in IHOP, Midland, TX

I have been down in Texas over the last several days and returned on Monday. I didn’t get much writing done, though my wife took a few snapshots of me working my sci-fi novel at an IHOP in Midland about 11:00 pm.

I had named the book originally Jacob’s Ladder as a working title, then decided on Shadows and Stars, but have decided on Shadows and Stars Lying Down, as the protagonist’s name is Daryn Tsela Jacob. He is a Navajo, whose middle name means “stars lying down”.  I gave him the middle name Tsela out of coincidence, not recognizing the connection with the book’s title (I just wanted

Reading Kerouac’s “Desolation Angels”, Midland, TX, May 27, 2019

an obviously Navajo name), but which my wife recognized and thus suggested the expanded title. I liked it, because it gives the novel a mysterious connotation. I hope it will intrigue the public and make them pick up a copy to examine it.

My wife, Fran, picked up a few books from the local library book exchange, two of which I immediately latched onto and started reading:  Kerouac’s Desolation Angels and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.

Here’s photos of she and I having dinner.

Dinner, Ray’s Italian, Midland, TX, May 26, 2019. Appetizer: Escargot Provencale. Iced tea.
Fran, my wife. Dinner, Ray’s Italian, Midland, TX, May 26, 2019. Appetizer: Escargot Provencale. Iced tea.

“Diabolical: Three Tales of Jack Thurston and Revenge” is Available on Kindle and in Print

Please go to amazon.com/author/philslattery or Goodreads or any other social media to leave a review.

Jack Thurston is a retired professor of medieval literature and history. He is also a widower and father and a retired sorcerer who has returned to the black arts to exact revenge for the death of his wife, daughter, and brother. He has an intriguing position in the universe at a focal point of life, the afterlife, logic and reason, anger and hatred, the ancient and the modern worlds, grief and his attempts to escape grief through self-destruction. Though he wants to have the peace he once found with his wife, Agatha, he is pulled in many directions by circumstance and by his powerful negative emotions.

I am a fan of the old school horror practiced by such authors as H.P. Lovecraft, Poe, Edward Lucas White, and Arthur Machen.  I endeavor to make a story as terrifying and suspenseful for the reader as possible without resorting to gratuitous blood and gore for a simple shock or quick feeling of disgust.

This collection of three short tales is perfect for those who have only a few short breaks to escape into the hidden world of horror, black magic, sorcery, and anger-fueled revenge.

You can find this and other works at my Amazon author’s page:  www.amazon.com/author/philslattery.

Currently, Jack has a Twitter account (@jthurston666), where he has attracted a small following and where it has only recently been revealed that he is fictional. Jack has his own blog at jackthurstonblog.wordpress.com (a work in progress) and his own e-mail at jackthurston666@gmail.com.

Information on more social media accounts and other characters (as they are developed) can be found at: philslattery.wordpress.com. Please interact with him at any of his social media accounts as you would with a real person.

Show your appreciation for these stories by leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or other social media.

If you enjoy horror, check out my collection of horror short stories A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror: Stories of wizards, werewolves, serial killers, alien worlds, and the damned, which includes these stories.