This not what I would consider to be horror (though I perceive a hint of horror at the end), but I love its lean, muscular nature; the choice of words; and its rhythm. As I have mentioned before, before one can be a good writer of horror, one must first be a good writer.
Category: Uncategorized
THE LEDGE
Great nano-fiction at Drabble. This tale does a good job of bringing out the the critical elements of the story and ending with a horrifying moment in the protagonist’s mind.
By E.F. Olsson
My one job was to talk people out of bad situations. And I was good at it. I could get anyone off the ledge. Except for this guy. I didn’t care that day. There were better things to do than worry about some cry-baby who was dumped by his wife. He threatened to jump and I told him to hurry at it.
He eventually listened.
His head busted open – blood oozed into a pool beneath. I thought that’s what he wanted to hear.
I’m back there. On the ledge. I don’t care anymore. I want his screams to stop.
Publication Announcement: “Shapeshifter”
Through the Gaps has just published my story “Shapeshifter” about a werewolf sighting in France in 1601. For the first time I have three stories appearing simultaneously in one magazine: “Shapeshifter”, “Decision”, and “Sudan”. All are reprints of early works. Many thanks once again to the wonderful folks at Through the Gaps. Shown is a snippet from their current front page.
Bloody Good Writing Volume 2: Does Sex Sell?
Good article. It’s worth taking the time to read.
DOES SEX SELL?
Written by: Tom Leveen
Q: I am interested on your take of graphic violence or sexual content. Does it hurt or help in selling a story?
~ Matthew B.
A: So. Post two and already we’re diving into the good stuff.
Nice!
Here we go. (As always, your mileage may vary with my response; take what you like, leave the rest.)
To answer Matthew’s question right away, I’d have to say that for horror genre novels, it’s unlikely that graphic violence or sexual content will hurt a potential sale to an editor at a legacy publisher (Random House, etc.). Violence, of course, is pretty common in horror, so it would have to be something really, really, really too graphic to get passed over by an editor of horror fiction. I won’t even try to define “too graphic” because every editor and every imprint will have a…
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Bloody Good Writing Volume 1
Good article on a few of the basics. Check it out.
3 Things (Possibly) Wrong With Your First Page
By Tom Leveen
You only get one chance to make a first impression, right? Nowhere is that more accurate than the first page of your novel, whether you are submitting it to literary agents, traditional editors, or uploading it yourself across all e-platforms.
How does your first page stack up? Cross-reference it against this checklist and find out!
1. Shoulda started with chapter 2.
Just before submitting my first novel, Party, to editors, my agent made one last editorial suggestion: Move chapter 7 to chapter 1. Ridiculous! Absurd! I very nearly refused.
Then I gave it a shot, just to satisfy my own curiosity. And wouldn’t you know…it made the entire novel sing like never before. We sold it a couple weeks later to Random House. I am 100%…
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Michael McCarty ‘Modern Mythmakers: 35 Interviews with Horror & Science Fiction Writers and Filmmakers’ Review
This looks like a fascinating book. I’ll have to pick one up.
Written by: Chad Lutzke
“Love is the answer to everything.” Not exactly something you may expect to hear coming from Ray Bradbury, but Michael McCarty manages to dig in and bring out such sides to otherwise seemingly dark individuals. As the subtitle suggests, Modern Mythmakers picks at the brains of thirty-five different contributors to the horror and science fiction genres: Writers, actors, producers, and directors. Many of whom you will undoubtedly be very familiar with, and others, not so much. Nevertheless, I found a great interest—and even encouragement—in most of the interviews within.
The interviews with those I wasn’t familiar with made the reads no less entertaining; Joe McKinney, for example—a name I was unfamiliar with—a well-read police sergeant turned author, with quite a story to tell, had me literally laughing out loud at one point in the interview when answering McCarty’s question: “If you could be a monster, what…
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The Last Man on Earth (1964) Review
Good review. As I noted in my comments (q.v.), this is probably the movie adaptation closest to Richard Matheson’s novel.
Stephen King ‘On Writing’ Review
Here’s an excellent review of an excellent book that I enjoyed greatly. I recommend it to anyone with an interest of any type, not just horror, in the the art of writing.
Written by: Chad Lutzke
Before I read On Writing, I stumbled across a complaint that someone had with the book. They took issue with the fact that not every page was dedicated to lessons on writing but also included a lengthy autobiographical section. I take it the guy wasn’t actually a fan of Mr. King but instead a fan of the money King makes. But, the life stories King told were just getting in the way. I, for one, enjoy hearing factoids about people I’m interested in, and Stephen King happens to be one of those people.
The autobiographical section takes up approximately one third of the book. We get to see exactly what Mr. King went through to finally succeed at what he loves doing most and the lessons he learned along the way. In this section, he sympathizes with the beginning writer and shares his own failures…
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Clive Barker ‘The Hellbound Heart’ Review
Here’s a good review that I recommend to everyone with an interest in the Hellraiser series.
Written by: Matthew J. Barbour
Hellraiser is often listed among the greatest horror films ever made. Its cautionary tale of desire and despair is spine chilling. Through the film, we learn of the Cenobites, sadomasochistic beings, who enter our world through a mystic box. They do not differentiate between pain and pleasure. To summon these monsters is to become their prisoners.
This is what happens to Frank Cotton. In his search for heaven, he finds the Cenobites and a fate worse than death. Frank reaches out, from his prison, to his adulterous sister-in-law, Julia. Julia can aid Frank in escaping his jailers, but it will require blood. This is no easy feat and they mustn’t draw the attention of Frank’s captors.
While most horror fans have watched Hellraiser, fewer have read the novella on which the movie was based. The Hellbound Heart was first published in Night Visions 3, edited…
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The Top 10 Horror Novels of 2014
For those of you who would like an introduction to the state of the art in horror, here’s a good place to start.
Written by: Matt Molgaard
What novels scored big with readers this year? Truth is, that’s a tough question to answer, as we all seem to be looking for something a little different. However, we can definitely let you in on the books that really won us over. The following are the 10 best novels released in 2014, as voted on by myself and a number of our contributors!
10 Sergey Kuznetsov – Butterfly Skin
Verdict: Butterfly Skin reads, at times, like a vintage giallo picture… mixed with a little Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest. It’s wonderfully written and about as addictive as I imagine crack being. A stunning story that delivers tons of chills, the novel is about as disturbing as they come. Reviews of the novel seem to be a bit mixed, but lovers of the extreme are going to dig this one quite a bit.
09 Benedict…
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50 Great Sourced Author Quotes
What follows are the best sourced quotes (or, if you will, quotations) from writers down the ages, 50 of the most awesome, moving, and inspiring things that writers have ever said in literature. At least, that’s what we here at Interesting Literature reckon – we hope you agree.
Remember that quote from Abraham Lincoln, ‘The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is hard to verify their authenticity.’ That joke is a reminder that we should be on our guard about internet quotes – so, although we haven’t cited chapter and page numbers, we have given the title of the text in which each quote can be found. (If you know better and think we’ve still misattributed any of the following, do get in touch.)
If you enjoy these quotes, you might also like our 10 great quotes from Oscar Wilde and our 10 great quotes about poetry.
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10 Classic Horror Movie Posters from Thailand
Fascinating and fun stuff from rare-horror.com
The Quick 10: 10 Unexpected Horror Writers
The Quick 10: 10 Unexpected Horror Writers. Here is an interesting article I ran across at Mentalfloss.com. I would never have suspected most of these of ever having even an interest in horror. Stacey Conradt wrote the article in 2009.
“Fishhead” by Irvin S. Cobb
Irvin S. Cobb (1876-1944)
© 1985 Necronomicon Press
cover art by Robert H. Knox
Yesterday I read “Fish Head” by Irvin S. Cobb in The World’s Greatest Horror Stories, edited by Stephen Jones and Dave Carson. Though the cover above is from a 1985 chapbook, the story was originally published in 1913 in The Cavalier and was one of Lovecraft’s favorites. The link above will take you to the Gaslight text.
I highly recommend reading the story. Although there is little action and what little there is is contained in the last two pages, the story is very effective at setting up a suspenseful mood just in telling the telling the story of Reelfoot Lake and its mysterious inhabitant called “Fish Head” because of his resemblance to a catfish.
I suspect that Cobb, who was a native of Paducah, Kentucky situated near Reelfoot Lake, probably drew upon actual visits to Reelfoot to describe the atmosphere and environment in such realistic detail that, to me, almost seems to reverberate with a sense that one is experiencing the lake as vicariously as one can.
“Fish Head” is an interesting study in the use of language creating atmosphere, mystery, and suspense by the use of description alone. Please read it at your first opportunity. You won’t regret it.
Thoughts? Comments?
Edward Lucas White
1866-1934
If you have never heard of Edward Lucas White (as I had not until recently), do yourself a favor and look up his short story “Lukundoo” (1925). This is probably one of the best and most terrifying horror stories I have ever read and it is the story for which White is best known. Probably his next best known story is “The House of Nightmare” (1906), though it is not nearly as good as ‘Luknudoo” and by today’s standards of horror would be considered more of a quaint tale told by children around a campfire than true horror. Nonetheless, Lovecraft considered White to be one of the masters of “weird fiction” and mentions him in his treatise “Supernatural Horror in Literature.”
One interesting aspect of White is that he based at least some of his stories on his nightmares, which is not uncommon among horror authors, but after reading “Lukundoo” I had to ask myself, “what was going on in this guy’s psyche?”
Do you base any of your works on dreams or nightmares? Write in and let us know.
Phil Slattery, Writer, Publisher 