The Coming Evil Official Blog

"Underground Rising": My Thoughts

2012-01-27T06:00:00.002-06:00

February 7th is looming ever closer and, with it, a time of horrors (of the good kind, though) thanks to the newest installment in The Coming Evil Trilogy. But, today, I want to take this opportunity before the marketing blitz surrounding Enemies of the Cross takes hold, and talk about the Biblical Cyberpunk anthology I was recently involved in: Underground Rising, set in the world of Frank Creed’s Underground series.

The book came out back in November, but I wanted to give it some time before I posted the following.

I’m not going to call this a review, because I’m really not going to tell you what the stories are about, though they are all top-shelf stuff, people. If you’re not at least familiar with Frank Creed’s futuristic series, be prepared to be a little dumped-in-the-middle-of-things, but I think you’ll figure out your way as the stories progress.

What I am going to do is share with you my experience in reading this anthology for the first time. I submitted my story “Ex-Communicator” years ago for this project. I had no idea who else Frank had contacted about working in the anthology, I never read their stories, never even heard what they were about. In preparation for the mega-interview I conducted back in November, I asked Frank for an e-copy of the finished product, so I at least could review and see who my co-contributors were. I was initially surprised to see that some of the men and women I call friends in the Christian Fiction community were listed, so I knew that I was in good company. When I sat down to actually read the book…I had an experience.

Seeing my story featured first was an instant thrill, sure. I hadn’t read it since I submitted it and it read so good I was convinced someone else had wrote it :p It’s one of the finest things I’ve written, I believe. But then I turned the page and read the next story. Then the next. And something started turning in my mind. A thought, pulling itself together. I didn’t know what it was, so I went ahead and read the next story. That same thought, getting clearer, beginning to excite me. Read the next. My heart was pounding, that thought poking at my mind. I felt moved. Elated. I had to stand up and walk around for a bit, all of this feeling coming out of me. I read the next story and it suddenly dawned on me what I was seeing.

As I said, I knew some of these authors. I’d heard of most of the others. I knew, firsthand, that while we’re all Christians, we come from different denominations, different educations, different family lives, different political leanings, different countries. I’ve seen us leave comments on discussions about Christian Fiction and the nature of writing about our faith. We disagree. Sometimes we argue. But here, in this one little anthology, that’s all gone. There is a unity in this book that I can only begin to articulate. Here, in this book, we’ve rallied behind our leader into this tech-noir world of Sandmen and Neros—Frank Creed—and we’re telling stories about the church under persecution. About faith tested by fire. Some of the stories are slam-bang action, some are thoughtful accounts of simple believers trying to live under a government that would kill them for their beliefs. Each writer has brought his or her own voice, his or her own journey to this project—but we’re all telling the same universal story.

I was blown away when I realized this. You may not think it’s that big of a deal, but I’ve really struggled with Christian Fiction in the past. Not the "genre", itself, but all the division among those who write it. There are so many internet-based arguments on how to get “the message” out—or if we should even try to get one out at all. We argue over who’s right and who’s doing this or that better. It’s tiring. It’s discouraging.

But not in Underground Rising. This is the Body of Christ, working in unison. All unique, but unified to share stories of surviving when the world is against you. It reads like a family getting together for dinner, after many years apart. Everyone’s equal at the table, telling stories, sharing their troubles and their triumphs. Everyone gets a turn to speak, and, once they’re finished, we all sit and nod with meaningful tears in our eyes because we understand exactly what they mean because we’ve lived it too, we just didn’t know it.

This is a story about survivors, about soldiers, about heroes. They’re covered in mud, hiding in shadows, scraping for every meal, and hated by the world. Like the heroes of the Bible, these characters struggle with their doubts, bicker with one another, but ultimately love and forgive and turn heavenward for hope.

I’m sorry, but I think that, if you’re not a Christian, you’re just not going to be able to fully appreciate what this book represents. “For those who have ears, let them hear”. However, even if you’re not a Christian, I’d plead with you to read this. I believe this is us at our best. This is "Christian" Fiction at its best. It’s not about preaching, it’s about living. It’s about sharing our stories.

I can’t give Underground Rising a review, because it wasn’t a book to me. It was an experience that I lived through. I’m proud to stand in this anthology with my fellow authors—my brothers and sisters in Christ. They’ve encouraged me and given me a little more fire in my furnace to keep on keeping on in my own writing journey. For that, I thank all of you, guys, and I thank “the Boss”. I think He had something to do with this all along.

I encourage everyone to head over and check it out. Enjoy your weekend!

Everything You Need to Know About "The Coming Evil"!

2012-01-20T06:00:00.017-06:00

In just a few short weeks, on February 7th, the second book in The Coming Evil Trilogy--Enemies of the Cross--will be invading bookstores across the nation. Can you believe it? For some of you, you've waited a whole year for this book. For those of you who bought the original self-published version of The Strange Man, you've been waiting since 2007! For me, I've been waiting since 1999!! I'm extremely excited that the trilogy is finally moving along, at long last.

To better equip you for February 7th, I've prepared a helpful guide to give you a crash course in the world of The Coming Evil. Whether you've read The Strange Man and need a refresher, or whether you've never heard of this story and you're ready to jump into Enemies of the Cross blind, here's everything you need to know about Book One to get ready for Book Two.

Obviously, this thing is full of spoilers, so if you've yet to read The Strange Man, you still have plenty of time to order your copy and get it read before Enemies of the Cross is unveiled. The book is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, CBD, and for you e-readers, it's also on the Nook and Kindle!

Ah, enough plugging. On with the guide:

In The Strange Man, we are introduced to the small country town of Greensboro, a once-thriving community that served as the last stop on the way to the City, but has now fallen on hard times since the highway was moved. Shops have closed up, jobs have been lost, and families are struggling. At a time when the collective mood of Greensboro is one of apathy and bitterness, it is the perfect striking point for the demon known only as "the Strange Man".

For over a hundred years, the people of Greensboro have told stories of a cadre of monsters lurking in the North Woods. But now those stories take on a whole new meaning as the Strange Man and his horde of flesh-eating gremlins descend upon the brittle town during the night of the terrible storm. The Strange Man was banished to the North Woods long ago by the faith of the town's forefathers and, now that that faith has diminished, he is ready to exact his revenge from the shadows.

His first victim is Eldon Granger, a homeless man living in the North Woods, who tells half-true ghost stories to the local children. Next is Lindsey McCormick, a pretty young woman whose car is found at the bottom of Greensboro Park Lake. Her body is never recovered. The demon also visits the bedroom window of five-year-old Millie Walker, though no one will believe her chilling tale.

As the rain pours, the Strange Man encounters The Rave Scene, a hangout for young twenty-somethings looking to escape their dreary small town life. It is here that the demon fixates on Rosalyn Myers--an outsider in Greensboro, haunted by the memory of her father who committed suicide years ago. The bogeyman is attracted to Rosalyn and seeks to corrupt her. However, there is someone standing in his way: Dras Weldon.

Dras is a foolish young man who's refused to grow up. His is a life of monster movies and comic books. He lives life only for himself, drinking away his nights and sleeping away his days--much to the disapproval of his older brother, Reverend Jeff Weldon. Jeff and his wife Isabella have tried to get Dras to commit to the faith he once claimed as a child and return to the Good Church of the Faithful, where Jack Weldon--the boys' dying father--served as pastor for years. Dras is content to live in eternal adolescence, but is forced to face reality when the Strange Man approaches him. What Dras doesn't know is that he is marked by God and the Strange Man cannot destroy him. Instead, the demon hopes to remove the boy from Rosalyn's life by threatening him. Terrified by a head-on confrontation with a creature he believed was only a story, Dras briefly considers the Strange Man's offer to leave town and save his life.

But, with Rosalyn's soul hanging in the balance, Dras rises to the challenge of standing up to the monster who would harm his best friend.

Sobering up, he puts aside his immaturity and attempts to share his faith with Rosalyn, an effort that is an utter failure thanks to Dras' lifelong hypocrisy. Time is running out as night falls, and Dras tries to convince his brother to help him in his battle. But after a lifetime of being disappointed by Dras' actions and attitudes, Jeff refuses aid. Hurt by the dismissal, Dras strikes out on his own, facing down the Strange Man's demonic brood of gremlins. The monsters chase after Dras, tearing through Main Street, but by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Scriptures, Dras manages to survive in time to reach Rosalyn's side at The Rave Scene, where she's gone to blow off some steam.

However, in retaliation for Dras' defiance, the Strange Man orchestrates a plot to frame Dras for the mysterious disappearance of Lindsey McCormick and the murders of Deputy Dane Adams and little Millie's older brother TJ Walker--all victims of the demon's cruelty. The bogeyman petrifies Millie into corroborating his story to Sheriff Hank Berkley, a tired man who's just barely keeping the town together in the midst of this bizarre onslaught. While the town comes alive with talk of "gremlins", Hank struggles to make sense of it all. Dras pleads with him via radio that the bogeyman from the old stories is real and has returned, but refuses to turn himself in for the crimes he knows he didn't commit.

Dras confronts Rosalyn one last time in The Rave Scene, pleading with her to listen to him--to turn herself over to God in order to be saved from the monster's plans. Before Dras is able to finish, however, Deputy Ryan Stevenson and a band of angry lawmen arrive to arrest Dras for the murders they believe he's committed. Dras decides that he can't run forever. The Strange Man has him trapped, but Dras believes God can bring some good out of it. Praying that he's told Rosalyn enough that she can carry on the battle without him, Dras surrenders himself to the police--who viciously beat him. Even when Jeff, having come to his senses and deciding to help his brother, arrives with his wife Isabella, they can do little more but watch helplessly as Dras is beaten. Sheriff Berkley arrives and breaks up the carnage, and, as Dras' friends gather around his broken and still body, the Strange Man calls out to Rosalyn's spirit, tempting her to join him in the darkness.

But Rosalyn's eyes are only on Dras.

Defeated for now, the demon retreats to the North Woods and the lake where he murdered Lindsey McCormick. Her death has served as a catalyst, polluting the waters of Greensboro Park Lake and turning them thick and black. The Strange Man is angered by his personal setback, but knows that the real battle for the soul of Greensboro has only just begun...

To be continued in Enemies of the Cross, in stores February 7th!

The Dusty Duck Flies Again!

2012-01-07T17:00:00.001-06:00

Now this is a great way to start off the new year.

In stores now (finally) is Ryder Windham's latest Star Wars book--The Wrath of Darth Maul! Maul has long been one of my favorite characters in the series and this book takes you through his life: from the very beginning, through the events of The Phantom Menace where he met his supposed end, and beyond! With Darth Maul making a dramatic and most unexpected return to Star Wars later this year in The Clone Wars, this is a must-read for young fans of the cartoon who want to get the skinny on who this red-skinned devil is.

As excited as I am to see Darth Maul's story told in full, the reason behind this exuberant blog post resides on Page 174. You see, it is on this page that my very own contribution to the Star Wars saga--the Dusty Duck--gets a mention!! Why? Darth Maul plays an integral role in my Dusty Duck story, which you can read by accessing the Wayback Machine and clicking here.

Seeing "my creation" get a mention in a major Star Wars release is really fulfilling. Like any kid from the '80s, I grew up with Star Wars. When I was in high school, I first discovered the Expanded Universe (or EU for short).

It was two things that did it: I glimpsed a hardcover edition of the much-maligned The Crystal Star on the new releases display at Hastings, and then I found the first issue of Dark Horse Comics' Crimson Empire. Crystal Star enlightened me that the adventures of Luke, Leia, and Han extended past the movies (and they had kids!). Crimson Empire showed me that there was a whole galaxy of potential stories--that every minor background character could be the star of his, her, or its own epic space opera. I was spellbound--even more so when I discovered that all of these books, games, comics, cartoons, etc worked together into a single (mostly) cohesive continuity.

Ever since that moment, I was fascinated by this rich lore written over these decades by many talented storytellers. And, perhaps, most importantly--I wanted to write my own story.

Many years later, in 2006, I got that chance, thanks to a limited running contest on the official site. The feature was called "What's the Story?" and gave fanboy writers like me the opportunity to take a minor background character, ship, or creature and develop a backstory that, if selected, would be officially adopted into Star Wars canon forevermore. I worked hard, wanting desperately to leave some small mark on this series that had captivated me. I know it sounds silly, but it was a rigorous time and taught me a lot about perseverance and rejection in the writing biz.

At last, after several rounds and multiple tries, the heavens parted and I won an entry of my very own: The Dusty Duck. My tale of a doomed spacecraft and the star-crossed lovers who flew it was an entry I, initially, hadn't thought long and hard about. It was just one of many submissions, but, looking at it again, I realized how proud I was of the concept. My excitement was renewed when, a couple years later, it received a place in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia. After that, I feared my little ship that could would settle in the dusts of obscurity, never to be mentioned again.

But today, that's changed thanks to author Ryder Windham and The Wrath of Darth Maul. Folks, the Duck is in there. Yes, it's only a passing mention--not enough to warrant such a long and gushing blog post, but it's there. My contribution to the Star Wars saga lives on in other writers and there are few things, creatively speaking, that are cooler than that.

I am forever grateful to you, Mr. Windham, for resurrecting my baby :) My hope is that it'll help inspire some other kid to take notice that the stories of Star Wars extend further and deeper than what they've seen in the movies. Maybe one day, they'll make their own contribution to that galaxy far, far away.

Finally here's the deleted scene that started it all, featuring the Dusty Duck....

Trailer Debut for "Enemies of the Cross"!

2011-12-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

And a Merry Christmas to you.

I had hoped to put together another exclusive The Coming Evil short story for your holiday entertainment, but alas, I've been super busy with a number of writing projects. However, my excitement for the upcoming Enemies of the Cross cannot be contained, so we've got a complete web redesign to reflect the February release. I had planned on changing things over to this Enemies theme after the start of the New Year, but I couldn't hold out any longer!

But wait--there's more!

I also got special permission from Realms to premiere the feature trailer for Enemies of the Cross a few weeks early. You all are the first to see it! Watch it below and behold me and my acting prowess. Why am I in this trailer, you ask? Well, I played a bit part as the character of "Jeff" in the trailer for The Strange Man, having nearly forgotten that Jeff is the central character in Enemies. So, for the sake of visual consistency, I drafted myself into the role once more. I shall attempt to overcome my embarrassment and show you the trailer anyway.

Pre-order your copy of Enemies of the Cross today and look for it on shelves nationwide February 7, 2012!

Enjoy the trailer and have a great holiday!

New Book Announcement--"Rift Jump"!

2011-12-12T06:00:00.001-06:00

I received a bit of an early Christmas present a couple days ago. I have signed with Grace Bridges and Splashdown Books to see my new novel Rift Jump published in 2012! Rift Jump will be part of Splashdown's Darkwater imprint, where they send all the dark, twisted things (and authors).

I've known Grace for awhile and have wanted to work with her on something. I admire her dedication, her friendliness, and her desire to put out quality work that really puts Christian Speculative Fiction on the map. She's doing great things at Splashdown, and I'm excited to be a part of it.

Splashdown is also a smaller publisher, a departure from what I'm used to with my The Coming Evil series. The reason for the switch is that, well, Rift Jump is weird. It's not easily categorized or marketed and refuses to stay in a box. It's simply just not mainstream in any way, so rather than watch it languish on a shelf trying to find its "genre", we're going to be treating this a little more "grassroots"--getting it straight to the people who want it.

So, what is Rift Jump and why should you want it?

Rift Jump is a sci-fi multi-dimensional love story with monsters, loads of action, teen romance, and a dash of metaphysical philosophizing to boot. It's a single novel split into five episodes or "parts". We meet 12-year-old Michael Morrison, an orphan living on the streets, surviving in a life of crime with his brothers. He dies in a hail of bullets and then his journey begins as he discovers the multiverse and will learn of a hungry evil that lurks in the dark space In Between the worlds that is seeking to sow Chaos. Michael is chosen by the Light--represented as a mysterious man in a duster and Stetson--to combat this evil. What Michael will discover, however, is that the Dark wants to use him as an instrument of evil. Michael feels the Dark's call on his life and worries he'll never be able to escape, no matter how long he serves the Light. His burdens are shared by Sara Theresea, a timid girl who thinks little of herself. In Michael she finds boldness--in Sara he finds the key to his redemption. Together the two fall almost instantly in love, desperate to cling to something in their lives. While they're convinced that their love is everlasting--as most 17-year-olds are--the reality of their life as "rift jumpers" and the ever increasing threat of the Dark claiming Michael's soul once and for all, will put their love to the ultimate test.

I first had the idea for Rift Jump in high school and turned in a much rougher version for a Creative Writing assignment. I remember it as the first "real" story that I was ever passionate about. While it's a story about teenagers--and all their angst-ridden love affairs--this is not a YA book.

Over the years, I wrote many Rift Jump stories--never with the intention of actually sharing them with anyone. They were a sort of training ground where I experimented with style and tried to get a feel for this whole "writing thing". In fact, here's a photo I took of all my old Rift Jump stories (with covers done up by me :p).

The stories were mostly cheesy and awkward, really, but after many years, as I grew into my own as a writer, I started to realize that there was actually a really neat idea piled underneath all those layers of amateurish scribbling. After The Strange Man was published, I decided to dust off those old Rift Jump stories and started to rewrite them extensively. I'm very pleased with the results, but still feeling a little vertigo about it all. It's very odd to me that I'm actually talking about Rift Jump in public and that people will actually be reading it :p

There's a more personal story behind Rift Jump's creation, which I'll share at another time. For now, I just wanted to introduce you all to the story that's been lurking in my desk drawer since I was 15 years old.

Look for Rift Jump in Summer 2012 from Darkwater!

Interview with Dras Weldon: Star of "The Strange Man"

2011-11-18T12:00:00.007-06:00

It's not every day that a fictional character gets asked to sit down and talk about their book, but that's exactly what happened when Dras Weldon--unlikely hero of my fright tale The Strange Man--was invited over to POV Boot Camp for an exclusive interview. You've read his exploits, now hear the story straight from the man-child himself!

Special thanks to Andrea Graham for the opportunity to indulge my split personality(ies).

Follow the link to read this eye-opening expose!

"Amazing Love"--That's a Wrap!

2011-11-06T07:18:00.001-06:00

Hey, everybody, just a little update:

Amazing Love: The Story of Hosea, the movie I wrote with Rich & Dave Christiano, finished filming the flashback portions in Israel last week! And, before you ask, no, I didn't get to go to Israel. In fact, I haven't seen any of the footage yet, so I'm just as eager to watch it as everyone else is :)

Here's a shot from the film, directed by Kevin Downes (and ripped off his facebook wall :p). If you're familiar with the Biblical story of Hosea, perhaps you can guess the significance of the image below! I'll update as we get closer to premiering the movie (though it should be towards the beginning of next year).

Enjoy!

"Underground Rising" Multi-Author Chat!

2011-11-01T06:00:00.022-05:00

Halloween is over for another year :( Allow me a moment to lament its passing...

Now, on to new things! As previously announced here, I had the opportunity to contribute a short story to Underground Rising: Tales from the Underground, the new anthology set in the world of Frank Creed's Underground series. November kicks off our promotional blog tour, so today I bring to you a transcript of a chat roundtable discussion I recently hosted with Frank, himself, and a few of my fellow contributors to this groundbreaking anthology. Enjoy!

* * *

Greg Mitchell: First off, let’s just go around the room and introduce ourselves.

Frank Creed: I’m Frank Creed. I wrote and co-wrote several contributions to Underground Rising: Tales from the Underground.

Steve Rice: I’m Steve Rice, proudly pseudonym-free for ages. I also wrote “Bear Feat” for the anthology.

Timothy Hicks: I’m Tim Hicks from western Kentucky. I co-wrote “The Sandman Cometh”, a prequel story from the Flashpoint timeline.

Greg: And Grace Bridges! Representing our ladies tonight.

Grace Bridges: Hello from New Zealand where it is currently tomorrow afternoon! “Underground Undersea” is my contribution.

Greg: And I’m, of course, Greg Mitchell, author of “Ex-Communicator”, the first story up in the anthology. Frank, how did the idea for the anthology come about? Correct me if I’m wrong, but is this the first Christian Fiction anthology where other authors have come in and added stories to an author’s pre-existing series?

Frank: It’s the first of which I know, but surely it’s been done before. The idea came from the Underground’s origin, back in a cyberpunk series called Shadowrun.

Greg: Yes, Shadowrun! Many a fond memory.

Frank: Many authors wrote that series of books and I wanted to see what it would be like for other Christian artists to share in the Underground setting. The Underground is like Shadowrun but without magic or fantasy races.

Greg: Street samurais and deckers all around! Was it hard assembling so many different authors with their own voices under the Underground umbrella?

Frank: Not really, the contributions really stood on their own merits. Nothing felt forced from the creative standpoint.

Greg: What’s it like to see the finished product? I know, just on my end, I felt an enormous sense of pride from the end results. ...Good Godly pride, naturally :p

Frank: It’s the end of years’ worth of effort, so there’s a sense of relief! But from a qualitative perspective, these really are some great stories that I’m sure will entertain readers of Christian cyberpunk.

Greg: Here’s a question for everyone: Do you think it’s possible to jump into this anthology with little to no background knowledge of the Underground novels?

Steve: Not if you use established characters.

Grace: As a reader? Sure. As a writer, nope. Either way, it’s very immersive.

Steve: The major problem is the voice. It’s very distinctive, like noir.

Tim: Not too easy. Knowing the storyline helped work out how the story tied back to the books.

Frank: I think it is possible. There’re plenty of examples of showing the technology with a brief explanation of what it is.

Grace: I return to the Underground when I need my imagination provoked for whatever. Some of you know that Flashpoint caused me to write a novel.

[Frank adds a smile here]

Greg: Wow, I didn’t know that Grace. What’s the story behind that?

Grace: The night I read Flashpoint, it fired up my imagination so bad. I had this dream... Cyberpunky, but that was all it had in common. I had to write it down. It became Legendary Space Pilgrims.

Greg: Frank, you corrupted...er, inspired young minds! That’s got to make you feel good, sir.

Frank: It really does. There have been many events that have come from writing Flashpoint, and inspiring Grace was one of those.

Grace: Actually [my novel] Faith Awakened came out at the same time as Flashpoint, almost to the day.

Greg: Okay, so now we know Grace was familiar with Flashpoint going in--I have to admit, Frank had to give me a crash course before I wrote my story (though now I’ve read both books and am all caught up :)). How familiar were the rest of you with this series before coming on board?

Tim: I enjoyed Flashpoint and wondered about how the world got into that predicament. I asked Frank about a nickname after Flashpoint and why it wasn’t recognized by the One World Order. Frank told me that was answered in his next book. Both books made me think, “What if?” Grace’s Faith Awakened and Flashpoint. That’s where my story idea came from. I wondered about the history before the story. Kind of like Paul Harvey’s, “The Rest of The Story.”

Grace: You’ve read Faith? Oooh :)

Tim: Yes, I read an ebook version. It was a pretty neat idea.

Steve: I had read Flashpoint (and Faith Awakened, for that matter), as well as writing a few virtual reality stories (“The Story Machine” and “Virtual Messiah”). And I had discussed things with Frank. He still hasn’t gone to the cops, so that’s a good sign.

Greg: Steve, your story “Bear Feat” actually stars Calamity Kid and e-girl, the heroes from the main books--was that awkward coming into those characters that were already pretty well-defined in their voices?

Steve: Not really. I’m a mimic anyway. The fact they were well-defined simplified matters. It was integrating them with my type of story and character that was tricky.

Greg: Well I thought you did great. Two continuity questions that are bugging me. Frank, how many sisters does Tinker have?

Frank: For now, Tinker only has two sisters. We'll have to leave that one open to creativity, though!

Greg: And, Grace, when does your story take place on the Underground timeline? You’ve got Calamity Kid and Legacy, right? (For those who don’t know, Legacy is captured somewhere in Book One...)

Grace: Yes. This actually occurs way down the track in what could be Book 4.

Greg: Wow!

Grace: So it’s after a bunch of drastic stuff has gone on. I have another story set then, too.

Greg: Not in the anthology, though.

Grace: No.

Greg: Ah, you tease us then.

Grace: All in good time, eh, Frank? :P

Frank: Indeed! I’m still writing Devil’s Hit List: Book Three of the Underground. Book Four will be co-written by Grace.

Greg: Whoa, big announcement!

Grace: Old news? It’s been settled for 3 years that I know of ;)

Tim: Cool! :D When can we pre-order?

Greg: More importantly, is Big Hoss Dupree [from “Ex-Communicator”] in it... oh wait, that’s not very important at all :)

Frank: You heard it here first! Pre-orders in a couple years. I write slowly. : )

Grace: So do I, and I got some other stuff on the fire at the moment.

Tim: Quality takes longer than quantity :)

Frank: Everyone will like Hoss, by the way, Greg.

Greg: I hope so! Tim, we talked about your story “The Sandman Cometh” being a prequel to the main series--was that tough to talk Frank into?

Tim: I hoped Frank would take a chance on my story. I wondered how the equipment in Flashpoint came about. What about the Sandmen before they had all the spiffy gadgets?

Greg: I’m glad he did. It was a neat peak into the past. Frank, in the “About the Author” in the back of Book Two: War of Attrition, it talks about “The Last Newspaper”. Now that’s the same story in the anthology correct? You wrote that thing back in 1983? How long have you had all of this in your head, man?!

Frank: The original version of “The Last Newspaper” was written back in about 1982, but that story was lost through time--I no longer have a copy of it. The version of “The Last Newspaper” that appears in Underground Rising was rewritten last year to fit into the Underground setting. It was not originally an Underground story. This stuff has only been in my head for about twenty years. : )

Greg: Oh, is that all? Well, I guess it’s a start :) I have to say, I read through the anthology for the first time the other day and was really impressed with it. Even though there are all of these different authors, working in their own little corners of the globe, the stories fit together quite naturally to tell a story of the Church in persecution. It was actually really inspiring, I thought.

Frank: I’m so pleased with the end result. I guess you could say “proud”.

Greg: I’ll hit Grace with this one first, since she’s our resident small press (she’s the woman behind Splashdown Books)--Do you see Christian Fiction making a turn, getting away from the predictable and exploring more fertile imaginative ground?

Grace: I certainly hope so! I have a number of very interesting submissions in my pile right now. Especially of a sort that mashes up the genres. I love that stuff!

Greg: Steve, do you think something like the “Biblical Cyberpunk” genre will be able to spill over into the “mainstream” Christian Fiction market, or do you think it, in a sense, belongs underground? The wild untamed, and all of that?

Steve: Spills are always possible. All these clumsy people, you know. I suspect that the mainstream will only do unusual and genre-bending work to copy the secular media. So the “underground” will likely remain so unless/until there’s a breakout story that becomes a major movie.

Greg: And perhaps that’s a larger problem that many within the “Christian Fiction” market see—a tendency to follow the trends, rather than set them. But I think Underground Rising is trendsetting stuff, no doubt, and I hope people catch on to it. I see a lot of naysayers of mainstream Christian fiction--and I wonder, if the anthology did go “mainstream” in popularity, would that somehow take away from its coolness factor in the eyes of the naysayers? You know there’s always that garage band that gets a Billboard Top 100 hit and everyone accuses them of “selling out” :p

Frank: I do hope the Underground gets the chance to “sell out”! It would mean a great deal to me if our work reached that kind of exposure.

Greg: Grace, what are your thoughts? Do some things belong on the fringe--not for lack of quality, mind you, but just because some people won’t touch “mainstream”, no matter how pure-grade awesome it is?

Grace: I don’t subscribe to that at all. Yes, some things are weird, but weird is becoming ever more mainstream. The weirder the better, even. And those who won’t touch it for whatever reason--they’re missing out.

Greg: I agree. I think that anyone--whether they “get” cyberpunk or not--can be really encouraged by this book. A) It’s refreshing to see the level of talent and B) it’s talking about things people can relate to—the loss of freedom and how we fight to hold on—it just happens to be set in the future.

Tim: The Underground world makes the point that everything matters to The Boss (as God is known in the Underground books), and He is in control. That’s why I liked the series. It made me think.

Greg: Frank, fans get a special treat at the end of the anthology--You’ve got a sneak peak at Book 3! What’s in store for the next installment, Devil’s Hit List?

Frank: In War of Attrition: Book Two of the Underground, the heroes lose their HQ because the Ash Megacorp is turning it into a Rehab Ward, to produce something called “Virtual-e”, which is a virtual plague. In Devil’s Hit List, the saints battle production of virtual-e.

Greg: And how far are you into the writing process on that one, O Slow Writer?

Frank: It’s about halfway done. I hope to have a release date around August 2012.

Greg: So, what’s next for everyone? What projects are you guys working on?

Steve: I’m working on a few projects, but I’ve become increasingly skeptical of “Christian” fiction. It’s usually no such thing. That’s why I largely stopped doing reviews. But I’ll probably publish online now and then. Evolutionists excuse the lack of transitional forms by “punctuated equilibrium,” which posits occasional change at the margins of genetic society. I think that’s how Christian writing will have to work for the foreseeable future.

Grace: I’m barreling towards the end of Godspeed, the sequel to Faith Awakened. It stands at 47,000 words out of a projected 60k, and I’m deep into the tangle of virtual reality once again. All going well, it should be out late next year. I’m also very excited about the Avenir Eclectia project, where Frank and Greg are participants. There will be an anthology for that next year, too.

Frank: Good news.

Greg: Tim, what are you cooking up?

Tim: Thanks, I’m working on a supernatural story about a medieval piece of stained glass that shows a person’s true spirit. Forces don’t want things known. But the killer needs to be found.

Frank: How about you, Greg?

Greg: Lots of different stuff, but most immediately, the second book in my The Coming Evil Trilogy comes out in February. It’s entitled Enemies of the Cross and is chock full of drooling monsters. Frank, what say you? Might there be an Underground Rising 2 in the future?

Frank: Perhaps. It depends on how Underground Rising sells. If there’s a demand, there must be a sequel!

[To this, Tim gives a thumbs-up]

Greg: So, I open this up to you guys, here at the last. Anything you want to ask each other?

Frank: Greg, do you have any other Dupree stories in mind?

Greg: Ha ha, not at present. But give me about fifteen minutes and I bet I could come up with something ;) That was a pretty easy character to write! He wrote himself, practically.

Tim: What about a cross-over story between story worlds? Underground meets Faith Awakened?

Frank: Grace’s time setting is ahead of mine.

Grace: Mine is in 2079.

Frank: We would need a Tardis, no?

Grace: Well, in fact I have a very enhanced character in Godspeed... Frank, we should talk.

Frank: Oh, Grace is already on this!

Greg: Closing thoughts?

Frank: Underground Rising has taken at least three years to compile--I want to thank everyone for their patience as this has come together.

Greg: Thanks for the opportunity!

Tim: Yes, thanks Frank. It was nice meeting everyone here tonight.

Grace: Yup. Awesome!!

Steve: It was good to be around Frank and Grace again, and to meet the rest.

Greg: Thanks for participating everybody.

Frank: Cool--thanks for moderating this thing!

Greg: Well, folks, that’s all we got. We hope you were entertained, enlightened, and inspired to go out and buy this book! Go! Go now! Quick!

Thanks to everyone who hung out in the chat and thank you all for reading :) Check out the trailer for the anthology below that Tim put together!

Halloween Exclusive: "Enemies of the Cross" Excerpt!

2011-10-29T06:00:00.000-05:00

I love Halloween. It's pretty much the only time of year when the entire country is watching my favorite movies, listening to my favorite songs, and telling my favorite stories. As a special treat for you trick-r-treaters this season, I've cooked up this exclusive excerpt from my upcoming novel Enemies of the Cross.

Read it and be sure to pre-order your copy. February is just around the corner.

***

Danny Carpenter needed to get away.

Little more than twenty-one-years-old, with scruffy features, dirty brown hair that hung in his eyes, and a thin, compact body camouflaged in several layers of mismatched and loose fitting clothing, Danny was a product of the streets, his once-handsome face marred by a hard and misspent life on the East Side.

After dropping out of high school and having a big blow out with Nana Loraine, the grandmother who raised him since he was about six, he left home to make it on his own. Sleeping beneath bridges and on friends’ couches, he earned a living causing trouble and selling dime bags on street corners. All in all, Danny was just another cog in the gritty machine of dilapidated downtown Greensboro.

But right now, Greensboro was the last place Danny wanted to be.

He needed to blow off some steam and figure out what he was going to do. He thought to leave town for good this time, maybe even make his way in the City. Nobody would look for him. He could just disappear and get a new life far, far away from this stupid town and all its responsibilities.

Like raising babies. Babies he didn’t want.

And Tabitha. Always clinging to him, wanting him to do everything for her. He never signed on for that. He thought that he might love Tabitha, but this family stuff, with commitment and kids, was too much. He was still a young guy. He had too many things to figure out—too much living to do—to give up his life for her.

And those babies. It always came back to those stupid babies.

He drove his Monte Carlo faster into the night, jamming out to AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell,” fighting hard to grip the curvy roads that led deep into the North Woods and onward toward Greensboro Park Lake, toward the old highway and the turn-off to the new interstate that had damned Greensboro to obscurity and opened up the path to the City. Toward freedom.

Not many folks went in the direction of the North Woods these days. After the police found Lindsey McCormick’s car in the lake, most parents stopped taking their children there to swim. Even though Lindsey’s body was never recovered, everyone whispered that it was buried beneath the muddy water, and Greensboro Park Lake could not be separated from her tragic death in people’s minds.

Plus, there were the creepy stories. All the fish died and the grass all yellowed and withered away around the water. The trees closest to the blackened muck were hollowed out by rot, and some even said they saw the lake eat a bird or two.

Yeah. Eat a bird or two.

Folks said old Greensboro Park Lake was cursed. Only Danny didn’t believe in that garbage. Nana Loraine was a superstitious sort, always babbling about evil spirits and angels and the like. What a bunch of nonsense, Danny thought. It was all urban legends and ghost tales. The North Woods and Greensboro Park Lake were still the fastest way out of town, and no talk of a bird-eating body of devil water was going to keep him from the path to escape.

He drove faster, taking another drink. It was his fifth beer since getting into his fight with Tabitha, and he struggled against the alcohol and his anger to keep on the road. Out here, traffic was rare and deputies weren’t too common, either, so he had the whole road to himself to dodge pink elephants.

He sped on, indifferent to the risk of losing his own life. So what if he died? Seemed better than having to be a father or a husband. He wasn’t ready for those things. Didn’t want those things. He and Tabitha could barely get along and stay together, let alone raise a family.

It wasn’t the life for him, just like it wasn’t the life for his old man.

He drank the bottle empty then tossed it out the open window. After spiraling through the air, the bottle crashed to the pavement and shattered with a pop on impact. Satisfied, Danny hung his head out the window and crowed wildly, the wind whipping around his face. He felt liberated. Like nothing could touch him. He had tried to leave Greensboro before, but he always came crawling back when he started missing Tabitha.

But this time, he was going to get out for good.

He was still riding on his high as he brought his head back into the car, but his laughter trailed off when he saw a strange sight in the distance.
Slamming on his brakes, he stopped just inches shy of plowing into an unusual roadblock. Parked sideways in the middle of the street rested a car, apparently abandoned. The driver’s side door hung open and the headlights shone brightly into the void.

Danny frowned at the holdup, shut off his engine, and got out of the Monte. “Hey! Get out of the road!”

He moved closer to the car, lighting a cigarette and preparing to brawl with the idiot who was standing in his way. However, his anger became confusion when he observed that the car was empty.

“What in the . . .” Craning his head in both directions, he called out, “Hey!”

No response. With his eyes he followed the headlight trail into the tall, unkempt weeds that led to Greensboro Park Lake. Figuring the idiot was out there somewhere and in need of a good whuppin’, Danny balled up his fists and left the road behind. Trudging through knee-high grass and wildflowers, he waded his way to the yellowed edge of the lake. Ghost stories aside, he was still reluctant to go traipsing any closer to the water just in case it were poisonous.

Cupping his hands to his mouth, he shifted the cigarette clenched in his teeth and called out into the darkened ruins of the North Woods. “Yo! Anybody out there?”

Again, no response.

His vision impaired by the night and alcohol, he struggled as he ventured closer to the lake. “Hey! Moron! Get your car outta the road before I move it for ya!”

Before trekking too far into the dark, he met a shadow, the shape of a man. With his back turned to Danny, the man was kneeling beside the thick, murky waters of the lake, his head inclined over the surface of the sludge.

As Danny watched, something like a slick, black arm reached out of the waters and fixed itself to the man’s face.

Whoa. I think I had one too many beers.

Danny was startled at first, yet his irritation soon overwhelmed his initial shock. “Yo, moron! You deaf? I said move your car!”

The man did not move nor speak as the slimy arm slowly retracted from his face and returned to the lake.

He only stood.

Danny came closer, reaching out a hand to tap the man on the shoulder. Firmly rapping, ready to pick a fight, Danny said, “Hey, stupid. I’m only gonna tell you one more time. Move. Your. Car.”

Finally the man in the darkness turned around and Danny caught full sight of him. It was Ray McCormick. A relieved smirk rose to Danny’s face when he recognized the man as the local crazy who put those stupid MISSING posters all over town, but as he surveyed him more closely, his face fell. Something in Ray’s hand gleamed in the moonlight.

It was an axe.

Terrified, Danny opened his mouth to scream.

Copyright 2011 Greg Mitchell

Happy Halloween!

Review--Oddfellows Serenade #1

2011-10-21T06:00:00.006-05:00

Recently, I was privileged to receive an advanced copy of occult author Bob Freeman and Chris Wilson's newest comic Oddfellows Serenade: Issue 1 (of 3). Firmly entrenched in Bob's larger Liber Monstrorum mythology, Oddfellows throws us right into the action as legendary occult detective Landon Connors is given a dire warning. Ghosts from his monster hunting past have returned and he must lay them to rest--and possibly die in the process. Chapter two of the first issue takes us to the beginning, where a younger Connors, distraught over his father's death at the hands of a demon, debates if he has the strength to continue in the legacy of sorcery and evil-fighting that has been handed him. Prompted by friend and mentor Sam Hill--who bears a loving resemblance to Fred Ward from To Cast a Deadly a Spell--he throws his lot in with the Nightstalkers, a ragtag band of occult experts and ghost hunters. While Landon certainly has the skills to aid them, will his own ties to the dark forces be their ruin?

To find that out, one will have to read the remaining two issues in the mini-series.

As with anything Bob writes, there's a lot to like about this issue. He has an uncanny knowledge of the real-life occult and it bleeds through in his work. When reading these characters, you don't get the feeling that the author is just regurgitating paranormal catchphrases cobbled from other works or movies. Bob has studied this stuff and his education in these dark mysteries informs his characters, making them feel believable, capable, and intelligent. While not afraid of action, these are very much "thinking man" heroes, battling the occult with their wit moreso than shotguns and explosives.

One of Bob's greatest strengths, however, might be considered a weakness to some. Bob has crafted a very intricate mythology in his writings with characters and events mixing it up throughout many different stories. I love this and have full faith that Bob is weaving a beautiful tapestry of the arcane--but it can be a little disorienting just jumping into it. Reading Oddfellows, I was pleased to see so many cameos of other characters featured in his previous writings. From the aforementioned Sam Hill, to Alethea, to Father Rainey, to Michelle Hawkes, to my own namesake Greg Mitchell (oh yeah, he's in there), it was a treat to put a face to the names of characters I've followed in other stories. I'm not sure Bob's mythology has an official "jumping on point" for new readers, though this is, perhaps, as close to one as I've seen. I suspect everyone discovers the mythology the same way--by jumping in with both feet. While he does a good job of telling you as much as you need to know to appreciate the story you're currently reading, it's only after reading his other stories will Readers be able to fully appreciate the various characters' motivations and histories. I wholeheartedly suggest that, if Oddfellows Serenade is your first foray into the mind of Bob Freeman--let it be but the beginning. Buy Liber Mysterivm or Descendant and discover more.

While I enjoyed this book, it's not perfect. It's an independent comic affair, so--while artist Chris Wilson does a good job--the art is not as polished as you would see in a Marvel or DC comic. Not very dynamic in the "action" sense, it can be a little stiff at times--though, given the everyman investigative nature of the characters, that's not neccessrily a detriment to the storytelling. It's just an aesthetic thing. Having said that, the team has treated the art with great care. For a black and white comic, it is shaded and layered beautifully, with cinematic lighting and special effects that really comes together to create a somber mood. They certainly make the most of what they have and it shows.

My only real "complaint" with this issue was the layout. In most of the pages, there is a style of "dual storytelling" going on. The narrative is shared between the dialogue and a Narrator's captions.

As usual, Bob writes some thoughtful and poetic prose, but here his thoughts are split up and scattered across the page, intermingled with important conversations between his characters. My mind had to switch back and forth, back and forth, while reading, sometimes confusing me. On the more difficult pages (and it's not every one) I avoided this problem by reading the captions first, then going back and reading through the dialogue portions. While that helped, it was still a bit jarring on the first read-through. Both his narration and his dialogue are spot-on--it's just the juxtaposition of the two that left me a little wanting.

In total, Oddfellows Serenade is a worthy first outing for Landon Connors in the comic book world. It is full of mystery, fun and familiar characters from Bob's larger mythology, and a promise for even more devilry in the future. If you're already a fan of Freeman's work, you have to pick this up--it's a great contribution to the stories you already know and love. If you've yet to read anything by Bob, give this a shot. It's a great basics course on the nature of his storytelling and characters and will whet your appetite to read more of the man's mythology.

Thanks to Bob for giving me a first peak at the book. I was disappointed to see this issue end and eagerly await the two remaining issues! In the meantime, I think I'm going to go back and read Issue One again :p

Oddfellows Serenade #1 is slated for a Halloween Day release. This is a LIMITED EDITION comic, signed by the author and artist. Order your copy today while they last!

Underground Rising--New Story!

2011-10-18T06:00:00.005-05:00

I'm pleased to announce The Writers Café Press' new release: Underground Rising: Tales From The Underground! For the uninitiated, this is a brand new anthology set in the genre-bending world of author Frank Creed's Underground series, begun in Flashpoint and continued in War of Attrition.

Here's the official description:

Walk the 2030s streets of the USA, alleys of Germany, and tunnels of New Zealand. Through twelve tales from the Underground, One State Neros enforce their global ban on Fundamentalism in the world's dark future. Armed with the hottest technology and faith, heroes choose right decisions for spiritual freedom in spite of the cost. Will the saints' mindware, a type of software loaded directly into the brain, provide enough of an advantage to survive the twenty-first century purge? Biblical cyberpunk at its best. Each of the anthology stories are based upon Frank Creed's UNDERGROUND-the award-winning novels Flashpoint: Book One of the Underground and War of Attrition: Book Two of the Underground.

What's personally rewarding about this anthology is--I have a story featured in it! Order your copy today and read "Ex-Communicator". What does the Underground do when one of its own goes rogue? They call in Big Hoss Dupree--the baddest leather-clad, motorcycle ridin', bounty hunter--to stop them, of course! Thanks, Frank, for inviting me to play in your sandbox!

Series creator and anthology editor Creed is no stranger to the blog, here. In case you missed it, head back to my interview I did with Frank last year and get up to speed on what in the world "Biblical Cyberpunk" is. Frank's got a fresh, unique vision and you owe it to yourself to give it a whirl.

Starting November 1st, we'll start the big marketing push, complete with a roundtable chat with Frank and some contributors--hosted by yours truly--so consider this a sneak peak announcement. Order your copy of Underground Rising today and come back November 1st and be a part of the Underground festivities!

UPDATE: The Multi-Author chat is now up!

Interview with Sam Whittaker: Writer of "A Ghost of Fire"

2011-10-10T06:00:00.013-05:00

Continuing our month-long celebration of all things spooky (though, around here, is that any different from the rest of the year? :p), we sit down with Sam Whittaker, author of A Ghost of Fire. While the rest of the horror world, it seems, is still ate up with zombie or vampire fever, Sam's going old school, telling a classic ghost story with a modern twist.

Greg Mitchell: Thanks for stopping by, Sam. Tell us a bit about yourself.

Sam Whittaker: I feel like I wear a lot of hats these days. Part of that is due to the fact that I’m a bi-vocational church planting pastor on a pastoral team of two in Port Orchard, WA, so I live in the workaday world as a maintenance assistant at a private school and I try to navigate through the waters of starting up something fresh from the ground up. So there’s administrative things I do, operations stuff, dreaming and shaping the vision, teaching/preaching, small group leading, etc. Our new church is called “The Bridge” and you can find out more about that at www.thebridgepo.org. We’re getting ready to launch weekly gatherings on October 23rd. We’re exceptionally excited.

Then there’s the family side of things. I’m married and we have (so far) three energetic little hobbits that run around and make life VERY interesting.

And, as if that all weren’t enough, I love to write. I’ve got three books under my belt now with plans for more. Aside from that I’ve just started writing articles for an online magazine called “Surrender,” which is completely free, and based locally here in western Washington state and I also write a blog from time to time on writing and creativity issues.

GM: Busy indeed! Your debut novel A Ghost of Fire was just released. What’s the book about?

SW: Basically we meet Steve Nicholas--by the way, the whole story is told directly from his perspective--who’s pretty much your “everyman” who struggles to get by because he’s been unemployed for six months. As fate would have it, he lands a position as a janitor and that’s when things start to get interesting. He starts to smell smoke when there’s no fire. He also starts to hear echoes of childlike laughter and strange messages get left on his answering machine…and then some more sinister stuff starts happening and he realizes he’s being haunted. So he has to come to terms with that and figure out why so he can make it all stop. The story basically grows and builds in intensity and mystery from there.

GM: This is the first in a series, correct?

SW: Yes, this book is 1 of 4. The reason for that is this: The series is called the “Ghostly Elements.” In classical thinking, the Greeks believed the cosmos was made of 4 elements--Fire, Water, Wind, & Earth (And possibly something else called “Aether” which was intangible and sort of spiritual). So, each of the books will focus on one of these 4 elements as a sort of backdrop to the story. I wanted each book to be more or less self-contained, but I also wanted a way to have an over-arching theme to the series.

Steve is the primary protagonist in all four, though he’s joined by a few others, some of which you will meet in A Ghost of Fire, and some others will join along the way. Aside from the ghosts themselves (not all of which are bad, by the way) Steve is going to have to overcome some other personal challenges in each of the books. You see, I don’t like reading stuff where the characters are static or perfect so I promised myself I’m not going to write that way either. I think it makes for much better writing overall and it makes the characters themselves easier to relate to, because if we’re honest, that’s how we are too: we’re all in process.

GM: Looking at your site, I see you’ve previously written two non-fiction books. Why the jump to fiction?

SW: Part of it’s the need for a challenge. I’m used to thinking and writing stuff where you essentially have an essay and you’re dealing with themes and concepts and it’s not always easy to make those things concrete. I really wanted to try my hand at a different style and form.

Additionally, I just love a good story. And I think because that’s how we live (in story, not in detached concepts) that we communicate and gain understanding first through narrative. If you’re a Christian, ask yourself, how much of the Bible is an essay? Basically, none of it is. Now, how much of it is narrative, or narrative poetry? Basically, all of it is.

GM: Very true. What was the inspiration behind this book/series?

SW: Part of it was my own fear growing up of just the idea of what a ghost is. I mean, you can always stake a vampire in the heart or shoot a werewolf with a silver bullet. Unless you have a proton pack handy, you’re pretty much screwed with ghosts. They’re not going anywhere any time soon.

I just sat down and asked myself, what’s the scariest “monster” I can think of? The answer for me is ghosts. Hands down.

GM: I’m assuming, given the subject matter, that you’re a fan of the genre. What were some of your favorite scary stories/movies growing up?

SW: You know, one of my favorite movies growing up was Ghostbusters. I liked it because it had a bit of a scary edge to it (if you were five like I was when I first saw it, anyway) but it was also funny. I mean, Bill Murray still makes me laugh in those films. It was well balanced. Then I saw a lot of the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies, probably when I was way too young to see them. It’s a “slasher,” but Freddy is also kind of a ghost too, you know? And those definitely left a mark, which I think the discerning reader might see in A Ghost of Fire.

GM: That's funny that you just named two major influences in my own childhood, ha ha. Product of the '80s, I suppose. Now that you mention it, I suppose Freddy is a traditional ghost--excepting haunting minds rather than houses. So, what authors inspire you? Who do you love to read?

SW: For fiction, I love to read Stephen King, but more because of his writing style than subject matter. I think he’s one of the most readable writers out there today. His Dark Tower series is fantastic and I loved Duma Key. For the aspiring writer his book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, should be required reading.

GM: Yeah, I think it's a shame that there are so many Stephen King fans out there who have never read (or, in some cases, even heard) of the Dark Tower stuff. I love that series and am pretty excited about the new book he's writing for it.

SW: I’m also a HUGE Star Wars nut so I read a lot of those novels.

GM: Me, too!

SW: My favorite authors in the Star Wars universe are Matthew Woodring Stover and Timothy Zahn.

Non-Fiction is completely different. I love N.T. Wright, Brennan Manning, and Donald Miller, just for starters. Anything written by them is fair game for my library. I’ll occasionally read a biography too. Steve Martin’s Born Standing Up was good. I could go on and on…but I won’t.

GM: I love what you said on your site about metrosexual sparkling vampires aren’t scary to you—so you chose to write ghosts because ghosts scare you the most. I think, in the current trend, ghosts are kind of an underplayed “monster”. Everyone’s all about zombies and vampires and the occasional werewolf. Why ghosts? What is it about ghosts that scare you/interest you? Any real life ghost stories in your sordid past?

SW: I think you’re totally right about Ghosts being underused in the genre at present. I think the thing about ghosts is that there’s always going to be this sense of mystery about them. There’s an undeniable mystique there that’s hard to put into words. In the stories you hear people tell about alleged real experiences they’re ephemeral, intangible, but somehow they can manipulate the physical environment. If you encountered that in some kind of menacing form and you didn’t soil yourself as a result, you’ve either got massive mental problems, or you’re Chuck Norris.

GM: Chuck Norris scares ghosts back to life.

Your non-fiction work is Christian teaching--how much of a role does your faith play in your fiction? Or does it? Would you say your non-fiction and fiction are designed for the same audience?

SW: The faith is a lot more subtle in my fiction. What I want to do with the series is work through basic issues of belief that there is much more to life than what we perceive through our five physical senses. But I want to do that in a way which serves the story and doesn’t interrupt the flow of the narrative. I’m not really hammering out a philosophy in my fiction as would someone like Terry Goodkind. I love Terry’s characters in the beginning of the Sword of Truth series, for example, but by about book 6 in that series the speeches are getting really long, and boring. By book 8 I just found it annoying. Shut up and tell the story.

GM: I'm sure there are many readers who will agree with you! Now, A Ghost of Fire is self-published. I know those waters all too well from my earlier experiences! What made you decide to go the do-it-yourself route? Are you still interested in being traditionally published?

SW: Right now I’m a little intimidated by the huge machine that is traditional publishing. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind getting picked up by a respectable traditional publisher, but I worry sometimes about how much the commercialism can overtake the art. I understand the grammar has to work, and I’m cool with that, but at the same time I don’t want some study or focus group somewhere to determine how I’m going to have to rewrite a scene or section.

GM: Well, that's understandable, but I think you can rest a little easier on that front. We've all heard the horror stories of editors who want to rewrite an author's story--but I think those have sort of become myth. Talking to other authors, I think that's not usually the case. I've had a great experience with my publisher, and while there are compromises to be made from time to time--so far very very minor--publishers seem way too busy with running the business to get that involved in your story :p Moviemaking on the other hand, is a whole different beast with lots of people sticking their fingers in your paint and smearing things up and that's when focus groups often enter the equation, but with a novel, it's not near as bad. It largely depends on finding the right publisher for your project and developing a good working relationship with them. I wouldn't give up!

How has your self-publishing experience been so far? What are the pros and cons of taking this road that you’ve seen?

SW: Every once in a while I perform a seminar I created called “The Peaks and Pitfalls of Self Publishing” where I go through my experiences and some of the nuts and bolts of what the Self-Pub industry is really like.

The great thing about Self-Publishing is you don’t have to wait weeks and weeks just to get rejection letters from agents or publishers. The path to publication is pretty much already paved for you if you have the patience (or the money to pay someone who has the patience to do it for you). It affords greater freedom and pushes you to think more creatively. You basically have to become the publisher and that makes you do some serious work, but it can be very rewarding work when you hold that first copy of your own book in your hands.

The really hard thing with Self-Publishing right now is that there is such an enormous amount of people out there who are putting material out that it’s super hard to get an audience. The marketing is totally in your hands unless you can pay someone a few thousand dollars to do it for you…which I can’t.

GM: I'll let you in on a little secret: Even in the traditional publishing world--unless you're Stephen King, probably--you've still got to be out there in the mud trying to get an audience and promote your work. And it is tough. A lot of voices in the crowd and you're trying to stand out.

Thanks for talking with us today, Sam. I hope we've done a little to get your voice just a little louder than the others for awhile. Where can people buy your book?

SW: You can go to my website,where it is available in trade paperback and multiple E-book formats (Kindle, NOOK, PDF, etc) through Smashwords. You can also get the paperback and Kindle format directly from Amazon.com.

Thanks again to Sam, and to you guys for participating in today's discussion. Visit Sam's site and check out his book. The ebook is available for less than a $1! However, if you're like me and need a little more convincing on trying out new writers, Sam's provided this handy link where you can read the first five chapters of A Ghost of Fire for free! Take advantage of that--you might just find a new favorite author.

Once again, let me remind you to stay tuned here. On October 30th, I'll be posting the first ever released excerpt from my next fright tale Enemies of the Cross!

Interview with Christian Horror Author Bruce Hennigan!

2011-10-04T07:00:00.012-05:00

It's October, folks, and what better way to celebrate the season than to settle down with a good old-fashioned monster tale. Since you've all already read my book (you have read it, right? :p) I want to direct you to Bruce Hennigan and his new frightening tale The 13th Demon in stores today courtesy of Realms Fiction!

I was familiar with Bruce as a reviewer, as he offered some fine insights into The Strange Man when it was featured in the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour. Doing a little background check, I discovered Bruce was an author as well, specializing in that odd realm of "Christian Horror". When I found out a month or so later that my very own publisher had picked up Bruce's book, I was super-excited. In honor of today's release, me and Bruce sit down to talk about his book, the struggles we've shared in writing in this sub-genre, and chatting it up about Halloween, monsters, and all things kewl.

Greg Mitchell: Bruce, thanks for coming by! Tell us a bit about yourself for the readers at home.

Bruce Hennigan: I don’t want to reveal everything about myself. That might land me in an institution! After all, if you are an author you understand that there is a darkness in us that fuels our imagination for good or for bad. And, in my darkness there are monsters!

GM: Of course!

BH: Okay, so my alter ego is that of a doctor, a physician practicing in the field of radiology. I really do have X-Ray vision! It took me four years of college, four years of medical school, and four years of residency but now, I can see through just about anything! Not really. I rely on diagnostic imaging for that. But, my true love is writing.

I started writing when I was 8 and I haven’t stopped. I love to write poetry, mysteries, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. I live in Shreveport, Louisiana with my wife, Sherry. My son is married and getting a master’s degree in Austin and my daughter lives at home and is going to college. They know I’m not quite right so they tolerate my writing.

I have a book of children’s plays “Montana Holmes Adventures in the Bible” published by Contemporary Drama. I co-authored “Conquering Depression: A Thirty Day Plan to Finding Happiness” by B&H Publishing. Now you know where the darkness comes from! I was the drama director for my church for fifteen years and in the time wrote dozens of full length plays and over 150 short dramas as well as screenplays for many short films.

Out of my doubts and questions and the relentless questioning of my medical colleagues I have become a trained apologist through Reasons to Believe and I am a Certified Apologetic Instructor with my own denominational convention. I am also a graduate of the Arthur Murray School of Dance (something to escape to while in medical school).

GM: Your book—The 13th Demon—hits stands today. Exciting stuff! What’s the book about?

BH: I have a background in apologetics, or the defense of the Christian faith. And, as I learned all the cool stuff that makes Christianity true and rational, I wondered why hasn’t anybody written about this? One of my favorite authors was Michael Crichton and he wrote these fast paced books with a scientific core of truth. My favorite is The Andromeda Strain and next, Jurassic Park.

I wanted to write a story that used some of this information and I realized our society really doesn’t accept that evil is real or that demons exist. So, why not start with the basics. That is where The 13th Demon came from. It’s about a mysterious man, Jonathan Steel, with amnesia traveling the countryside looking for people who are under the oppression of evil; people for whom there is no rational help. His real goal is to locate a creature known as “the 13th demon”. This creature brought tragedy to the life of Jonathan Steel. He goes to help a pastor in a small town whose church has come under the possession of evil in the form of vile creatures such as giant spiders and a few other creepy things I don’t want to mention for fear of spoilers. When Jonathan Steel arrives, he discovers his nemesis is in this church and he sets out to put together a team to confront and defeat “the 13th demon”. In the process, he has to examine his motives. Does he really want to help others? Or, does he just want revenge? He discovers that the evil events in this small town are intricately woven into his past and he must confront the man behind the creature, an evil businessman who has ties to the ancient world of the Aztecs and their practice of human sacrifice. Somewhere hidden in the small town is an arcane altar craving for fresh blood! It is the Altar of the Spiral Eye. The book has elements of horror and mystery and romance and a touch of science fiction, and, oh yes, a few monsters thrown in!

GM: Wait, giant spiders, human sacrifices, Aztec cults, and an altar craving fresh blood? I'm sold! How many books have you got planned for this series? How far are you along now?

BH: When I first tried to get the book published, I ran into the typical barriers most speculative fiction writers do in the Christian fiction realm. This was way back in 1999. But, one editor really liked the story. He said the problem was, “No one in the CBA will ever publish this story.” But, he asked me a simple question. Are there twelve more demons?

I hadn’t really thought about it at that time. I was looking at a trilogy at best. But, as the possibilities of telling thirteen stories with a specific demon at the heart of the story would allow me to really explore all the cool apologetic stuff I had learned. I saw the possibility of exploring many of our modern “myths” such as vampires, werewolves, zombies, UFOs, extraterrestrial life, voodoo, Wicca, virtual reality, and any number of cool paranormal phenomena and use those elements to convey the truth of Christianity. So, there will be twelve more books. I have a five book contract and the first four books are written. The others are outlined. And, I’ve written two books near the end of the series, one that details all of Jonathan Steel’s past and the last book so I would know where I’m headed.

GM: That's encouraging to hear. I always love it when the authors of my favorite series know where they're going. Otherwise, they tend to ramble or chase rabbits. I like me some clear direction :p So, what was the inspiration behind Jonathan Steel and his adventures? Take us back to the beginning.

BH: The story for The 13th Demon seemingly came from out of nowhere. I had finished writing a non-fiction book, “Conquering Depression” and decided to take six weeks out of my writing schedule and read. At the end of that six weeks, I was going to pick up one of my two dozen novels in various stages of development and finish it. During that time I had two “what ifs” come up. What if an assassin or mercenary became a Christian? How would he change? How would he deal with his past? And, the other question was, if a Christian lost his memory, would he still be a Christian? Does the conversion experience transcend mental damage? I filed those away. Two other factors in the book were my love of apologetics as I mentioned above and my recent battle with a recalcitrant group of church members who didn’t want to relocate our church from a declining neighborhood to an up and coming area. I was the vice chairman of that committee and I was amazed at how many of our members “worshiped” the building!

The last night of my six weeks found me empty and directionless. I had not been able to get excited about any of my books. So, I turned to God in desperation and prayed for guidance realizing that I may never write anything again! I woke up the next morning with the story of The 13th Demon in my head. I started writing on August 1st and finished on the 31st. The book came out of a combination of “what if” questions, a real life situation, my desire to use apologetics in a creative way as C. S. Lewis had, and a huge dollop of divine inspiration.

And, the book would give me the chance to write about monsters! The Dialing for Dollars 3:30 Movie had a lot to do with it. I grew up in the country and every day when I came home, an afternoon movie was always shown on one of our local channels. Those films featured a monster movie from the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. I would make myself a mayonnaise and mustard sandwich (we were kind of poor and didn’t have lunch meat) and a glass of chocolate milk and I would hunker down in front of the television and get the willies scared out of me.

GM: That sounds heavenly. Seriously...well, without the mayonnaise and mustard sandwich. I prefer to enjoy my horror with a glass of milk and cookies.

BH: I was always fascinated with science fiction and monsters. My scariest movie of all time growing up was Attack of the Crab Monsters where giant crabs on an island would pinch people’s heads off, eat them, and then telepathically lure the other people into the caves with that person’s voice. To this day crabs really creep me out!

GM: We’ve got something in common in that both of our books were originally self-published before being picked up by Realms. Were there any unique challenges in making the journey from self-publishing to traditional publishing? Is there anything different about this version than the original?

BH: My frustration with getting the book published came out of a lack of understanding by traditional Christian publishers of a growing market for Christian “speculative fiction”. I saw early on that with the popularity of the Left Behind series, Christians were ready for something gritty and more realistic. It took someone like Ted Dekker to break through that glass ceiling for those of us who write this kind of fiction.

My delays in getting my book published were due to this factor and having two agents in a row who dithered away my time and never did the job they promised to. One was a fraud. The other refused to represent fiction! Six years passed after the book was written wasting time with agents and a clueless publishing industry. In desperation, I decided to self publish. My rationale was to get the book out there and see if I had an audience. If the audience responded, I would have a track record. If not, I’d go back to my X-rays and be a happy, but frustrated doctor. I self published The 13th Demon in 2006 and hired a marketing firm. The book sold fairly well for a self-published book. But, I was very pleased when reviews came in saying things like “I can’t believe this is a self-published book. It’s too well written. And the cover is too good.” I knew then I had a chance. I hooked up with the Cadillac of self publishers, BookPros for my second book, The 12th Demon: Vampyre Majick and that was when one of my author friends recommended four different agencies. I contacted all four literary agencies and the best of them took me as a client. Of course, it helped I had a book by B&H Publishing on depression. But, the track record of my two self-published books gave me credibility. My new agent, Jeff Jernigan of Hidden Value Group took my third book and within a month we were contacted by Realms. Four months of back and forth and negotiation resulted in a five book deal and they wanted to pick up the first two self published books.

Now, having a contract and with some breathing room, I went back and rewrote major portions of the first two books. By this time, I had four books finished and I had a better idea where the story arc was headed.

GM: Same here. That really gave me the opportunity to go back and add little touches that would be paid off later in the series.

BH: I was able to fine tune and tweak both books. Both books are much, much shorter. That was my main frustration: being held to a word limit. I had to excise entire characters from both books to make them shorter. In fact, reading my first book now, I can see the fine scars where I did the plastic surgery.

GM: I share your pain, ha ha.

BH: I know what is missing although the story holds together much better after having worked with my excellent editor, Andy Meisenheimer. In fact, Andy did something that was very dangerous. He said, “Make it scarier!” And, so both books are much scarier than the originals and, yes, have a few more “monsters” in them!

GM: That's incredible! I think my editors would be too scared to give me that charge :p

This being the glorious Halloween season and all, I’d be remiss not to talk about some of your favorite Halloween memories. Do you have any—that is, I’m assuming since you’re writing a book about demons and monsters, Halloween is a special time for you :p

BH: My favorite year was when I dressed up as Beetlejuice. Full makeup and hair – the works! My kids were tiny and I had a blast driving through MacDonald’s and asking the girl for a Happy Meal. Being in drama and theater and having a best friend who dabbles in horror makeup helped. My favorite Halloween was the year we created a “Christian” themed haunted house called Eternity House and populated it with all kinds of evil beings from the past. We took this really tall guy and created a neck stump and shoulders to build up his height. We brought his shoulders down to his real arms and it looked like Goliath was holding his severed head. People would walk into the room and think Goliath was slumped in the corner with his severed head in his lap and then the eyes would open and he would talk! They ran like frightened sheep! Lots of creepy makeup for the demons in hell, too. We had a blast.

I still dress up every Halloween. This year, I’m going to be the Witchking from Lord of the Rings. I have a replica of the actual sword in the movie. Not the plastic one. The real sword!

GM: That's ambitious. I'm planning on going as a dime store Dracula :p

BH: I was eight and dressed like Wolfman, one Halloween. I lived out in the country and I was outside waiting for dark so we could go Trick or Treating. My brother was a taxidermist and he lived on the same property as my parents. He would take all the “offal” down in the woods and dump them out. Those scraps attracted some strange creatures. I was standing in my driveway when suddenly this cacophony of howling came out of the woods. I was paralyzed with fear! The howling grew closer and all I could think of was the wolfman was coming! Out of those woods burst a pack of wild dogs fighting over a deer skull. They had the spine and skull stretched out between them growling and howling and they were coming right toward me! I didn’t move a muscle and the dogs swirled around me, howling and snarling and fighting with each other and moved across the yard into the woods on the other side of my front yard. That was the most scared I think I have ever been. I took off the wolf man costume and I was Superman instead! To this day, werewolves frighten me far more than vampires. In 2009 we went to London and I stood at the top of one of those escalators leading down into the Underground (subway) where a famous scene from An American Werewolf in London was shot. I couldn’t go down the escalator! We walked another block to a different entrance. That is how strongly werewolves frighten me.

GM: I love werewolves. My favorite monster growing up. What were your favorite scary stories or movies growing up? How has that changed since you’ve gotten older, or has it?

BH: I guess you gather that my favorite scary stories were from those old monster movies. Frankenstein (1930’s), The Wolfman, Dracula, The Blob, those crab monsters, The Black Scorpion, the UFOs from Invasion of the Flying Saucers (You know, the one where the UFO crashes into the Washington Monument). I read science fiction voraciously and when I was old enough, moved on to Stephen King.

As I have gotten older, the movies that “scare” me do so more through suspense or psychology. I still recall the first time I saw Alien in a dark theater! That movie ruined my underwear. But, this may sound silly, but the movie that was most frightening to me in my late teens was Jaws. I had to get out of a lake in central Louisiana after I saw the movie because I was convinced there was a shark in the water! I loved Aliens but that was because it was more action oriented. I loved Jurassic Park although the book was much better to me than the movie could ever be. The Thing still haunts my nightmares and I’m debating whether or not I can take the prequel! I could go on and on. But, I would say the two books that frightened me most and that I have read more than once just to see how the author did it were The Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. I still think the movie adaptation of Silence is the most faithful and well done movie adaptation to date.

GM: I get asked this question a lot, so let me turn the tables a bit: Have you experienced any push back from the Christian community over your macabre subject matter? Likewise, how does the horror community react to the overt Christian elements?

BH: Just yesterday I got this email from a local Christian radio station. I had bought an ad for my upcoming book launch “party” here in Shreveport and the person had an issue with me calling my book “Christian horror”. “You can’t do that.” She said. So, I pulled the ad.

Way back in 2000 I gave my manuscript to a fiction editor for a large publisher. I met with her in person and she was well aware of my manuscript for “Conquering Depression” and my freelance writing for an online publication with LifeWay “Extra”. She was so excited about The 13th Demon. She loved the entire concept and couldn’t wait to read the next book. But! There was always that, But! Then she went on to tell me how my book was too violent, too edgy, too far out on the fringe for the CBA. That was when I found out what the CBA was. “I love your book, but let’s face it. No Christian publisher will EVER publish this book.”

GM: I've heard that before.

BH: I ran into that time and time and time again over the ensuing six years. To his credit, my first agent who later turned out to be a fraud and was being prosecuted for it, believed in my book and thought I had a chance to get published because of the popularity of Ted Dekker, at that time a new author on the scene. But, he got nowhere. I still don’t know for sure if he ever really submitted my book proposal to publishers!

Now, what is very interesting is my second book about vampires received some amazingly positive reviews from the secular book review community. They were not put off at all by the Christian elements. Of course, I wasn’t too heavy with the “preaching”, if you will. I let my character’s Christian worldview carry the story. And, the apologetic elements were presented in a very objective fashion with convincing science or history. One book reviewer even admitted that he was going to rethink his revulsion toward Christianity because of my book! He said “If a Christian author can be this honest with his work and not back off from the reality of evil, maybe there is hope for Christianity. I am willing to reconsider my opinion of Christians.” Now that was astonishing!

GM: Wow, that is fantastic. What a testimony!

BH: I was hoping my book would have just that kind of reaction to a “cross over” market and have an appeal to non-believers and skeptics.

Of course, my greatest frustration is having my book tucked way back in the corner with the other Christian fiction books instead of being with the horror or science fiction or fantasy sections! I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about.

GM: I do. It's like the kiss of death. No joke, I went to my local Hastings and the "Christian Fiction" section was tucked in the very back of the store. Waaaay back there, in a tiny little corner. People who would like the horror of our stories just don't seem interested in walking to the "Christian" section of their bookstore. It's a buzz kill, I guess. Horror is often equated with rebellion and going against the norm--I sometimes fear those people see a horror novel in the Christian section and it might as well have a big ole stamp that says "Your Mother Approves of This Book" :p Not cool.

Okay, got off on a tangent! Despite those obstacles of trying to get the horror world to take us seriously, I still see that the “Christian Horror” sub-genre is really starting to grow. What do you think is the draw of these types of stories that blend fear and faith?

BH: Fear is the driving force in our culture. It has been since 9/11. Politicians have mastered the “fear factor”. Reality shows rule due to the “fear factor”. But, does our fear have a face? Is there something real and tangible to fear? We can’t put a face on terrorism. Osama Bin Laden doesn’t wander around on our streets and a terrorist could be anybody!

So, our fear has to have a face. It has to be visible so we can deal with. How to do that? Take those things we fear the most and give them a body, a voice, a visibility. I thought vampires were passé after Anne Rice wrote them to death. But, now vampires are manageable, sparkly, even loving. That which we fear can now be embraced. But, we still fear it. A little. At least we fear the evil side of the, uh, evil that is now good. See how confusing it has become. We live in a time of postmodernism and relativism. There is no such thing as absolute good and evil. And yet, God has put eternity in the hearts of all men. We know evil exists. We have a morbid fascination with it. It is there for us to see but it can’t be real.

So, we put it in our movies and our television shows and our books.

Christians are not immune to these changes. Most churches today emphasize missional work, good deeds, changing community through love. You don’t hear hell and demons and the devil preached very often. Hell is off limits! But, we know it’s there. We feel the breath of demons every day. We see the effect of evil all around us. As Christians we should have no doubt evil is real. But, Christianity isn’t what it used to be.

I think this need to explore the dark side of our nature fuels the desire of many Christians to read our kind of books that mix the reality of evil with the reality of Hope. This is one reason why I want to capitalize on that desire to read compelling stories about spiritual warfare to take the opportunity to tell Christians we have sound, evidential, rational reasons for what we believe. Don’t take what our culture holds up as “truth”. It doesn’t even believe there is truth. And, they believe that to be absolutely true!

I think you said it best. Our stories mix faith and fear. We thrive on fear. It thrills us. But, we subsist on faith. It guides us and sustains us.

GM: Great thoughts. Fear is something every human being lives with and horror is a great safe place to explore that and face it. Thanks so much for hanging out with us, Bruce. Best to you and The 13th Demon.

You can keep up with Bruce at his website at www.brucehennigan.com or find him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/SteelChronicles. He's known as brucehennigan on Twitter, as well.

Thank you everyone for reading and be sure to take a look at Bruce's book.

Also, stay tuned to this very site. On Halloween Eve, I'll be posting a special treat--the first ever excerpt from my upcoming sequel Enemies of the Cross! You won't want to miss it! Make the monster-most out of your October, and to help you along, we take a page out of Bruce's book and look back on a classic! Enjoy!

Moanin' At Midnight: The Crawlin' Chaos Blues

2011-09-30T12:00:00.000-05:00

There is nothing wrong with your internet. Do not attempt to adjust your browser, do not hit reload. We are controlling transmission….We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your internet. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind….nah, it’s just me, Ed Erdelac.

Where the heck’s the ever-lovin’ Greg Mitchell though, you might ask, having come to his site...well, he’s over at my blog, talking about what I suspect is his favorite subject. No, not himself…well, partly. Monsters, Halloween, that sorta stuff.

But who am I?

I write the Merkabah Rider series from Damnation Books, among other things. It’s a weird western about a Hasidic gunslinger tracking down the renegade teacher who betrayed his mystic Jewish order of astral travelers across the 1880’s Southwest territories. There are two books in the series, Tales of a High Planes Drifter and The Mensch With No Name. But if you wanna hear about all that and about me, Greg’s got an interview with me right here on his site somewheres. Basically I write spooky stories, and I know Greg from our Star Wars writing.

Anyway, Greg’s given me free reign today to talk about whatever I want on here, so (cracking my knuckles), today children we’re gonna be talking about my short story The Crawlin’ Chaos Blues, but mainly we’re gonna talk about the blues. Because I’ll take any chance I can to talk about the blues, and in particular my favorite blues artist. But I’ll get to that directly.

Blues music got its start in the Mississippi Delta (some will say New Orleans, but that’s inarguably the seat of Jazz, if you ask me) by way of Chicago, but its roots reach back into antiquity, back through the chants of slaves on work gangs across the Middle Passage to the calls of native Africans to their gods.

Blues music evolved into the voice of the downtrodden in the gutter. It’s the primal wail of the oppressed man at the end of his rope, the poor man, the cuckold and the thief and the murderer and the addict, the wild sinner down at the bottom of his luck. It’s not often happy music, but boy do I love it. It’s got a white cousin named Country, and that’s good stuff too. The real country, like Hank Williams or Bill Monroe….not that bubblegum stuff Nashville tends to pump out nowadays.

The soul of the blues is a dark one. There’s a famous and oft-repeated story about one of the kings of the Delta blues, Robert Johnson.

It’s said that he went to a country crossroads at midnight and shed some blood, calling up the Devil himself to come and teach him to pick his guitar and sing. Johnson himself sings about it in the Crossroad Blues, the same song Eric Clapton re-did, and the movie Crossroads with Ralph Macchio revolves around that legend too.

So does my story, The Crawlin’ Chaos Blues. Except in mine, it isn’t the Devil who comes to answer the crossroad sacrifice.

If you’ve ever read any HP Lovecraft, you know the monsters in his tales, the extraplanar entities who frequent his dark universe are worse than evil. At their best, they’re entirely apathetic to humans. At their worst, they’re totally malicious and insane. And the worst of the latter bunch is Nyarlathotep, the Dark Man.

He traipses through horror fiction under a bunch of different names. Stephen King acknowledges that the Walkin Dude Randall Flagg is Nyarlathotep. He appears in the forthcoming third book of my own Merkabah Rider series too.

In my short story The Crawlin’ Chaos Blues, when two would-be blues musicians, King Yeller and Harp Elkins are set upon by a pair of white supremacists in the midnight crossroads and turn the tables on them, it’s the Dark Man who rises out of the road when their blood seeps into the ground.

Now in the story of Robert Johnson, the Devil gets his due. After coming to the cusp of making it big, Johnson was poisoned in a bar and died.

In my story, King Yeller quickly becomes renowned for his playing and singing, drawing in the crowds from all over the south. But the success comes with a price, an awful twist to amuse the Dark Man. King Yeller has quickly accumulated a catalog of popular songs, but the Dark Man has taught him one special song that puts all the rest to shame. The problem is, if he plays it, he is guaranteed to lose all he has gained.

And this gnaws at King Yeller. Every song he plays pales in comparison to the one the Dark Man taught him. The Crawlin’ Chaos Blues.

Then one night, he decides to play it anyway.

And what happens next, that’s the story.

It all stems from my love of the blues and Lovecraft. I like to drop little easter eggs into my work as well, and since this story takes place in the 1960's, I had to write in a cameo early on for my favorite blues musician of all time.

Chester Burnett, AKA Howlin’ Wolf.

Now you know with a name like that he’s gotta be good right? The man is so cool he even appeared as himself in a Marvel comic playing his song Wang Dang Doodle in a band WITH ALIENS. IN SPACE!!

He earned the moniker from his distinctive singing style. He’s got a voice low and throaty like a bullfrog’s, but he lets out these long, wailing notes in some songs, particularly in one of my favorites, Smokestack Lightnin’ about a poor boy watching a train go by in the night and wishing he was on it.

When the man who discovered him, Sam Phillips, heard him sing, he said; “This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies.”

I adore the Wolf. What’s most interesting about him to me is his dichotomy. A lot of the blues musicians of his era lived up to the Robert Johnson legend. They lived fast and loose, played it hard and not too smart. But Chester was different. He was a complete wild man on stage, going on all fours and kicking up his heels, licking his chops and rolling his eyes like a man possessed. And at six foot six, black as midnight and three hundred pounds, that was a sight to see.

But as soon as he stepped off stage, he put on his horn rimmed glasses and drove his modest car home to a quiet life with his wife, who managed his finances and to whom he was faithful. He didn’t drink to excess or do drugs, and he took his fellow musicians to task for spending their money stupidly on flashy cars and clothes and worse things.

The tragedy of H Hn’ Wolf is that he left his home in Mississippi at the age of thirteen. In the sixties, at the height of his success, he returned to the south and put out the word in his hometown that he wanted to see his mother.

He waited in a barber shop for an hour or so and finally one of the locals produced her. He rose to his full height to embrace her. He’d brought wads of cash to put in her hands.

“Lookit all the money I made, momma. It’s for you.”

But his mother stiffened and backed away from him. She wouldn’t take a bit of it, and rebuked her son for playing the Devil’s music. She turned, and left him standing in the barber shop.

His bandmates said he wept uncontrollably the entire rainy ride back up to Chicago.

Take some pity on the Wolf. Go to youtube and listen to some music. I’d recommend Killin’ Floor and I Ain’t Superstitious. Perfect Halloween listening.

Also click over here to read an excerpt from The Crawlin' Chaos Blues!

Hey you guys have been great. Thanks for reading. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Greg Mitchell awesomeness.

My Movie Is Filming!

2011-09-17T18:51:00.008-05:00

Tomorrow's a pretty big day, now that I think of it.

My first movie begins filming in the morning.

A few years ago I was contracted by friend and frequent collaborator Rich Christiano to come up with a movie that retells a Bible story--any story. I got to pick. The Bible is filled with tremendous accounts of men and women against all odds in the name of their faith, but there's one little prophet tucked in the corners of obscurity who has always meant a great deal to me:

Hosea.

Who?

Hosea is a man who God called to marry an unfaithful woman. Why? Because God's own bride--the nation of Israel--was playing the harlot by falling into idolatry. God wanted someone to identify with Him; He wanted someone to share in His pain. Someone to relate to. Hosea was chosen to marry this woman--not as a punishment, but because he was faithful. God led him into a difficult situation so that God could share His own great pain with a mere mortal. What a story!

I've taught the story of Hosea for many years in Bible studies, and I wanted to bring Hosea's story to the big screen. Now, these many years later, my script is in production. The movie is tentatively titled:

Amazing Love: The Story of Hosea.

But this is not just an adaptation of the Hosea story. In fact, it's crouched within a modern day context. In the film, we follow Staurt, a youth group leader who takes his teens on a camping trip. There they deal with strife within the group and Stuart begins to share the story of Hosea's love--a lesson that will impact all the kids.

Now, obviously, this is not my usual kind of story. There's no monsters or bogeymen. This is a much gentler, heartwarming tale of a few kids learning the value of friendship and unconditional love. It's a family movie. That might not be your cup of tea--it's rarely mine :p But I'm proud that Hosea's story will be brought out of obscurity and get some screen time.

Over the years, Rich and his brother Dave have worked on the script. It looks a little different than when I left it, but I'm eager to see the finished product. It is being directed by Kevin Downes--an actor, producer, and director--who is currently starring in Courageous.

I'm SUPER pumped to reveal that the actor who will be playing the part of Stuart, the counselor who tells Hosea's story, is none other than Sean Astin! Better known (by my circle of friends at any rate) as Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings films!

I was also able to see the kids who will be starring in our movie and we've got some incredible talent lined up for this picture. I'll keep everyone in the loop as the production progresses. We're looking at having this finished by February--which is coincidentally when Enemies of the Cross, the next novel in my supernatural thriller series The Coming Evil, is being released! So, you've got two sides of Greg Mitchell coming at you at the same time: Hallmarky warm and fuzzy, and unrelenting terror :) Take your pick.

"Supernatural" Giveaway Winner!

2011-09-10T07:14:00.001-05:00

And we have a winner!

Congratulations to CaptJack! You have won your very own signed copy of Supernatural: Night Terror!

Thanks to everyone who participated and special thanks to John Passarella for being a good sport :) Enjoy the book, CaptJack!

"The Strange Man"...The Movie Poster?

2011-09-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

I had a reader send this in today: A mock "vintage" movie poster for The Strange Man!

Super cool!

Alas, for now we can only dream of seeing the Strange Man on the silver screen. Maybe one day, yeah? We'll keep at it!

Special thanks to A.V. Runeby for cooking this up and passing it along.

Interview with 'Supernatural' writer John Passarella--and Contest!

2011-09-01T06:00:00.044-05:00

UPDATE #2: The contest is officially closed! Thanks to everyone for participating.

UPDATE: We are now running a contest where you can win a free signed copy of the book! Read after the interview for details.

I am very honored today to welcome horror author John Passarella to the blog to discuss his latest novel Night Terror (due out September 13th from Titan Books) based on the hit TV show Supernatural--now nearing its seventh season.

I have been a huge fan of Supernatural since the very beginning. While I've not been very excited by the more "cute" comedic direction the show's taken in recent years, I can still watch episodes like "Devil's Trap" and be reminded of this show's potential to be a great gritty drama. I've seen the amazing Animated Series, read the comics, and collected the novels--I even starred in Supernatural: Bone Key...okay, it was a cameo, but it still counts :p

Having said all of that, I'm a starstruck fanboy today, talking to a man who's written in this fictional universe. But enough of my drooling! On with the interview. Warning: Some spoilers for Supernatural Season Six ahead.

Greg Mitchell: Welcome, John! Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to pick your brain for a bit. We’ll start off with an easy one. Tell us a bit about yourself.

John Passarella: I’m an author of supernatural thrillers. My co-authored first novel, Wither, won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel and the movie rights were purchased by Columbia Pictures. Since then I’ve written two standalone sequels to Wither, Wither’s Rain and Wither’s Legacy, a paranormal thriller, Kindred Spirit, and Shimmer, another supernatural thriller. I’ve written three media tie-in novels, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ghoul Trouble, Angel: Avatar and Angel: Monolith. Supernatural: Night Terror (September 13, 2011) will be my ninth published novel, and fourth original media tie-in. In addition to writing, I’m the owner of AuthorPromo.com, a website design company with several New York Times bestselling authors as clients, including Harlan Coben, Nicholas Sparks and Michael Palmer.

GM: You wrote a Supernatural novel! How awesome! What’s Supernatural: Night Terror all about?

JP: Here’s the semi-official description, subject to change: Alerted to strange happenings in Clayton Falls, Colorado, Bobby sends the boys to check it out. A speeding car with no driver, a homeless man pursued by a massive Gila monster, a little boy chased by uprooted trees — it all sounds like the stuff of nightmares. The Winchesters fight to survive a series of terrifying nighttimes, realizing that sometimes the nightmares don’t go away — even when you’re awake...

GM: Where does it fit in Season Six? Are we talking Soulless Sam, here?

JP: Night Terror takes place after Sam’s soul restoration, between the episodes “Frontierland” and “My Heart Will Go On.”

GM: Does Night Terror have any connection (other than the obvious) to the other two Supernatural novels that have recently been released?

JP: One Year Gone is about the year Sam and Dean were separated. I believe Coyote Kiss, the novel that precedes mine takes place during Soulless Sam time. Actually, I think somebody said Night Terror is the first novel with Sam’s soul restored.

GM: How much did you know about Supernatural going into this project? Were you already a fan?

JP: Yes, big fan. I’d been watching since year one, episode one.

GM: Wow, that's great. I think that can really make the difference. Which season has been your favorite?

JP: I enjoyed the build-up of the apocalypse arc and resolution. Hard to beat the apocalypse for suspense value and ultimate stakes. However, I’ve enjoyed all the seasons to various degrees. With Kripke out as showrunner and not knowing how they would follow-up the averted apocalypse, I had concerns for season six, but it turned out well and the ending was certainly a surprise twist.

GM: What were some of the challenges of coming into this series?

JP: With any tie-in novel, the first concern is getting the voices right. The people who read these books are fans of the show. They notice when the voices or the characters don’t ring true. So job one is make sure that feels right. Since I had been a day-one fan, I knew the characters well, but writing them is another level of involvement and understanding. My editor gave me production scripts weeks before the episodes aired, so I was able to stay in tune with current situations and relationships in the show. Finally, I had to pitch four to five ideas initially, so I spent a week or two coming up with original ideas, something the show hadn’t used, and then hope the powers that be would like at least one of them enough to give me the green light to submit an outline. My guidelines were season six and monster story. No angels/demon arc. The show had passed that. Fortunately, most of my own novels deal with monsters and supernatural suspense so Supernatural is a good fit for me.

GM: How much did you know about Season Six’s outcome when you came on board to write the book?

JP: I was anywhere from five to six weeks ahead of the air dates as far as the scripts I had on hand. But I had to finish the first draft and the novel while there were still about three episodes left in the season. So I had no idea how the season would wrap up. As I was writing the novel, I put in references to upcoming (now long past!) episodes and kept pushing my story as late in the season six timeline as I could. Even though Castiel isn’t in my story, it takes place before the Winchesters’ suspect his involvement with Crowley. At that point in the season, their focus changes drastically so my between-episodes story would have been burdened with subplot that I couldn’t really address in a meaningful way.

GM: Did you see the finale? What did you think about the wrap-up for this year’s storyline?

JP: Yes, of course, I’ve seen it. I never miss a week. It’s appointment television for my wife, sons and me! Honestly, I thought Castiel was a goner. I didn’t see the twist coming. So I was pleasantly surprised. I have no idea where the show will go from here. Castiel is my oldest son’s favorite character in the show and I have the impression from outside news tidbits that he will appear less frequently next season.

GM: Any thoughts on where you, personally, would like to see Season Seven go?

JP: I like to be surprised. I thought reading the scripts ahead of time would kind of spoil the show for me, but my reactions just moved to the printed word rather than the television screen. What I mean is, I would be totally absorbed in the script and experience the emotions there first. Also, by reading the scripts, I absorbed more of the nuances of the show, what the writers intended. Unless you watch the episodes repeatedly, you miss a line here or there, don’t catch a look or an inference. In the script, all that stuff is there, unfiltered and uninterrupted.

GM: Wow, that's got to be really cool. A personal complaint about Supernatural is its limitations. We all know it’s on a very tight budget—affording little opportunity for really amazing creature effects or big scale action sequences. Plus, the scope has grown so big over the years—perhaps too big, given the budget—that Sam and Dean feel left out of the action so many times, such as the Civil War in Heaven. For the last few years, the big mythology stuff—first with the Demon War in Season Three, then with the angels trying to stop the seals from being broken in Season Four, to hunting Lucifer in Season Five—has largely occurred “off camera”. However, in a novel, is there a real opportunity to go “all out”, since you don’t have those budgetary constraints, and show some of these larger than life aspects of the SPN world, or do you feel that it’s the responsibility of a tie-in novel to not stray too far from what you’d be able to see in any given episode?

JP: I think that limitation applies to most genre shows. They don’t have summer franchise movie budgets to work with, so the superheroes stop being so super on a weekly basis, and the monsters stay in the shadows more than we’d like. Someone with the show called me and basically told me to take advantage of the “no censors” and “no budget constraints” aspects of the novel realm. So that’s what I did. There is a level of destruction and creature “effects” and gore in the novel which would not be possible on the show or would be left to the shadows or to the viewer’s imagination. Obviously a book leaves everything to the reader’s imagination, but when you’re watching a show (as opposed to reading a book) you want to see what you’re supposed to see and you sometimes feel cheated when it’s not there or doesn’t live up to your expectations or involve cutting edge CGI. As far as viewers being left out of the angel civil war, I came to understand during the season that without Sam and Dean in those situations, they may not have resonated with viewers. The Winchesters humanize the situations for us. Godlike beings battling amongst themselves might have been entertaining for a short while, but without the human scale, it may have left viewers uninvolved and unmoved. Season six helped bring things back to a human scale, but also gave us some resolution to the civil war in heaven.

GM: How hard is it to break into the media tie-in business? Is it harder than getting an original novel published?

JP: My first tie-in novel was Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ghoul Trouble. I approached the editor about writing a Buffy book, but I already had a Wither book credit. And one reviewer helpfully compared Wither to Buffy, so I thought that was a natural calling card. I had to submit an outline and sample chapter before I got the job. While writing that, the editor invited me to do an Angel novel. Angel: Avatar was the result. A subsequent editor contacted me about writing another Angel novel and Angel: Monolith was the result. The Titan Books editor was looking for fresh blood for the Supernatural books and she found my website on the web and invited me to pitch. Having the professional credit got my foot in the door, then having a good working relationship with the editor kept me in the game. Then my track record came into play for the last two tie-ins. The Wither movie rights sold before the book sale, which is unusual. I don’t think my writing career path is a blueprint somebody can follow in a straightforward way.

GM: Speaking of original novels, tell us about Wither. Is that series finished, or are their more Wendy Ward adventures waiting to be told?

JP: I’ve continued the Wither/Wendy Ward mythology in a series of (sometimes long) short stories, most available in eBook form. The most recent – and longest – is “Blood Alone” in an anthology called The Stories In Between. I’m planning another story that will go in a fiction collection later this year. All the Wendy Ward stories and my other short fiction will be available first in eBook form, then possibly in trade paperback. I may write another Wendy Ward story, but I’m undecided at the moment. With that last story, I provided a resolution of sorts for Wendy. If I think of a novel-length story to tell with her, I will write it. E-publishing has made some things possible that were mostly impossible before. With the fiction collection coming and some other novels on the backburner, I’ll have time to let ideas for Wendy percolate.

GM: I agree about the interesting market changes thanks to the advent of eBooks. What’s up next for you? Any more Supernatural novels on the horizon?

JP: I’d love to do another Supernatural novel. Sales of the current batch will determine if the license is renewed. So any readers out there who like them should support them. Spread the word. Buy some as gifts for friends, fans of the show who may not know they exist or donate copies to your local library. But, short term, I want to write one last original story for the fiction collection. Then possibly a sequel to Shimmer: I wrote 12,000 words of it during NaNoWriMo before stopping to write Night Terror. And I have some other novel ideas I’d like to begin.

GM: With your obvious knowledge and passion for the show, I think it's safe to say we could use someone like you writing more Supernatural novels! Now, final question: I know you wrote Buffy, that other famous television monster hunter of recent memory. In the interest of total frivolity, be honest--if Buffy and the Winchester Brothers were bound by some demonic force to have a fight to the death, who would win? Or would there just be lots of witty banter?

JP: That’s a tough one. Without the demonic force controlling them, I think they’d really get along. Definitely kindred spirits. If the duel came down solely to hand-to-hand combat, I’d have to give the edge to Buffy, as she has the whole “Chosen One” supernatural strength, agility, etc. advantage. If weapons were allowed, the Winchesters are resourceful enough to turn the fight in their favor, but it would probably come down to a coin flip.

GM: Thank you for sitting down and hanging out with us.

JP: Thanks, Greg!

GM: And thanks to everyone for stopping by to read! Now go pre-order your copy of Night Terror today and look for it in stores September 13th!

The giveaway is now closed! Head over to the winner announcement!

Major Announcement: "Enemies of the Cross" Cover and Details!

2011-08-26T17:05:00.005-05:00

I thought we'd kick off the weekend by premiering the brand new cover for The Coming Evil, Book Two: Enemies of the Cross! Not only that, but read below for your first peek at what's in store in this second chapter of The Coming Evil Trilogy.

If you've not read Book One--The Strange Man--be prepared for some spoilers!

Everyone must choose a side...

Following the aftermath of Dras Weldon's ill-fated stand against the Strange Man, Dras's older brother, Jeff, discovers that the demon's arrival in Greensboro did not come as a surprise to everyone. Consumed by guilt for abandoning his brother when he needed him most, Jeff embarks on a crusade to expose Greensboro's dark secrets. As Jeff works to unravel the treachery that exists among the people he once trusted, his thirst for vengeance leads him down a dangerous path as his moral lines begin to blur.

Jeff's frenzied obsession pushes his wife, Isabella, further and further away, and his congregation begins to lose faith in him as well. Still Jeff drives himself to gather all the pieces of the Strange Man's puzzle.

All the while, the Strange Man grows closer to claiming Rosalyn for his own evil designs, and the streets of Greensboro turn ominous. A dark hour is coming to this small town, and the battle lines are being drawn, setting the stage for an incredible final confrontation between those who hold to the light and those who lose themselves in darkness.

The second installment in Greg Mitchell's The Coming Evil Trilogy, "Enemies of the Cross" pulls the reader deeper into the Strange Man's assault on Greensboro and serves as a reminder that the greatest evils often lie in the hearts of mankind.

The book is available for pre-order now on Amazon and hits stores everywhere February 2012!

Interview and Review

2011-08-06T07:12:00.002-05:00

The last couple days have been crazy. My phone's been ringing off the hook, so to speak, and there's been movement on a lot of different projects. I'm busting at the seams ready to share with you guys, but I want to wait a little bit longer before announcing anything just to be on the safe side.

In the meantime, Cindy Loven was gracious enough to review The Strange Man last week on her blog, and this week has conducted an interview with yours truly. Follow the links below to check it out!

Read the review!
Have your mind blown by my insightful interview!

Who Ya Gonna Call?

2011-07-20T15:21:00.005-05:00

Here's a little teaser art for Bob Freeman and Chris Wilson's upcoming occult detective graphic novel: Oddfellows Serenade.

And, my, who is that incredibly handsome monster hunter in the third panel?

Bob's already posted the first chapter on his blog. Check it out! I'm looking forward to this comic!

Pages 1-3
Pages 4-6
Pages 7-8
Pages 9-11
Pages 12-13

Mega-Monster Interview with D.M. Cornish!!

2011-07-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

You are in for a treat today, readers:

D.M. Cornish is here!

First--a little background. I came in late to the Harry Potter craze. By time I had any desire to read the books, the third movie was already out. When I finally did read them, I realized that "intermediate readers" books had really really advanced since I was the intended age group. After Harry Potter, I decided to peruse Books-A-Million to find similarly crafted awesomeness, when one book caught my eye.

Monster-Blood Tattoo.

I glimpsed the cover. Saw "Monster" in the title, and just froze. Had I found my next great YA adventure? I read the inside cover, learning that I was in for a dark and mysterious journey through monster-infested--"threwdish" (as in "haunted") woods--and my inner twelve year old was dancing for joy. Then...oh, dear friends...then I flipped to the back of the book. The famed Explicarium. 121 pages of definitions, calendars, legends and lore, and schematics of the ships used in this sailing-inspired story. I was near tears, marveling at the amount of detail that the author--D.M. Cornish--put into this book. It was then that I realized this wasn't just a story, Mr. Cornish had crafted an entire world.

I bought the book and was instantly transported to the Half-Continent, a fantasy land that borrows absolutely nothing from Tolkien. You won't find any elves, dwarves, or dragons here. No swords or magic or corrupt kingdoms. You'll just find sailors, tri-corner hats, and flintlocks...and lots and lots of monsters, bogles, and nicks of every shape, size, and philosophy. But, most of all, you meet Rossamünd--the antithesis of nearly every hero in the YA fiction category. Rossamünd is kind, patient, friendly, longsuffering, and hasn't an ounce of ego. He is well-mannered, hard-working, and is so darn likable and unassuming that even those who might be his enemies are won over by his goodnaturedness.

Mr. Cornish has finally finished his epic trilogy, chronicling Rossamünd's journey (so far?) and the books--and Explicarium--have only grown. After being a fan for so long, I'm very excited to have the author stop by today to discuss the origins of his most unique creation and talk all kinds of deep, writery things. Enjoy!

Greg Mitchell: Okay, we’ll start small: Give the new folks a rundown—what’s The Foundling’s Tale about?

D.M. Cornish: Too hard to answer in a nutshell really – usually to sum up any story rarely does it justice and, moreover, I have no notion of how to do this with The Foundling’s Tale (aka Monster-Blood Tattoo). To say it is about Rossamünd, a boy with a girl’s name, who leaves his orphanage to enter his trade as a lamplighter and what happens to him on the way, during and after does little to expound the whole vibe of the story, the setting etc. However, I suppose it will have to do. I have answered elsewhere on the web, equally evasively...

GM: It is a hard question, I agree. Now, take me back a bit to the beginning. You were, first and foremost, an illustrator, correct? I’ve heard you tell your story and it sounds like you almost “stumbled into” writing your Half-continent creation as a novel. How did this all come about?

DMC: That it was really. I had been inventing the Half-Continent for years (since 1992 or so, though there was a lot of preliminary playing around and reading that lead even to beginning to make the H-c). All the time I was refining ideas, building them, expanding them with a thought that they would need to pass public scrutiny (i.e., that the ideas had to be as solid as I could make, not entirely self-indulgent but comprehensible too) thinking maybe one day someone somewhere might see what I was doing and say “Hey, that looks workable; do us something from that pretend world you’ve got there.”

2003 rolls on in and I find myself back in my home town of Adelaide after nigh on a decade absence, without work and naught but an illustration folio under my arm (I was at the time a freelance illustrator – making the Half-Continent was a hobby). Off I pop to my local children’s book publisher, Omnibus Books, to find some covers to illustrate and/or picture books to picture and hallelujah, the publisher there gives me first a cover, then one picture book then another – I had work, food on the table and a roof. Phew!

At the time I would often sit in my publisher’s office and talk with her about life-the-universe-and-everything (goodness knows what work she was not getting done!) One day near the very end of 2003, she found one of my notebooks full of all manner of H-c ideas and asked what it was. I told her. She right then and there asked me to write a story set in this notebooked world, which I did, a chapter at a time until she felt I had something to offer (and could actually write …), contracts were offered, contracts were signed, publishers in other lands were shown, they signed up and here we are.

GM: I’ve told you this before, but I am so impressed with your notebook collection! It’s actually inspired me to keep my own notebooks regarding The Coming Evil series. How many notebooks do you have, now, that chronicle your thoughts on the Half-continent? Similarly, how many notebooks had you completed before you started “officially” writing Foundling?

DMC: Well, cheers. I am currently in the midst of notebook 36; I began writing Foundling (officially and unofficially – no form of it existed until my publisher asked me to write a story for her) at notebook 23.

GM: That is insane! I am actually only to notebook 2 on my TCE notes :p Okay, let’s go all the way back now--tell me about the beginning of the H-c. It’s a fantasy world, sure, but it’s so far removed from what people might call “traditional fantasy”. No elves, no dwarves. Instead of a medieval Europe setting, you’ve got tri-corner hats and flintlocks. But this isn’t in our past, correct? This is a totally separate world with its own fully realized locations and languages and culture. How did you arrive to this? What was that initial spark? I mean, why boats and tri-corner hats?

DMC: "Why not?" is the best answer I can give.

GM: Fair enough!

DMC: In more recent times it has occurred to me that in a very real sense the Half-Continent and beyond is my way of addressing real history, that it is a pseudo-history rather than a fantasy, that in many ways it is just European history of the 17th & 18th centuries but with monsters added.

I can certainly say that the H-c is a way for me to take all sorts of real historical things I think are “cool” but that would not otherwise fit together, bring them together and make them seem as if they actually fit as a whole and have always done so.

It is the aesthetics of an item, a word, a custom, even an event that usually appeal to me first.

GM: Something I’ve written to you about before is that you write some dynamic action scenes. When the monsters start storming the gates and people are dying to fend them off—it’s explosive. But, what I find interesting (and sometimes frustrating :p) is that these are not “action” books. They’re almost designed as guided tours throughout the world, with your characters as our host. It’s very slice-of-life and so, so detailed—I don’t think I can stress that enough for people who haven’t read it. The books are, I’d say, written from an in-universe perspective, meaning I could imagine this very book being found within the world it describes, as even the “narrator” is from the H-c. I want to say the books are “mundane”, but I’ve got to stress that the writing is far from average. The prose is silk, here. But, the story is very much about an ordinary-ish boy sort of stumbling into experiences he’s perhaps ill-equipped to face. But he leads a somewhat simple life and we follow him through his walk as he matures and discovers the world—both in a literal sense, and metaphorically. Was this a result of wanting to explore your own creation or did you set out to write something that felt more “day-to-day living” from the start?

DMC: Both at once.

I am still not sure if it is the right thing to do or a good origin for any story, but a major motivation for writing is to take people through the Half-Continent and show them what it is like. The H-c is actually the main character of the story, which the human characters, the events, the “technologies”, monsters, geography and all the rest all work together to show as best as I can possibly make it, whilst still actually writing a properly engaging tale. This is the goal at least – still learning how it is done, and if it can be done.

As perhaps a lead up to the next question, the day-to-day element is very much about me being conscious of not needing to tread the already well and/or thoroughly told line of the Great Quest to thwart the Ultimate Threat.

My hope is that the pretend world will be interesting enough in its fundamentals that the life of some average soul from that world ought to be a tale in itself - at least to make a good short story.

Sometimes I think with TFT/MBT that I have not gone day-to-day enough…

[SIDE NOTE] Just to address the idea of the “narrator” in TFT/MBT: I wrote very conscious of the words I was using. All too often when reading other otherwise excellent tales I find myself frustrated to find their language and idioms are modern and from our world, thus constantly drawing me out of my suspension of disbelief. It seems imperative to me that the language used to tell a tale supports the mood as much as any other element, especially if you want to sell that it is otherworldly.

GM: In keeping with that thought, you recently posted on your blog how you previously shied away from the “global threat” that most fantasy books cover. That sort of Ultimate Evil that is jeopardizing the entire land--a Voldemort figure. I subconsciously picked up on that, but it wasn’t until I read your thoughts on it that I realized “Oh, yeah.” Why have you avoided the Ultimate Evil and do you think you will eventually bring the H-c to that sort of threat level? If you think you will, why the change? What are the pros and cons of having an Ultimate Evil?

DMC: There are two cons that animate me about Ultimate Evils:

1/ it’s done to death already, so easy to avoid – others have told this story to varying degrees of excellence, so why not try other avenues to create tension and threat in my pretend world.

2/ I wanted the Half-Continent to carry on in its emerging form rather than be altered forever by some cataclysm (ahh, the sadness as the elves leave Middle-earth for good...!). Perhaps this is some expression of my dismay at death and decay, at the constant passing of beauty.

This said, there have certainly been all-changing cataclysms in the “history” of the Half-Continent and beyond, so I see them as necessary, obviously, and suspect I have not been sooooo original with some of my ideas for these – there is much of the history that has yet to be truly fixed down, but certain cataclysms.

(Most importantly the destruction of the Phlegms who called up false-gods in lust to further their already vast knowledge, necessitating the intervention of the many urchin lords including the Dukes of Sparrows and the Duke of Crows to send the falsegods back to the crushing deeps, bringing destruction to Phlegm in the progress of so mighty a conflict.)

GM: I. Want. That. Story. NOW.

I came to this story when it was called Monster-Blood Tattoo. What a great name! Sadly, I’ve discovered that the publishers have re-branded the series to The Foundling’s Tale. Can you talk about the switch? The reasoning behind it? Your feelings?

DMC: This change was made only by the US publishers, in the great big world beyond North America’s shores it is still called Monster-Blood Tattoo – or whatever variations of language bring to this original title.

It was thought that the old title (Monster-Blood Tattoo) was putting off more readers than it was attracting, so something more benign was sought

GM: Confession time--I’m still reading Factotum, the third and final book in the Foundling’s Tale—so I don’t want to get too much into spoilers for my own sake :p But what’s next for the H-c? And beyond the H-c? Do you foresee yourself creating any more fantasy worlds? Can your house fit that many notebooks?

DMC: I reckon ONE magnum opus world is enough for any soul. I do not make worlds up for the sake of a story, I really prefer to write about a pretend place that to a necessary measure of invention already exists.

GM: Indeed!

DMC: However, I do have a couple half-baked other other worlds floating about my mind, but none anywhere near as realised as the Half-Continent. Some odd “super-hero” notion set in our world that morphed into a grimmer setting of secret societies and odd biological powers etc etc etc.

Right now I am working on what I hope will be the next book, set in the Half-Continent of course, but we will drop Rossamünd’s story for now and seek to see the lives and adventures of a whole new cast of characters (and no, Europe will NOT be in this new tale...)

GM: No Europe! Many fans will be disappointed! I’d like to talk a little about your faith, if that’s alright. It’s funny, your books make no mention of religion--in either a positive or negative slant. It’s just not there. I don’t think I’ve even read of any of your characters praying or any churches in the area or anything. There’s no Christian allegory that I can find, no “deeper spiritual themes” necessarily (though, of course, there are great morals about kindness, hard work, humility, and friendship), yet, when I found out that you were a Christian, I wasn’t at all surprised. In fact, I felt like I already “knew” somehow. How has your faith influenced your writing? Or, has it? Does God exist in the H-c?

DMC: Well, if we take faith to mean as most think it does, to be a set of ideas I hold in my head and chose to believe as being so, consequently couching them in stories so as to make people think the same thoughts as me, then no, not at all.

If by faith it is meant, instead, that I operate in the genuine hope that Jesus is who he said he is, that he was/is God as a man, that he did die and did rise again to life, that he does by his Spirit dwell within me (and others, of course) and is changing me by degrees (slow and clumsy as I am to learn) working in me to do better things, and that if this be so that he might naturally come out of the things that I do without me needing to be falsely pious or self-consciously forced, then yes, absolutely!

GM: A fine answer. Well put.

DMC: I am a hearty adherent to Tolkien’s notion of applicability. Allegory is perfectly worthy of course, but I find trying to find one-for-one substitutions for so big an idea as the Half-Continent not only impossible but also terribly limiting to my honest and truthful expression of what is actually bubbling away inside me. Beyond either of these, determined purposes to indoctrinate through story appear to me a misuse of the fiction form – surely it is through characters being genuinely human that it might be hoped to impart some encouragement or revelation.

GM: I agree about allegory. I think it can become a slippery slope as any story that is "one-by-one" in its imagery/meaning probably makes for a rather limited reading experience.

Moving from faith to monsters: Monsters are, obviously, a big component of the series. What were some of your favorite monster stories growing up? What about monster movies? What inspired you and what keeps you inspired today?

DMC: Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak always always springs to mind first. That and the many dinosaur text books my primary school library stocked; love those murky old school illustrations of weird, half-mythic beasts that actually once roamed this world!

I think the biggest continuing source and influence for monsters are H.P.Lovecraft and manga and all of God’s creatures that walk and crawl, swim and fly on this home of ours. Real things are (obviously, I suppose) the best wellspring to draw from for wacky beasts.

GM: I love that you just name-dropped, Lovecraft, manga, and God all in the same answer. That really makes me smile :) I’m very thankful to you for taking the time to hang out and talk books. I wish you the best with the trilogy and everything else you’ve got planned for the H-c. But . . . one last question:

Do you have a monster-blood tattoo? Come on. You got inked, right? You can’t write three books about it and not have one, right? Right?

DMC: Well actually no, I do not have a tattoo.

The spoors and cruorpunxis of those in the Half-Continent are in truth me harking to body marks being done for proper and meaningful purpose, to display something ‘real’ about their wearers – i.e. “I AM a monster-hunter of this kind and THESE are how many monsters I have killed”. By real I do not mean some affected pose of “I am cool” or “I am hard”, but that the mark represents more than just the whim of its wearer.

I bet you weren’t expecting such an intense response to this bit of playful banter... Sorry about that.

GM: :p

Thanks to everyone for reading. Head over to Mr. Cornish's site to keep updated on his writing and here's a helpful link to order your own copy of Foundling, Book One of Monster-Blood Tattoo!

New Podcast Interview---With Me!

2011-05-27T16:19:00.005-05:00

Hey, everybody, my buddy Paeter Frandsen over at Spirit Blade has just posted his podcast interview he did with me a few months back. Come hear my melodious voice (with way more Southern drawl than I had realized) as we talk The Strange Man, Christian Horror, and monster stuff! Go now! Go listen!!

http://paeter.libsyn.com/horror-writer-greg-mitchell-interview

Book Two Update!

2011-05-17T08:47:00.005-05:00

Things are moving full-steam ahead on Book Two!

My editor and I have been hard at work the last couple weeks, hammering out the kinks, tightening the screws, and I'm confident this book is going to be bigger and better than Book One. I've learned a lot from those who have reviewed the book and found some room for improvement, and have incorporated their sound advice into this book.

Yesterday, we worked on the back copy (what it says on the back of the book). Recently, I took a new author photo for the back, and I hear the team is hard at work on the cover. As soon as I receive it and get word that it's okay to show, I'll debut it here on this site. I'm also planning on posting an excerpt from Book Two as a special Halloween treat, and I'm in the early stages of crafting a brand-new original tie-in short story that will plant some seeds for Book Two. Look for that around Christmas time, if all goes well.

It's been confirmed that Book Two will be entitled "Enemies of the Cross" and will be released February 2012. What can you expect to find in this next installment? Secrets will be revealed--changing everything you know--and everyone will be forced to choose a side in the upcoming war between the last remaining "saints" of Greensboro and the forces of hell. There will be new characters, returning favorites, and even more gruesome monsters. The stakes are raised as the mystery of the Strange Man's master plan unfolds.

If you haven't read Book One, The Strange Man, now is the perfect time to get caught up and prepare yourself for Book Two. The Strange Man is available wherever fine books are sold, and you can order it on Amazon in paperback, or on Kindle.

I'm very excited to finally see Enemies of the Cross come to life. And, again, I'll remind you that, even if you've only read the original self-published Xulon edition of The Strange Man (without the plethora of extra scenes as found in the current and "canon" Realms Edition), you can still pick up Enemies of the Cross and know what's going on.

Stay tuned as we head towards the finish line and prepare yourself for Enemies of the Cross!

Interview with Pete Turner--Christian Horror Author!

2011-05-02T06:00:00.003-05:00

Okay, where were all these books when I was growing up?

As I've said many times before, when I was a young teen, perusing my local Christian bookstores, I ached to see the spooky, the weird, the scary. I was looking for monsters! Frank Peretti delighted my adolescent imagination, but that was about it. Because of this need I set out to write my own "Christian Horror" novel. These days, though, I see Christian Horror authors everywhere I look! It's a very exciting time for people who like the macabre thrown in with their message, the fear with their faith.

Today we've got one such pioneer--Pete Turner!

Pete's latest book Whisper A Scream is nearing its official release (the un-official release happened Easter weekend), and we've got him, hot off the unveiling of his fantastic cover, to discuss the book, his inspirations and passions, and the role of Christian Horror in today's world. Enjoy!

Greg Mitchell: Tell us about Whisper A Scream.

Pete Turner: If I had to sum up only enough to place it in an urn on my mantle (sounded funnier than a nutshell): Whisper A Scream is a Supernatural Thriller (I call it Christian Horror) about demons, cults, time-traveling nightmares, and redemption in a small Kentucky town.

GM: This is actually the book’s second release, correct? I can certainly relate to that with my own foray into the genre--The Strange Man! Let’s talk about the initial release. What prompted you to re-release it?

PT: Yes, this is the 2nd version of Whisper. The first one released 8-13-2010 (Friday the 13th- lol), through a smaller publisher, with no budget, promotion, and little editing. It contained several flaws, and at times admittedly some weak writing style. In February, I signed with my new publisher, TreasureLine Books. Some of the folks there really fell in love with the story. They told me it was a really great story, and NEEDS to be a really great book. I started with a critiquing service, and used the results as a foundation with which to measure the manuscript word for word. Then essentially re-wrote it twice and strengthened the weak stuff, wiped the mud from the unclearness, and eventually added several new scenes (one of which ties the entire story together), and had a more full edit. It is essentially a brand new book with a most awesome cover!

GM: As I understand it, Whisper A Scream is the first book of the Noche Files. A trilogy, right? How far along are you on the remaining two chapters? Care to divulge some juicy tidbits on what fans might expect from this series?

PT: Yes, this is the first novel of the Noche Files Trilogy, also labeled the Whisper Trilogy, as each title will contain the name "Whisper", as well as, Solomon Noche as the protagonist throughout each one. Sol has a unique gift of interacting with spiritual beings. He learns to war against demons. The second novel is finished besides some tightening and editing of it. The third novel, I’m about a third of the way finished with its first draft. Coming soon Sol has to face a serial killer, and fight his way through reality and nightmares. By the third novel he gets a job with the FBI in a newly developed unit called TURK--a task unit on religious killings, and may have to face a series of demons instead of one primary, meaning it may contain several “cases” instead of only one.

GM: What was the inspiration for your character of Solomon Noche?

PT: Interesting question. Sol was inspired by several things and people. He is an adventurer with some skills, but is also a little neurotic. He is good with psychological and therapeutic concepts, but can trust his gut instincts as well. Sol shares several personality traits with me. It’s all about me! Just kidding. I feel like he has elements of a Biblical hero in a modern situation, perhaps a little neurotic Indiana Jones. His name alone has significant connotations—Solomon wisest man in the world; Noche means night. Wiseman through his dreams?

GM: Now, you’ve got a background in Christian heavy metal rock music, right? You know you’ve gotta talk about that.

PT: Wow! I do have some major roots in Christian Heavy Metal! I guess it all started when I was about 14 and was big into secular bands like Van Halen, AC/DC, Rush, and Def Leppard. I prayed that someone could play heavy music for the glory of God. It wasn’t long that someone introduced me to Petra, but still lacked the power and intensity I wanted. A few months later, someone let me borrow a bootleg tape of a band named Stryper. That was it! WOW! They were an answer to my prayers! It wasn’t long before I discovered Resurrection Band, Daniel Band, Barren Cross, Bloodgood (whose first CD was the first CD I ever bought), it was the eighties, still no better time in music to me. Around that time too, I played drums in church. So inevitably I started my own Christian rock bands, which culminated in a legitimate professional band and CD Screaming Archangel. That band lasted about four years, but just could not land a recording contract, and life separated us.

GM: So, Stryper. You a fan? (Because I sorta am :p)

PT: Oh yeah! I’ve been a fan of them since I was 15! Stryper changed my life, gave me direction, and I felt my calling was music ministry, at least for a while. But, yes, I was totally a Stryper fan, posters, shirts, buttons on my jacket, stickers, and the works. I still am a Stryper fan! I have some memorabilia from them as far back as 1986--a newspaper article, and like a fan club letter signed in pen. During their reunion tour in 2003, some of my band and I made it to the front at their show in Nashville. I held up a Screaming Archangel tee shirt. Robert Sweet yells pointing in my direction, “Is that your band?” I toss the shirt up on the stage- he picks it up, reads it, TIES IT ON HIS HEAD, and plays the next song with it tied to his head like a bandana! WOW! It was awesome, but no pictures! I’m, still a Stryper fan!

GM: Why in the world did you want to be a writer? People ask me that with increasing frequency and sometimes I think to myself “Why, indeed?” :p What prompted you to take the leap?

PT: I think it’s basically ‘cause—I’m crazy! J/K. I think writer’s blood has always pumped through my veins, and sometimes it dripped onto paper, but I ignored the pathogen, attributing it to something else. Nah, I suppose writing was my original passion as a pre-adolescent, I wrote a novella in 7th grade, and knew it was what I wanted to do. Yet, as I said earlier, I ‘discovered’ my calling as a Christian Rock songwriter, and so stories were substituted with lyrics. During that time, however, I wrote a few things here and there for local Christian publications—stories about mission trips I went on with my dad, etc… Then I wrote a monthly column for about a year—where I discussed the end time events and such. When I moved to Retselville (yes it’s a real town with a fictional name) some strange things happened combined with some local lore that I thought would make a good story, I sat down one night to write down some ideas and just never quit writing.

GM: Between Christian thrash metal and Christian Horror, I think it’s safe to say you’ve been involved in, what many “church people” would consider, “dark stuff”. What is it about these genres that attracts you as a fan and a creator?

PT: I live life for controversy! No, just kidding, again. Dude, you’re getting deep here! First I think my attraction (and I use that term loosely) to these “dark things” is multi-layered, so I’ll name them and then attempt to explain. One, because many Christians are afraid of the devil and their concept of what evil entails (out of a biblical ignorance). Two, the misconception the world at large has about Satan and God. Three due to the secular world, and perhaps many Christians’ faulty belief that some physical means or rituals can abate evil. Finally, most of the world (including many Christians) no longer believe in an actual being of Satan—maybe an “ambiance of evil” linked mostly to poor human choice, mental illness, or selfishness, but not a fallen angel name Satan. And if they do, he usually looks like a caricature with a tail and horns in a red spandex jumpsuit.

I’m so thankful for growing up in a charismatic church setting, my father was a pastor and evangelist which allowed me the opportunity to witness a lot of supernatural things, (some that would scare horror movie fans) that exist beyond what we may tangibly touch or physically see. Christians are afraid of the devil and I think part of my attraction to darker things was to expose the weakness of it. One of my favorite verses is Isaiah 14:16, “Is this the man that caused the earth to tremble?” People will be shocked when they finally see how he really looks. I’m not saying demons have no power, but it’s nothing compared to the weakest Christian who knows the power of Scripture. Romans 5:20 explains it best, where sin (darkness, evil, horror) exists grace abounds more. But evil in every aspect is real. You can’t sit on your behind in a pew and believe the world is filled with fuzzy bunnies and roses. Hey, some of those bunnies have rabies and every rose has a thorn (sounds like a song- j/k).

I believe you can’t bring people into the light, unless you help them escape or show them there’s darkness. Satan’s best deception is convincing the world he isn’t real or his power can be thwarted with some humanistic approach. And the entertainment industry evidences this daily in television, movies, novels, and music. Finally, you can’t defeat the devil by simply “resisting him” as many Christians think. You first must submit yourself to God, and use His Word as your weapon (James 4:7). So I truly believe my calling is in exposing this, not only to Christians, but to everyone.

GM: In light of that, what are your thoughts on “Christian Horror”? I know a lot of people don’t like that term. Many mainstream Christian publishers (all of them?) wouldn’t want to put the word “horror” anywhere near a book they were trying to sell to Lifeway, and a lot of horror publishers wouldn’t look at anything called “Christian”. It’s a balancing act, to be sure, but do you see a market for this genre? Do you think it serves a purpose? Or is it just a black sheep that should be locked up in the basement of the publishing world?

PT: You are right a lot of people are nauseated by the term. I don’t really understand the big deal about it. I mean, it’s just a label to help others “find” this style of writing easier. Honestly, I love the label! My thought is this, type in “supernatural thriller” in any search engine, and Whisper would not come up, maybe ever. But try “Christian horror” I’ll definitely show up within the first couple of pages, add novel inside those quotes and typically Whisper’s fan fb page, my website, even my personal fb page will show up as first. That to me is quite unique. People that are looking for this type of novel will definitely be exposed to my works. What more publicity would you want? However, unlike rock and roll there is such a thing as “bad publicity” and the connotations that the term “horror” entails, is why so many Christian publishers shy away from it. However, I predict it will catch on soon, and all of us Christian horror authors will be praised. (I can dream, right?).

The bottom line for me is this; I think there is no better way to express the power of Jesus Christ and the Bible than through the medium of Christian Horror! Since the Bible is not really a cutesy romance book, no offense to romance writers (my publisher writes romance novels), and yes there is romance in the Bible, (technically speaking the Bible as a whole is a love letter to us humans). However, the Bible is filled with horror stories; from beginning to end. There is blood and gore, cults, demons, child sacrifice, sprinkling blood on the heads of priests, and thrones, and altars (and that’s God’s people), think of the severed heads (Goliath wasn’t killed with a rock, David took Goliath’s sword, sawed off his head and held it up- dripping, squirting, seeping blood everywhere)! There is destruction, decay, blood running to the horses’ bridal, angels with flaming swords, talking snakes and donkeys, God opening the ground and swallowing hundreds of people, a man slicing, cracking, brutalizing a thousand other heads with a jawbone. These aren’t the latest Christian horror novels; these are children’s stories from the Bible.

Again, what’s the big deal about Christian horror? Yet, in way, I understand the publishers view. If people aren’t gonna buy something, it doesn’t matter how unique it is. My goal with writing isn’t just to entertain, it’s to help others (overcome fear or demon oppression or whatever). So if there is a way I can reach more of those people then I have no problem with becoming all things to all people in order to reach some.

GM: A great testimony, Pete. Alright, I'll give you a break from the deep topics. Let’s move away from that and talk fun fanboy stuff. What’s your favorite scary movie? Why? What about authors? Comics? What excites you, man?

PT: How’d you know my nickname was Fun Fanboy? J/K! I like fun fanboy, I let him speak occasionally. I’m definitely a fanatic of things—but some only revealed by Mr. Noche, himself. Yet, picking favorites is always a tough thing for me, I love so much! Favorite scary movie—Wow, toughest of all! I’ll narrow it to three, The Number 23, Psycho (scary with a twist); and The Sixth Sense (if you’d label that a scary movie- but best twist ever!). My favorite movies (especially the scary ones) have a twist that gouges your eyes out at the end (not literally, just you never saw coming).

I have way too many “favorite” authors too, Ted Dekker, Melanie Wells, Charles Dickens, Ellen Maze, Poe, Peretti, James Patterson. I could name a ton of ‘em. But we’ll use God’s number: Seven. I used to be a huge Hulk comic book collector, but got more into music in adolescent and saved all my money for tapes and vinyl (eventually CDs).

Honestly, Bible Prophecy excites me! It always has, almost as soon as I could read I was fascinated by it. I’ve read commentaries, studied extensively, wrote a monthly column about it, and even taught seminars about it. We are living in the days all of the prophets of old wished they were.

I’m also excited by Cincinnati Bengals, and Kentucky Wildcats college basketball. March madness is one of my favorite times of the year.

GM: What are Pete Turner’s plans for the future? Any heavy metal concept albums inspired by Whisper A Scream on the horizon?

PT: The rest of this year, I’ve got lots of plans. I’ve got several radio interviews coming up around my area to promote the re-release. I’ll be a guest DJ on the Killer Neace Radio show May 21st. I’ve been working with a few other Christian fiction writers about organizing some kind of forum this summer to talk about Christian Horror and Supernatural Thrillers. I’ve also been invited to be a contributing author for The New Author’s Fellowship. I’ll be doing several book signings, speaking engagements, and appearances. And to finish the summer I’m going to be a Key Note speaker for a writers’ workshop for regional public school teachers in August. I’m working on a couple of short stories to be included in an upcoming anthology. This fall, Whisper From The Woods should be released. I would only do a Whisper A Scream record if Teric Darken handles the vocals!

GM: When’s the official release date for Whisper A Scream? When and where can people buy it?

PT: The official release date is May 19th; TreasureLine Books will have a cyber-release party! This is a cool, unique thing where the author is on-line most of the day talking with fans and interacting, free giveaways, trivia stuff. It’s one of the cool things I love about my TreasureLine family. And this is followed by a Radio Release Party on May 21st on Killer Radio as a guest DJ!

It is available for purchase on amazon.com both paperback and Kindle form, Smashwords.com, and available for the Nook. You can have the option of also buying an autographed version from my website: peteturner.webs.com. I would love to add everyone on facebook: facebook.com/peteturnerChristianHorrorAuthor and Whisper has a fan fb page at facebook.com/whisperascream.ChristianHorrorNovel. And available from treasurelinepublishing.com

GM: Thanks for taking the time to hang out with us, Pete! All the best to you in the future.

PT: THANKS to you, GREG! It’s been a SCREAM!

CSFF Blog Tour--Highlights

2011-04-21T09:40:00.009-05:00

I did it! I survived the CSFF blog tour.

For three days, readers commented, critiqued, and discussed The Strange Man, and I think I anxiously bit my nails the entire time. I'm grateful to everyone who participated. They were all very kind and I learned a lot from their reactions to the book. Here's a few highlights for me.

The book is scary. More than one reader commented on how scared/unnerved/creeped-out/disturbed they were by the book, so I'd say mission accomplished :p Rebecca LuElla Miller even went so far to say in the comments section of this review:

"...this is definitely the spookiest the CSFF Blog Tour has ever featured. It's not for everyone, that's certain, but people who like roller coaster adrenaline rushes will probably like this one."

Spookiest ever! Not sure if that was intended as a compliment, but I certainly take it as one :)

Even my publisher--Realms Fiction--shared in the praise:

Dona Watson said, "I applaud Realms for taking on this project. It is an exciting time to be in Christian speculative fiction."

I'm exceptionally happy when people have cause to celebrate my publisher because of the book. Publishers take a financial risk with every book they contract, and I always understood Realms perhaps took a great risk putting out an unapologetic "horror" book about monsters and ghastly things in the Christian market that is dominated by prairie romance (not that there's anything wrong with Bonnet love). In a business-sense, it seemed like an unwise move, but they took a chance on me, and I'm forever grateful to them for that. I'm glad others are noticing Realms' innovation with their "supernatural suspense" line, as well.

It wasn't all sunshine and roses on the tour. The actual writing took a couple hits--a big one being my POV-hopping, which I've already admitted to in the commentary for the book. So, I wasn't surprised, nor offended. There was some "logic concerns" about how fast a spinning tornado of flesh-eating gremlins are, but thankfully these things didn't distract too much from the story for the readers. I'll take these lessons with me as I head into edit mode on Book Two: Enemies of the Cross.

What was most exciting, however, were the discussions. Finally people were noticing the subtler points of my story and I saw discussions ranging from bogeymen, to the reality of devils and their power, to the legitimacy of Dras' childhood conversion. Great conversations.

Noah Arsenault also conducted a brand new interview with me, for those interested.

The blog tour was a very positive and encouraging experience. I've learned a lot about my craft, about the expectations of readers, and about how my words come across to someone not living in my head. I feel like I've returned from a trip and I've got that "pleasantly exhausted" feeling like the tail end of a vacation. Now it's back to work on my writing.

In the meantime, I leave you with this vintage trailer from John Carpenter's 1980 classic The Fog in honor of The Fog Day! On April 21st, a mysterious fog enters the coastal town of Antonio Bay...and brings something with it. Grab your popcorn, turn off the lights, and enjoy :)

The Strange Man--Christian Sci-Fi/Fantasy Blog Tour!

2011-04-18T07:57:00.004-05:00

Welcome to my 100th post! And what better way to celebrate four years of blogging about The Coming Evil Trilogy than to announce the book tour for The Strange Man over at Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour.

These guys don't fool around! For the next three days, my baby book will be put under the microscope. Who will love it? Who will hate it? Who will burn me in effigy? Find out by staying tuned to the blogs below. Join us for three days of review, analysis, discussion, and maybe an interview or two. You won't want to miss it!

And, in case I forget anyone in the coming days, special thanks to everyone at CSFF who signed up to read and review the book. Even if you don't like it, it still means something to me that you tried :p

Noah Arsenault
Red Bissell
Kathy Brasby
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
CSFF Blog Tour
Amber French
Tori Greene
Katie Hart
Bruce Hennigan
Timothy Hicks
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Inae Kyo
Emily LaVigne
Shannon McDermott
Matt Mikalatos
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Gavin Patchett
Andrea Schultz
Kathleen Smith
Donna Swanson
Jessica Thomas
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler

Interview with Eric S. Brown: King of Bigfoot!

2011-04-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

We've got a special guest with us today. Mr. Eric S. Brown, author of Bigfoot War and its follow-up due this month, Bigfoot War II: Dead in the Woods. I previously reviewed Mr. Brown's book, but wanted to sit down with the man himself and get his thoughts on his journey from zombie writer to Bigfoot mastermind.

Greg Mitchell: Thanks for being here, Eric! Let’s go back to the start. At what point did you decide you wanted to be a writer? What started you on that path and when did you finally embrace that life?

Eric S. Brown: I knew I wanted to write by the time I was in second grade. I grew up reading comics from The Legion of Superheroes to the Fantastic Four and the Micronauts. I never submitted anything until I was 26 years old though. It took my wife bashing me over the head to do it to get me started. My very first two tales were accepted and I just kept going from there. Around 2003, I declared that I was going to be a “zombie writer”. Now, in 2011, my writing really is a career and one I feel very blessed to have.

GM: I’ve heard it said you are the “King of Zombies”, and it’s true! I see your name everywhere, usually on a cover involving flesh-eating ghouls. Was this something you set out to do—writing a large number of stories in the zombie genre—or did this happen by accident?

ESB: No, I never said that. Dread Central and other places have called me that but the king of zombies is George Romero who created the genre as we know it today. In my early years as a writer, zombies were my one true love. 90% of work was zombie or zombie related. I was writing them before they were cool and mainstream like they are today. I worked very hard to try to make a name for myself in the subgenre and by the grace of God, I have a bit of luck at that.

GM: What is it that attracts you to the zombie genre?

ESB: I have always loved struggles against hopeless odds and the end of the world so zombies were just a good fit for me. They are both. A zombie story to me isn't a zombie tale unless the world is ending or gone. Plus zombies can work in any setting. Writing about them gives one a lot of freedom.

GM: You’ve also partnered with the late H.G. Wells to write The War of the Worlds, Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies. I’ve yet to read one of these literary mashup novels, but I gotta admit this one sounds like fun. Was this something that you wanted to do? How did you pitch this concept to Simon & Schuster? How difficult was it to write something like this? What was that process like?

ESB: Actually I didn't pitch it at all. Coscom Entertainment came to me and asked me to do a “mash up”. I said yes and it became an “indie” hit. A year or so after its release, Simon and Schuster showed up on the phone asking for the reprint rights. It was insane how it happened and it has been a huge turning point in my career. As to writing it, no. I just read a lot of Wells and tried to learn his voice as best I could.

GM: Last year you released what you have called your most “personal” project: Bigfoot War. What a super-fun book. You’ve perfectly captured a B-movie on paper. How did Bigfoot War come about? What makes this so special to you?

ESB: Bigfoot War was an idea I had for a while. I was under contract to a company for a three book deal, all zombie stuff. I asked them if I could do it instead of all the books of the deal being zombie. They had faith in me and said yes. As to where it came from, I grew up loving horror and a big part of the non zombie aspect of that was Bigfoot B movies. I loved them but I always wanted more from them. Bigfoot War is not only my love song to those types of films but the movie I always wanted to see as a kid.

GM: I’d ask now, what is it that attracts you to Bigfoot? Any real life tales of the Sasquatch in your past?

ESB: Alas, no. I have no real life experience with Bigfoot or hunting him unless you count being in fifth grade and heading into the woods with a rifle and high hopes.

GM: Well, I would ask who would win in a no-holds barred slugfest between Bigfoot and a zombie, but, if the cover for your upcoming book Bigfoot War II: Dead in the Woods is any indication, I’ll be getting my answer soon enough! That is one insane cover! What can readers expect to find coming into the sequel?

ESB: Bigfoot War II: Dead in the Woods is the second book of the trilogy and brings my two favorite monsters together. You have everything that was cool about Bigfoot War with a zombie apocalypse thrown into the mix. There's also a huge David Drake element as the bulk of the military the reader gets to see is a unit of tanks stranded behind the containment lines of the initial outbreak. I hope it will be a fun read for those who enjoy a lot action.

GM: At what point did you decide to write a sequel? Was this always intended as a series, or did that come later?

ESB: Bigfoot War was originally intended to be a stand alone book but as soon as I was done with it I knew I wanted to do more. The other two books of the trilogy just kind of leaped into my head and I ran with them. I find it's often better to follow your heart as a writer than try to write for a market. If you're passionate about a project, it shows and the reader will feel that energy on the page.

GM: How far are you into the concluding chapter of the Bigfoot War Trilogy? Can you talk much about that? Or, what about beyond the trilogy? Might we have some more tales in the Bigfoot War universe to look forward to?

ESB: Bigfoot War II is slated for a late April release from Coscom Entertainment. I am working on book III amid a sea of other projects so I can't really give you a date on it yet. Coscom also has me editing an anthology entitled Bigfoot Among Us which should be out later this year. I'm also working on another project I can't talk about yet that is kind of the same nature as well exploring Bigfoot in short fiction. I have upcoming Bigfoot tales in several places including the Roadkill Cafe anthology from Knightwatch Press and Living Dead Press Presents magazine's second issue.

GM: There’s a small but growing movement on Facebook to see Bigfoot War turned into a movie—which I wholeheartedly support. Had you considered this being a movie at any point during the writing of it? I commented in my review that it read very much like a screenplay, and I think it lends itself to film very well. Was that always part of “the plan” (as much as these things can be planned), or is this a surprise to you, as well?

ESB: I wrote the book to be a movie. The Facebook page you mention though was created by a fan who really loved the book. I was very flattered by it and I certainly would love to see Bigfoot War adapted someday.

GM: I’m dying to hear some of your inspirations! You’re a self-labeled comic book geek (I can relate). What titles do you read? Or what about movies—what are some of your favorite fright flicks? Or, after writing about monsters all day, do you prefer a little romantic comedy to break things up? :p

ESB: The Legion of Superheroes and The Flash are my main two titles these days but I am a lifelong Marvel and DC fan. I could likely quote you the history of any character you named from either company. Books like the Doom Patrol and Weird War Tales are a huge source of inspiration for me but like I said, The Flash is my personal hero. My favorite bad guys are Captain Cold, Zoom, Dr. Doom and Baron Karza. As to horror films, I love just about anything zombie with Dawn of the Dead and its remake being my all time favorites in that genre. Some of my other favorite films include The Book of Eli, Ghostbusters, The Thing, and Dog Soldiers.

GM: So, what’s in store for Eric S. Brown? Are you setting out to earn the name “King of Bigfoot” too? What projects do you have lined up?

ESB: I would LOVE to become known more for Bigfoot than zombies. That would be amazing. At present I am working on Bigfoot War III, writing a lot of short fiction, and assembling two new collections of my work. My long term, fan boy dream though is to write for DC Comics. Long live the Legion!

GM: Thanks so much for taking the time to hang out and talk monsters, Eric. I wish you the best of success and can’t wait to read Bigfoot War II: Dead in the Woods.

New Writing Project: Avenir Eclectia

2011-04-08T06:00:00.000-05:00

I'm happy to announce my new writing project:

Welcome to Avenir Eclectia!

As described on the website, Avenir Eclectia is "a multi-author microfiction project, based in a world with flavors of science fiction, fantasy and supernatural genres."

My first entry in this massive epic, "Bedtime Stories", went live today!

I'm a huge fan of "shared universes" and excited to be a part of the team at Avenir Eclectia. Each writer is bringing something new to the table, crafting a sort of "mythology within a mythology", with our own little corners of the universe touching upon the others. It's an interesting project--like a big author jam session, where we work to create this mammoth thing. Right now, you can subscribe to the blog and entries will be sent straight to your inbox upon posting. Each one is under a thousand words, which makes it a perfect snack break. Best of all, you never know what you're going to get. You might read of a bug hunter on a barren world. Or maybe a hi-tech wizard on the space station. With mine, you will journey underwater where folks say devils dwell. Sometimes sci-fi, sometimes fantasy, sometimes horror--but always entertaining.

Avenir Eclectia is the brainchild of Splashdown Books publisher Grace Bridges. As part of my announcement, I sat down with Grace to talk the origins of this unique endeavor.

Greg: Grace, so great to have you here and happy to be a part of Avenir Eclectia! Tell us about the project.

Grace: Avenir Eclectia is a genre-bending adventure in microfiction for readers and writers. Based in an established but ever-growing world, it has a space station, undersea cities, beetle hunters, ore mines, wizards, supernatural sea monsters, and more! Something for everyone in speculative fiction - whether your thing is sci-fi, fantasy or paranormal, you will find an aspect you like. The idea is to put together a mosaic style story with many very short pieces of writing - the sweet spot is around 200 words.

Greg: Fantastic! How did this project come about?

Grace: I was talking to Kristine Pratt of Written World Communications (a fellow indie publisher) and she told me about a non-fiction project she was considering where 100 authors would each write a one-page article on a common theme. I got to thinking the same could be done in fiction, and the rest is history.

Greg: It's funny, I actually attempted something a lot like this with a homeschool creative writing class I taught years ago. The idea was to have each student create a character, I created a scenario that brought them all together, and then we would sit back and watch how the stories unfolded. Well...that lasted for about one day, but it was a fun try. I hope for better things with Avenir Eclectia :p What's your hope for this project--where would you like it to lead?

Grace: I'd love for lots of authors and readers to be involved - to be able to provide regular installments for a very long time to come, and to grow to a great number of subscribers. Eventually, when we have enough material, we'll publish a print anthology from Splashdown Books. It's also been murmured that some people might like to take the characters and settings and write full-length novels based there.

Already it's a world that's pure fun for authors to play in. Wouldn't it be great if Avenir Eclectia was the first thing everyone wants to click on when they open up their blog reader or email! I want it to have that kind of magnetic attraction.

Greg: I can attest to it being "pure fun". I'm having a great time creating my little story and hope to take readers to some interesting places. I know things are still new, but how has reaction been to the project so far?

Grace: Great so far! There's a steady stream of new stories and curious punters. The awesome thing about this is that every contributing author is going to make a noise about this in their own circles, which multiplies the buzz again and again. I like the way the momentum is building even after only a short time!

Greg: Indeed!

I encourage everyone to stop by Avenir Eclectia and read "Bedtime Stories"! While you're there, look around--Grace has posted a lot of background information about the world to get you in the spirit, and be sure to read the other entries. As Grace said, this is a place for speculative fiction of all flavors to be celebrated. There's bound to be something there that you like. Who knows? You may be so moved as to start your own story! At Avenir Eclectia, there's always room for one more :)

"The Strange Man" Commentary (Part IV)

2011-04-04T03:00:00.003-05:00

Here we are at the end! For those who have stuck with our commentary, thanks for tuning in. I realize many might not get much out of my reflective ramblings, but I like to get my thoughts out, nonetheless.

If you've yet to read the others parts, here are the links:

Part I
Part II
Part III

Page 233--The Strange Man reveals a bit more of his motivation here: He hates humanity. A lot of times when I've seen demons or classic villains in movies and books, they want to rule the world or be worshiped or whatever. But the Strange Man is not so conceited. He just hates people. They disgust him. I’m not the biggest fan of humanity myself, at times. All it takes is about ten minutes reading the comments section on any number of news articles on Yahoo and you see how much hate and bitterness and ego and ugliness is out there. In church, I’ve often heard a lot of blame being placed on the devil for the evil in the world, but I think a lot of it is just people. The Strange Man, like all devils, was an angel once. It was his job to look out for these “selfish, arrogant people”, watching them kill each other and shake an angry, defiant fist at God. He’s experienced their hate and has become corrupted by it. Now he’s the embodiment of man’s cruelty, turned back on them. Poetic justice?

Page 238--Dras talking with Hank over the CB is new to the Realms Edition. After having inserted more of Deputy Dane Adams into the story, and building up his relationship with Hank, I really felt Hank needed a moment to learn that his friend had died. Bring some closure to that arc.

Page 243--New scene. Again, trying to build up Jeff and Isabella as part of the main cast.

Page 249--The second “witnessing” attempt. This is another scene I agonized over. Worked and re-worked and re-worked for years. I originally wrote this scene coming out of a very evangelical culture in the Christian film industry. Every movie had a “money shot” where someone laid down the gospel--the “altar call” scene. The whole movie practically built upon that moment--unfortunately oftentimes at the expense of character, plot, good writing, etc. Someone shares the gospel, someone gets saved, and everything is wrapped up in a nice bow. Part of the thing I wanted to do back then with The Strange Man was show that “Hey. We can tell the gospel, but have all the other stuff too.” I wanted the message in there, sure, but also good characters and plots, excitement, etc, and to also turn the “gospel scene” on its ear--where it’s not a neat and tidy conclusion. It wasn’t until many years later that I discovered how vehemently some Christian writers are against this kind of scene period. They would say that this is a trademark of bad writing and that this is the reason “Christian Fiction” is not taken seriously by the literary world. But I felt that this was a vital scene to the characters. This is a big moment for Dras because he finally gets it now. Things like “God” aren’t just stale old dogma he’s been passed down in church--they are things that he’s experienced for himself and, now, he’s sharing that from his heart.

But there are ways of doing this kind of “gospel” scene and there are ways not to do it. I’ve struggled with how to do this scene correctly. In the past, no matter how many times I wrote this scene, it felt like I was hitting pause on the story, turning to the audience with a twinkle in my eye and saying, “Now, kids, let me tell you about Jesus.” Unfortunately, that’s how it reads in the Xulon edition. In the beginning I was so afraid of getting it “right”, of saying everything the Reader needed to know to understand the gospel--that’s the Bible teacher in me. Plus, as I said in the last part, the Bible is the foundation to my fictional mythology, too, so where's the line between "preaching" and just explaining the rules of my fictional world?

Originally, this conversation with Dras turned into a whole sermon--pages and pages worth (though I trimmed it a bit for the Xulon Edish)--and, soon, it wasn’t genuine to Dras anymore. It sort of stayed in the “canned gospel” approach that failed Dras the last time. When I sat down to write the Realms Edition I KNEW this scene was the first on my list of things to rework. I felt extra-sure when my editor--a CBA editor--told me the scene was too preachy and unrealistic! So, I scrapped most of this scene. More than that, I scrapped my old way of looking at things. This scene wasn’t about saying the right things for the Reader. This is Dras and Rosalyn’s lives on the line here. I focused on my characters--on Dras. After everything he’d been through in this story, what did he need to say to Rosalyn? I wrote this scene from the heart--Dras’ heart--to Rosalyn. The scene is about ten times shorter than its original incarnation and, dare I say, ten times better. Does it still come off as preachy? Well, I guess that depends on the Reader. But I tried. Whattya gonna do? It is what it is.

Page 253--Rosalyn asks Dras, in essence, “If God’s so great, why is my dad dead?” I added this for the Realms Edition because it suddenly struck me that of course she’d ask this. And, of course, Dras doesn’t have an answer. In my own life, I think I’ve tried too hard to answer all the tough life questions for people, thinking that, if I do, these people will come to a faith in Christ. But it’s called “faith” because we don’t have all the answers. Some people aren’t okay with that. Rosalyn isn’t, but what can Dras possibly say in defense against her tragedy? It’s a messy question with no easy answer and I’m proud of myself for not trying to answer it here. I would have ten years ago. I would have spent ten pages trying to convince Rosalyn why God is still good, even when bad things happen. But, now I know better. Sometimes God has to defend Himself and I’ve got to trust Him to do that in His own time and His own way.

What I like about this scene, is that Rosalyn still rejects what Dras is saying, which, to me, drives home the message of this book. This is not a conversion scene! This isn't a book about Rosalyn “accepting Christ” in the end. Dras hopes that happens, of course--it’s her only salvation against the Strange Man. But the more important battle, to me, was Dras claiming his faith. A part of that meant sharing it, yes, but it’s the act of sharing it that was important, not the result. Some people think this book ends on a cliffhanger because we don’t know what happens to Rosalyn--and, sure, it is designed to leave you ready for Book Two--but I think Dras’ sacrifice here is a solid ending to his story in this book. He’s learned a lesson. He’s become a man, at long last. Will it make the difference for Rosalyn? Well, only time (and the sequels) will tell.

Page 260--Some readers have expressed confusion over Dras’ eventual fate. Is he dead? Is he alive? I thought it was pretty clear, myself.

Page 261--Thus begins the new ending for the Realms Edition. One of the first things my editor at Realms pointed out was that the Xulon Edition just stopped. No real ending. Of course I answered “But there’s two more parts to the trilogy!!”, but my editor said, very kindly and patiently, “Greg, you’re gonna tick people off if you don’t give them a satisfying conclusion in this book.” This was my attempt to remedy that. I gave Rosalyn and the Strange Man a kind of “final battle” here, but again had to be careful not to ruin things to come. I had to hold back and allow for a type of victory, but still keep the threat and the tragedy alive. It was difficult, but I really like this confrontation with Rosalyn and the Strange Man. Again, she’s not “accepting Christianity”, just choosing her love for Dras over the Strange Man’s lure.

Book Two picks up about fifteen minutes after The Strange Man ends.

Page 263--"The Hour" is capitalized on purpose. And what an ominous purpose it be. Ooooohhhh...

Page 263--Another new scene. Another hard one to write. This was a further move to “wrap up” Dras’ journey, by having him reflect on what he’s done, what he’s been through, and wondering what will happen next. I like ending this with him talking to his father. I find it fitting that, at the end, Dras was finally Jack Weldon’s son.

Page 265--Epilogue. This is from the Xulon Edition and serves as a setup for the direction the series will take in Book Two. Looks like the bad guy won this round. We can only hope things fair better for our heroes in Enemies of the Cross: The Coming Evil Trilogy, Book Two (tentatively scheduled for release Winter 2012 from Realms Fiction)!

Page 266--“To Be Continued...” Cheesy, right? Old-fashioned? It’s no secret that I love the Back to the Future Trilogy and this is my direct tribute (rip-off?) to the “To Be Continued...” first glimpsed at the end of the first BTTF movie on VHS. When I first saw that, I was like “What? To Be Continued? You mean, there’s more?! YES!” These days “TBC...” is sort of a groan-inducer, I imagine, but I was excited to include it. And, yes, you can be sure the other two installments will follow suit with BTTF, with a “To Be Concluded...” at the end of Book Two and an accomplished “The End” that wraps up the trilogy :p

Page 267--“Among the Dead”. This is commentary for another day, but I will say that I’m really happy to see this short story included in the publication. I view it as The Coming Evil Book Zero, really. It was a dream of mine to see the story of The Coming Evil expand past the trilogy into short stories, comics, sequels, prequels, sidequels, whatever I could get my hands on. The day I sat down to write Among the Dead I was feeling discouraged and so bogged down with the trilogy. I wanted to just cut loose and write a totally separate adventure with these characters just for fun. I cranked out this story in an afternoon and I had such a blast. I can’t even describe it to you. I think I even cried a little. It was so liberating. I didn’t think too hard about anything or what it “meant”. I just wrote something for the heck of it. This was such a powerful moment for me as it was my first inkling that these characters had more life in them that just a single trilogy. They felt real, with lives that extended beyond their battle with the Strange Man. Now, on the blog below the trailers to your right, there are a number of short stories for your reading pleasure (they’re free, yo!), chronicling Dras and Rosalyn’s life before the events of Book One, but Among the Dead will always be the first. It’ll always be special.

That concludes our commentary for The Strange Man. If you’ve managed to sit through my entire rambling, congratulations! You win a cookie! Seriously, you who have bought the book and enjoyed it...it’s meant the world to me.

Thanks for listening, and be sure to keep it tuned here for more updates, short fiction, and interviews. See you back again for (possibly) another commentary when Enemies of the Cross, Book Two of The Coming Evil Trilogy, hits stores and the Strange Man’s war with the faithful of Greensboro really begins.

It only gets crazier from here.

"The Strange Man" Commentary (Part III)

2011-04-02T07:00:00.020-05:00

Still with us? If you've yet to read Part 1 and Part II of my commentary of The Strange Man, check 'em out! We've only got one more after this and you'll have a complete set. Many deep theological issues in this installment! Read on, but be ye warned: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Page 145--Chapter Fourteen. Dras finally comes face to face with the Strange Man. This is another scene that I kinda have to squint at to get through sometimes. This is a very, very old scene. Maybe I’m just harder on my past self.

This also brings us to Dras' status as a "Christian". Dras said a prayer when he was at a summer church camp (like many “church kids” do), but I never intended to close the case there. Was he "saved" this whole time? Was he "backslidden" in his faith or did he never have a genuine conversion to begin with? The validity of Dras’ conversion experience at age nine is intentionally vague. I don't think that's really important. The important thing is that his experience with the Strange Man brings him before God in humility and honesty. Whatever his past, NOW he has had a major life-altering conversion--this experience leads him to a real, tangible faith in Christ.

Page 159--Chapter Fifteen. Brand new scene for Realms. I wanted to establish the “rules” of fighting demons with the power of God. In the Xulon Edition, Dras is visited by the Strange Man and then the next scene he’s preaching at Rosalyn. It’s like he makes this automatic leap to deduce that she “needs Jesus”. I wanted to slow it down a bit and show how he makes that conclusion. Plus, it gives me an opportunity to flirt with the idea of him as a traditional monster hunter, with crosses and garlic and wooden stakes. I love monster hunters and try to work them--or types of monster hunters--into The Coming Evil whenever I can, but Dras realizes that this situation calls for something deeper than that. He’s got a war to fight, yes, but a war of the heart rather than one of silver bullets and holy water.

This leads to a conundrum in this series. I make no qualms about talking about Christianity, Christ, the Bible, whatever. I can see it being labeled as "preachy", and while, yeah, I believe this stuff, I'm not trying to preach all the time. In my head, when I hear Dras say "Rosalyn, only Jesus can protect you from the Strange Man!", it's the equivalent of "Rosalyn, only a silver bullet will kill the werewolf!" Again, that's how I hear it. That's how I'm trying to approach it. This is a book about Christians--about using the Christian faith as a weapon to slay a monster. It's practical and directly related to the plot and to the "mythology" of my fictional world. Yes, of course, the monsters in The Strange Man are symbols of "monsters" in our own life, and, yes, of course, I think that those same Biblical principles and a faith in Christ can equip you to combat them. So, maybe I'm wanting to eat my cake and have it too. It's a balance I'm trying to perfect in my writing.

Page 161--The First “Witnessing” Attempt. Here we go. Time to separate the men from the boys. When writing this, I always thought this was going to be the divisive scene (little did I know it would actually be the Lindsey scene that was so controversial). Up until this point, this book’s been pretty light on the “religion” angle--a fun little tale about a screw-up fanboy and a demon in town. But here we break out the “evangelical Jesus-talk” and, no doubt, have lost some members of the audience as a result. I have agonized over this scene for years, knowing the negative reaction it would have on a lot of people, but I hope those who would be offended by this scene would take a closer look. While, on the surface, this seems to be the perfunctory “witnessing” scene that many criticize to be the markings of badly written Christian fiction--or thinly veiled Author trying to preach at the Audience--I actually wrote this scene as the anti-preaching scene.

I come from a very evangelical upbringing, complete with Wednesday night visitations where teams are sent door-to-door and essentially gangbust unsuspecting homes with the gospel. I have always found those situations uncomfortable--as someone doing the knocking, and for those people on the other side of the door who are just trying to enjoy their evening after work and are in no mood to deal with religious types. Look, it’s just an uncomfortable situation all around and usually ends up a lot like this scene. We’ve got people on the defensive, hurt feelings, a bunch of awkward shuffling, and usually the “witness” in the situation knows little more about the Bible than what Dras has spouted off here. Regardless if the words are true, it becomes a well-rehearsed “church” speech about “turning from sin and asking Jesus into your heart”. This scene isn’t against being a witness and sharing your faith, it’s against this approach. I don’t think this “canned gospel” approach works. I think it can work, sure. But, we live in a skeptic, grumbling, and critical generation that demands more from religion than nice words about “a loving God”. Dras comes to Rosalyn, rambling catchphrases he’s heard from years in church, but they don’t mean anything to him. And, therefore, they’re not going to mean anything to Rosalyn. He’s offering easy answers to tough questions, with very little understanding of those answers or the questions. If he really wants to reach Rosalyn with his message, he’s going to have to try a lot harder. He’s going to have to get off his high horse, and get in the mud.

To me, The Strange Man is not about "saving Rosalyn's soul". To me, the journey is about "Dras growing up".

However, in case this scene was too uncomfortable for those easily turned away by anything remotely "preachy", I kept Dras in his underwear to defuse the situation a bit :p

Page 173--Chapter Sixteen. Originally this scene with Dras and his dad ended when his dad woke up and said “Welcome home, son.” It was Brett Burner--publisher at Lamp Post Publication--who read this and said, “What? Where’s the rest of the scene? You cut it right before it got to the good stuff!” I realized he had a point, so I extended it to include the porch scene and I’m so glad I did. Jack and Jeff seem to be the ones with common ground, so to give Dras--who has felt isolated from his father for most of his life--a chance to get some real one-on-one time was very fulfilling to write.

My own dad is a cancer survivor. Jack’s cancer and how Dras deals with it was written at a time when I thought my own dad was going to die. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that or what I was supposed to feel. Dras’ thoughts mirror a lot of my own at that time, particular the ones where he’s worried about who will bail him out if he gets in over his head.

Page 180--Jack says, “Sometimes to serve the Lord, you’ve got to raise a little Cain.” Originally that said “raise a little hell”, but I see where that might be a bit taboo in the Christian Fiction market :p That almost made it to print, but was switched at the very last minute.

Page 181--Chapter Seventeen. We get a nice Jeff and Isabella scene before Jeff turns on “full jerk mode” and berates his brother. Jeff’s a mess. He’s up and he’s down. He’s an intense guy, really moody, and has a hard time reconciling what he knows he should do with what he wants to do. I think of all the characters in the series, I’ve struggled with Jeff the most, which is strange because he’s a lot like me. I’ve often said that Dras is me on a good day, whereas Jeff is me on a bad one. I think I had such a difficult time writing Jeff because I held back, for fear that my own insecurities and faults would become evident in Jeff’s behavior. It was only when I stopped holding back that he really came into his own. Honesty really is the best policy, even in fiction. I decided to go full steam ahead and show Jeff in all his conflicted nature and secret doubts. Hopefully he’ll come around in the sequel and get his head together. There’s monsters coming, man!

Page 189--Having Isabella be the one to come out and give Dras the tip he needed to fight the demon was important to me. Isabella is such a wallflower in this book, I wanted to give her something to do. Something vital to the narrative. Isabella comes into her own in a big, big way in Book Two.

Page 194--Here we reveal what’s been hiding in the shadows, snickering through the whole book. And...it’s cute. I’m well aware that we’re dealing with important “spiritual matters”, here, but The Strange Man was always meant to be a fun Saturday matinee monster movie depiction of the Christian walk. I think it's essential to mix fun with fear to provide that release for the tension you're hopefully feeling. It’s all about creating a thrill ride. Besides, when you’ve got a thousand of these things spilling out of the shadows like cockroaches, they’re not so cute anymore :p

Page 201--The chapter at Smokey’s is a Realms Edition addition. I wanted more Earl, more good ole boy talk. Introduce Clancy. The Xulon Edition was focused on Dras and Rosalyn. I saw this as my chance to make this feel more like a world with people you know.

This chapter begins, what I call, “Gremlin Night”. The Xulon Edition all but skims over this sequence and when I was told that in order for The Strange Man to be accepted by a major publishing house I’d have to raise the word count, I immediately knew that I needed to beef up Gremlin Night. It was challenging, as I'm a firm believer in escalation from book to book. By this point, I had finished Book Two and nearly finished a first draft of Book Three. I knew the action in those books progressed and got more and more dynamic. So, I had to make Gremlin Night exciting and “high octane”, but not so high octane that it was on the same level as the crazy action set pieces in Book Two. It was a delicate balance, trying to figure out how to make this big, but not too big. I’m very, very happy with the results. Man, what I wouldn't give to see this as a movie.

Page 207--Dave at the video store, oblivious to Gremlin Night, was a last minute addition. Again, I wanted to keep the tension running high, but also have some laughs. This is a monster movie (albeit in printed form)! It’s supposed to be fun!

Page 226--The Strange Man rocking Millie is just downright creepy. If I didn’t know how this story was going to play out, I’d be really uncomfortable right about now :p

Page 231--Dras’ fistfight with the Strange Man was actually kind of tricky to write. I wanted to show that Dras was a fighter now, in spirit if not in physical ability. I didn’t want him to bust out the Chuck Norris moves--this is still an out-of-shape couch potato. So, he had to be active and engaged in this fight, but still clumsy. Also, I wanted to ground his bravado in his fear for Rosalyn. Ultimately, The Strange Man is a love story, and this is Dras’ chance to defend the woman in his life. The scene’s also tricky because the Strange Man’s not really a brawler. I always pictured him as above that. He’d just kill you or have his gremlins do it, but I think, by this point, he’s toying with Dras and by lowering himself to a fist fight, he’s letting Dras think he’s got a real shot at defeating the demon.

Page 232--Here’s another case of “questionable theology” that some have commented on. I’ve got Dras with the upperhand until he shows a moment of doubt. In that moment, his “power” seems to vanish and the demon grows stronger. Now, some have said I’m walking a thin line here. Am I saying that our power over Satan is dependent upon our level of faith? Or do I believe that God’s power is sufficient to protect us, even in our moments of disbelief? I think that’s a really good question, and I don’t know if I have a cut-and-dry answer for that. I know that, in my own life, when I give in to my worries and my fears, those fears grow larger in my life. Are they really growing larger, or is it just my perception of them? Am I making those giants stronger when I fear them? Is Dras giving the Strange Man power over him by fearing him? Much like the question regarding Lindsey’s salvation, I leave that to the Reader to mull over on their own.

The practical reasoning for this scene goes back to simple story mechanics. I’m writing a story about a guy using faith as a weapon to fight a demon. Weaponizing faith is hard. It’s easy to make it all-powerful. Wave your hand, say a prayer, quote a Scripture and boom! Demon no more! But then there’s no drama in your story, either. Adding the “fear clause” in the faith-as-a-weapon concept provided an opportunity for Dras to lose the battle. Now there’s threat, now there’s drama. It’s not a simple case of saying a magic prayer to stop the monster--you’ve got to back it up with unwavering faith, which is a lot harder to do than to say...and even then, sometimes that’s not enough. It’s a war; there are no simple solutions, and the road to becoming a Jedi Master is long and painful.

Well, folks, we've only got one more section to go. Read on for Part IV where we reach our finale! In the meantime, after all this talk of theology, I'm exhausted. Time to pop in some episodes of The Lone Gunmen.

"The Strange Man" Commentary (Part II)

2011-03-30T03:00:00.001-05:00

Thanks for coming back! In case you missed it, click here to read Part 1 of the exclusive commentary.

Like before, this commentary comes with a HEAVY SPOILER WARNING. Read no further if you like surprises.

Page 59--So, this is probably THE most controversial and debated scene in the book among readers and even my editors. Lindsey cries out for Jesus to save her from the bogeyman. All fine and good, except...she dies. This has raised some questions: “If she genuinely called on the name of the Lord, why did He not rescue her? Why did she die? Did God abandon her?” One review even went so far as to say I was condemning her for what I, the author, viewed as a sinful lifestyle. In a Christian book where demons are involved, it’s awfully easy to just have the hero “rebuke the devil in the name of Jesus” and then, wham, instant relief from danger. But I don’t think it works quite like that in real life and it definitely doesn’t work like that in The Coming Evil Trilogy. People die. Sometimes good people, who call on the name of the Lord. I think of the story of Job. The Lord forbade the devil from killing Job, but said no such thing about all of Job’s kids. They all died in one horrible afternoon. Now, most Christians want to cast themselves in the role of Job--believing that the devil can never harm them. But maybe, sometimes, we’re Job’s kids. But, even in the death of Job’s children, God was given the glory and it eventually strengthened Job’s faith. That’s a victory of a kind. I love Lindsey and certainly was not stepping in as Author and condemning her or passing judgment on her. In fact, I think there was a line that was eventually cut that said the spilling of her “innocent” blood is what affects the lake at the end of the book. Nor was I suggesting that God abandoned Lindsey or that He didn’t forgive her or save her soul.

What was most important about this scene to me is to show that the “rules” of The Strange Man are different than, perhaps, what people might expect from a “Christian book”. Evil will not be banished from the world by a simple “I cast you out, Satan!” You’re gonna have to dig in and fight harder. And sometimes, you’re just going to lose. No one is safe.

Page 65--Chapter Five. I guess there are always things that you read back over and think “Aw, man, I wish I could do that differently.” Well, folks, welcome to Chapter Five. This was another really old scene and no matter how many times I edited it over the years, it just doesn’t ring right to me. Aw, well. Sometimes you just gotta let it go.

Page 67--Jeff’s sermon went through many rewrites in the past decade. I have dissected his sermon more than, probably, any other thing in this book, save for Dras’ last conversation with Rosalyn at the end of the book. It’s hard because this is a preaching scene, but I didn’t want it to feel like the Author was preaching to the Reader. That was never my intention. Jeff changed a lot as a person through this scene, too. When I first wrote it, he was this really loud televangelist mega-church kinda preacher. All shouting and with the weird affectations that seminaries teach preachers to use so they don’t sound boring. Yet, when we saw Jeff in his “off-time”, he didn’t talk like that, so the character just seemed two-faced. I stripped a lot of those pulpit theatrics and made him real. He’s a good (though definitely flawed) guy with good ideas and he’s trying to tell people who really don’t care. I also trimmed down his speech here. He used to go on and on in some of the earlier drafts, pretty much laying down the foundation of the Garden of Eden and Original Sin and all of that. It was bad. Really bad. I focused it in more on Greensboro and what they’re going through as a people. I’m actually at peace with where this scene’s at now.

Page 70--With the bike ride through Greensboro, I wanted to capture youthful innocence. This is like a Spielberg movie right now, with the kid on his bicycle looking at his picturesque town. Except it’s not so picturesque anymore. Everything that Dras holds dear is gone, which I can relate to. Originally “Greensboro” was “Greensburg”. I changed it to “Greensboro” once I realized that the old country backroads I spent many an afternoon driving down while working through the story in my head was “Greensboro Road”. Incidentally, there was a field by that road with an abandoned shack, hedged by tall grass and a mysterious age-scarred wooden sign that read “Old Greenesboro”, with the odd “e” and everything. Some have mistakenly assumed that this story is set in Greensboro, North Carolina, but no. Just named after a scenic drive in northeast Arkansas.

Page 75--Chapter Six and Franklin Whitaker. Another later addition. I actually wrote this a long time ago, then cut it, lost the file, and had to rewrite it from scratch.

Page 79--Chapter Seven. A lot of things going on here, a lot of mixing of old and new. Dras and Jeff’s argument has been in the story since the beginning. The ladies gossiping about Rosalyn was fun because it’s a great character moment for Rosalyn. By now, we’ve seen Rosalyn, we (hopefully) like Rosalyn. To hear what the town thinks of her and says behind her back should make us mad. That it’s coming from church ladies should be even worse. Look, I know there’s going to be people reading this book who think that churches are full of hypocrites and judgmental types. I get it, okay? And you know what? Yeah, those people are there, and I wanted to be honest about that.

Page 83--But then I introduce Leonard Fergus, ideally played by the great character actor Bill Cobbs! I love Fergus, and having him chastise these “good sisters” in his playful manner hopefully breaks some stereotypes about church folk.

Page 89--Enter Sheriff Hank Berkley. Originally, he had very little to do in this book, but I found myself writing more and more scenes for him because I just love him. This is also where we meet Deputy Dane Adams.

The real Dane Adams is a salesman who has worked on and off with my dad in the screenprinting business for twenty some-odd years. Way back in the day when I told people I wanted to write a novel about monsters, the real Dane Adams said he wanted me to put him in the book and kill him off. Done! The fictional Dane and the real Dane share little in common. Also, Dane’s another character who had very few scenes (other than dying), but I found myself putting him in more and more. He and Hank make a good pair.

Page 93--Chapter Nine. This chapter has been through a lot of rewrites. I always loved this chapter, but I had a nasty habit of bouncing around between Dras’ POV and Rosalyn’s. I probably still didn’t catch all of it, but I tried. It’s only been recently that I’ve had to discipline myself into sticking with one character in a scene. I come from a screenwriting background, which has a very detached eye. In a room full of people, I’ve got to be able to move freely and zero in on each thing a character does. Despite my best efforts, I've carried that over into my fiction writing, so when I get a couple characters in a scene that both have things going on in their heads, I really have to restrain myself from ping-ponging between the different POVs. I’m trying to do better at trusting the characters to communicate what they’re going through internally by how they act.

Page 100--The kiss! I’m a sap for the whole “guy didn’t know his true love was beside him the whole time” stories. I just re-watched the tail end of Some Kind of Wonderful (a boyhood favorite of mine) last night and was nodding and all, “Yeah, man. Yeah, that’s good stuff.” A sap I tell you! A sap!

Page 101--Groundhog Day Part XII is going to leave a few people scratching their heads (including my editor). No, don’t bother Googling to see about that Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day. This fictional movie is a nod to The Monster Squad, a major inspiration to me as a young lad and to this series. Groundhog Day Part XII is the slasher movie that the main character in The Monster Squad--Sean Crenshaw--wanted to see at the drive-in.

Page 105--Chapter Ten. New scene created for the Realms version. All of these deputies play a role (some big, some small) throughout the trilogy, so I decided to introduce them all here. I love their banter and had a great time coming up with these different variations on the Strange Man legend. Plus, I really love writing “good ole boys”, for some reason.

Page 108--Earl is one of my new favorite characters. I don’t think he even appears in the Xulon Edition, but he’ll be a major player in Book Two, so I wanted to introduce him here. While he’s an antagonist, I totally see where he’s coming from. With the Realms Edition, I wanted to mature the overall story--I wanted to include characters whose struggles with God’s justice and sovereignty are complicated, and maybe even justified. Looking back, the Xulon Edition was very clean cut. Very “trust in God and everything is okay”. While I do believe that, you’ve got to sometimes alter your definition of “okay”.

Page 113--Chapter Eleven. Our introduction to Deputy Ryan Stevenson. This guy is a bad guy. There are very few human villains in The Coming Evil Trilogy. Most of them are just hurting people lashing out, but Stevenson is a thug, through and through. Some people just like being mean. More “good ole boy” exchange between Hank and Dane.

Page 127--Dave at the video store. This was a Realms Edition addition. Dave is also featured in the short story “The Coming Evil: Clown Time...The Remake!” available to read for free on this very blog.

Page 127--Garden Tool Massacre is the name of the fictional movie playing at the theater in the 1988 remake of The Blob--another favorite of mine and an inspiration for the kind of tone I wanted this book to have.

Page 132--She-Vampires From Mars is actually an original title, as opposed to a nod to another film. I have plans of writing a real script for She-Vampires From Mars one day and trying to get it made as a direct-to-video “gem” :p

Page 135--Chapter Thirteen. A new scene for the Realms Edition. I really played Jeff as a foil for this book. He’s a jerk. But, because he plays such a huge role in the rest of the series, I wanted to write a scene that, hopefully, warmed audiences up to him a bit. Also, this is another red herring as we think maybe Jeff is about to step in and become the hero. But, no. Our hero is busy nodding off while watching She-Vampires From Mars. We have some mention of Everett Greene and the fate of Old Greenesboro. Oooh, mysterious. You’ll have to stick around for the whole trilogy to find out what happened.

I’ve also considered writing the story of Old Greenesboro one day. Hm...

Head over to Part III of our commentary where we explore the dangers of "preaching" in Christian fiction and other theological musings!

EPIC FAIL: My first 1-star review

2011-03-28T12:27:00.003-05:00

A big day for me.

I’ve just read my very first 1-star review for The Strange Man. It comes courtesy of Catie from Goodreads.

So how does one deal with a bad review--rather, a scathing review? I suppose some would say “Ah, blow it off,” which is a valid option. But, I think writers should take note of all the reviews-- the good, the bad, the fair, the unfair--and pull what they can from it. Author Mike Duran recently posted about having a thin skin--about receiving criticism and asking yourself the tough questions about your writing. Good thoughts and I totally agree with that.

I’m actually very touched by this review. Her passion--granted she hates the book in no uncertain terms--but her passion for it moves me. She felt something (in this case, revulsion). Also, I’m very thankful to Catie that she was a grown-up about the review. At no point does she attack me personally and I really appreciate that. I also like how detailed her review is. She’s put a lot of thought into this--though she admittedly doesn’t want to think about the book anymore or ever again.

There’s actually one line from the review that I’m really proud of:

"So, just for the sake of brevity, imagine a 1980’s slasher film with right-wing Christian overtones."

Well "right wing" aside, I actually sort of take that as a compliment :p

Having said these positives, I don't want to make light of her complaints. It’s an overt Christian thing and she doesn’t like that. I won’t fault her for that and I wouldn’t dare whip out the whole “It’s a persecution conspiracy!” because I think that demeans her opinion. The things I do take great issue with are her accusations that the book is "racist" and "demeans women". This was certainly never my intention and I’m not sure where she’s deriving this perception, but that’s her opinion and she’s entitled to it. Also, I think she completely misunderstands my motive as an author for killing off the girl she mentions in the review. The character didn't die as some sort of author commentary on her behavior, but rather I was (trying to) point out that she wasn’t a "bad girl"-—but is going to die anyway. I was trying to break the 1980s slasher trope and show that no one is safe. So, that confounds me and, as a writer, makes me feel like I missed the mark in explaining that.

Though, that raises a point. Do I have to spell out everything for the reader within the novel? Wouldn't that be considered "telling", and bad form? But, this is what happens when you don’t spell it out--people read into it different things, sometimes things you never ever intended or even thought yourself.

The only thing that grieves me is that Catie’s soul feels "bruised" after reading the book. Ouch. I see her profile pic and she seems like a nice young lady with a great family and to think that I’ve hurt her—however marginally—really makes me want to buy her a fruit basket or a dozen roses or something.

Sorry, Catie :(

At any rate, it's done, it's out there, and I've brought it all full circle by blogging about it (how lame). Please do not misunderstand this as a ploy to get sympathy. While I'm feeling pretty blue today, I'm processing those feelings and trying to learn what I might from Catie for the future.

But, as I leave you, I bring to you my favorite line (no, I’m serious) from the review:

"There's no reason for anyone to read this book."

Wow! If you’re going to fail, fail spectacularly.

"The Strange Man" Commentary (Part I)

2011-03-28T03:00:00.016-05:00

Welcome to Part 1 (of 4) of the commentary for The Strange Man. I warn you now: HERE THERE BE SPOILERS! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! If you haven’t read The Strange Man...what are you reading the commentary for? You won’t have any idea what I’m talking about. Go buy the book then come back. I’ll still be here.

As you open the book, you’ll see a bunch of nice comments made by my fellow writers. I did not pay for any of these, so that’s nice. :p

Copyright page. My birth year is listed as 1979. It's actually 1978. That’ll be changed for reprints and for the sequel.

Title page. I was pretty anal in the beginning about keeping the font for “The Coming Evil” the same sort of “typewriter” effect as when I originally wrote this (see Xulon Edition cover). But, as it turns out, I like the Realms’ interpretation of it better. I especially like the design to The Strange Man logo. It reminds me of the I Know What You Did Last Summer movie titles and that brings me endless happiness. I came up with the title “The Coming Evil” after many days/weeks of indecision in 1999. I finally broke it down to the main point of the story: Dras is trying to warn Rosalyn of something. I looked up “warn” in the dictionary and it said something about “to tell someone of a coming evil”. Then, as Doc Brown from Back to the Future would say, I was struck by a revelation. A vision. I knew “The Coming Evil” was my title.

Page 1--This prologue is one of my proudest things that I’ve written. It was not originally in the Xulon Edition of the book, so you who have read that version are already treated to something new. There’s a lot of inspirations for this scene, but one that really sticks out is the beginning of The Fog, where John Houseman is telling a spooky story to a bunch of kids. I really love that scene--I thought it set a great mood and it also served as a fun twist on what is, essentially, a boring old exposition scene. The Eldon Granger stuff is fun, to me, because I set up the entire mythology of The Coming Evil Trilogy in this one scene, but I feel (re: hope) it’s in an atmospheric and engaging way.

Page 3--The story of Joe Hallerin. My wife and I drive up to the Ozarks every now and again to get away from things. A lot of the small shoppes carry small press/self-published books--local authors--and a lot of those books are about Ozark ghost stories and legends. One book in particular--Favorite Scary Stories of American Children by Richard and Judy Dockrey Young--was a huge influence. It spoke at great lengths about the oral traditions of those stories and the proper way to tell them. After reading, I came away with a lot of respect for oral storytellers and had a desire to write a story in the “Ozark oral tradition”. I wrote Joe Hallerin’s tale with the original intent of just putting it up on the blog or in an anthology one day, but I loved it so much that I worked it into the story. I love the language that Eldon Granger uses as he tells the story--and that’s all authentic Ozark flavor. “Lit a shuck outta there” and “practice moans and groans”. Of course, now, Eldon sounds like a hillbilly :p

Page 14--The prologue ends with violence. It was important for me to establish the threat of the monsters right up front, especially since we pull back and get involved in Dras’ day-to-day life and there’s nary a monster to be seen for awhile. I felt I needed something dramatic right out of the gate to let you know what kind of book this is going to be. What’s ironic is that, after I sent this in to Realms, I read some interview with agents and editors about their biggest pet peeves. One of them was killing a character in the prologue. Oh well.

Page 15--Chapter One. Another new scene, exclusive to this edition. Now we pull way, way back and cut to a domestic, quaint family dinner. So much of this story--the whole trilogy, in fact--is putting the Weldon family through as much hell as I can muster. In the original Xulon Edition, we begin the book with “it was a dark and stormy night” and the Strange Man is already making his move on Greensboro. It moved too fast. I wanted to turn the clock back and show how normal things were just hours before the storm blows through. I wanted an opportunity to show these characters as a family--together--before I spent the next three books tearing them apart.

It’s no coincidence that Jeff is the first of our main cast to be introduced. He was the first to be introduced in the Xulon Edition, too, albeit under different circumstances. Jeff is a “hero type”. He’s good-looking, he’s a man of convictions, he’s all about duty and responsibility--he’s even a preacher. A preacher in a Christian book! Of course he’s the hero! Only, he’s not. This book is about God choosing the unlikely to become heroes. So, while Jeff certainly has the pedigree, he’s not God’s man for the job. Not this time.

Note: Yes, I have a brother named Jeff. No, this Jeff is not based on or is anything like the other Jeff. It was sheer coincidence that the two share the same name.

Jeff and Isabella really suffered in the Xulon Edition--Isabella especially. They were always sort of background characters, but starting with Book Two (Enemies of the Cross, due out February 2012), they will become just as important to the trilogy as Dras and Rosalyn, so this dinner scene was a chance to show them off, to let them have the spotlight for a bit before Dras comes in and steals the show with his cheese puff shenanigans.

Page 19--Dras' introduction. If you don’t know who this guy is after this intro and the bit at the dinner scene, then I’ve failed as a writer and he’s failed as a character. This is the point where people always ask me “Where in the world did you come up with a name like Dras?” Honestly, I can’t remember. That was over ten years ago and I don’t know. I remember watching a movie on TV around that time--PCU with Jeremy Piven. He was named “Droz” in that movie and was a laid back, silly kind of guy, so who knows. Maybe that’s where it comes from. I recall liking that movie and it fits around the same timeframe, so there. Maybe it’s all Jeremy Piven’s fault. As for the spelling, it just looked natural to me to spell it the way I did, though now I deal with everyone calling him “Drass” as in rhymes with “grass”. It’s supposed to rhyme with “Oz”. I ended up just making the mispronunciation something that Dras has had to live with all his life :p As for the in-universe story about where Dras got his name, this was a last minute addition. I had never thought about it, really, until my editor was finally like “Look. It’s a weird name. You need an explanation.” My wife Meghan and I cooked up the origins of Dras’ name late one night as my deadline loomed closer. I really liked the idea of Jeff naming him. Among many things, this is a story about brothers and, given what these brothers go through, I thought it was a touching foundation to their relationship.

Page 25--The family scene with Rosalyn and Dras. I’ve been writing this story for ten years, and I’ve worked hard to understand who these people are and how they relate to each other. They’ve grown a lot and I’ve grown a lot. Having written this scene pretty late in the process, I feel like I had ten years of getting to know these guys to play off of. Also, having written this scene after the trilogy was more or less complete, it was kind of a way of traveling back in time with them and enjoying the calm before the storm.

Page 26--“The same thing we do every night, Pinky,” is a reference to the cartoon Pinky and the Brain. Probably just zipped right over a lot of people’s heads, but there you have it.

Page 27--Jeff’s nightmare becomes a major plot point of Book Two. I decided to plant a little seed here. New to the Realms Edition.

Page 27--The storm. This is actually where the Xulon Edition began! See how much you would have missed? I’m thankful for the changes. These scenes here, with Jeff and the storm, Millie and the window, and Dras and Rosalyn at the Rave Scene are among the oldest written material in this book. I literally wrote this stuff back in 1999. I’ve edited it a lot--added a lot to it--but some of it is the very same sentences I wrote when I was but a young lad, clacking away at my story in my parent’s house. It probably shows. I still cringe when I read these passages and I never entirely feel like I pulled it up to the standard of the newest material. But, at the same time, I’ve come to accept it. It’s a snapshot of who I was when I started the journey. Humble beginnings.

Page 32--“Mommy?” For everything in me I wanted this to be the opening line of the book. In a book about monsters and bogeymen and frightened children (or, more accurately in Dras’ case, a man-child) finding their voice, this seemed so powerful to me. A little girl, looking for motherly protection. But, no matter how hard I tried, it just wasn’t feasible for this to be the opening scene. I think Eldon’s scene is a better opening scene, but this moment with Millie and the man at her window is an iconic image. I’m petrified of people looking in on me through my bedroom window (had it happen to me as a child once while I was undressing for bed, and it traumatized me), so this scene is extra-creepy for me.

The Millie bedroom scene is probably the most iconic scene in this book for me. It’s also the scene that gets the most scares out of readers. Most people tell me that, as they’re reading this scene, they swear they hear someone scratching on their window. Little do they know, they do. It’s actually me. I come to all of your houses and wait for you to get to this part, then I scratch on your window.

Page 39--Dras and Rosalyn at the Rave Scene. This scene benefits from the Realms Edition expansions. This used to be a pretty wordy scene as this was, originally, your introduction to our duo. I really crammed a lot of exposition in the Xulon version, so afraid you wouldn’t “get” these guys. But, once I was able to back the truck up a bit and introduce them in a more natural way at the dinner scene, this scene lost the exposition and just became free. This is THE oldest written material in the whole book.

Funny story on how I came up with the name “The Rave Scene”: As you may or may not know, this story started out as a small independent movie I wanted to get produced. Well, yeah, that didn’t work so I decided to adapt it to a novel. In the script, for the scene headers, I always described these dance hall scenes as “The Rave Scene”. You know, like, “the scene at the rave”. When writing the novel, I tried out a couple more legitimate names (I think “The Golden Viper” was one--yikes), but finally decided that the Rave Scene just sounded kinda cool. So I made that the club’s name. The exact same thing happened with the Good Church of the Faithful.

Page 45--I added more motivation to the Strange Man during this introduction. In the Xulon Edish, it was all vague and he was “just nasty”. I’ve always had all kinds of motivations and depth to him lined up for the sequels, and when I started adding to this for the Realms version, I thought “Why hold back?” Some stuff, for plot’s sake, you can’t know about yet, but I let down the guard a little and showed more of what makes him tick. He really is attracted to Rosalyn. She arouses him and that makes him hate her all the more. He’s really messed up. I wonder what made him that way. Hm...

Head over to Part II of our exclusive commentary for The Strange Man as we get into one of the more controversial aspects of the story!

New "Review" Trailer Now Live!

2011-03-22T09:01:00.003-05:00

So, what happens when you give me some video editing equipment, about an hour of free time, a few good reviews, and the desire to pimp my debut novel The Strange Man? Why, you get this fun, little video!

Special thanks, as always, to Dan Schulte for the music, and extra thanks to the reviewers who had such nice things to say about my little book about monsters :)

In related news, filming began this morning for the feature trailer for Book Two of The Coming Evil Trilogy--Enemies of the Cross! The publisher will want to debut that trailer early next year, but I'm hoping to cut a very small "teaser" for your viewing pleasure. Stay tuned!

Bigfoot War: The Review!

2011-03-13T17:44:00.008-05:00

I believe I first heard of Bigfoot War upon its release while reading one of the horror sites I frequent (Dread Central, perhaps?). I was instantly struck by the cover and thought the concept sounded like Assault on Precinct 13 by way of Harry and the Hendersons.

Needless to say, my kind of story.

I've had my own love affair with Bigfoot from childhood. Living in Arkansas, I've been told that The Legend of Boggy Creek was based on a true story in my own state, and when I was eleven or twelve, I recall a "Bigfoot sighting" that had the whole town (or at least my neighborhood, with all my friends) riled up in excited whispers. I remember reading all the books about Bigfoot I could find in my middle school library. I knew all about footprint casts, and the Yeti, and had seen "The Bigfoot Photo"--you know which one I mean--countless times. As a fan of monsters, Bigfoot (and Nessie, though I was never much of a water guy) was always extra exciting to me because it just might be real.

Seeing the cover to Eric S. Brown's Sasquatchploitation thrill ride Bigfoot War brought my childhood rushing back. After many moons, I finally got hip to the Bigfoot War craze (at the moment it's got 44 5-star reviews on Amazon) and picked up a copy. I was glad I did. I've seen it repeated in Eric's interviews and Facebook posts that his mantra is "bringing fun back to horror"--a message I subscribe to wholeheartedly. I recognize there's a place, and certainly a fanbase, for the gritty, realistic, thriller type horror stories like Saw or Silence of the Lambs, but I've always preferred a healthy dose of unrealism in my horror. A sense of magic, of the fantastic, and of the, well, fun.

On that front, Bigfoot War delivers in spades. The story progresses at a breakneck speed--reading more like a screenplay than a novel. It's very much a Saturday night SyFy Channel "original", and I mean that in the best possible way. It was violent, exciting, at times very dark, and makes no excuses for its "take no prisoners" approach. This is popcorn entertainment in its purest form.

Having said that, I think the novel's strengths also prove to be its greatest weakness. It's short. And when I say it's short, I mean it's short.My first thought upon unboxing my Amazon package was "Where's the rest of it?" It clocks in at a 113 pages. Perhaps because of its slimmed down narrative, the characters sometimes become lost in the action. What we learn on the back cover about Jeff, the hero of our Bigfoot War--that his family was killed by a Bigfoot when he was a boy, he grows up, joins the military, fights in Iraq, and returns to Babble Creek looking for payback--is all you'll ever know about him. The same can be said for nearly every character--While not "caricatures", they are painted in very broad strokes with little time to really get to know them before the fur starts flying (literally). While this might play out a little better in a movie, where the focus is on the visual dynamics of the piece, for a novel, this stripped-down approach can be problematic. But my own novel The Strange Man (What? It's my blog, I can plug) has also been described as very fast, very cinematic, and not very long, so I guess I'm the pot calling the kettle black over here, but there you have it.

However, with all of that being said about the characters, I did find myself rooting for the heroes and was quite moved when certain ones fell to the savagery of the Bigfoot, so I'd say Mr. Brown wasn't entirely unsuccessful at creating his cast of hundreds. There are a lot of folks to keep track of and I had to flip back a few pages more than once to refresh my memory who was who, who had a crush on who, etc.

I found the final battle sequence, where the tribes of angry Bigfoot fall on this town in a storm of blood and carnage, really engaging, and it was every bit as explosive as the reviews touted it to be. I felt a little letdown by the epilogue, where we're introduced to a new group of characters that I assume is build-up to the sequel Bigfoot War: Dead in the Woods, because I felt it detracted, just a bit, from the emotional conclusion of Babble Creek's desperate last stand against Nature's best kept secret weapon.

Despite my minor issues with the book, I still came away from it with a grin, and ready to dig into the sequel when it comes out. I can only imagine that things will get bigger from this point--that the mythology will escalate to crazier heights. This first installment certainly began the series with a bang, and made me a fan in the process.

Book Signing March 19th

2011-03-10T09:06:00.004-06:00

Mark your calendars!

On March 19th, 2011, I'll be selling and signing copies of The Strange Man at Books-A-Million in Jonesboro, Arkansas from 1-3 (or until they run me off) in the PM. Stop in, say hello, and leave with the gift of Christian horror in your hands.

The Books-A-Million folks have been real enthusiastic and supportive, so I'm hoping to get a good turnout and show some support to local book retailers! Amazon's great, don't get me wrong, but there's still something special about walking into a brick and mortar store and finding the book you're after on the shelf.

Hope to see you there!

New Interviews

2011-03-03T11:53:00.003-06:00

The Strange Man is in stores! Have you bought your copy?

I'm having a blast promoting the book and have had some great opportunities to do interviews and talk about my inspirations, my thoughts on writing and the Christian publishing industry, and whatever else comes to the mind of my interviewers. Here are the three most recent.

Special thanks to Jeff, Alice, and Dona for giving me the chance to talk up the book!

Interview at The Writing Life For Me.

Interview with Jeff Gerke at Where The Map Ends.

BRAND-NEW Interview at Fantasy and Faith.

Guest Blog at "Charisma"

2011-02-21T07:12:00.002-06:00

A new blog has started, comprised of my fellow Realms authors. It's called "Just the Write Charisma" and today I posted my first blog over there where I introduce myself as well as tackle the very writer-y issue: Who is my target audience? The answer might prove shocking!!

Head over there now to check it out and learn about new Realms authors in the process!

Just as a reminder, I'll be selling and signing books at the Lantern Bookstore here in Paragould, Arkansas next Saturday (the 26th) from 2-4. Stop by if you're in the area.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T08:26:00.001-06:00

Book Signing--February 26th

2011-02-04T12:23:00.003-06:00

Local folks! I'll be doing my first book signing for The Strange Man on Saturday, February 26th, from 2 to 4 in the PM at Lantern Bookstore in Paragould, Arkansas. Turn out, buy a copy (I'll sign it for you if that kinda thing floats your boat), and show support for local business!

Unsigned copies are also now available to buy at Lantern--they're up front, right below the cash register.

A Friendly Buyer's Guide to "The Strange Man"

2011-02-03T10:37:00.006-06:00

What's in a cover?

Apparently a bunch of potential confusion.

The book's been out for a couple days now, but I'm seeing some inconsistencies in how the book is represented that could lead to confusion in the market. Hence, I've designed this helpful buyer's guide to (hopefully) help the situation.

If you're a local buyer in the Northeast Arkansas area, be not decieved if you see THIS cover:

This is the cover to the original self-published, out-dated (and woefully sloppy) Xulon version of the book. DO NOT BUY. Kindly approach the counter of whatever bookstore you might find this in and ask them if they might order the new edition released by Realms Fiction.

Now we move on to our next cover:

As you may or may not recall, this was Realms' initial concept for "The Strange Man" cover art and was promoted as such for many months before retailer feedback informed the stellar art team at Realms that the cover was "too frightening". Hence, we changed it, but not before it already made the rounds. This is the cover you will see in the current issue of CBD, as well as on a couple of different review or order sites. If you see this cover, but are confused, rest assured this is the correct edition--the cover just won't look like this when you get your copy, so don't be concerned that you received the wrong book.

Now, finally, the final cover as it appears on the finished product in stores now.

This is the one you want. A beauty, ain't it?

Now that we're all clear, this should make your hunt for "The Strange Man" all the easier. Happy hunting!

Release Day!

2011-02-01T07:00:00.003-06:00

It's February 1st--The Strange Man is now in stores!

Run, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore and purchase your copy today. And, if they don't have it, demand to know why. Cause a scene. Incite a riot in the streets!

If you prefer to do your shopping online, click over to Amazon--it's waiting there for you!

Finally, if you're on the fence about whether or not this book is for you, howabout a great review from TitleTrakk.com to lure you in?

Well, folks, what can I say about this day that I haven't already said a billion times before? I'm very grateful to God to have reached this point and realize I have many miles to go in my journey, but I think sometimes you gotta take a moment and savor the smaller victories along the way.

Thanks to all who have taken the journey with me thus far. I hope you'll stick around for the long haul and we'll gather more to our ranks. To victory!

"The Strange Man" Soundtrack

2011-01-28T08:16:00.019-06:00

Music is an intregral part to my "process" as a writer. I plot scenes in my head while listening to music, I write to music--oftentimes putting a single song on repeat for hours until I've finished a certain segment--, and I also read to music (which I'm told is weird). As I've been writing The Strange Man for over ten years, I've built up quite an internal soundtrack, and today, as February 1st nears ever closer, I've selected the ones that stick out the most to me.

Please note that this is totally unofficial. These songs have not been approved nor reflect the opinions (or musical tastes) of the fine folks at Realms Fiction. This is something for fun. I've arranged the songs in order as they compliment the story, including "scene names" and page numbers to help you pinpoint where in the book they might occur. Listened as a whole, I belive the soundtrack will take you on the emotional journey of The Strange Man.

So go hunt them down on iTunes or whatever it is you kids listen to nowadays (can you believe I actually had some of these on CD? Remember those dinosaurs?) and enjoy.

1. "Silver" - The Pixies - PROLOGUE, page 1
2. "The Broken" - Coheed & Cambria - TITLE TRACK
3. "Blue Monday" - Orgy (cover) - RAVE SCENE, page 39
4. "Send Me An Angel" - Real Life - A NEW ARRIVAL, page 45
5. "Don't Fear the Reaper" - The Mutton Birds (cover) - FLEEING THE DEVIL, page 58
6. "Resurrection" (Hellraiser Theme) - Christopher Young - SUBMERGED AND EMERGING, page 61
7. "Flower Man" - Tonic - AN UNLIKELY HERO, page 65
8. "Hellbound" (Hellraiser: Hellbound Theme) - Christopher Young - DEAL WITH THE DEVIL, page 148
9. "Running Up That Hill" - Placebo (cover) - THE FOOL WISES UP, page 168
10. "Maybe Baby" - Buddy Holly and the Crickets - ONE NIGHT AT SMOKEY'S, page 201
11. "Freedom Rock" - Frank Black - GREMLIN NIGHT, page 206
12. "Enjoy the Silence" - Anberlin (cover) - RAVE SCENE AGAIN, page 247
13. "Ache" - James Carrington - ALL FOR ME, page 255
14. "Silver" - The Pixies (reprise) - THE BATTLE IS ONLY BEGINNING, page 265
15. "Horror Show" - Third Eye Blind - END CREDITS

Guest Blog at Cloud Ten Pictures

2011-01-25T09:53:00.004-06:00

"Do we really have power over the devil?"

That's the question I pose over at Cloud Ten Pictures' blog today.

Cloud Ten Pictures--producers of the popular Left Behind movies based on the mega-hit book series (not to mention my boss for Apocalypse V)--were gracious enough to let me come over and write up my thoughts on spiritual warfare in light of The Strange Man's impending release. Head over there and show some love.

Debut of the Feature Trailer for "The Strange Man"!

2011-01-24T14:55:00.006-06:00

Big day, folks! Tomorrow marks the one-week countdown to the release of The Strange Man! Over a decade of struggle comes to a close--and a fresh beginning. To help get you pumped for February 1st, Realms has released the brand new feature trailer for The Strange Man.

Cast
Millie Walker--Meredythe Edwards
Dras Weldon--Jeff Mitchell
Rosalyn Myers--Meghan Mitchell
The Strange Man--Me, yo!

Crew
Music--Dan J. Schulte
Killer Strange Man art--Thomas Mason
Nifty Realms animated logo--Conlan Brown
Written, shot, and chopped--Me, again, Chief.

Read Bob Freeman's "The Cabin in the Woods" Free!

2011-01-21T12:06:00.012-06:00

Real-life occult detective and horror author Bob Freeman is a friend 'round these parts. Last year he saw the publication of his occult detective novel Descendant--a "braided novel" composed of inter-connected short stories. Like most of Bob's work, Descendant takes place in his epic Liber Monstrorum magnum opus.

His publisher, Belfire Press, have posted the first story featured in Descendant--"The Cabin in the Woods"--available to read for free on their site. This is a perfect introduction into the madness that is Bob Freeman. In this story, you will meet Federal Agents and full-time spook hunters Selina Wolfe and Martin Crowe--the titular characters of Descendant. As a special treat (well, to me, anyway :p), this is also the story that introduces that most famed and ill-fated Nightstalker...Greg Mitchell! Read of his gruesome demise, get yourself hooked on this uber-cool monster mythology, then order your own copy of Descendant today. I mean, seriously people, what are you waiting for? Are you allergic to awesome or something?

Read my exclusive interview with Bob right here!

Dan J. Schulte's "Unit Revelation" Now Available

2011-01-13T17:41:00.006-06:00

I'm forever indebted to composer Dan J. Schulte. I first heard Dan's work on the Halloween Returns to Haddonfield CD that accompanied the Halloween 25th Anniversary Convention. I listened to it on the flight home and loved it. When it came time to do my first trailer for The Coming Evil, I called Dan up and asked if he'd contribute the score. He did, and I was really pleased. He's also written a new score for the brand new trailer of The Strange Man, set to debut in a couple weeks.

Dan is now adding "writer" to his list of duties, having just released his first novel Unit Revelation straight to the Amazon Kindle. Dan's a do-it-yourself kind of guy, having produced a number of awesome CDs that I've used as background writing music. Unit Revelation is a story close to Dan's heart, I know, as we've talked about it over the years. Here's what Dan had to say about it on his site:

"This tale began in 1984 when I sat down with two friends of mine and we began to draw science fiction super heroes, villains, robots and mutants warring against each other. Unable to get the themes and characters out of my head I continued to evolve a story throughout the years inspired by the dozens of pages of art we had done. Originally produced in the early 90's as 'Revelation Club' (an ashcan comic of which I had eventually done over 70 pages of artwork) the story and art hibernated until I finally decided to transfer the story from graphic novel to manuscript in 2010. Technically 26 years in the making, the Unit Revelation novel finally makes it's debut in January 2011."

I wish Dan all the best with his story. Scroll below to see the cover art, read the synopsis, and click the handy link to order your own copy.

About the book: In 1987 Jake Dust, along with 299 other scientists and specialists, took the offer of a lifetime: a five year contract living and working on a robotically constructed, planet-sized space station called Project Escape. What began as a peaceful operation designed to preserve the human race in the event of nuclear war became a war-ravaged hell of robotic devastation, genetic mutation and technological darkness. Defeated and out of options, the last of the specialists send Jake Dust back to earth in a desperate search for help to reclaim the Project from its tyrannical leaders. When Dust returns to earth in the new millennium he finds that Project Escape is little more than an ‘urban legend’ and all evidence of its existence has been covered up. Ignored and ridiculed for his surreal claims of Project Escape’s desperate reality and history, the janitor turned war hero descends into alcoholism and defeat until Unit Revelation, a small band of extremely eclectic and unlikely heroes, arrive from Project Escape and reluctantly revitalize Dust’s cause to return to the war-torn Project and end the abominations thriving there once and for all.

Buy the book at Amazon.

Interview with Jo Beth Mitchell: Photographer

2011-01-10T17:33:00.004-06:00

Around here, The Coming Evil is a family affair--mostly because I've been writing this since before I was married and had kids. After Realms finished designing their killer cover for The Strange Man, it fell to me to provide an author photo. Seeing as how I had only a weekend to get it, I was hard pressed to find someone with the skill and eye for detail I needed to perfectly capture my likeness. I mean, this was an important picture. If you can't trust my grinning mug, why buy my book?

I turned to my loving and supportive wife, Meghan. She's been by my side nearly every step of the way, offering encouragement, love, and--when needed--brutal honesty. The Strange Man wouldn't exist without her, so I trusted her to do the honors of taking my author photo.

Well, as it turns out, as caring, loving, and supportive as Meghan is, she's not so great behind the camera.

After that failed, I sought out our last hope.

Our daughter, Jo Beth Mitchell.

Time and again, Jo has impressed us with her picture-taking abilities, and we both knew we had found the expert we needed. Here's the picture Jo took:

Getting my advance copy of The Strange Man today, I'm proud to see my little girl's first professional photo (albeit cropped and re-sized to fit the format's needs) featured on my book. In honor of this event, Jo Beth was gracious enough to spare me a few minutes of her time for this exclusive interview!

Greg Mitchell: How old are you now, Jo?

Jo Beth Mitchell: Four.

GM: You recently started pre-school. Are you enjoying that?

JM: *nods*

GM: What's your favorite part?

JM: Uh, when we go out for recess.

GM: You’re also an aspiring writer, with your short fiction "The Princess and the Ant" and "The Mermaid" (both unpublished) under your belt. Any new ideas on the horizon?

JM: Well...hm...well...um yes.

GM: What are they?

JM: Well, I don’t have the ideas for them, but I do know which ones I want.

GM: Okay! You took a really good picture for my book. Do you like taking pictures?

JM: Yes.

GM: Jo, what are your dreams for the future?

JM: Being a princess.

GM: Do you like having me for a daddy?

JM: Of course I do! *hugs*

GM: What’s the best thing about having me for a daddy?

JM: Wrestling! *jumps up and down*

GM: One last question: If Rainbow Brite and Strawberry Shortcake had a wrestling match, who do you think would win?

JM: Rainbow Brite.

GM: I agree.

Special thanks to Jo Beth for taking the time to sit down with us. You can head over to Amazon and purchase a copy of her picture for $13.99--and get The Strange Man attached to it for FREE! How can you beat that offer!

Great Scott! I'm Writing 'Back to the Future'!

2011-01-08T07:22:00.005-06:00

It is no secret that I love Back to the Future. Yes, the whole trilogy. Everything's a trilogy these days, but growing up, it was just this and Star Wars. It's actually because of Back to the Future's trilogy-status that inspired me to make The Coming Evil into a trilogy. I've seen the movie countless times, nearly memorized them, and even still make a point to sit down and watch all three movies uninterrupted periodically. I've studied those movies inside and out, absolutely in love with the characters, settings, and themes.

It is with great humility that I officially announce today that I will be working with Hasslein Books--publishers of the amazing and comprehensive Timeline of the Planet of the Apes and Lexicon of the Planet of the Apes--to co-write with Star Wars author Rich Handley not one, but two unofficial BTTF reference books!

Here's what Handley had to say on the announcement on the Hasslein facebook page:

"Novelist Greg Mitchell and I will be cowriting two reference books, similar to the style of the Apes books, about the Back to the Future films, cartoons and comics. Greg is an avid BTTF fan, and he suggested, back in 2009, that I some day tackle those films. Since that time, he's been invaluable in assisting me on the research end. Now that I'm finally doing it, I figured he'd make the perfect co-author. Luckily, he agreed.

I'm writing the first draft of a Back to the Future lexicon, while Greg is writing the first draft of a timeline book for that universe, after which we'll swap manuscripts and edit each other's work as a second draft. In that way, we'll share co-credit on both."

Rich has already broken ground on the lexicon while I'm finishing up a top secret project that I can't talk about yet. Then, I'll be pulling double duty, promoting The Strange Man, while dissecting the timeline of Back to the Future. I've never done a timeline before, and am thankful to have Rich guide me through the process. It's fun that I'm finally going to be putting all my useless BTTF knowledge to use!

Stay tuned here for updates on this and other projects. And remember, in the words of Doctor Emmett L. Brown:

"The future hasn't been written yet. No one's has. The future is whatever you make of it. So make it a good one."

Interviewing Edward M. Erdelac: The Coolest Man On Earth?

2011-01-04T14:47:00.025-06:00

There are many injustices in the publishing world, one of them being that "Edward M. Erdelac" is not a name as widely known as it should be. Today I do my part to rectify this situation by introducing you to him. Ed is a horror writer on the rise, crafting tightly-plotted, character-rich, horror stories.

I first met Ed a few years ago when we were both submitting entries to the "What's the Story" contest over at the official Star Wars website. We, along with many of our fellow Star Wars nerds...erm...enthusiasts, were tasked with creating interesting and original backstories for any number of characters, planets, or starships that Lucasfilm threw our way. I hit paydirt with my Dusty Duck entry, and Ed won the contest a total of three times! Beyond that, he was hired by Lucasfilm on an official basis to write an original short story for their site (I'm still waiting for my chance. Take your time, Lucasfilm. I'll still be here.). The result was Fists of Ion, an awesome tale of a down-on-his-luck shockboxer who makes good and scores a victory for the New Republic. It was the "Rocky" of the Star Wars mythology and I realized then how gifted Ed is at telling a deftly worded tale and pulling you right into his world. As fellow Whatsthestoryists, Ed and I cheered each other on in the competition back in those days, and stayed in touch long after the "What's the Story" feature was discontinued (another injustice!), in large part due to the fact that we were both struggling writers in the horror genre with an eye towards breaking into comics and film. Today, we still cheer each other on, trading war stories from the trenches of the publishing industry.

As fate would have it, the both of us had stories published in the 3rd Edition of Coach's Midnight Diner where his story "The Blood Bay"--the dark "coming of age" tale of a boy and his blood-drinking horse--was selected as one of three Editor's Choices! "The Blood Bay" is a an Old West revenge tale with its roots in Greek mythology, of all things. Ed's story conveys so much thought, character-driven tragedy, and bloodcurdling nastiness with a light, airy prose that's addictive to read. It's this smooth style and his carefully measured but very rich imagery that earns him my respect and only mild bitterness :p Most recently I finished his novella "Red Sails". A pirate story about a vampire pirate captain and his werewolf crew, it is fun, imaginative, and surprisingly "literary" considering the premise sounds like a late night monster movie (not a bad thing). Ed's liberal use of spooky description is perfectly balanced by his knowledge of history--so much so that I wonder if he's got a time machine stored in his garage. Whether he's writing Star Wars or in our world's haunted past, he takes you there. Puts you right in the middle of the environment and makes you think he's been there himself.

Among Ed's stories are "Night of the Jikininki"--a zombie story set in Feudal Japan; "The Crawlin' Chaos Blues"--when a young blues player heads to the crossroads to make a deal with the devil, he's surprised to find something Lovecraftian instead; and his Merkabah Rider series starting with "Tales of a High Planes Drifter"--about a gunslinger mystic on the trail of monsters in the Weird West. Seriously, why are you still reading? You should be rushing to Amazon and buying all of these. Right now!

Well, for those who need more convincing, we're here to sit down with Edward M. Erdelac: The Coolest Man On Earth.

Greg Mitchell: For the poor folks at home who have yet to stumble upon your greatness, who are you and what are you about?

Edward Erdelac: I’m Edward M. Erdelac (only because my father is Edward G. Erdelac and our mail gets mixed up – "Ed" is fine). I was born in Indiana, educated in Chicago, and live in the Los Angeles area with my family. I’ve written stuff for Star Wars (on their website), I’ve produced, written and directed an indie feature film (Meaner Than Hell), and I’ve written about a dozen screenplays, two of which have won awards. Most recently in that arena I did some work on a horror movie that’s being produced called "Underground Lizard People". I’m currently the man behind the Merkabah Rider series from Damnation Books, a weird western about a gunslinging Hasidic mystic tracking his renegade teacher across the southwest of 1880, contending with demons and Lovecraftian entities along the way.

GM: So, why be an author? Dealing with my own struggles on this particular path, I periodically ask myself “Why in the world did I decide on this for my life? Am I a masochist? A glutton for misery?” What set you on the road to being a writer? What keeps you going?

EE: I ask myself the same questions, Greg. It’s a really hard road, especially when everybody around you has solid, respectable careers. At 35 I sometimes feel a bit like a man-child still punching out spooky stories when most of my friends are laying plans for their retirement. It can be quite a discouraging business, especially if you hate the word ‘business’ like I do. But, when you hold a bound copy of your work, and feel the weight of it, when you put it on your shelf, it’s a kind of notch on your gun that even the most rabid bibliophile with a Clue-sized library can’t match. It’s an extra pip on the collar or a gilded chevron on the sleeve that very few people I think have the tenacity to earn. The only thing that tops that is somebody expressing admiration for something you’ve written. That’s a whole ‘nother sensation. Like having somebody praise your kid for his or her upbringing (but secretly, I think, just a little bit better). You throw your heart against the wall a whole lot, but that last bit is worth every toss.

I’ve wanted to do this for a living since I read my first pocket book sans-pictures in about seventh grade (believe it or not, it was the novelization of Friday The 13th Part 6: Jason Lives).

GM: Hey, I've got that book sitting on my shelf, too! And it's still a shame the movie didn't include the epilogue with the return of Jason Voorhees' father :(

EE: I realized how vivid and transporting a book could be. Moreso than a film even (case in point). I’m still not quite there yet, but just three years ago, with nothing at all out there, I was ready to give up for good. Then a UK magazine called Murky Depths published a story I did called "Killer of the Dead" about a Blackfoot boy and his grandfather chasing down a gang of murderous vampires, and about the same time I got the call to do the Star Wars story. Making that first breakthrough took years and came when I was literally about to give up. Funny enough, this is the same way I met my wife, when I had resolved to stop looking for love. And my Star Wars story was published on our anniversary.

GM: I hear ya. The best stuff in life always seems to come around when we're about to throw in the towel. I am always surprised and impressed when I hear of a new story you’ve got coming out. You have the greatest “hooks” and each and every story sounds like a blast to me—which is why they’re all on my ever-expanding “to-read” list. What immediately stands out to me when I think of an “Edward M. Erdelac” story is “genre bending”. I mean, you took a Deep South blues/deal-with-the-devil story and mixed it with Lovecraft, man. That’s awesome! You have these great “mash-up” stories without going the over-mined Classic Literary Book With a Horror Twist route. Your stories are original and interesting. You have very classy “old Hollywood” sensibilities, mixed with B-movie concepts. Do you sit down and say “What two odd things can I put together today?” or is this just reflective of the way your mind works naturally?

EE: Thanks, Greg! I think I read a lot of history, and I read a lot of folklore, and my mind has sort of been conditioned to make these connections. I like reading about culture clashes and am continually amazed by the different ways humans have intermixed with and adapted to each other, from African centurions in the Roman Army to British Wild West Shows in Victorian England.

I love how freely the old pulp writers mixed genres, and I read a lot of that stuff. I watch mainly classic movies as well, so that’s probably where the old Hollywood sensibilities come from. There’s a line in Carol Reed’s The Third Man that always cracks me up where Calloway tells the Holly Martins character, “Paine lent me one of your books...I didn’t know they had snake charmers in Texas.” For better or worse, that’s the kind of writer I am, I think.

GM: As much fun as the monsters are, I’m intrigued by how you pay just as much attention to creating an authentic historical environment. A lot of your stories take place in the past. Are you a natural fan of history? How much research do you put into your stories, capturing the language and “world” of the past?

EE: Yeah I think the most modern story I’ve written is a screenplay set in 1985. I always loved learning new things, but my idea of new things has always been, funny enough, old things. History was my favorite subject. I guess I don’t relate very well to the modern world, where I think much of our lives have been made abstract. The experience of living isn’t really very concrete anymore to most people. It’s all tied up in work and paper and compound interests and 401K. A lot of stuff that at the end of the day just makes a body want to slump down on the couch and veg. People, I think, don’t experience life the same way as they used to. Look at how much time people spend watching television or reading as opposed to going out and doing the kinds of things the characters in their entertainment do.

There’s a dignity to the human experience that’s gradually being eroded by modern disconnectedness. Our virtual lives are generally more interesting than our real lives. I enjoy visiting historical places and just laying hands on old things, imagining the people who first set these things in place. My son took his senior trip to Europe and brought me back a little chip of Hadrian’s wall. I believe there’s a kind of hum to things like that. I don’t know if its psychometry or just wishful thinking. Maybe one requires the other.

I guess I’m always doing research when I’m reading history. I put a crease at the bottom of a page where some little bit of information jumps out at me. Then later (sometimes years later) when I’m writing something that deals with that subject, I can go to the shelf and thumb through my books, finding all these little memory triggers. Sometimes they’re so minute a detail it’s like “I’ll probably never use this.” But I almost always do. I think it’s the details that bring the past to life. First person accounts are the most fun to read in this regard, because you get these little nuances of speech and contemporary references that make the characters more real. Like how people in the Southwest tend to say ‘brang’ or ‘brung’ instead of ‘brought.’

When I’m creating characters in the past I also like to look at timelines of what was going on in the world during their lifetimes and consider their reactions to them. People are the sum total of their experiences after all. The best characters I think, you can imagine having had a life before you picked up their story, and sometimes even after.

GM: From "The Blood Bay", to the Merkabah Rider series, to even your film Meaner Than Hell, I see you returning time and again to the Wild (and sometimes Weird) West, as well as your fictional town of Delirium Tremens. What is it about horses and cowboys that keeps you coming back?

EE: I guess the comparative simplicity of life. As I said, modern concerns give me a headache. I admire the self-inventiveness of old westerners. There are so many stories of real people who tried all these crazy careers, and when they failed (some of them spectacularly – I mean, the kind of financial failure that would induce somebody today to take a pavement dive) in one they just pushed a little further out west and started over doing something else, maybe with a nickname or something. With the frontier you could do that, because your creditors weren’t hearty enough to pursue you to what was then the ends of the earth. Could the Lone Ranger and Tonto, if they were real, ride around doing their thing today? Nah, the Ranger would have lawyers dogging him to pay property taxes on his silver mine and Tonto would probably be getting grief from his tribe for perpetuating a Native American stereotype.

I never really cared for westerns or the old west overly until I visited Deadwood with my family on a cross country vacation in fifth or sixth grade. I had watched The Lone Ranger and the Cisco Kid reruns when I was little, but that’s about it. Then in eighth grade I got on a Dirty Harry kick that led me to The Good The Bad And The Ugly and I never quite recovered.

Delirium Tremens, AZ is my Castle Rock. I picked the name from a book on ghost towns somewhere, but it wasn’t located in Arizona. "The Blood Libel" in Merkabah Rider: Tales of a High Planes Drifter and "The Blood Bay" both take place there. The town actually started as a detailed map I drew for an RPG game I ran for a scant few months about ten or eleven years ago. Since I abandoned the game, I still had all these little plotted stories, one of which became "The Blood Bay".

GM: Let’s talk about the Rider, while we’re on the subject of the western. What a great creation—a Jewish gunslinger mystic, battling the occult in the Old West. I’m gobsmacked by the originality of that premise and am dying to read these books. First off, where did you come up with this guy?

EE: Well first off, I like the word gobsmacked, and I’m going to strive to use it more.

GM: You should! You really should!

EE: I’m a tremendous fan of Kung Fu, the 70’s show with the Shaolin master traveling across the West. I loved the alienness of that character in such a familiar setting, and watching the reaction of stock western characters to him, and the fascinating stories that came from merging peaceful eastern philosophy with the often violent mores of the old west. I think the Rider has his origins in that, as well as a comedy-western with Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford called The Frisco Kid, about a Polish rabbi trying to deliver a Torah to San Francisco with the help of this bank robber.

He also comes directly from a series of weird westerns I tried to write in my senior year of high school about a wraith-like character called The Ghost Dancer who was this murdered cavalryman brought back to life by a Native American shaman to avenge the Sand Creek Massacre. I wasn’t particularly happy with the way it turned out, so it was shelved for a lot of years. "The Dust Devils" and "Hell’s Hired Gun" are the only two Ghost Dancer stories that became Merkabah Rider installments. I was reading a book on angelology (I think it was Angels A To Z) that my wife had picked up somewhere when I came across the entry for Merkabah Rider. I couldn’t get the term out of my head, and gradually began to imagine a gunslinger character riding a fiery ethereal horse, sort of like the way Ezekial’s chariot was pictured in my old copy of The Picture Bible I had as a kid. Research into Jewish mysticism began in earnest after that, and my admiration for the Hasidic Jews in my neighborhood who walk around in all black with these cool broad brimmed hats no matter what time of the year brought the Rider into being visually as a Hasid.

GM: What’s the plan for the Rider? Three books, right? And that’s it? What about Delirium Tremens? Will we be seeing more from this town past the Rider’s tale?

EE: "Have Glyphs Will Travel", which I hope to have out in the latter half of this year will be the last collection of Rider stories which I’ll be doing in the pulp fiction novella style. Then I plan to wrap up the overall story with a full length novel, sort of like how Robert E. Howard put an amen on the Conan stories (albeit unintentionally) with "The Hour of The Dragon". I’ve written two other stories set in Delirium Tremens that haven’t found homes yet, and have an idea for another called "The Chili-Bean Joss", about a character in Delirium Tremens’ Celestial Quarter.

GM: What’s next for you? You’ve done a few short stories and novellas—are you working your way up to a novel?

EE: I’m pretty much tied up with the Rider right now, but my first full length novel is tentatively due out this March from a press in Texas. It’s called Buff Tea and it’s a straight historical western about a would-be writer from Chicago who joins the great 1870’s buffalo hunt in Texas. This is actually the first novel I ever wrote (almost ten years ago!), so I’m excited that that’s finally seeing print. I’ve written two other novels I’m shopping around. They’re both westerns as well, one weird the other straight up. I sort of abandoned a World War II era horror novel about halfway through (there’s a movie coming out next year which is exasperatingly similar) which I’ll probably get back to once the Rider goes into the sunset. I also had a novel about Billy The Kid going strong for some time which I hope to finish one of these days. Maybe I’ll do something futuristic after that.

GM: Futuristic. Now that would be weird :p Where can people find you, man!

EE: I’m the only Edward M. Erdelac on Amazon, so if you do a search for me there most everything I have out will pop up, except for The Midnight Diner #3, which has "The Blood Bay", and Murky Depths #5, which has my debut story. I ramble on about all sorts of stuff at my blog at http://emerdelac.wordpress.com/

GM: Thanks for taking the time to tolerate my fawning. If you have any powerful parting words, here’s your chance!

EE: Thanks for the invite, Greg and good luck with your own series. As for powerful parting words, write what you know you love. And be sure to drink your Ovaltine.

GM: There you go, folks. The Coolest Man on Earth endorses Ovaltine. Now go buy his stuff, already! You won't be disappointed.

"The Coming Evil: Holiday Spirit"--Part Four

2010-12-16T06:59:00.005-06:00

Read Part Three!

And now the finale of...

PART FOUR

Dras actually went to church willingly on Sunday morning. The Christmas season made the whole church scene seem so much less threatening. He was glad to go sing a couple of carols and found even Jeff’s sermon positive and uplifting. What he remembered of it, anyway. Truth be told, he was still riding on the high of procuring the perfect Christmas gift for Rosalyn and spent most of his time in church envisioning and re-envisioning the look she’d have on her face when she opened it. Last night he’d carefully wrapped the record in leftover Scooby-Doo paper from last Christmas and stuck a big red bow on top. Now it leaned against the nightstand in his bedroom, waiting for its big moment.

Dras gazed at it again now as he shed his button-up dress shirt and reached into his dresser drawer for something more comfortable. He unfolded a shirt emblazoned with the horrific visage of Nosferatu and wiggled into it. Running his fingers through his slightly combed hair, he shot a glance at the Monster Movies calendar hanging on his wall, counting the days until Christmas.

It was way too many. He could never wait that long to give it to her.

Feeling like a kid in line at the front gates of Disney World, Dras tapped his foot rapidly and thought. He needed a way to bump up his gift-giving date. The Christmas Parade would take place downtown in a couple of weeks, and he and Rosalyn usually watched it together through her apartment window. He could give her the record then.

Still too far away.

Next Thursday “It’s a Wonderful Life” was showing at the Community Center. If Roz didn’t have to work, they could go together and he could give her the gift afterward. Or even before.

Dras questioned whether he could survive the four days between now and then without exploding from anticipation. Biting his lip, he strained to come up with a reason to give her the record sooner. Yes, it was still November, but he was far too excited to make it all the way to Christmas. Anyway, he wasn’t good at keeping secrets from her, so if he wanted her surprise to be genuine, the gift must be given sooner rather than later. Otherwise, he’d inadvertently spoil it.

Dras checked the clock on the bedroom wall and shook his head. There was no time to devise a plan now. He was supposed to go to his parents’ house with Rosalyn for the tree-trimming and—

Tree-trimming! That’s a Christmasy occasion!

Bubbling with delight, Dras threw on his jacket, grabbed the record, and ran out the door. Determined not to put this album in jeopardy of being shattered, he forewent his bike and set off for Rosalyn’s apartment sporting a strange walk-jog gait. Ignoring the curious stares of passerby, Dras journeyed forth with glee.

For once he was going to give Rosalyn the perfect Christmas present.

* * *

“Dras is so late,” Rosalyn said aloud to herself. She’d tried to call his apartment three times and got no answer, so he must be on his way. But boy, was he taking his sweet time about it. They should have been at his parents’ house by now. Just as she was about to try calling one more time, a chain of short, quick knocks beat against her front door. She opened it with a sigh.

“It’s about time. I—”

“Merry Christmas, Roz!” Dras cheered. He stood panting before the open door, thrusting a flat, square gift toward her. He was wearing the goofiest grin she’d ever seen on him, and that was saying something.

“What’s this?”

“Your Christmas present. Go ahead, open it!”

“Dras, Christmas is still, like, a month away,” she reminded him, though she couldn’t help returning his silly smile. She thought of the Christmas surprise that sat in the bottom of her closet, biding its time in a still unwrapped shoebox until the proper moment. Little goosebumps tickled her arms as she imagined Dras’ expression when he saw it.

“I know,” Dras said, “but I figured, why wait? If you don’t have anything for me yet, it’s okay.” He placed the package in her hands and moved into the apartment, then stopped short. No, he froze. The goofy grin was replaced by a slack jaw and wide, unblinking eyes. Rosalyn followed his gaze to the bare spot on the wall where the stereo had once stood.

“Yes, I got rid of it. You can nix the drama.”

“Your…stereo?” Dras croaked.

“You were right, you know? It was a dinosaur. And it took up so much space. I mean, look how much more open the room looks now.” Rosalyn chose not to mention the more emotional reason behind selling the stereo. She wasn’t ready to tell him yet that she might be leaving town for good. Besides, her goal was to be jolly this Christmas. Which would be easier if Dras wasn’t standing in her living room looking like he just watched his dog get creamed by a Cadillac.

“Dras, are you okay?”

He dropped his face into his hands. “Just open the present,” he commanded in a soft monotone.

Confused, Rosalyn ripped the paper and instantly knew Dras’ pain. There was the one album she’d pined for since the day her original copy was broken. Let it Be. Overcome with gratitude and ashamed for disappointing him, Rosalyn turned to face Dras, but his back was to her. With tears in her eyes, she whispered, “Dras, I don’t know what to say. Thank you for remembering.”

Downtrodden, Dras slowly swiveled to her. “I feel like such a chowderhead.”

Wiping her tears, Rosalyn tried to encourage him. “Dras, this is the best gift I’ve ever gotten, hands down. It doesn’t matter whether I can listen to it or not.”

“Yeah, well, I wanted to get you something special. You’re my best friend and all.” Dras shifted his weight and frowned.

As she admired the album in her hands, Rosalyn took note of its amazing condition. The cover wasn’t creased in the slightest. She slid the record out of the sleeve and ran her fingers over its surface. No scratches. It was as though it was fresh from the factory, never opened.

“Dras,” she began, then hesitated. It would be rude to ask him where he got the money to buy it. But it was an impossible find and she knew it couldn’t have been cheap. If he’d gone to any ridiculous lengths, if he was in any sort of debt and she could help…she felt like she owed him that much after the letdown she’d served him.

“How did you afford this?”

Dras shook his head, looking near tears himself. “Sold some toys.”

“Oh, Dras.”

They stood there in silence a moment, bound by heartache. Then Rosalyn remembered her gift for Dras.

“Wait a minute, Dras. I think I have something that’ll make you feel better.” She dashed into the bedroom and returned with the shoebox that held Scavenger. Beaming, she held it out to him. “Merry Christmas, Dras.”

Dras regarded her curiously and took the shoebox. He lifted the lid and his face grew pale. For a second Rosalyn inwardly congratulated herself on a job well done, but the expected yelp of joy from Dras was longer in coming than she’d expected. As a minute, then two minutes, drug by, she realized the yelp wasn’t coming at all.

Crap, did I get the wrong one?

“I’m sorry, I thought he was the one you needed.”

“He was.”

Silence.

“Was?”

Dras nodded with great effort.

Recognition washed over Rosalyn. “Dras, those toys you sold, they weren’t…?”

Dras sighed. “Yep.”

“Oh, Dras.”

Dras exhaled a long breath, then snorted, “This is like that story we had to read in English class.”

“The Gift of the Magi.”

“Yeah, that one!” A smile crawled across his lips as his eyes met Rosalyn’s. “Didn’t those people in the story feel really lucky, even though they blew Christmas?”

“Yeah,” Rosalyn grinned back. “I think they did.”

Dras set the shoebox down on the coffee table next to Rosalyn’s Beatles album.

“You know,” Rosalyn told him, “I got that down at John’s Pawn on the East Side. They might have more of them sometime.”

Dras laughed out loud. “They’ve got mine! That’s where I sold them!”

“Really? That’s where I sold my record player! I guess we could go buy them back, but I doubt we’ve got the money now.”

“I don’t care about them anymore.” Dras’ expression was warm and kind, full of the mutual love they shared but tried not to discuss out loud.

But it was Christmas, after all. Or almost Christmas. Whatever. And by next Christmas, so much could potentially change.

“No present could be better than having you around,” Rosalyn bravely emoted. She leaned forward and hugged him before landing a tiny peck on his lips. “You’re the best, Dras.”

“I am pretty proud of myself, circumstances notwithstanding.”

Rosalyn rolled her eyes and laughed. This holiday spirit stuff wasn’t so bad.

* * *

As the moon rose over the North Woods, a champagne-colored Toyota Camry pulled off the main road and rolled down a dirt path into the dark. After traveling a half mile or so, the driver put the car in park and turned off the ignition. Deep blackness surrounded the vehicle as the driver’s side door opened and an unassuming, middle-aged woman emerged, wearing a denim dress, a red cardigan, and a shabby winter coat. She switched on a flashlight with trembling hands and shut the car door.

“Sir? You wanted to see me?”

A dark figure barely separated itself from the night woods. “Hello, Sheila,” dripped a sardonic voice.

“Yes, sir?”

“How are things going at the pawn shop, dear?”

“Well, I believe.”

“You believe.” A generous smattering of derision colored his reply. “Sheila, your position at the pawn shop is very important. It is your job is to drag people down, to accept things from them and present things to them, to put a desire in their hearts for ever greater possessions, to reveal to them their dissatisfaction with their positions in life. There is dark magic at work in that little store, and it is your job to feed and oversee it.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

“Tell me, Sheila, why is it you desire to serve me?”

Sheila needed no pause for thought. “I remember the old stories. Ever since I was young, I’ve been drawn to your power.”

“My power? Yes, I am powerful.”

There was a break in the conversation. The wind blew through the dead limbs of the trees, freezing Sheila’s bare legs. The silence of her master unnerved her.

“H-have I displeased you, sir?”

The shape sighed dramatically. “Ah, I’m afraid you have, Sheila. You see, I need you to make the people of Greensboro miserable. The Christmas season is upon us! The people are caught up in the observation of ancient Christian myth and Pagan symbolism. They’re low on cash, they need bigger and better presents for the kids, they need a make-up gift to smooth over that little affair they got involved in, an expensive wow gift to guarantee they’re listed first in a dying mother’s will, they need to feed their greed. And, sadly, my spies tell me you’re producing quite the opposite effect.”

A titter arose from the blackness behind him and a thousand tiny eyes blinked back at Sheila. She wet herself.

The form continued, “The pawn shop is an excellent tool to prepare the hearts of the people for my coming, and the so-called holiday season is the perfect time to exploit it. But Sheila, poor Sheila, I’ve been told that some of your little tricks have actually brought people happiness. Made them consider the ‘true meaning’ of Christmas and other such nonsense. You’re not setting the stage for me.”

“Sir, I-I must have made a mistake. It won’t happen again—”

“No, it most certainly will not!” he hissed. “I’m done with the pawn shop. And thus, Sheila, I have no more use for you.”

“No! Please, I can serve you some other way! Please!”

“ENOUGH!” he bellowed. Then, turning aside to the chattering things in the dark, he simply commanded, “Take her.”

Sheila screamed as the skittering pieces of the night rushed at her and tore her apart.

* * *

After tree-trimming at the Weldon family home all afternoon, Dras and Rosalyn went back to her apartment for an improvised dinner of canned soup and crackers, caught a television showing of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, and then decided to go driving around looking for early Christmas lights. In Rosalyn’s car they cranked up “Jingle Bell Rock” and made each other laugh with silly dance moves from their waists up.

“I’m all hyped up on Christmas,” Dras gasped in between cackles. “I gotta have a candy cane milkshake from Beefy Burgers.”

“Aw, Dras, that’s all the way on the other side of town.”

“C’mon, please. I’m buying.”

“Your mom’s buying.”

“Okay, she is. But the money’s coming out of my wallet.”

Grinning and shaking her head at him, Rosalyn turned the car down Terrace, planning to cut through the East Side on a shortcut route to Beefy Burgers. At once she sat still, a puzzled expression shrouding her face. Dras took notice.

“What’s the matter, Roz?”

“Wasn’t that John’s Pawn yesterday?”

A dilapidated building stood where John’s Pawn had been less than twenty-four hours before. It was the same size and shape as the pawn shop had been, but it bore no other resemblance to the place where they’d done their Christmas trading. John’s Pawn had been run-down, but this building was completely derelict. The windows were busted and boarded, the bricks were crumbling, and the inside was dark and deserted. Rosalyn pulled up to the curb and she and Dras exited the vehicle.

Dras pressed his face to the dusty glass of the front door. No local honey or creepy porcelain dolls. A few empty shelves stood inside, bearing no wares. An old cash register lay overturned on the floor, which was littered with little pieces of paper, empty plastic soda bottles, and shards of glass. The pawn shop, in effect, had disappeared.

“What happened?”

“Maybe they were robbed,” Rosalyn suggested.

“Those are some thorough robbers.”

“This is freaking me out,” Rosalyn grabbed his arm. “Let’s get out of here.”

Dras willingly obliged and they were soon on the road again, headed to Beefy Burgers with considerably less enthusiasm.

“It was there, right?” Rosalyn asked. “I mean, we can’t both be going crazy.”

“It was there,” Dras agreed, bewildered.

Greensboro. Sometimes, this is one strange little town.

Copyright 2010 Greg Mitchell

Thank you to Meghan Mitchell for writing such an awesome little tale, and thank you to everyone for reading :) Keep your eyes peeled to this site for more goodies as we near the February release date of The Coming Evil, Book One: The Strange Man.

Merry Christmas!

"The Coming Evil: Holiday Spirit"--Part Three

2010-12-15T06:27:00.004-06:00

Read Part Two!

PART THREE

Dras stood in his room, deep in thought. He could not remember ever making such a difficult decision. He was in one of those heart-wrenching situations when he knew that no matter what choice he made, he would die a little inside. The seconds on the clock ticked by deafeningly and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. But the agony could not be avoided; a choice had to be made.

Toys must be sold.

He had a few He-Man figures that might have been worth a little something, and his G.I. Joe assortment was impressive, to say the least. There were superheroes and characters from movies, too. But he knew where the greatest payload lay.

The Constructicons.

He had been collecting them for twelve years. He got Long Haul at a yard sale first. Then he acquired Bonecrusher two years later in the dealers’ room at a Comic Convention in Russellville. His dad brought home Mixmaster after a trip to the state capital one year, where he found the toy in a collectible toy store. Hook and Scrapper were purchased together at an estate sale for an elderly man in his father’s congregation who passed away. Someone told Dras the toys had belonged to the old man’s grandson once. They were the pinnacle of Transformers memorabilia. He lacked only one more piece before he could assemble Devastator, the Decepticon to end all Decepticons. But he hadn’t been able to find Scavenger anywhere, despite searching for the past five years. Realistically, he reasoned, it was time to let go.

Besides, Sheila at John’s Pawn had shown real interest when he mentioned them earlier. Maybe he could make an even trade for the Beatles album he wanted to give Rosalyn. He knew deep down that no other gift he found could possibly mean as much to her. It was a piece of her father, after all. There was nothing better to give.

Sighing heavily, Dras lifted the figures down from their familiar spot on one of the wooden shelves his father had built for him years ago. He gently laid them in a cardboard box, one by one, savoring the feel of the dull green plastic in his hands. He put on his jacket, tucked the box under his arm, and sat down on the couch to wait. A few moments later, he heard a knock on his door.

Dras opened the door to find his brother Jeff outside.

“Ready?”

“I think so.”

“Are those your toys in the box?”

“Some people refer to them as collector’s items.”

“Right.” Jeff rolled his eyes. “And I guess that’s what makes them so valuable that you can’t risk carrying them on your bike.”

“You know,” Dras began as he pushed past Jeff and into the cool air outside, “I thought you’d be happy about all this. I’m being all mature or whatever.”

“I am happy,” Jeff insisted. “I think it’s great that you’re getting rid of some of that stuff. I mean, I know it’s important to you, but we all have to grow up sometime. I just…what prompted this?”

Dras hesitated. He really didn’t want to get into a mushy conversation with his brother about needing to finally give Rosalyn a meaningful Christmas gift from his heart. Pouring out emotions and his brother were entities that didn’t seem to gel. True, Jeff was a pastor, so maybe talking about feelings was kind of under his umbrella, but to Dras he was still just the guy who nagged him a lot about missing church and shook his head sadly whenever Dras tried to talk about something that mattered to him, like a new comic or monster movie. Dras chose to skirt the issue.

“Just a little short on cash.”

As soon as he said it, he knew what was coming. Still, he figured the looming scolding was better than having to get all touchy-feely.

“Well, Dras, some folks have jobs for that.”

“Here we go again. I’m looking, okay? I just haven’t found the career that suits me yet.”

“I’ll let you know when the Quick Mart has an opening for ‘slurpee taste tester’”.

“Hardee-har-har. Could we just go, please?”

Jeff relented with a good-natured chuckle, and the two climbed into his old pickup truck. The truck pulled away from the curb, and Dras held his box of Constructicons a little tighter, anticipating their release.

* * *

The door to John’s Pawn jingled shut behind him as Dras scrambled back to his brother’s truck, Rosalyn’s Beatles album in his hands. He pressed its cover to his chest, trying to hide the surprise from the world. But he couldn’t hide it from Jeff.

“What’s that?” Jeff asked immediately as Dras entered the cab of the truck.

“This?” Dras asked. He felt giddy and embarrassed, and he didn’t really want to share the idea behind the record with Jeff. What if his brother told him it was stupid or wrong? But when Jeff continued to stare at his purchase, he eventually braced himself and turned it around to reveal the four shaggy guys on the cover. “It’s for Rosalyn. Christmas, you know.”

Jeff said nothing, only blinked and wrinkled his brow in a puzzled expression. The truck rattled along for a few seconds as Bing Crosby softly crooned “White Christmas” over the radio, part of a local station’s All-Christmas-All-The-Time campaign during the holidays. Unsettled by the awkward silence, Dras explained, “She used to have this album. It was her dad’s, and it broke when she moved into the apartment. I just thought she’d like to have it again. Sentimental purposes or whatever.”

At last Jeff spoke. “Wow, Dras, that’s…really sweet of you.”

“Don’t sound so amazed.”

“No, I mean it,” Jeff reiterated. “That really is kind. You sold your stuff just to get that for her. I think she’ll be really touched.”

Dras hung his head. “Yeah, well, I hope so. I…” He fidgeted with the zipper on his jacket, disliking the feeling of exposure before his big brother. “I haven’t been a very good gift-giver in the past.”

“Well,” Jeff replied, “I think you’re about to set a new precedent.”

Dras raised his head to smile at Jeff as John Denver’s “Silent Night” filled the cab. They turned onto Dras’ street as a John’s Pawn moving truck passed them, heading in another direction.

* * *

Rosalyn stood in the hallway outside the door to her apartment, watching two scruffy men from John’s Pawn carrying her precious stereo down the stairs. It was hard to watch it go, but she really felt she was doing the right thing. It was time to let go, time to focus on the future and not the past. There were other ways to remember Dad. Photos and saved birthday cards and things. And she’d still think of him every time she heard those old songs on the radio.

You can do this.

The men disappeared out the front door with the stereo and reappeared a few moments later. “Want to follow us back? Sheila can pay you in person.”

“Sure. I’ll be right down.”

Rosalyn stuck her head back inside the apartment to grab her keys. She locked the door behind her and headed downstairs. Outside she shivered, the chilly air penetrating her thick sweater and jeans. As the men started up the moving truck, she got into her car and cranked the heat. A strange sense of freedom overwhelmed her as she pulled into the street, watching the truck bearing her stereo moving away from her just ahead.

As she drove through Greensboro, following the truck, Rosalyn gazed out the windows into memory after memory. She’d been prowling these streets her entire life. There was the movie theater, now out of business, where she and Dras used to try to sneak in to scary flicks they were too young to see. There was the dentist’s office where she got her first cavity filled. Dras had been terrified that the dentist would use gory tools on his friend’s mouth and insisted on accompanying Rosalyn and her Dad to the office just in case Rosalyn needed help. There was her elementary school, where the kids first called her “Trysdale Trash”. But Dras always stood by her.

Dras, how am I going to leave you behind?

Rosalyn wondered if she could really carry out her plans to leave Greensboro. Were it not for Dras, the deed would already be done. But the image of his goofy face burned in her mind each time she imagined going away. At last she’d gotten up the courage to apply to her dream school in Vermont, and now it was all in the hands of fate. She wanted to go so badly. But if the school accepted her, she would face the agony of telling Dras goodbye.

Before she could ponder her dilemma any longer, the moving truck pulled into a warehouse behind the pawn shop and Rosalyn found herself parked alongside the building. All too happy to leave her musings for another time, she stepped out of the car and wandered into the warehouse. One of the scruffy men—Randal, judging by the name on his shirt—handed her a scrap of paper.

“Just take this inside to Sheila and she’ll pay you in cash or store credit, whichever you prefer.”

“Thanks.” Rosalyn took the paper, glanced at the amount written on it, and made her way toward John’s Pawn. It was a fair amount, and it would be plenty to enable her to buy Dras a great gift. Piece of paper in hand, she pulled open the back door.

Rosalyn entered the shop proper and began her search for the sales lady. She passed racks of secondhand clothing and musty old books before finding herself surrounded by used toys. Some weren’t so old; in fact, she recognized a few items that were popular when her sister Annie was little. Others were so ancient that she wondered if her grandparents might have played with them. Intrigued, she browsed through the toys, wondering if they carried anything in the Dras genre, when she stopped short. Her mind raced, and she did a double take.

There was Scavenger, the Constructicon.

Not many beautiful young women possessed the knowledge of Transformers that Rosalyn did, but then again, no other beautiful young women were best friends of Dras Weldon. Rosalyn had stared at the toys on his shelves countless times throughout the years, and she was especially familiar with the Constructicons. Dras was so proud of them. She thought they made him feel like a real collector and not just a fanboy hoarding action figures. They were rare, and they were unique in the fact that, upon acquiring all six, one could assemble them into a larger action figure known as Devastator. And Dras had longed for ages to complete his collection and bring Devastator to life.

Rosalyn reached toward the figure and almost had it in her grasp when a voice behind her stole her attention.

“May I help you, miss?”

Rosalyn turned to see a mousy little woman with dark hair wearing a denim dress with a red cardigan. Around her neck glistened an intriguing necklace bearing a charm that resembled a child’s drawing of the sun, with rays protruding every which way. Rosalyn suddenly realized this must be Sheila.

“Um, the guys in the back told me to give you this.” She extended the piece of paper in Sheila’s direction. Sheila took it and scanned the writing.

“Oh, yes! The stereo with the record player. Come on up front and I’ll get you your money.”

“Just a second,” Rosalyn interjected. “How much for this?” She nimbly lifted Scavenger off the shelf and searched him for a price tag, but found none.

Sheila frowned. “Well, he’s actually a bit of a collector’s item. I’ve been working a long time to acquire the entire set, and—”

“But my friend just needs this one,” Rosalyn pleaded. “I’d really like to buy it.”

Sheila thought for a moment and her eyes drifted back to the piece of paper. “If you’re really interested,” she said at length, “I’ll make you an even trade. The figure for the stereo, no cash back.”

Rosalyn’s lips parted in a wide smile. “Deal! Thank you so much, he’ll be thrilled!”

Without giving Sheila a chance to change her mind, Rosalyn and Scavenger left John’s Pawn behind. For the first time this season, Rosalyn was feeling a little Christmas cheer.

Copyright 2010 Greg Mitchell

Read Part Four--The Finale!