Daniel I Russell - Writer of Horror Fiction

ON THE COUCH: AJ BROWN

2012-01-19T19:58:00.005+08:00

TC: So come in and take a seat on the couch. Lie back if you find it more comfortable. Can I get you anything? I want each of you to be completely relaxed. We tend to get to the truth that way. It's better than the other way, and less messy. So what can I get you?

AJ: Strawberry Kool-Aid. Seriously. Strawberry Kool-Aid. I love the stuff.

TC: What do you think this is? The Hilton? You can have a glass of water. Ignore the bitter taste, it's the...fluoride.

You've been transferred here because you're at it again. We've been here before AJ Brown, during the Necrotic Tissue days. We published you, even making it an editor's pick, and here you are again with this stuff still in your system. Why are we still writing horror, Mr. Brown? Is there any other publications we can review as part of this assessment?

AJ: We have been here before. No doubt and those Necrotic Tissue days were great days. Heady stuff you guys sold. I write horror because... well, it's an addiction. If I wanted I could write other stuff, but horror feels right. I've always leaned to the darker things--ask anyone who has known me for any length of time--so horror just feels right.

Other publications. Since you're wanting a bigger sample of this addiction you can go a couple of places.

Tales of the Zombie Wars has a series I'm writing called Dredging Up Memories here: http://www.talesofworldwarz.com/stories/tag/dredging-up-memories-series/

Then, if you really want to get into the disturbing aspect of things, one of my short stories is in the anthology, A Hacked Up Holiday Massacre, which can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Hacked-Up-Holiday-Massacre-Bentley-Little/dp/1617060917/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326071032&sr=1-1

And, of course, Picket Fences can be found in the Best of Necrotic Tissue here: http://www.amazon.com/Necrotic-Tissue-Anthology-John-McCann/dp/0615245285/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326071106&sr=1-1

There are some others coming out soon, but these are the most recent.

TC: I think we've only just begun to scratch the surface. I have in your case file a copy of a new publication Along the Splintered Path, a collection of disturbing stories that explore the dark side of life in the remote countryside. Have you traded Picket Fences for duelling banjos and squealing piggies?

AJ: Along the Splintered Path isn't really too far off from Picket Fences in subject matter, only the tense of Picket Fences was experimental 'future' tense. I think Picket Fences would have probably fit better with two of the stories than one of them that I chose for the collection. There is a darkness to it that I fell in love with when I wrote it.

Honestly, I think the disturbing factors in Along the Splintered Path are built because of the characters in the stories--all of them in situations that cause them to do what they do. Everything we do is a reaction to something else and how the characters react in the stories is mostly out of desperation. After writing them, I could clearly see what would have happened if Kenneth (from The Woodshed) would have chosen to not deal with his past or his little brother's mental issues. The same with James ('Round These Bones). If he makes one or two decisions differently, then he wouldn't have been in the position he was in. And Phillip's (Phillip's Story) choices not only affect him, but another character as well (and if a couple of other characters don't do something, then Phillip's Story doesn't even happen. All the disturbing factors of the stories are based on their reactions to events in their lives, which is pretty much the way real life is.

And there will be NO dueling banjos in my life. Squealing piggies maybe...

TC: Looking at some of the reviews on Amazon, and after reading through the collection myself, I can see that we clearly have imagination issues. To be able to create characters with so much emotional weight, fleshed out backgrounds and damn it, making the reader actually invest in the fates of these fictional people...that takes some skill, Mr. Brown. Can you divulge your process for creating these lives?

AJ: Creating lives? Hmm... I have a couple of rules when it comes to writing. The first is forget the word count. That one goes with the second and most important one: Don't ever cut a story short. In order for stories to 'live' they must breathe and in order for them to breathe, we the writers, have to get out the way and just let the stories tell themselves. In my opinion, the best characters (and stories) are created when we just let them happen.

That and people watching. I love to watch people and it's hard to do it discretely, sometimes. You can learn a lot from just sitting on a bench at the mall or going to a concert and ducking into the shadows and leaning against the wall. Most of the time people are oblivious to being watched (and not in a stalker sort of way) and you can gleam mannerisms and the way people talk and really just about anything you want to know by people watching.

And keep your ears open. I can't tell you how many of my stories started with something someone said as I passed them by.

TC: And because you're such a horrible person (not my words, this is from your psychological report) you like to create these believable characters and watch them squirm in these difficult situations. Very interesting. Are you allowed pets?

In 'Round These Bones, you have a regular guy receive some bad news and drive off angry (we've all done that). This results in him in a life and death situation. Have you ever been in a position were things looked bleak?

AJ: Yes, I'm allowed pets, but unfortunately, not the pets I want.

And bleak situations? A couple of times, but the one that comes to mind is when a gun was pointed at me by a suicidal teenager some years ago. I spent a few hours trying to talk the gun away from him, finally succeeded in doing so. That kid was on anti-depressants that actually made things worse. Shortly after that he got off those meds and he grew up to be a cool guy, father and husband. Still, having a gun pointed at you is something you never forget.

TC: That is a pretty tight spot there, AJ. Glad it turned out for the best for all involved.

So before we make our final diagnosis and prescribe your meds, can we add any upcoming releases to your case file?

AJ: Only one at the moment, Daniel. My short story, In the Shadows They Hide, was just released in the anthology Night Terrors II put out by Blood Bound Books. However, I do have high hopes for 2012. https://www.createspace.com/3729847

TC: We invite horror writers here to try and find out why they are doing such a bizarre thing, and hopefully stop them from producing such...filth.

However, Mr. AJ Brown, due to the characters you create and their redeemable qualities, this doctor is willing to let things slide for now, hoping that some of these noble qualities will rub off on the deviants that read this stuff. They could do with some sunshine in their lives.

But you're not out of the woods yet, and Dr. Sally will escort you Along the Splintered Path back to your room. We must now ensure these stories are written...particularly electronically. That's just how we keep up the motivation around here. Nurse! Fire up the electrodes!

AJ: Dr. Sally? Wait, before I go: is she cute?

Biting the Bullet

2012-01-14T14:11:00.005+08:00

Okay, so I'm a little behind the times, as usual. This week I decided to buy a Kindle. Now for someone who is a keen reader of 'real' books, I liked my partner's idea of writing a few blog posts to monitor how things are going and how I'm settling in. Will this be the start of a new generation? Or simply another electronic gizmo for my toddler to erase things from, ie, that zombie game on my iPod Touch, damn it.

First though, why now? They aren't exactly new things in the market place.

With the release of TALES OF DARKNESS AND DISMAY from Dark Continents, I suddenly find myself with a big bunch of great ebooks to read. Normally not a problem, as I can use Kindle for PC or iBooks on my iPod. But combine this with the ongoing submissions for Midnight Echo #7, the promotional campaign for DARKNESS AND DISMAY as well as usual writing...that's a lot of time sat at this desk. It's the summer holidays. I don't want to spend it all at a desk, indoors, surrounded by fans. That's electric fans, not the kind that buy my books.

Except this one. My number one fan... KACHOW!

With readers complaining that some books are only available on the Kindle, I had to go with that. Yes, filthy Amazon trying to destroy the competition with your sneaky tactics in the way of business and contracts, it swayed a purchase. Had to bite my tongue when the guy in JB HIFI was trying to sell me one of the many ereaders they had (but no Kindles). Yes, the guy who welcomes you through the door (who for some reason I think is an ex-con, but I'm too afraid to ask) was telling me all about the publishing business. Anyway...

Then on to Dick Smith's, who had the Kindle and the 3G version in a lovely display. I wanted to grab one, pay for it and run (my toddler was a bit too enthusiastic about the radio controlled Marios they had), but I had to do the dance with the salesperson first.

Me: I'd like one of these Kindles please (and in hindsight, I couldn't have opened with an easier sale, could I?)

Her: Would you like the 3G? (Obviously more expensive. The electronic retail equivalent of 'would you like fries with that?')

Me: No, just this one. You can download via the USB cable direct from your desktop, so that's all I need.

Her: Yes, because with the regular Kindle, the pack comes with an included USB cable. You hook that up to your desktop and you can download books directly onto the Kindle. (Long look from me. Didn't I just say that?). You're probably wondering why the regular Kindle doesn't have a keyboard.

Me: The keyboard is built in. You push that button there with the picture of a keyboard on it.

Her: Most people want to know why there's no keyboard, but if you push this button here (push!) look, the keyboard is built in.

(This woman was like a verbal anti-editor. She takes what you've said and simply adds more words)

Me with a big smile: That's great! (My son's now trying to take out the $100 Mario Kart toy from out the box) I'll take it.

Her: You will of course need a case. I've had so many customers this week bring them back with broken screens. We have these (expensive and horrible) leather cases.

Me: Do you have any others?

Her: No.

Me: Then I'll leave it thank you. (Son is now driving Mario around the printer and cartridges section, trying to fire red shells at a couple considering an Epsom).

Her: And there's the extended warranty. The manufacturer warranty is one year, but we offer-

Dan falls to knees and weeps: I said I wanted to buy one! I tried to make it simple! Why won't you just take my money? Why?

Customer: Miss? My Kindle screen's broken and someone dropped a banana skin in the middle of the store...

So I eventually got out of the shop with just a Kindle, no case, and no extended warranty and all it cost was just over $100 and some dignity.

One thing this has over my old system of reading from iBooks is that the screen has a matt screen (mmmmm....matt screen) so it won't hurt your eyes with a backlight after a while. Bad side, you can't use it to light your way to the candles when the power goes out. Ah, trusty iPod, you've saved me from many a bumped knee.

I tinkered on the way home, and actually, the device is pretty simple to use and surprisingly basic. There's no bells and whistles, just books. Means no distractions, which is a good thing.

At home, the problems started.

What do you mean, thou art not authorised? And what happened to my pdfs? Thou art a piece of shit.

My books wouldn't go from Kindle for PC to the device, nor did it let me do anything, really. It took some technical jiggery pokery at first to get everything happy with each other, and now it's relatively simple to buy from Amazon and get it were I want it. Also big thanks again to Jim Mcleod for recommending the program Calibre to sort out the pdf issue.

So what have I read? Nothing. Har haaar! I wanted to finish my latest read, which was a 500 page solid hardback. A proper book.

I can't give up the hardstuff, but in a week I'll check back in on how I'm doing. Never thought I'd see the day when I bought one of these things. Time will tell. At least I can read TALES OF DARKNESS AND DISMAY in the garden now. Might go give that a go actually...

ON THE COUCH - SUZANNE ROBB. OH MY!

2012-01-12T09:58:00.004+08:00

This, the first in a series of interviews, sees horror writers, publishers, reviewers, basically anyone crazy enough to agree to this rubbish, take a seat on our psych couch so we can get down to the cause of their problems and...you know...help them and stuff.

First up is the delightfully macabre author of Z-Boat and Were-wolves, Apocalypses and Genetic Mutations, Oh My! It's Suzanne Robb.

The Couch: So welcome, Suzanne. Come lie on The Couch. We have a choice of restraints for your delectation, being the traditional straight jacket (but now with pockets for sweets and Lego and things), a heap of chains and locks that usually keeps my bicycle safe, or these super sensuous silk scarves. What can I do you for?

Suzanne: Well, I have no idea where to start with the fact I am not a horror writer, but continue to write horror stories. I have no idea what the hell is wrong with me. Can you help?

Couch: In which case, I think it best to use all three, just to be on the safe side. My colleague, Dr. Sally, can strap you in. There we go, all comfortable and just a little blue in places.

You've been described as darkly humorous, but with a penchant for good horror. Would you say this is true? Do you aim to hit that dark comedy button with your writing?

Suzanne: Thanks, I like this jacket much better. The pockets on the back so I can reach the LEGO's are really great. Sorry your bike will be unsecured for the duration of this intervention.

To be honest I have no idea if I can do good horror. I know I can do comedy because people laugh at me all the time. When I imagine my revenge on them, and those who I knew as a kid I get in touch with my horror side.

I do aim to hit the dark comedy button, I think that is one of the best forms of entertainment. Most likely why people sent me to you.

There really is nothing like making someone thing they are reading something fun and light-hearted and then throwing them for a loop with something absolutely horrific. I like that dichotomy, though it makes me feel a tad crazy myself at times.

The Couch: Those you knew as a kid. A ha! I knew all this horror stuff came from a childhood event...

Looking through this copy of Were-wolves, Apocalypses and Genetic Mutations. Oh My! and I have in your case file. Looking at the story Welcome to the Future, which sees an underachiever cajoled into a life, and indeed future, changing decision.

Was this stemmed from an event in your childhood? Were you the drop out, the nerd...or the class clown?

Suzanne: I think most childhood bullies end up creating horror writers. It is the only way we can legally get revenge, except for that one time...anyways.

As for Welcome to the Future, a movie I watched in childhood created it (The man with two Brains) and also not being in any particular category. I was mostly made fun of as a kid, I made nerds look good. I am pretty certain should I ever truly let loose all my anger, I would end up in front of a judge.

Can I have a blue LEGO to match the pills?

The Couch: You can have a blue LEGO, but only one of the flat one dots, as they are fiddly and hurt your nails to remove.

Moving on. Compulsions and neurosis. From a medical point of view, I noticed in your piece The Moonlight Killer that your main character has a thing about words, how things should be pronounced and what he deems is a 'cooler' variant. Certainly writers tend to be into words more than your average Joe, but do you find yourelf obsessing about word usage? Is there anything else you obsess about?

And stop looking at me like I have a round, yellow, detachable head. This is all going in your notes.

Suzanne: I love words, and word play. I have a weird obsession with crosswords and would love to have a story be told in one.

I like to play around with them, and find alternate meanings, or variations on what we think. Like in The Moonlight Killer, wolf-man can be either or a man who turns into a wolf, or a wolf that turns into a man, yet no one has done that reversal.

I also really enjoy the world pulp, it is very descriptive on so many levels.

Does it hurt when your head detaches or you stick on a different LEGO helmet?

The Couch: (Long, thoughtful stare)

...I see. I think I have a new diagnosis and treatment plan for you, but the first step is admitting that you need help. Firstly, for my records, can you inform my colleagues where more of your work is available?

Suzanne: (fidgets with blue LEGO)

I have been able to infiltrate many places with my work. You can find my current e-book/novella with Dark Continents here

http://www.amazon.com/Were-wolves-Apocalypses-Genetic-Mutation-ebook/dp/B006SBC2UQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1326250281&sr=8-4

I also have a book out, a thriller suspense that takes place on a sub with zombies at the end here

http://www.amazon.com/Z-Boat-Suzanne-Robb/dp/1467945749/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_5

As for my other stories, they are in several publications, some that make me the happiest (I need a happy place) Dead Souls with Post Mortem Press, Live and Let Undead with Twisted Library Press, and Citipati in Monk Punk.

Is it hard to see through those plastic visors?

The Couch: (longer, more thoughtful stare)

...hmm. Well I humbly request that my colleagues and readers click on those links and have a look see. I especially recommend the well written Were-wolves, Apocalypses and Genetic Mutations. Oh My! from the Tales of Darkness and Dismay from Dark Continents press.

Any departing comments to plead your case before Dr. Sally takes you back to your room, Robb?

Suzanne: Just the usual - The voice in my head told me to do it, my imaginary friend has a really bad temper, and Viva LEGO's

On a side note, as soon as they let me out of here I am going to see just how detachable that yellow head of yours is.

The Couch: Nonsense! I hope this little intervention leads to many sales of these horrific books you write. I think that writing horror might actually be therapeutic. The real issue is this LEGO fixation! Dr. Sally, book her in and show her to her new accommodation (whispers: the MEGA-BLOCKS room. That'll really fuck her up when the LEGO doesn't fit.)

Byeeeeee Suzanne!

She gone? Finally. I can hardly breathe in this thing.

THE DARKNESS IS COMING...

2011-11-21T07:15:00.000+08:00

THE DARKNESS IS ALMOST HERE

COME INTO DARKNESS

Mario Fulcinni, young, successful and handsome, has seen it all. In his adult film career, he's tasted more indulgences than a Roman emperor; the women, the parties, the drugs. Hunting for something more, he attends a party on the promise that it will 'change his life... forever'.

Chilled to the bone and in the pouring rain, Mario attends Metus House.

A chubby elderly man in an old, crimson blazer emerges. He is Worth, Mario's guide for the evening.

And the tour begins...

Fall into a twisting nightmare of creatures and contraptions.

Come into Darkness.

So here is the release of the final cover art for the US/English edition of my novella Come Into Darkness from KHP Books. The book was written a good few years ago and the rights were contracted to Jerrod Balzer and SD Hintz at Skullvines Press (now part of KHP). Darkness will be available in digital from all good sellers very, very shortly. I'll post an excerpt once we get a final release date. The German edition will be available through Voodoo Press sometime next year.

CRITIQUE NEWS

And speaking of novellas, there's been some changes to my novella, Critique:

Sandy Devanche is a five star gentleman, but he rarely gives more than three.

As the harshest food critic in the business, he is feared and respected by the top chefs of the city. On a standard assignment, Sandy visits the experimental restaurant The House of Jacob, run by chef extraordinaire, Jacob Enfer.

What Sandy will experience is a journey beyond flavour and texture, a meal that will change his very existence. The worst thing about the food here is the person eating it.

Critique. It's here to make your life better.

I have changed publisher with this novella and it is now due to be released in digital by Dark Continents Publications in the New Year alongside my novel The Collector in print and ebook. This was a hard choice to make. Nothing against the publisher this was due to be released with, but as I have worked with DCP on The Collector and like our relationship, I decided to make the change. Critique, I tale of redemption, secret desires and fine food, has already gone through edits and is now just awaiting a cover. Fantastic news, I hope you agree.

THE NEW COMMITTEE

Last week was the Annual General Meeting of the Australian Horror Writers' Association where a new committee is voted in to oversee the running of the company and the various events/projects it's involved in.

It was with great honour that I was given the role of vice-president of the AHWA to work alongside new president Geoff Brown. I hope the AHWA feel they're in a safe pair of hands. Midnight Echo has been going very well (and been a lot of fun to do) and this has given me the confidence to feel I'll be a good VP. Already ideas are being generated between committee members to further increase the standing of our organisation.

If you're living in Australia, New Zealand or Oceania, why not give us a look and consider a membership? Further details are on the site: http://www.australianhorror.com

AND SPEAKING OF MIDNIGHT ECHO...

Some great submissions have been received for issue #7, the taboo issue. Keep them coming! Our guidelines and details to buy a subscription or single issue are found here: http://australianhorror.com/wordpress/ .

(author's note: This blog has now been cut short as my parents have randomly shown up...from England!)

WRITING TIPS TO THINK ABOUT 6.11.11

2011-11-06T20:36:00.002+08:00

"When playing darts, it's important to not think about the other player. Ignore his score when you're throwing. His score doesn't matter. It's just you and the board in that moment. Nothing he can do can affect your throw."

Dan's Dad.

Book news and Midnight Echo

2011-10-28T10:47:00.002+08:00

Okay, it’s been a while since there’s been an update over here due to many other projects I’ve been getting on with (more on those coming up). So long overdue, here’s a summary of what’s been going on around here over the last few weeks. Yes, there’ll be things to spend your hard-earned cash on, and possibly a little something to make you some…if you’re a horror writer or reader, that is…

At this point, I’d like to say that if you’re one of my science or maths students…you have exams in two weeks. Turn off the computer and go and study (you bunch of slackers).

(And apologies to all for the pure text post. Blogger’s being a jerk and won’t let me upload pictures today.)

NEW SHORT STORIES ON THE WAY

The shorts have been neglected of late, but a few of them have been sold and will see the light of day in the coming months. First up is a piece called Just Following Orders in the anthology Weird War from UK based publisher War of the Words. The story involves a captain in charge of running a concentration camp during World War 2. While guilty at his role in the advancing Nazi war machine, the captain follows his orders to the letter, and shows a cold, emotionless approach to his role. Unknown to him, some of the Jewish detainees have orders of their own to follow…

This was a very easy piece to write, especially after all the research. Goes to show that the real life horror completely outdoes the fictional, supernatural element.

More on the release date for this anthology closer to the time. Also includes stories from Joseph D‘Lacey (author of MEAT and Garbage Man) and Adrian Chamberlain (The Caretakers).

Another sale is thankfully a thorn being pulled from my side! You know those stories that publishers like but never seem to find a home? I wrote a story a few years ago for a proposed anthology. It was shortlisted but the book was cancelled. It received a few nibbles, but just didn’t fit anywhere. I decided to rewrite the story to a PG rating (while keeping most of the bizzaro elements) and overhaul the offensive title…and voila! The story, Nobody Messes with Venus made it through three editorial rounds and was picked up by Australian spec mag Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. This will be my second appearance in the publication following last year’s Tin Duck nominated story By the Banks of the Nabarra making the cover. Always love ASIM. This should be out in 2012.

The Best of Necrotic Tissue is now widely available in print and ebook direct from Stygian Publications and all good book retailers. Features my story The Blood Pit, which was editors pick all the way back in issue #1. Always one of my favourites, BP started me down a professional relationship with R. Scott McCoy and Stygian Publications, which led to sales to the Malpractice anthology, the release of Samhane and the eventual promotion to associate and technical editor of the magazine. Be nice to see BP in print and to read some of my other favourites from Necrotic Tissue, mainly my all-time fave, Narcslaag!

BOOK NEWS

In the Halloween spirit, SAMHANE is on special offer for Kindle until November 1^st . Head on over to Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk and prepare to get bloody...

The novella COME INTO DARKNESS is nearing release, with the edits being completed and the publishers finalising cover art. This will be available through Skullvines Press and most other online retailers. It was fun going over the edits. I wrote this one years ago, and it was weirder and bloodier than I remembered. Might be like something Lewis Carroll would write after watching the SAW movies and meeting a porn star… Anyway, this should hopefully be out in November.

The release date for The Collector Book 1 has been pushed back to January 2012. While most writers despise delays in seeing their work out there, after a few meetings with the publishers, all agreed this was the best course of action. Rather than rush out a quick release for next month, better to have a few more weeks just to get everything just so. Really excited to see this one out there after its interesting journey. Meanwhile, why not have a browse over at the Dark Continents store?

http://darkcontinents.com/catalog/

After finishing the globe-trotting novel ENTERTAINING DEMONS a few weeks back and juggling the day job, over the holidays I started on a brand new series of books with a whole new mythos. I’m choosing not to give very much away on this one at the moment, wanting to have it done and submitted first. Needless to say it’s become lots of fun to write, and the manuscript is already half finished. I have a select few beta readers who have sampled what I’ve done so far, and feedback has been very positive. More news on this closer to completion (which shouldn’t be too long away. I aim to start the next Collector book in December).

GUEST EDITOR

It was with much honour and gratitude that I accepted the offer to guest edit one of the biggest and best Australian magazines, MIDNIGHT ECHO, the official magazine of the Australian Horror Writers’ Association.

A story of mine called Living Haunts appeared in the third issue of ME, so I knew the quality of this publication and the extremely high standards. While this is going to be a lot of work (buying fiction, poetry and artwork, technical editing, etc) it should be a blast and shiny golden star on my writing CV!

Submissions are already open and flowing in. The theme of the issue is taboos. Think you have something suitable? Check out the guidelines on the official site! There’s also the chance to win some hard cash and other goodies in our subscription drive. Here’s the press release:

Don't forget that your chance to win $200 in cash, plus books signed by Kylie Chan, Greig Beck, Brett McBean, Tim Curran, and more, is ending soon.

Midnight Echo's subscription drive will run until just before the launch of Issue 6, due out in late November. All you have to do to be in with a chance to win one of the great prizes above is to take out any one of our subscription offers before November the 20th. Subscriptions go for as little as $3.85 for 1 year.

Print pre-orders for Issue 6, the science fiction-horror special, are now being taken, too. Edited by David Conyers, David Kernot, and Jason Fischer, this issue features fiction by Cody Goodfellow, Stephen Dedman, Cat Sparks, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, and more, plus an interview with Charles Stross and Chris Moore. There will be a limited print run only, so don't miss out.

To make your pre-order, please go here: (http://australianhorror.com/wordpress/?p=21). Copies are $10 + postage.

Midnight Echo is currently available in print and PDF formats. We are aiming to release ebook formats later this year.

GET WELL SOON!

Before I finish, just want to wish my friend and Dead West/Bandersnatch editor Scott Colbert a speedy recovery from his surgery. Get well soon, Scott!

More shake ups than a Japanese powerplant...

2011-07-05T17:28:00.003+08:00

The currently ever changing book industry has had what might be another shake up with the Amazon group buying Book Depository. Now, I prefer Book Dep as living in Australia, I can get most books (yes, even your random small press book) cheaper and usually faster. I can safely say that we buy about 90% of our books from DP rather than paying for shipping to Australia. In fact, my partner tends to buy them all at once every winter when the 10% discounts are offered and then dishes them out for Birthdays and Christmas and things.

I'll admit, this devlopment worries me. Yes, they have said that Book Dep will continue to run independently of Amazon and that nothing is changing...we've been lied to before. Being in Australia, I can't help but be reminded of Gillard's "There will be no carbon tax" speech. And with its main competition gone (it turns out it was being out-marketed) I can't see why Amazon won't make the move to cut the free shipping and up prices.

Then customers will be more likely to buy ebooks, and following my last post, should Amazon cast its eye of Sauron over to Smashwords...it might as well wear a monocle, top hat and dish out get out of jail cards.

"On its website, the company sought to reassure its customers that its service and range would improve after the acquisition by Amazon.

"The Book Depository and Amazon are aligned in wanting to ensure the best possible experience for customers," the group said. "Working with Amazon we will look to continue to increase our vast selection of great titles and provide even better customer experience."

"With the support of Amazon, we look forward to continuing our growth and providing an ever-improving service for readers globally," Book Depository founder Andrew Crawford said."

That from The Sydney Morning Herald, who go on to say, in regards to Australian book buyers:

"In the week ending December 25, 2010, Amazon garnered 2.23 million hits by Australian users, according to data from web traffic research group Experian Hitwise, while in a separate measure the rapidly growing Book Depository had 149,800 hits in the same period.

‘‘Australian booksellers are already aware that a lot of individual purchases are going overseas,’’ said Tim Coronel, publisher of industry journal Bookseller+Publisher. ‘‘The majority of overseas sales are from Amazon sites and Book Depository, so bringing them together could be potentially a very big deal.

‘‘It could actually make them a major player in the Australian book market without them having a physical presence here.’’"

The future is digital as my 1980's Casio.

2011-07-04T17:17:00.012+08:00

I had a particularly interesting meeting at work this week, and not just because of the refreshments, you know, those marshmallow and coconut biscuits with jam down the middle? Yeah… Need to get some of those. Wait, where was I? Oh yeah, the meeting and the subject of the meeting.

Insert: for writers and reading expecting some writerly ponderings, I’m getting there. Easy, tiger.

For those of you that don’t know, when I’m not spending hours at the computer writing books that make enough money to barely cover the annual toilet paper allowance, I teach high school science and maths. Our meeting this week was by the man himself, our fearless principal, and his topic was called ‘where to from here?’. I thought, like other members of the staff, this would be a discussion about students moving classes, timetable changes and teacher organisation. How wrong we were, because once the distraction of those lovely marshmallowy, coconutty, jammy biscuits was out the way, we realised this was to be a talk on technology, and how it’s changed our lives and profession and literally, where we are going from here, at least at our school.

Did you just sigh? Another blog post about this technological revolution that we’re going through, of which you already know about? Yes, you do. I did. But hopefully you can take a minute and just embrace fully what’s going on around us.

We were shown sites and blogs that are own students set up and maintained: showing the world their singing talents, etc, or simply having a voice and getting it out there. We watched a talk about a classical composer/conductor who created a virtual choir of hundreds of people around the world sending in their Youtube clips of the same song. Remarkable, and beautiful, stuff. People who had never sung a note in front of others were now part of this bigger thing and letting their talents shine through.

I can teach my class while sitting on a beach on the other side of the world if I wanted to (yes, I want to) or prepare my tests in multimedia formats to assist those with low reading abilities. This week (and during a test) I used Youtube and audio clips of Les Claypole of Primus and guitar god Jacqueline to teach physics. We really can stop talking about these things and do them. Yes, this is where we’re heading. No more homework being left at home as they can be emailed straight into the school the moment they’re finished. (My dog didn’t eat my homework, sir, but it did use up all the bandwidth while online gaming.)

Get to the writing bit, Mr. Writer, I hear you cry.

Okay then.

This got me thinking about the way technology has influenced the business of writing and more importantly, the selling of writing. I’ve been a writer for about seven years now, and not a lot has changed in nearly a decade. Okay, maybe it has. Depends on your perspective. But personally, I write the same way as before, I find markets the same way, I submit to those markets the same way. The actual graft bit remains quite similar, although I’m writing this on a tiny Acer notebook thingy rather than a massive desktop computer with a monitor that takes up half the room. But then, I’ve never experienced what writing was like before things like online market listings, writing forums and email submissions.

However, there has been great changes in the publishing industry with the digital book revolution, which (again, personal opinion) has gone hand in hand with the, how can I put it, glorification of the fashion of books.

Fashion of books, I hear you say? I expect some arguments over this next bit, but I feel that a section of the general populace have trouble (just say it, Dan) thinking for themselves and finding their own identity with reading, and probably other things too. I’m not a fan of bandwagons…nor am I a devout bandwagon avoider. If I like something, I like it on its own merit, not for how it will make other people’s opinions of me change. For example, if a publisher manages to get their new book, He Tore Away My Bodice With His Teeth, the Scoundrel!, in every shop, reviewed in every paper and has Bodice: The Movie hitting the screens this summer…I wouldn’t buy it because it’s not my thing. I’m not one of these ‘what’s all the fuss about? I must go see!’ types…but many are. Just because it’s popular, doesn’t mean it’s for me.

Now I know that bookstores need to make profit, and amen to that. Imagine a world without bookstores! (No, wait, close your mouth. I know what you’re going to say: in a few years, and all that. Sssssh! Let me probably live in ignorance a while longer). I think it was Joe Lansdale that said your general, randomly picked person might buy a couple of books a year. I believe this person, let’s call him Mr. Reader, isn’t suddenly going to say: “hey! I need a book to read! I’m going to go online, visit some small press stores and check out some authors off the beaten track.” He’ll probably be in a store and say: “Hmm. Millions of copies of Bodice here and everyone’s reading it. Might give it a go.” Another sale goes to the major presses, and another small press author loses his wings.

This isn’t new and I hope this doesn’t come across as a ‘it’s not fair! The bigger boys are stealing my royalties!’ rant, because it isn’t intended to be. I just wanted to show that as bookstores are filling up with more copies of less books, be it vampire fiction, cook books or celebrity biographies, the lesser known books have to go elsewhere, and I think this is a major contributing reason to why we’ve had a surge in digital books at the moment.

Seasoned writer, you’ve probably heard this bit a million times before, but there’s a personal revelation coming up! Trust me!

It’s never been easier to be published then it is today. This leads me back to my original topic of technology. Today you can write something in Word, upload it to Kindle or Smashwords, bung a cover on it and 24 hours later, you might (!) be making money. When you sit back and compare this to as little as a few years ago?

My digital escapades have been frustrating. When Samhane and a thriller novella I wrote called Shutterbug were originally released, they were in ebook format only. And back then, this wasn’t even on Kindle or Nook, etc, but only as a downloadable pdf. Now, call me a miserable bastard, but I find that paying $5, which was the going rate at the time, I tad steep for an ebook, especially just a pdf to read from a screen. I was constantly asked, don’t you have it in print? This was about 2008.

Now jump to 2010. Yup, just two years later. I pulled the rights to the books and Samhane was released in print by Stygian. Good! I thought. Now all those people who wanted in print will buy a copy!

“It’s in print?” they said, generally. “So it’s not in ebook for my Kindle?”

Aaargh! My timing has always sucked.

So, here’s the revelation.

I have always been against self publishing. I have sampled self published stuff from writers who have pimped themselves as editors, or critically acclaimed, or award winning, and the quality is generally pretty poor. I’ve always had the opinion that self publishing is for the impatient and those who can’t sell their work traditionally.

Okay, I’ve not made a complete 180 degree turn, but recent months have changed my opinion.

I released Samhane in ebook on Kindle and Smashwords so that the readers who wanted it that way had access to it. I was once again reminded how easy it can be to get your work out there digitally. I then released a few free reprints – see? Technically not 100% self published…at this stage. It was a transition…– and these were received well.

I then took another step down this route. Those awkward wordcount stories you wrote, or those just too odd genre-wise to fit in, they can see the light of day. They can be read. They aren’t destined to rot on a memory stick somewhere.

So you might make one sale and get a 35c royalty. It’s 35c towards the time you put in, and someone has read your work.

What truly turned me around was The Collector. I’d written this novel years ago, and always come so close to selling it, but neither agents or publishers had quite bitten. It’s longish, and is a continuing story…bit of a risk I guess. However, I had confidence that this was a good, entertaining novel…but after years, this will obviously wane. As mentioned above, I got to the point where I just wanted it read, wanted it out there in front of readers. I released it in parts on Smashwords, and readers seemed to really enjoy it, as shown in the kind comments and ratings they left. If you read The Collector, I thank you with all my heart.

The Collector is now with Dark Continents Publications and due to be released as a complete novel. I like to think it’s one of those success stories were a self published book gains an audience, proves it has merit and attracts a publisher. My perhaps blinkered view has changed. Yes, there’s still a lot of self published crap out there, but if you take the time to cast an eye at the Kindle charts, the shit tends to sink and not get a look in. Names like Shaun Jeffrey and Dave Jeffrey (no relation) and Ian Woodhead appear all the time, and their stuff is far from the impatient and hard to sell rubbish. I see them as trendsetters at this moment in time, getting their names out there and making those all important sales. Gentlemen? Hat dipped.

Anyway, if I’ve piqued your interest, my books available on Kindle are below. Also included is the smashing anthology, The Zombie Feed. Incredible zombie fiction on Kindle and in print.

Right. There’s my piece on technology. Yes, I know, and I know you know, but take a minute to smell the roses…or the Apples. I’m off to play the Xbox and have it scan my face and sign me in. Never got that feature on my 48K Spectrum.

Where it's at: some small press titles

2011-06-11T13:24:00.008+08:00

I haven't completely vanished off the face of the planet. I have been reading and doing a little bit of writing and sorting out some new publishing agreements (more on that soon).

Wanted to post this, as what with the current transition some of the bigger presses and bookshops are going through, it's nice to know that the small press is always there, ready to appreciate your hard-earned cash with some quality releases, which might slip under the radar of your usual Best Seller readers. Here's a few I read over the last week or so:

A Life On Fire by Chris Bowsman
Grindhouse Press
$7.95 USD
ISBN 0982628196

Gerald McManner does not have a happy life. His job is boring and he goes home to an empty house. Every day is pretty much the same, until one day when his dreams become nightmares and the boredom becomes insanity. Will he find his way back to the light, or burn in his alcohol and depression fueled hell?

Bowsman has created a strange, beautiful and heart-wrenching story that will continue to haunt you long after you’ve read the last sentence. A must-read! – Gina Ranalli, author of Praise the Dead

Very heartbreaking. It reads like an absurdist’s survival guide to Stephen King’s The Mist. – Nathaniel Lambert, author of The Horribles

A violent nightmare of Charlie Kaufman proportions. – William Pauley III, author of The Brothers Crunk

Dan: I bought this on a very reasonable pre-order, and was already laughing before I started the book, what with the author's graffiti and exclusive piece of flash written on the inside cover.

The story is very dark comedy with bizarre elements, that do nothing to detract from the plot and rattlesnake-quick pace. This is definitely a one sitting read, which was my only real complaint about the book. I wanted more! Be interesting to see what the author does with 80, 000 words or so, as his characterisation pulls you in and the random imagery will keep you guessing. Highly recommended and at a crazy $7.95, I can't think why you shouldn't snag yourself a copy of this short, sharp gem. Go buy! Hang on, read other reviews, then go buy!

Concrete Jungle by Brett McBean
Tasmaniac Publications
$14.00 AUS

It's late. A few remaining shoppers head for the multi-story car park after attacking the sales at an adjacent shopping center.

However, they become trapped in the underground bunker when, incredibly, trees start to sprout from beneath the car park, transforming the concrete structure into a ruined, maze-like cavern.

Unable to find a way out it becomes a struggle for survival, for not only does the car park continue to transform back into a jungle, wild animals have begun to appear, governed by hunger under the foliage canopy.

Now the humans must fight to survive - not only Mother Nature, but a foe
just as deadly...each other.

Dan: Having worked with Tasmaniac Publications and bought from the press before, I know how much effort goes into each release. Concrete Jungle is no exception and oozes high production values.

Imagine if Richard Laymon wrote Jumanji. Basically that's what we're presented with as a multistory carpark is sealed off from the outside world as a sudden jungle takes over to trap the few survivors still inside. I'd been recommended to read some McBean and I was not disappointed when I did. This demanded I keep reading and takes a decidedly nastier turn in the last half (if a book makes me turn off the Xbox on an evening to go to bed early...it must be good).

Refreshing premise, strong characters and equally excellent short stories set in the same event provide a complete package. This is part of a trilogy, and the second part, Neighbourhood Jungle, is on preorder now. Lucky I got paid last Thursday. I'll see you over there by the checkout.

UNDEAD DRIVE THRU by REBECCA BESSER
Living Dead Press
$9.99
ISBN: 1611990092

When Kyndra, Colleen, and Jose apply for jobs at a diner that has seen better days and is undergoing renovations, they have no idea what they're in for. Aunt-B and John have a horrible secret, and when it's unleashed on the unsuspecting employees of the diner, things get . . . complicated. Bloodthirsty and dangerous, a zombie awaits the opportunity to feast on them all. Who will be served first? Can any of them make it out of the Undead Drive-Thru alive?

Dan: Besser tries to make her mark on an often saturated zombie genre with Undead Drive Thru, a short novella with Living Dead Press. From what I can see on display here, Besser may become the female horror writer I long to read: one who knows her way around buckets of blood, guts and puss rather than an overly long touchy feely contemplation. The cover doesn't really hint at the story (yes, there is no undead cook handing out body parts to diners) and this keeps you guessing exactly where the story will go. Besser serves up (pun intended) a traditional zombie story with a suitable villain whose complete batshit insanity is leaked out chapter by chapter. There are some genuine shock moments and a great finale. A few editorial mistakes here and there won't spoil the enjoyment.

Like A Life on Fire, here is an author I'd like to see take a stab at a longer piece.

Small Press. Where it's at.

The heavy hand of Smashwords

2011-05-24T16:20:00.003+08:00

Well it was a good run while it lasted. The Collector will officially be taken off Smashwords following a complaint. See, there is an itty bitty line in the terms of service that states that books cannot be in serialised parts. This makes sense, as it would stop particularly fraudulent writers splitting a novel into say 10 parts and charging $2.99 for each one, costing you pretty much $30 for one book!

As The Collector was 100% FREE...I guess that it was allowed through, having reached part 6 with no problems at all and even getting into premium distribution.

But there's always one that has to spoil it, and following their complaint, I have been made to remove it.

The series has had over 2200 reads, which was beyond any expectations I had for my little contemporary fantasy piece.

So...where to go from here?

Ideally I'd like to release all 6 parts together, as well as the remaining unpublished parts, as a complete book. The Collector was always seen as a trilogy, with this being the first of three books. I never intended to start the second volume until the first was picked up, which never happened (boo!). After the interest and great reader reviews and ratings, I might try again. After all, times have changed.

Failing that, I might just be a complete hypocrite and release it myself. Already have some artwork in the works.

For now, I'm going to sit on it till Friday, take it down and think it over at the weekend. Hell, I'm open to suggestions, so if have any, email me at danielirussell@necrotictissue.com (as I believe the comment thing below is often knackered).

For those readers who are following the serial and have sent me some quite concerned messages regarding the recent events...don't worry. I'm sure our bowler hat wearing Collector will be back in your hands soon.

So long Ditmars...but thanks for all the blog hits

2011-04-28T14:15:00.002+08:00

There were some...discussions following the Ditmar awards this year. I like a good, healthy discussion/debate. Good things can come from them, new avenues can be identified. However, I don't usually like to enter into debates. I'm not the debating type. I tend to go with the 'we can agree to disagree' stance. Other people leap into insults at that point, determined to be the winner, which does nothing but stir up emotion and is detrimental to the point of both sides arguments.

Because I now feel I am part of the Australian spec scene, I was foolish (?) enough to enter an ongoing debate on Facebook regarding the Ditmar winners this year. Here's what I've been saying, and I quote:

"I saw enough politics regarding the Stokers when I was a HWA member many years ago. Every award system has its flaws. With something like this? The possibility to swing votes. With a panel? The fact that the opinions of a few individuals determine what is deemed to be superior. I don't hold much weight in awards, to be honest. Just to have a reader say they enjoyed your work is enough for me (being a 'splatter writer', I know I'm not going to win any awards anyway, regardless to how many readers like my work). Still, all the winners put the work in and congratulations to them, no matter who the publisher may be."

"Something else I just noticed. Ditmar novel went to Power and Majesty. Nothing against the author, whom I didn't know of until the convention. But this novel is from Harper Voyager and was part of the free books that EVERY con goer received.... This would play a part in swinging those hanging voters. Now small presses and indie authors could no way afford to give out free copies of their novels to all con goers. It's things like this that support my view that award winners are not necessarily more talented writers or better books, more they have a better marketing machine behind them. But then I am a pessimistic arse whose only award ever was 'Best Teeth' in the sexy men competition we had in the office in 2008... There wasn't even an award for best facial hair!"

Okay, hands up I wasn't aware that not everyone received a copy of the book at the convention and the point I was trying to make wasn't put across concisely (again...I rarely participate in debates like this and structuring arguments isn't my strong point. So I tried to clarify:

"Again, the con bags were great. Books featuring the guests of honour are a fantastic idea, but featuring books that are eligible for awards does invite an opinion of bias. BUT the organisers did a grand job and if publishers want to offer free copies, it's going to be very hard to say no. Rock and hard place."

And that was it.

I DID NOT accuse TPP of bloc voting.
I DID NOT say that ANY of winners didn't deserve it.
I DID SAY that the awards system is flawed...but then again, I feel they all are thus don't have much stock in them.
I DID SAY that some of the things at the convention MAY invite an opinion of bias.

All in all, I think I was quite nice about the whole thing. Or perhaps I just had sour grapes, not winning an award I wasn't even nominated in. Have you read any of my work? I have my loyal following of readers who like the kind of stuff I write, but for it to win an award? That would be like SAW 3D winning the Oscar for Best Picture. An award would be nice (something to show my mum and the kids) but I'm under no aspirations on what it means to win one (ie, it will take my career to the next level). Yes, I posted a Ditmar blog post in the early stages of the awards mentioning the stuff I had in the prelims. I did this once. No lobbying and canvassing after that, save a chat about my ASIM story in the Tin Duck short story category, but that was with the nice lady who accepted it, so I think that's okay.

Thanks for crankynick for including me in a singled out group of 'whining hypocritical fucks' over at his blog http://crankynick.livejournal.com/97109.html. I'm not going to name call. I just wanted to use this blog post to state my points, go down my usual agree to disagree line and thank him for all the blog hits today.

And people say the Video Music Awards can be controversial...

On the road to Swancon

2011-04-28T14:02:00.007+08:00

FRIDAY

Thankfully, because I didn’t wreck the new car this week (despite the best efforts of a 2x4 becoming lodged in the under carriage) we were able to drive up to Perth this Easter weekend for Swancon. Swancon is also hosting Natcon, so promises to be a big convention of fantasy, sci fi and horror.

The drive was a surprisingly quick one, with only one hairy moment. The recently built highway, just after it has become the Kwinana Freeway, has a bit like a bridge that goes on for a good way. We chose this spot to pull over and change drivers. You don’t really notice as your zipping along at 110km, but the railings along this bridge are covered in GIANT AUSTRALIAN SPIDERS! I took a photo of one, but it doesn’t do it justice…

We found the hotel first time, which was really weird for us. Our room is on the top floor at the very end of the building. You look out the window expecting to see Pluto, or one of the outer planets. Instead, we have a nice view of the Swan River and the posh people’s pool and tennis courts.

So we laid base and walked the ten minutes down the street to the Hyatt Hotel. First major set back of the day. We headed straight for the bar only to find we had to order a meal to be allowed to buy a drink. This is something that would raise its ugly head a few times, as this was Good Friday, this was the licensing laws on the day! We just thought the guy was being an arse though, as he never mentioned the licensing laws, rather just requested we ordered a meal, in that smug ‘Tim Curry in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York’ kinda way. So no booze for us right away.

We got our badges that allowed us to wander around, cast our award votes and were given a bag full of books, mostly fantasy. We got weird looks when we asked for nasty horror. NOT a good sign! We then headed into the dealer room.

Weird how I managed to buy a few books that I’m actually in and meet the editors! First Russell B. Farr, editor of Red Dead Heart (who offered a very tasty contrib discount!) and the charming Anthony Ferguson, editor of Devils, Dolls and Duplicates who also offered a tasty discount! Hopefully be catching Anthony’s talk tomorrow and grab the man for a drink afterward. We also met a man I dubbed the liar. We were perusing a large range of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and noticed that the issue featuring my story By the Banks of the Nabarra was missing. Some random guy said that it was a rubbish issue, and he should know, he edited it. LIAR! I know the editor, and you, sir, were not the editor.

After buying all these books, we left to return to the hotel to drop them all off to save my aching back. We then had the randomest of meetings as Alan Baxter stepped into the lift. Hopefully see more of him in the next few days.

Now desperate for a drink, we walked into Perth in search of a bar…only to be fully clued into the licensing laws. Deflated, we returned to our hotel once again and found we could drink there! Beers and vodkas later, and back at Swancon, we attended a talk on emotional attachment to videogames that was all right (despite Sherie insisting we sit on the front and then fidgeting all the way through!). We then watched Kaaron Warren’s short film A Positive, after very briefly meeting Pete Kempshall for the first time. Although not as nasty as my tastes, it was good to finally see some blood being spilled! This is a very fantasy based con, with horror seemingly on the fringes. Hopefully this will change tomorrow with the zombie talk, etc. I also couldn’t help but shake the feeling that I’d read something like this before. Indeed I had! The original short story is in the MACABRE anthology! Dumbass points awarded to me and thoroughly deserved. This short film is well worth a look if you can track it down.

After another wander around, we decided to come back to our room, were I watched Due Date, which wasn’t that bad.

So that was day 1 of Swancon for me. Not great, but I got a lot of books, finally met some people I’ve wanted to meet and had a wander around Perth which is always fun. Bring on day 2!

Saturday

One of the best things about being on holiday, especially in a half decent hotel, is the knowledge that, when you wake up, you can get ready and go downstairs for your fully cooked buffet! This was no disappointment and there was also an unexpected bonus (Sherie knows what I’m talking about!). We then headed into the convention, hungry for some horror.

First up was the Oh Zombie, My Zombie panel, which was a great and horror themed way to start the day. On the panel were Robert Hood, Alan Baxter and Jason Nahrung. Well done, guys. The hour went way too quickly! Next, we attended a talk on sex dolls. Now obviously I don’t have a personal interest in sex dolls myself, but as the talk was by Anthony Ferguson, the editor of Devil Dolls and Duplicates in Australian Horror, I wanted to show my support. The talk was interesting and amusing and actually generated a few short story ideas.

There was some reported controversy over this talk. People disagreeing that it any good. My personal opinion was that, yes, the talk was from a heterosexual male point of view and there was scope for other lifestyles’ opinions, etc. But Anthony was lucky to fit the whole thing into an hour. This was a talk, not a debate. I actually approved of Anthony’s way of dealing with these points. He admitted there were other views, and then continued with his prepared talk. Some people were spoiling for an argument and were getting more and more irate that Anthony simply would not rise to it. The majority enjoyed the talk despite all this.

After the morning events Sherie and I headed back along Adelaide Terrace to an Irish bar to meet up with fellow writers Alan Baxter and Pete Kempshall, where the writing world was put to rights over a few beers. Then came the first mistake of the day.

Alan headed off to catch the Ellen Datlow interview, soon followed by Pete. We were hungry, and I wanted more beer, so we decided to stay. A good few beers later, we headed back to the Hyatt.

And what a scene to greet us! The crème de la crème of Australian horror fiction around one tale! We had the honour of meeting Kirstyn McDermott, Jason Nahrung, Robert Hood and Lee and Lyn Battersby. Alan was there too and I also got to play musical chairs (only with trips to the bar) with the charming Rob Hodge. More alcohol was consumed, which culminated in us abducting Robert Hood. Well, it started as a simple question that went on for a bit. Sorry again, Rob! We also met Sean Williams uber sci fi legend and #1 Bestseller of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Funnily enough, Sherie got attacked by a life-sized Star Wars furry monster in the dealer room. She screamed and ran out, and the dealer’s head (who had shaken said monster at her) popped up over the counter and said quietly “I never expected that reaction…”

We walked (or maybe some staggering?) at this point to a curry house on the way to the city centre. Mistake number 2. If you haven’t had curry for a while, and been on the beer for the last seven or so hours, DO NOT order the hottest curry they have! More beers were required to wash down the chicken lava, which arrived in a bucket. Literally. Sherie didn’t fair much better… Peter M Ball and Paul Haines were there too.

Back to our hotel and into my retro punk (if that’s what it was) outfit ready for the masquerade ball. The ball itself was pretty quiet, despite Sean Williams DJing, so again we spent most of the time in the bar. I think that my fellow writers now have a pretty good idea of the tasteless jokes I like to spin. At least a new book publisher may have been born. VagPrawn Press. Look for us at Swancon 2012. (Cheers, Lee!)

Other fleeting memories: Sherie having the pinkest cocktail in the world, watching a guy dressed as Arthur Dent dance to 99 Red Balloons and comparing Jason to a goth ninja. The rest of the night is pretty hazy after that…

Sunday

Bit ropey, but full on cooked buffet again and glasses of apple juice. Room packed, ready to go. Mountains of books taken to the car and we go out to Swancon for the last time.

The morning consisted of Alan Baxter’s workshop on writing fight scenes (summarised in his ebook). If you write horror, fantasy, sci fi or action, I can thoroughly recommend buying this book if you weren’t there for the workshop. This was a highlight of the convention as it has already impacted on my writing (readers of The Collector: Book 4 are treated to a slightly rewritten fight scene). Alan also helped with my hangover with some simple group demonstrations. If Anthony talking about sex dolls for an hour was impressive, then Alan talking about fighting for two hours is incredible. He also told us a story about bicep ligaments detaching…which invoked the same reaction I go for in my torture scenes! Nice work, Alan. Hope sales of the ebook go well.

We returned to the Irish bar for meals so big we couldn’t finish them, including the world’s nicest fish and chips. I do not bestow that honour lightly. A guy also brought in a joey in his bag. Only in Australia.

Next up was Paul Haines’ book launch for The Last Days of Kali Yuga from Brimstone Press. After the night before, it was great to meet Paul properly after being at opposite ends of the curry table. He did an amazing reading, and out of all the books, this is the one I HAD to dip into on the way home.

And that was it! We had to leave then as we had a very sick little boy to come home to. A shame we missed the Ticonderonga Press party and of course the Tin Ducks and Ditmars. I had to read the results via Alan’s Twitter page as I lay in bed with a touch of the flu on Sunday night.

So although we off to a slow start, we had a brilliant Swancon and will definitely be coming back next year…if you’ll have us?

Swancon, going ginger and digital

2011-04-22T07:16:00.003+08:00

So...we're currently packing for Swancon (I say we, Sherie is packing and I'm slacking off to write this obviously). Come the masquerade ball on Saturday night, the theme is retro punk/futurism, so who better to go than my red-haired, bowler hat wearing, dimension traveling man in black? That's right, The Collector shall be visiting Perth tomorrow, thankfully without Montgomery, a Megathon or a single Prowler. In fact, this Collector will probably just be hanging out by the bar...

But alas! Disaster strikes! During the hair dying process to turn my regular and boring very dark brown into a spectacular red, something went wrong. Scottish wrong. This Collector is a ginger counterpart of the fictional character. Nothing against ginger haired people, but this isn't true to the book!

Anyhoo, should you be one of the many, many people attending Swancon this year, I look forward to meeting you. I will have very few (as in three, because Book Dep cocked up) copies of Samhane to sign for $15 if anyone's interested. Samhane and By the Banks of the Nabarra are also up for Tin Duck Awards, so get ticking your ballot papers!

I also intend to buy something Star Wars related for my eldest. Do you think there'll be any Jedi's there? Really? They're currently role playing against the Avatar guys?

The Collector ongoing serial has now had a combined 926 reads and it hasn't even been a month yet, and this is just on Smashwords. They're taking a while to appear on B&N, etc. But thank you everyone who has read and enjoyed books 1-3. Still, the reviews and ratings don't reflect the number of downloads, and I'd love you forever just for a star rating and a word or two.

The Collector series, as well as some of my other free ebooks and Roots for $0.99 and Samhane in full for $2.99, are all available from Smashwords on my author page.

Penny Crescent. One street. Three houses. Three families.

Countless disputes.

Physics teacher Frank Harper educates with his fists behind closed doors. Jenny Dean can barely control her wayward teenage sons, and Eleanor McQuire, the old mystic, is happy with her books and visiting grandson.

For one night, the residents of Penny Crescent must put their differences aside. Death is coming.

Some call him the man in black. Others call him the devil. He is The Collector, and the three families have something he wants…

And he’ll go to any length to get it.

From the author of extreme horror novel Samhane comes a twisted foray into the darkness of the soul and the meaning of life.

Book 1 introduced hundreds of readers to the residents of Penny Crescent. In Book 2, something else has found its way to the quiet English suburb...

The grief and longing of the three women has summoned a force, a brief flash of blue fire at the height of the storm.

Phantom smells at the McGuire house. Glimpses of a little bald girl at The Harpers'. Some overdue discipline for the wayward Dean twins.

And the arrival of a mysterious man in black...

From the acclaimed author of Samhane comes the second book of the ongoing free serial.

The Collector: Book 2.

He's here...

The Collector walks Penny Crescent, intent on recovering the force he calls the mana, but surprises lay in store for the mysterious man in black.

Anne Harper has divorce on her mind after Frank's last violent outburst, Eleanor McGuire believes the spirit of her husband is haunting her and the Dean twins' behaviour continues to deteriorate.

The families won't appreciate an inquisitive stranger...but thankfully The Collector can be quite persuasive.

And if that fails, his creatures can always tear them to pieces.

The Collector: Book 3. A contemporary fantasy.

In other news, after some confusion regarding the formatting of Samhane on Kindle (it really was a mess), I got down to a heavy formatting sesh and sorted the whole thing out. Samhane is now BACK on Kindle and looking great!

Dare you read the book reviews have labeled not for the faint-hearted? Available in digital $2.99 and sexy print $14.99 direct from Amazon Kindle.

Donald Patterson travels to Samhane in pursuit of a sadistic murderer and rapist. Unless Donald reaches Orchard House by midnight, his fiancee will be the star of the next torturous broadcast....  

Brian Rathbone and his son are already in Samhane, hired by the mayor. Specialist exterminators, their talents have helped to deal with the 'little problems' that have begun to massacre the residents. But as events take a more sinister turn, Brian wonders about the true reason they are there....   

Blood and carnage. Pain and suffering. Desire and sweet chaos.   

Welcome to Samhane.

Praise for Samhane

"Russell's debut novel SAMHANE really packs a punch. A thrill ride of visceral horror and suspense that steadily builds to a very satisfying conclusion. I enjoyed the hell out of it!"
Gord Rollo, Author of Valley of The Scarecrow and The Jigsaw Man

"My oh my does it get wet within these pages, dear friends." Shroud Magazine.

"Horror lovers rejoice--you're about to be scared...or scarred. Russell's well-crafted nightmares will haunt you long after you've closed the pages of Samhane!" Fran Friel, Bram Stoker Finalist, author of Mama's Boy and Other Dark Tales

"If you enjoy the odd Richard Laymon outing and don't believe that horror begins and ends with Stephen King than dial in, Daniel I. Russell serves up a blood soaked treat for your consumption." Scaryminds

"Samhane was an excellent read!" Tasmaniac Publications

"I truly lapped this book up" Gingernuts of Horror

Help a guy out...all I want is a little of your time.

2011-04-08T07:53:00.002+08:00

I have a favour to ask, but first, the details.

My longer horror/SF/fantasy novel, The Collector, is currently being released as a free online serial over at Smashwords . Part 1 went live Friday before last, and I set myself the rule that Part 2 would NOT be released until Part 1 had reached 200 downloads. I gave myself the ridiculous time frame of 1 week to hit the mark.

We're now 2 weeks after publication and book 1 has had 301 reads and book 2 after 5 days, 149. This is Smashwords only for now.

If you've missed out, and want a completely FREE serial (I give you my word as a gentleman that the finale won't have a bastard's price tag), then head on over to my SMASHWORDS PAGE, where you will find both parts of The Collector, and my other free ebook, FLUFFS, which is nearly at the 2000 downloads mark. Samhane is also on there for a paltry $2.99.
Penny Crescent. One street. Three houses. Three families.

Countless disputes.

Physics teacher Frank Harper educates with his fists behind closed doors. Jenny Dean can barely control her wayward teenage sons, and Eleanor McQuire, the old mystic, is happy with her books and visiting grandson.

For one night, the residents of Penny Crescent must put their differences aside. Death is coming.

Some call him the man in black. Others call him the devil. He is The Collector, and the three families have something he wants…

And he’ll go to any length to get it.

From the author of extreme horror novel Samhane comes a twisted foray into the darkness of the soul and the meaning of life.
Book 1 introduced hundreds of readers to the residents of Penny Crescent. In Book 2, something else has found its way to the quiet English suburb...

The grief and longing of the three women has summoned a force, a brief flash of blue fire at the height of the storm.

Phantom smells at the McGuire house. Glimpses of a little bald girl at The Harpers'. Some overdue discipline for the wayward Dean twins.

And the arrival of a mysterious man in black...

From the acclaimed author of Samhane comes the second book of the ongoing free serial.

The Collector: Book 2.

Now...my favour.

As said, The Collector is 100% free right to the finale of volume 1. All I want is your time. Please, leave a review, leave a rating. The second volume will be an epic one, and one I want to pitch to publishers. If the first volume can prove its popularity with readers...it can only help. I read this week that readers of free works don't feel the obligation to leave feedback. Please, prove this wrong.

Deal not sweet enough? You drive a hard bargain.

If The Collector books attract at least FIFTY comments from different readers, Ten randomly selected readers will receive the Samhane ebook for free. One extra lucky random winner will win a Samhane ebook, Roots ebook and the chance to appear in a new Brian Rathbone (Samhane) story and even pick the creature he's hunting! This is a great chance to see your name in print, as Brian Rathbone stories tend to be snapped up by publishers.

So please, read the free books and at least leave a rating. I'd appreciate it from the bottom of both my vesicles.

Books and booze

2011-04-03T16:57:00.007+08:00

Been a while since I blogged. This is down to the craziness of work. My teaching hours have gone up which meant a whole new science class to teach. This resulted in more time planning and marking and less time writing and blogging. On the plus side, it also means more money, resulting in more books and booze.

Today's purchase was the debut by Chris Bowman, A Life on Fire. Chris and I came into contact when he started reading my books available in digital. His book is now out on preorder with a very tasty and unique offer to make your early buy a true collector's edition. Check out his blog here . I'll be posting more on this book closer to the release date.

It's now the start of week 10 in a very long 12 week term. Not only do I have the Easter holidays to look forward to, but also SWANCON! I'm popping my convention cherry by attending at Swancon in Perth during the holidays to finally meet up with some fellow Australian writers, seeing what weird things I can get my hands on, wining and dining copiously and attending the Tin Duck Awards.

The Tin Duck awards are presented to West Australian speculative authors and I'm ecstatic to say that I've finally made it into an Australian award nomination!

Samhane: nominated in the professional long fiction award.

By the Banks of the Nabarra: nominated in the short fiction award.

If anyone is attending Swancon, or is a supporting member, and would like either of the above as a free ebook or pdf, please give me a shout at danielirussell@necrotictissue.com and we'll talk. Even if you like Fantasy or SF! I'm aware that I'm against the odds, being up against some of the bigger boy publishers with my little small press. But you have to love the underdog, yes?

The ballot form can be found here.

"But hang on, Dan. I'm not going to Swancon. Why can't I have something for free?"

You haven't been neglected, my poor victim of uncertain financial times.

My longer horror/SF/fantasy novel, The Collector, is currently being released as a free online serial over at Smashwords . Part 1 went live Friday before last, and I set myself the rule that Part 2 would NOT be released until Part 1 had reached 200 downloads. I gave myself the ridiculous time frame of 1 week to hit the mark. After 4 days...it looked like it might actually happen.

It didn't (lol!) but we had a bloody good go! The 200 mark was finally passed after 9 days, which I don't see as being too shabby at all. I've had great feedback for Part 1, and Part 2 went live a few hours ago.

If you've missed out, and want a completely FREE serial (I give you my word as a gentleman that the finale won't have a bastard's price tag), then head on over to my SMASHWORDS PAGE, where you will find both parts of The Collector, and my other free ebook, FLUFFS, which is nearly at the 1000 downloads mark. Samhane is also on there for a paltry $2.99.
Penny Crescent. One street. Three houses. Three families.

Countless disputes.

Physics teacher Frank Harper educates with his fists behind closed doors. Jenny Dean can barely control her wayward teenage sons, and Eleanor McQuire, the old mystic, is happy with her books and visiting grandson.

For one night, the residents of Penny Crescent must put their differences aside. Death is coming.

Some call him the man in black. Others call him the devil. He is The Collector, and the three families have something he wants…

And he’ll go to any length to get it.

From the author of extreme horror novel Samhane comes a twisted foray into the darkness of the soul and the meaning of life.
Book 1 introduced hundreds of readers to the residents of Penny Crescent. In Book 2, something else has found its way to the quiet English suburb...

The grief and longing of the three women has summoned a force, a brief flash of blue fire at the height of the storm.

Phantom smells at the McGuire house. Glimpses of a little bald girl at The Harpers'. Some overdue discipline for the wayward Dean twins.

And the arrival of a mysterious man in black...

From the acclaimed author of Samhane comes the second book of the ongoing free serial.

The Collector: Book 2.

In other news, I today completed my nonfic essay on zombie media entitled LOOKING DEATH IN THE FACE: A PERSONAL APOCALYPSE. It was good to stretch the old nonfic wings and writing it was a lot of fun. This is due to be a guest blog for the upcoming anthology The Zombie Feed from Apex. I'll post the link when it goes live.

More great reviews from readers are coming in regarding Samhane. Check out my Goodreads page page. Always nice to know my readers are being entertained. Well done to my German publisher, Michael Preissl, whose artwork for Samhane earned him a nomination in the German Vincent Preis Awards. Nice work, Michael!

And before I go, if you haven't had enough of my inane ramblings, be sure to check out my second interview at the Gingernuts of Horror .

See you soon!

Ditmar award rolecall

2011-02-14T19:15:00.003+08:00

I remember last year's Ditmar Awards well. I hadn't been in Australia long enough for any of my works to be considered, but it was fun to be part of the process and read some of the works that had been nominated.

Last year, my reading list, and indeed voting list included:

Shane Jiraiya Cummings

Andrew J McKiernan

G. N. Braun

Marty Young

Stephen Clark at Tasmaniac Publications

Tracie McBride

Pete Kempshall

Morrigan Books

The BEST thing about the Ditmars and reading the above was that a year later, I still class the above as friends and respected members of the Australian horror community.

So let's look at this year and some of the work I'll be looking to consider.

NOVELLA:

"All the Clowns in Clowntown", Andrew J. McKiernan, in Macabre: A Journey Through Australia's Darkest Fears, Brimstone Press.

"Dark Heart Alley", Shane Jiraiya Cummings, in Macabre: A Journey Through Australia's Darkest Fears, Brimstone Press.

I'll probably have to consider a double vote on this one! Too tough to call.

SHORT STORY

"Brave Face", Pete Kempshall, in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 46.

"Bubba Wants YOU!", G.N. Braun, in LegumeMan Books (website).

"Can't Stop Killing You", Russell B. Farr, in Macabre: A Journey Through Australia's Darkest Fears, Brimstone Press.

"crawlin' ", Martin Livings, in Macabre: A Journey Through Australia's Darkest Fears, Brimstone Press.

"Emergency Rebuild", David Conyers, in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 43.

"Fairy Gothic", Tracie McBride, in, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 43.

"Ghosts Under Glass", Tracie McBride, in Horror Library Vol 4: An Anthology of Terror, Cutting Block Press.

And I'm also interested in seeing some work by Marty Young, Simon Petrie, Peter M. Ball and Brett McBean in this category. The short story section is crazy long and going to be the hardest fought, I feel.

Best Collected Work:

Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, ASIM Collective, Andromeda Spaceways Publishing Co-Operative.

Aurealis, Stuart Mayne, Chimaera Publications.

Festive Fear 2: Global Edition, Stephen Clark, Tasmaniac Publications.

Macabre: A Journey Through Australia's Darkest Fears, Angela Challis and Marty Young, Brimstone Press.

Midnight Echo #4, Lee Battersby, Australian Horror Writers Association.

I like Aurealis, ASIM and ME...but then MACABRE is phenomonal...but then Festive Fear Global Edition is a standout...and I'm in it!

Best Artwork:

Cover art and internal illustrations, Andrew J McKiernan, for Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #46, ASIM collective

Internal illustrations, Andrew J. McKiernan, for Festive Fear 2, Tasmaniac Publications.

What can I say? The man has skills.

Fan Writer:

Matthew Tait, reviews in HorrorScope. (HorrorScope)

Shane Jiraiya Cummings, body of work including reviews and interviews in HorrorScope. (HorrorScope)

Two guys working hard at Horrorscope. I'm sure if one won it they'd split the award!

Check out the details here.

Personally, I AM in the Ditmars this year (yay! Like having a horse in the race...), with Samhane appearing in the novel category, By the Banks of the Nabarra from ASIM #43 in the short story category (although technically it's a novelette and should be in another category. Don't worry intrepid voters! An email has been sent...) and I think my best chance of scoring at least nomination, Best New Talent.

Sadly, It Comes but Once a Year from Festive Fear Global Edition, wherein a man ejaculates creatures nonstop, did not make an appearance. Funny that.

So if you're eligible to vote, please check out the above. I know I will be. And if you're featured on the Ditmar list but have been neglected from this blog post, either your work has not been read or come up on my radar. Feel free to shoot me an email at danielirussell@necrotictissue.com if I can get hold of anything quickly and cheaply (as in free). I'm always keen to meet new Australian writers!

And please, if you're going to vote for me (and I would be truly humbled. Just ask my partner. I humble easily) please try for the Best New Talent. You only get one chance! ;-)

CARNIES by Martin Livings

2011-02-14T09:42:00.000+08:00

Carnies by Martin Livings was one of my 'pay it forward' sales, in that I always ALWAYS buy a book by a small press writer I know if I see it in a brick and mortar store. That store was Borders...so I guess the sale wasn't enough to keep the boat afloat.

So Carnies. A bit of history.

The book is a Ditmar and Aurealis award nominee and the winner of a Tin Duck award (a quite prestigious award for writers in Western Australia). The book has also been optioned to be made into a feature film.

So, going into the this novel, I was expecting big things. But werewolves? WEREWOLVES? After vamps and zombies, werewolves get the cliched bronze medal. But does Livings take the subgenre into completely new territory? No...but read on.

In the town of Tillbrook, there is a carnival that has stood on the sight for a century. The locals can't remember why they still go and spend their hard earned cash...it's just become a tradition. But some people in the town know all about the secret the carnival holds and will stoop to any lengths to see it gone.

Step in David, a reporter past his prime who is now relegated to write the fluff articles for the newspapers weekend supplement. Tipped off that there might be a meatier story (and there certainly is!) behind the carnival facade, he sets off for Tillbrook with dreams of exposing it and reigniting his journalism career. Along for the ride is Paul, his younger brother. Paul's life is dovetailing. Permanently unemployed and with a busted ankle he suffered in a FLT accident, Paul goes with his brother for a few days away from his crappy life and to make a few dollars. He's a dab hand with a camera.

And that's all I'm going to give you for now really. Oh, and there's werewolves. LOTS of werewolves.

I mentioned that nothing remarkable is done with the werewolves. They aren't in space. They aren't fighting bigfoot. They aren't telekinetic werewolves that have formed a cult to stop a government conspiracy to raise Cthulu.

The traditional werewolf story here is actually quite refreshing. Livings dispenses with far-fetched notions to make the novel stand out, and instead, concentrates on writing a damn good story that doesn't need to try too hard to win over the reader. This, my friends, is what makes it stand out.

Livings comfortably spins his yarn. This is one of the most welcoming books I have read in a long, long time. The book comes across as clever without being smug about it and funny without resorting to jokes or bizarreness for the sake of it. The voice here is just so...effortless! You sink right in and the pace belts along, but with enough depth and thought to give the pages a bit more personality compared to other horror thrillers.

Gore hounds will be satisfied, yet the blood and guts are done tastefully, so I don't think that green horror readers will go...greener. The writer doesn't go for graphic deaths or torture, spilling every cringe-worthy detail (unlike some other horror writers. Dan whistles nonchalantly...). It's simply a great all round book.

One last thing: Livings is from Perth, so while the book could kinda be set in America to an untrained eye, this book is about as Australian as a Chiko Roll, only it has both taste and texture. We don't have gangsters...we have bikies. The petrol stations I'm sure are here in town. As a writer living in Australia, I love to see these things. Makes a change from an almost US saturated market of good, quick horror.

Put down your crappy teen romance "horror" book, or the constant turds that are vampires vs werewolves caught in an eternal battle (boooooring!). For a great read of all things tooth and claw, and without the bullshit, I can't recommend Carnies enough. One of those books were you intend to read a chapter or two and find a hundred or so pages have whipped by.

You're going to need a silver-plated bookmark for this one! Cannot wait for the movie. The Howling? Eat your heart out. (Sorry, werewolf pun)

Blood Orchard by S.D. Hintz

2011-02-04T21:50:00.000+08:00

Okay, here we go. While I'm always honest in my reviews, the more astute of you may know that S.D. Hintz is one of my publishers...but that won't spare him the toasting I give every book I read. Blood Orchard is his first full-length debut novel.

Onward is a town with a history, a history of missing triplets. Fifteen years ago, the Sheriff's teenage triplets, a trio called the Blondies, disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Not surprisingly, most of the residents were glad, as the Blondies' reign of violence, harassment and vandalism was finally over. Bad point, that makes everyone a suspect. Skip ahead, and triplets are missing again, this time three baby girls. Psychotic Sheriff Pritchard, a Chicago detective and a mild-mild mannered reporter are all trying to crack the case, but the town's bloody history and mounting paranoia may mean the wrong man is found guilty, and the babies will never be found.

There's a lot to be said about Blood Orchard, both good and bad, and what this results in is a very unique book. Very unique indeed. It's very hard to compare Hintz to another writer, what with the style and voice he has here in Blood Orchard.

*I refuse to abbreviate like usual, as I would then be calling the book BO.

Let's start off at the beginning.

Major problem, and this might just be a personal thing, and in no way a reflection of the writer, but more the publisher. I have no idea what the thought was behind the choice of font. There's something about it which, for me, didn't make the text instantly enjoyable. It took a few pages for my eyes to adjust (for want of a better explanation) to the font, especially in flashback scenes, which are italised. Hopefully, when a second edition of the book emerges, a more standard font will be used.

The book opens and we hit the ground running, which works for it as much as against it. It's a jarring start, and the reader is immediately dropped into this crazy situation. The characters are lacking in development at this point (I mean, it is chapter 1!) and the reader just has to ride it out. For those readers who love show over tell, this is how Hintz develops his characters. Like a fly on the wall, the readers can only develop an opinion about each character from their actions and speech, not drawn out ramblings about what they like to eat for their dinner and the name of their first pet, etc. Even the flashbacks, which gradually fill in the holes of the mystery, are written this way. It's refreshing, allows a wider reader opinion of characters and also gives a full-tilt pace.

The book definitely becomes more engrossing the more you read, and the last half will keep the pages turning. You'll be confused in the first half, and at some points have no clue what's going on, but rest assured, Hintz has got this covered. You're dancing to his tune, and he knows where the beat is going.

It may be considered that the book does too much headjumping and flashbacking. This is tit for tat, as while you can't get super in depth with a character, as you aren't with them long enough, things never get dull and the pace never lets up.

The gore is done tactfully, but that doesn't mean there's not much in there. Again, the last half of the book is chock full of nasty, and personally, I think it was done just right, but then again I am a gore hound. One image in particular is vivid, unsettling and will stay with you.

I can recommend this book for horror fans who are looking for a quick, snappy read. I can see this not being everyone's cup of tea, but this writing style is worth a look just to see if it suits. It's a great starting point for a novel career, and I am very interested to see what S.D. comes up with in light of this release.

I want to talk about...gore

2011-02-01T17:49:00.003+08:00

I would like to just take a minute and talk about gore.

Gore and splatterpunk, as it was popularly know a few years back, encompasses writers such as Laymon, Ketchum, Keene and Lee. Yes, there are arguments for and against each one for inclusion, and the whole thing about labeling authors in a subgenre...but I think anyone who has read one of the above authors can agree that there is no shortage of blood spilled, limbs munched on and brains used to decorate walls.

Which brings me onto Samhane, as there's been a bit talked about my book since its release.

The book was written back in 2004. At the time, I firmly believe that this would be the first and only book I would ever write, and because of this, I wanted to have lots of fun with it. This might have been my one chance, you know? I wanted to write something extreme, something to emulate the authors I adored, mainly Laymon and Barker, to write something with Laymon's to the point style of writing and pace, with some deformed machinations akin to Barker. Did I succeed? Personally, I think so. I'm not saying this is better or as good as these legends of horror, but I hope that readers will feel the love in the streets of Samhane.

Now the book is hitting readers. Here are a handful of reviews:

ScaryMinds

Shroud Magazine

Phantastiknews

Goodreads

So far, the reception that I'm getting is the book is a good one, but very, very extreme. Perhaps too much. Surely...it's not THAT extreme, is it?

Compared to later books of mine, I feel that Samhane is relatively tame in hindsight. Mother's Boys, The Forgotten and the almost completed Entertaining Demons all have far, far nastier death scenes. In fact, some of the scenes described in the latter made my partner nearly retch.

On the shorter side, my novellas also have their squeamish moments...even though in my novella Critique, there is barely any violence at all. Would this book be considered extreme? Dealing by the subject matter...I dare say so.

And this is the problem...or is it a problem?

By writing novels that are generally considered on the verge of being unfit for sane human consumption, am I restricting my market appeal?

Carsten Kuhr hit the nail on the head in his Samhane review for Phantastiknews (translated) :

"This is certainly not a mainstream horror, but is aimed explicitly at a fairly small group of corresponding fans."

Aaaaargh! So by writing splatter, I'm only going to be selling to other like minded deviants? I would say so, but then...coming from England, Richard Laymon books are in almost every book shop in the country. The SAW movies get some flack, but they still pull in the crowds. I think maybe more people are agreeable to a bit of splatter...but perhaps they don't know it yet?

The one thing that irks me a major way, and I'm going to use a bit from the Scaryminds review for this. This is not a slur on scaryminds.com, nor am I arguing with the reviewer's rating (as with Carsten above), I'm using this to highlight a point that I actually agree with. But just because I agree with it, doesn't mean I like it!

"7/10 Gore limits rating, well recommended otherwise"

Hmm. So the amount of gore kinda keeps the book from doing better. Okay, I can see that. But here are the things that really piss me off!

Horror. I've been in many arguments over what horror is. I like the definition:

Horror - an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting, anything that causes such a feeling, a strong aversion; abhorrence.

Yup. To me that is horror. I expect horror to sicken and disgust, to create a sense of tension and suspense, to explore the realms of the extreme. One of the things we band about the Necrotic Tissue office is 'this story has a mounting sense of dread'. I like that. A mounting sense of dread. Yes, I like horror novels that feature a normal everyday character slipping into a macabre, bloody tangent, and as they fall further down the rabbithole, a mounting sense of dread develops. Ooooh. That kinda makes me want to go and read some Ketchum right about now.

I detest books that simply are not horror, that have no feel of terror or revulsion about them, but are sold as horror instead of dark fiction or paranormal or crime. Hang on, it has a what? A friendly werewolf? Ah, a werewolf means it's a horror novel. And this one has somebody that not only dies but is...(dramatic pause for tension) murdered. Has to be a horror. Miss Marple can scare the bejesus outta you! And finally, the third book has a mopey female protagonist that is full of gloomy and depressed thoughts. We gotta stick a cover of a chick with a full moon behind her and stick it on the horror shelf.

I know there are grey areas, but I think some are more clear cut books then people would want to hear. I'm not prepared to get into the whole Twilight is not horror just because it has vampires argument again.

Personal rant: There are big publishers who won't even consider horror. They release a dark fiction novel...and all of a sudden it's in the horror section in bookstores. What the hell?

Sigh. Back to the point.

Okay, so I'm kinda limiting my options by writing a book, sorry books, this extreme. How can I get around this? I have two possible solutions:

1. Lie about the content. Well, I say lie, more like deceive. A few mutilated corpses swept under the pubic hair rug.

2. Write a more mainstream novel.

Ah, Dan! You all cry. You get it! You finally get it!

Nah. Not happening. I tried. I really tried! The more I try to keep things light, the worse they inevitably get. With the latest novel, which is about 80% complete, things really do get quite low and nasty. Yet, I feel it's the most ambitious and possibly grown up (harhaar!) novel I've written. Maybe on day I can write a more commercial novel, but the closest idea I have on the horizon is a bizarro epic post apoc kinda gig.

Anyway, thanks to Anita S for letting me know my leave a message facility is busted, so if you have any thoughts about the predicament, such as shut the fuck up Dan and write a paranormal romance instead of splatter, feel free to email me at harlequin-writes@hotmail.co.uk.

Other big thank yous go out to the reviewers linked above, to German site horror-forum.com for having Samhane for their reading circle this month, the 947 people who entered the competition to win a copy of Samhane and the person already selling Samhane on eBay (gotta love it).

Anyway, after six weeks summer holiday, I'm back at the coal face as the students arrive back at the high school tomorrow for a brand new academic year. I'm actually looking forward to it. Think the break from the writing world will do me good for a few weeks until I get in the rhythm of things.

See you next week! (I do have something planned to discuss...but I've forgotten it. I'm sure it will re-emerge before next week!)

BRIDES OF THE IMPALER by Edward Lee

2011-01-25T16:36:00.002+08:00

Apologies, but it's been a week since I read this, so don't expect the degree of detail you usually get in one of my reviews!

I like Edward Lee. My first book was Slither which I bought at Heathrow Airport during my migration to Australia. That was a fun little romp, followed by The Golem, which was only spoiled by one annoying character.

Now Ed sent me a copy of Brides of the Impaler after he heard I was a fan (we share the same agent in Germany). I'll be honest, if I was to pick another Ed Lee book to read, this would not have been it. I would have gone for House Infernal or Flesh Gothic (which incidentally have been purchased since!). Brides seemed just a dark sex book judging from the blurb. But is it?

A successful macabre doll manufacturer, Christina, moves into the expensive NY house her hot shot lawyer husband bought her. Across the street sits the abandoned church which previously owned the house, where an old, brooding priest keeps watch. Something is buried under the brownstone house that is calling to Christina, filling her with passion and lust. The images of a vampiric nun haunt her day and night. Meanwhile, NY detective Vernon is on the case of a bunch of crazy, homeless women that are apparently impaling people on sharpened broom handles. The thing that links the two events are the colours police find at the crimes scene, and on the latest batch of macabre dolls...

Ed Lee is, as Cemetery Dance call him, "The hardest of the hardcore horror writers", but this book was on the light side in regards to gore and violence. Sure, the impalements are well done, and the bodies start to really pile up towards conclusion, but this reads like a more mature Ed Lee at work. Hang on...more mature? No, no. Gore and violence doesn't mean immature, but more the subplots are well-crafted and here the author prefers to use a steadily building sense of doom then go all out with an axe. It was a very refreshing affair, with more (vastly more!) sex than violence. The main character Christina rarely has her hands out of her pants...or someone else's, as this burning lust takes hold. Normally we have to discuss gore for gore's sake, but this was more masturbation for masturbation's sake. It is relative to the plot, but this character might have got through more batteries than the Duracell bunny.

*Yes, I understand that the whole selling point of the Duracell Bunny is that he can go on and on and on...but that's the point. He is ALWAYS on. A good battery or not, he would go through a FUCKLOAD of batteries.

** In fact it's a bad example. Parents: Yes, use good quality batteries, but please encourage your kids to turn off their toys when finished with them. We only get one earth...and a limited supply of Duracells. Or Everready, if that tickles your troat.

SEX! Yes, sexy sex and lots of it. This doesn't really spoil the story, but adds to the characterisation and the emotional history of the main character. This constant mental turmoil allows the reader to accept some of the more 'oh no she didn't' moments.

My favourite character was detective Vernon and his fellow cops. Lee captures NY perfectly (not that I've been, but I'm a Flight of the Conchords fan and it all seems to fit)and makes it a character itself more than just a setting. The banter between the cops is great.

Basically, this is one of the Edward Lee books that rarely gets a mention, and I hope he didn't send me this in particular because he has boxes of them unsold at his house. If he has, and even if he hasn't, which is likely, buy one. It's a very different feel to the other books I've read (in fact, it had a Masterton feel about it to this reader) and if you have a partner into the -ahem- naughty kind of novel, this might be a good way to share something. Sex and violence is always a good thing on paper between loving couples. Oh and don't be put off because it's vampires. They pay a small part but when they're on the scene, they're spot on.

Yeah. Readers of Ed should love this. Other general horror readers should get a kick out of it too.

COVER by Jack Ketchum

2011-01-10T08:12:00.000+08:00

Seeing as how my partner bought the remainder of Jack Ketchum's back catalogue before the Leisure house of cards fell down as a Christmas gift, I now find myself in the same situation as with Brian Keene. Lots of books to read and so little time! I had Cover on the shelf for a month or so before Christmas, so this had to be the first in a run of Ketchum.

Lee is a Vietnam veteran haunted by the violence and horror he's seen. Now back home, he lives out in the woods as protection from other people. His flashbacks are too vivid, and he can be back in the jungles hunting VC in the blink of an eye. When his wife, exhausted from this way of life and wary of their own own safety, takes his son and moves out of the forest, this leaves Lee alone with his dog, Pavlov, and his nightmares.

Kelsey is a successful novelist who takes his friends on a camping trip, a matter complicated by his wife, a literary agent, and his lover, a supermodel. Both women know of the arrangement and have developed a close friendship. There's also a photographer along for the ride to capture the trip for a major magazine, Kelsey's own agent, and his friend, a playwright.

Problem is that they've chosen to camp in Lee's territory, and he's been looking for the enemy a long time. Now he has one.

As with The Girl Next Door, Ketchum tries to inject a certain social conscience into the horror on display here. With Girl, it was the case of Sylvia Likens, a crime that went dually unnoticed or accepted among the local community. Here we have the horrors of Vietnam on display.

The character of Lee, in my opinion, is simply a shell for the violence. His actual personality only comes through in moments with his dog. There's very little there, you see. Normally, this would be a big problem, but Ketchum proves a point here. Lee is a shell because that's all that's left: a man who only has his training, his memories and his nightmares. This makes the onslaught vastly more believable. He shows no remorse, as he has none. The war has made him into a killing machine.

The characterisation mostly comes into play with Kelsey and his entourage, in particular the model Michelle. We have subplots involving the love triangle between Kelsey, Michelle and the wife Caroline. While this gives some depth and attempts to make us care for the fates of the characters as they enter the woods, this leads to a very slow first half. The only action present is Lee's VC flashbacks, which are brilliantly done. As for our humble good guys, I wanted them to get to the woods already!

After the first kill, the action is none stop all the way in typical Ketchum fashion. But again, the violence is more measured and calculated (Rambo as opposed to Rambo 3). You won't find much 'psycho running around with a machete' action here, but there are accurately researched traps and army maneuvers with just the same result. Blood is shed, but in a more realistic way.

Dare I say it, this book did not read like a Ketchum book. While his fluid writing is there, and his wonderful ability to paint a scene, especially in the great outdoors, this just didn't feel like a Ketchum book. I've had a few days to chew on this one since finishing. I wouldn't call it a horror novel. This is more a heavy on the violence action novel, similar to the feeling I got after reading Shaun Hutson's White Ghost.

Certainly worth a look, but there are more traditional horror novels out there if that's what you want. Should you require a change (but still like a bit of splatter) then this might be a great choice.

Don't look back, look forwards (there's an elk behind you anyway)

2011-01-02T13:26:00.007+08:00

Happy 2011, folks! I've already made several mistakes regarding the date. I've developed a typing mental block over 2011 and keep typing 2001 (and yes, I had to go back and correct that!), but bear with me.

Rather than list my achievements, highs and lows for 2010 here (and why would I? If you're the interested sort--unlikely--then it's all here in the archives), I'm going to look across the sands of time through 2001, I mean, 2011, and see what's coming...or indeed, what I hope will come.

SELF PUBLISHING? SAY IT AIN'T SO, DAN, SO IT AIN'T SO!

Yes, yes. Some of you may know that I'm dead against self publishing and I've had many (sometimes ridiculously long) arguments online over it. My stance has changed in the last few months, but (adopt Nazi voice) ONLY EVER SO SLIGHTLY!

In 2011, following the success of chapbook FLUFFS , which has been downloaded close to 1000 times, I aim to release a chapbook or short story every month digitally to read online or via Kindle, etc. This is cover art pending. I don't want to release something that looks like a piece of shit, obviously.

January's release is ROOTS:

It forced a way through the compact darkness, feeling and probing. When it touched upon the flesh, it started to feed.

Richard is on the trail of a spate of missing person cases, unknowing they lie buried in the garden across the street.

It grows in the darkness, a special plant, carrying the memories of the dead. We all have our roots. His might kill you.

I would like to thank Dru Morgan for her excellent cover art, a picture called Re Animate, which is a perfect fit for the story!

Is this self publishing, Mr. Russell? Maybe, but not in the traditional sense.

I will not self publish something (apart from the odd flash fiction on the blog) until it has been traditionally published. Ever. It's my bench mark that the story is a good one. But then...what of the story when it has spent its time in the limelight and I get the rights back?

I do really want to release a collection of my short work in 2011. I have about 100k of short story reprints featured in places such as Pseudopod, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Midnight Echo, Sick Things, Malpractice, WICKED, etc. Sure, there's been a few feelers put out in the industry and conversations had, but so far, no contract has been signed.

GRATUITOUS BEGGING ALERT! Should anyone know a reputable publisher interest in collections, send them this way... The full TOC and resume are available!

So while the collection is still waiting and I have all these stories sitting around...why not release them? There's life in the nasty critters yet (or death as is the case) so they can earn their keep on my hard drive.

Longer stories will carry a price, always $1, never higher. I intend to give artists exposure and hopefully a little coin from these sales. Anything I do make personally will be going towards postage costs of print copies of Samhane, again, trying to keep the costs down for readers. Daniel I Russell is a nonprofit organisation and an equal opportunities employer.

So far we have FLUFFS for free and ROOTS for $1 over at my Smashwords page. Unsure what to cook up for February. It's early days yet.

This is also somewhat of a marketing experiment. My challenge is this: Can the stories make more money this way than in a digital anthology? Remember that in a digital anthology, you're getting a split royalty. Personally, I'm finding this incredibly interesting, and yes, might sway self publishing a little bit...but only a little bit.

And only for reprints! ><

COME INTO DARKNESS

Mario Fulcinni, young, successful and handsome, has seen it all. In his adult film career he's tasted more indulgences then a Roman emperor, the women, the parties, the drugs. Hunting for something more, he attends a party on the promise it will 'change his life...forever'.

Chilled to the bone and in the pouring rain, Mario attends Metus House.

A chubby elderly man in an old, crimson blazer emerges. He is Worth, Mario's guide for the evening.

And the tour begins...

Fall into a twisting nightmare of creatures and contraptions.

Come into Darkness.

The book should be available in print and in ebook form in the coming months. Can't wait! Available in English from Skullvines Press, and in German from Voodoo Press.

IN OTHER NEWS:

The Goodreads giveaway continues for one of three copies of Samhane:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Samhane

by Daniel I. Russell

Giveaway ends January 31, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Only one month to go! It's free to enter, and you never know!

Other hopes for 2011. Don't ask, because I won't tell you, but two of my unpublished novels, Mother's Boys and The Forgotten, are currently under consideration by an amazing publisher. I've worked with this house before and am anxiously waiting their decision. I have oodles of respect for the person in charge and if it's a no, then so be it, but at least I think I'll get a reason. Fingers crossed for the next few months. I'm surprisingly nervous...something I haven't felt in a while over a submission!

I also hope that the readers who buy Samhane enjoy it as much as people seem to so far. The German readers are currently lapping it up!

Besides my standard hopes that my family will remain safe and that work will be tolerable, I think I'm pretty much covered, if the 2001, erm, 2011 fairy of good luck is reading.

Happy New Year!

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

2010-12-30T20:37:00.000+08:00

The latest offering from King takes us down a familiar routine, similar to Four Past Midnight and Different Seasons. Some of these novella collections have given us some truly incredible stories, such as Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, The Body, Apt Pupil, and the overlooked Langoliers, Library Policeman and Secret Window, Secret Garden. How will this latest collection stack up against some that others may consider classics?

In 1922, Wilfred James is a farmer with a big problem. His wife has recently inherited some land, and a firm wants to by it to build a pig slaughtering plant. She's keen. He's not, as this would mean selling all their land and moving to the city, which he despises. With only one option out of the mess, the farmer grooms his only son into assisting with the murder and disposal of his wife. What follows is an extreme revenge from beyond the grave.

Big Driver. An Agatha Christie-esque mystery writer is on her way home from a speaking engagement and takes an advised shortcut. Driving over nailed bits of wood, her car blows a tyre. The friendly trucker who stops to help turns out to be not very friendly...not very friendly at all.

In Fair Extension, a man dying of cancer makes a deal with the Devil, agreeing for a 'fair extension' of his life. But is the price too high?

Finally, A Good Marriage follows a woman and her marriage to a nice, quiet, meticulous accountant over 27 years. One night, while he's away on business, she fatefully trips over a cardboard box in the garage. Its contents take her on a dark journey into her husband's secret life.

You've probably noticed that I've given Full Dark, No Stars 3/5 stars if you're reading this on Goodreads.

It's not a bad book, but none of the tales featured within blew me away. I've always defended King, but as I read through the collection, it became apparent that some of the arguments against his writing style were cropping up. 1922 did extremely little with the large chunk of the book it takes up. Most of the story involves the protagonist feeling sad and lonely in his farmhouse, while the real action of the story, that of his son, is a mere subplot. Disappointing.

The second story held no real shock value for me, especially after reading Ketchum. I did like the mystery elements and the twists; obviously in key with the main character, the mystery writer! It was an intriguing tale and its second half made this my favourite of the four.

Fair Extension, which is a short story nestled among the three other novellas, was the biggest disappointment. This offered nothing original, in fact, Caroline B. Cooney's Vampire Trilogy I read as a young teen executed the idea better. Sorry, Stevie. Guess I'll never get a cover blurb now...

A Good Marriage was decent enough, but I like to gradually see characterisation emerge. You know, like how you get to know someone through what they do and say? King does his normal thing of giving us pages and pages of information straight off the bat regarding the couple in the Good Marriage. This info could have been leaked throughout the story...hang on...it was? No wonder the piece, just like 1922, felt fifty pages too long.

It's not a bad book. In my opinion, King cannot write a true stinker, but this falls far from his best. A shame, as I've been really looking forward to this book. Oh, and the cover IS a stinker, by the way. What were they thinking?

Massive update

2010-12-29T18:44:00.007+08:00

Bloody Christmas, eh? It's the holidays and you have all this news to share (or a novel to write, as the case may be) and every morning you think 'today I AM going to write that blog post'. Yet everyday is filled with stiffling heat and presents and alcohol and all things lovely. Having written my required word count for the day, finished the edits for Necrotic Tissue #14 and barbecued the NICEST peppered steak ever, it was time for bum in seat to write a blog.

After all, this week has seen release of Samhane in English and German speaking countries! Who'd have thought this day would come, when that nasty, blood-soaked novel I wrote back in 2003/2004 would be in people's hands! Und deutschen Händen!

And now, the photographic evidence that the book exists...

English/US front cover

English/US back cover

Bio with author pic of me just after I wrote Samhane...young bastard!

See how good that spine looks on a shelf? Eh? Wink wink nudge nudge?

The German edition. BOX FRESH!

So there we have it. Samhane has been entered into both the Australian Shadow Awards and the Aurealis Awards. Fingers crossed for them.

For a little tidbit of information, I was also honoured to be in the Manjimup Bridgetown newspaper this week. For those not in the area, the newspaper put the article up online here. I occasionally take a nice author picture. Those more eagle-eyed readers may compare the pictures and see how I have aged in about seven years.

REMEMBER! The Samhane draw is only open until December 31st!

As this is the festive season, and Christmas is all about mass consumerism, every copy of Samhane bought from Stygian Publications or if you're a German reader, Voodoo Press puts you in the running to win an ultra rare and signed Festive Fear Global Edition. That's one for both...erm...languages. A runner up for each will also win a signed copy of Necrotic Tissue #12. All you have to do is buy a copy from the above places to enter the draw.

It couldn't be easier!

If you don't have much money to spare (I too have felt the pinch of Christmas. Nintendo don't sell their wares cheap) then perhaps the Goodreads giveaway may float your boat?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Samhane

by Daniel I. Russell

Giveaway ends January 31, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

And while that's a whole heap of news, it's all on Samhane, available from Stygian Publications or in German from Voodoo Press.

Things are looking good for wheels to start turning for the horror novella Come Into Darkness from Skullvines Press in the coming months, as well as the German edition through Voodoo Press. The new novel is currently only at 10k, but cooking nicely.

Oh! Nearly forgot! For those people who like an ebook every now and again, my free chapbook FLUFFS is now available on Kindle, etc via Smashwords .

And as a marketing experiment, I will also have another chapbook available next week via Smashwords, a plant horror previously published in the anthology Decimate, Roots. Stunning cover art has already been confirmed. Can't wait to get this overlooked story out there. It's one of my more girly (God forbid!) short stories, but rest assured, there will be blood, there will be violence...and a very camp supporting character!

Happy New Year, folks!

MACABRE: A JOURNEY THROUGH AUSTRALIA'S DARKEST FEARS

2010-12-24T17:25:00.003+08:00

MACABRE: A Journey Through Australia's Darkest Fears is one hell of a volume. Literally. It's like a brick...but a brick chock full of great horror fiction.

Editors Angela Challis and Dr. Marty Young have put together an extra special anthology here. The book is exclusively an Australian endeavor, charting the change of the genre over the years. This is the big selling point of this collection in my eyes. The editors did not simply put out the call for submissions or do a year's best. This book has been thoroughly researched and it shows. The stories are arranged chronologically, and the first piece, Fisher's Ghost: A Legend of Campbell Town is dated 1836.

To be honest, this bothered me, at first. I'm not really a fan off pre-20th century horror as it can be thickly written, too flowery, or simply just lack a plot. The stories featured here, despite their age, were great and written with a certain contemporary feel.

This book took me a long time to get through, choosing to dip into for a short story every now and again. Obviously, I can't comment on every single story featured, but there wasn't really a story that was poorly written or off the mark.

It sucks that our very own Necrotic Tissue will be running against MACABRE for the 2010 Shadow Award for best publication, as MACABRE really is a monster. I also have to thank Angela and Shane for getting my copy signed by oodles of the writers at Worldcon this year. Makes this fine collection a cherished gem on my shelf.

If you want to spend some of you hard earned cash on an anthology (and in this day and age you really are spoiled for choice on that score) I can highly recommend MACABRE. It oozes quality on every page. This was no slapdash anthology thrown together. Come on, it's been nearly 200 years in the making! You don't even need to be Australian, Just buy it and enjoy it. Well done, guys. A standout book. Top marks.

A VERY ENGLISH CHRISTMAS (a free holiday read)

2010-12-22T13:29:00.002+08:00

As it is Christmas (well, near as damn it), I thought I'd repost last year's festive flash fiction.

Enjoy!

A VERY ENGLISH CHRISTMAS

Every year the same old bleedin’ shite.

Ken, lying in a recliner, popped the button of his jeans, opened the zipper and exhaled. The pressure on his gut subsided somewhat; the lashings of turkey, stuffing, pigs in blankets and roast potatoes succumbed by the slight extra room. Quite a meal, oh yes, quite a meal. The best thing about Christmas. He’d even eaten the traditional Brussel sprout or two, despite Alice over-cooking them. The swollen things looked like boogers on the edge of his plate. Boogers covered in onion gravy.

He picked up the remote from the arm of the chair and flicked to ITV.

“Oi!” moaned Tansy. “We were watching that!”

“Were you balls,” Ken grumbled at his daughter. “You can’t mess with that thing and watch the TV at the same time.”

She sat perched at the end of the sofa, messing with some pink Japanese bullshit gizmo. An I-something. Everything had to have an I in front of it now. He’d joked to Alice about Christmas being all about the I-wants.

“Haven’t you got it working yet?”

Tansy shrugged her shoulders.

No surprise there then. Even with the few apparent buttons the thing had, it was proving too much for his airhead daughter to understand. Ken studied her for the hundredth time, bemused by her denim miniskirt and tiny vest top. Snow flakes danced past the glass of the patio behind her. The house felt like a bloody sauna.

“Sweety?” Alice called from the kitchen. She’d been up since five, preparing the dinner. Then she served it. Now she was washing the dishes. Ken had seen her for all of ten minutes on this solemn family day.

“Yeah?”

“Is it nearly time for her?”

He checked his watch and sighed.

“Nearly.”

“Oh it just makes the day,” his wife warbled. “Have you tried your present yet?”

Ken’s gaze dropped to the black plastic case in his shirt pocket. Darts. New ones.

“Haven’t you seen the snow? Be freezing out in the garage.” He wiped his nose with the back of his hand, checked the contents and then smeared it on the arm of the recliner. “It can wait.”

Alice bustled in, his plump wife wringing her hands on a tea towel. Her thick black hair had tumbled loose and hung messy around her glistening face.

“Phew!” She gasped and fanned her face, dropping onto the sofa next to Tansy, who was frantically shaking the I-gizmo. “Like a greenhouse in here.”

“Then turn the heating down!” said Ken and stared back at the TV. Adverts. He watched out for any mentioning Easter.

“It’s been a tough year,” said Alice, not hearing him. “A tough year for everyone, us included. Must be even tougher for her.”

Ken frowned. “How so?”

“Well, watching the people of your country suffer and worry.”

He snorted. “This ain’t her country. All she does is bloody sponge of us workin’ stiffs.”

And that was when he could work. The building industry was on its arse. Not much demand for plasterers these days. Not like the blessed eighties. The money they’d had to scrimp and save just for Christmas. Tansy’s I-thing coast close to two hundred notes. She also wanted a download of this year’s X Factor winner, predictably, unable to think for herself. Ken had seen him. Some baby-faced whiney crooner. Shit show. Shit singer. Take any old thug off the street, shave him and give a bit of hair gel and put him in a suit. Viola. Frank fucking Sinatra. And a download? When he was a teenager, you had records. LPs. You could hold them in your hands because, guess what? They were real. At least Damien’s PS3 was real. His son had opened the package, grunted and taken it upstairs to his bedroom. They hadn’t seen him since, and that was about seven hours ago.

In hindsight, Ken wished they’d bought him one weeks earlier.

“It’s starting!” said Alice and clapped her hands together.

Ken grabbed the remote and turned up the volume for her.

“And now on ITV1, the Queen’s Christmas speech.”

Bollocks, thought Ken. At least Goldfinger’s on after this…

Onscreen, a cosy drawing room faded in from black. An open fire burned below hanging stockings. A grand piano stood to the left ready for carols, and to the right, the biggest Christmas tree Ken had ever seen, laden with decorations with brightly wrapped presents stockpiled underneath.

Glad to see the economic crisis has touched us all, Ken seethed.

The Queen stood by the fireplace, ever the short, harsh, sour-faced old bat she’d always been. The aunty that made you eat liver and onions and wrapped your knuckles with a spoon should you put your elbows on the table. She peered over spectacles.

"Christmas is a time for celebration,” she said, as wooden and miserable as the chick from that Twilight movie, “but this year it is a more sombre occasion for many. Some of those things which could once have been taken for granted suddenly seem less certain and, naturally, give rise to feelings of insecurity.”

“Amen to that,” Ken told her. “No Corfu this year…”

“Ken!’ Alice shushed him.

"People are touched by events which have their roots far across the world. Whether it is the global economy or violence in a distant land, the effects can be keenly felt at home.” Her eyes glimmered gold.

Ken leaned forward slightly, gaze fixed to the screen. “Did you-?”

“For the last time,” Alice moaned. “Shush! This is our majesty speaking.”

The Queen winked, quite cheeky for a lady of her standing. Those eyes flashed golden, like two shiny pound coins, behind her glasses. Ken felt a little better and settled back down, transfixed by her kind, loving expression.

“But I have a solution,” she said, a little knowing, like Anne Robinson before she booted someone off The Weakest Link. In an instant, the tiny pensioner ripped a poker from the stand by the fire place and plunged it forward.

Tansy and Alice glanced at each other.

“Is this some kind of joke?” Tansy asked.

The camera angle slid to the side and plummeted. Viewers now saw a side view of a plush, elaborate carpet. A bloody hand – the cameraman? – flopped into the picture.

“It has to be,” said Alice, hands rising to cover her mouth.

Ken remained in the recliner, watching nonchalantly.

Two pairs of feet emerged from the right, circling each other like they’d waltzed in. A gurgling choke, and another body fell to the floor, a man in a light blue shirt with large earphones clamped over his head. A boom, a guinea pig on a pole, fell from his hand. A knife, or perhaps a letter-opener, jutted from the scarlet geyser of his throat.

Tansy and Alice screamed.

The Queen, still smiling and with her eyes still shimmering, leaned in close and leered out of the TV screen. “I have the solution,’ she said again, her grin amplifying the cracks in her ancient face.

The picture suddenly clicked off, immediately replaced with the ITV1 symbol.

“We apologise for the loss in picture and sound,” said the mellow announcer. “We’re working to rectify the situation, and in the meantime, here’s some music.”

The whiney X Factor winner again.

“It…it has to be a joke,” whispered Tansy.

“Or terrorists,” added Alice.

Ken reached for the black case, popped it open and removed his darts, poking the Union Jack flights into the tungsten stems. He forced the recliner to the upright position and stood, scratching his balding head.

“Jesus. Well…she had one thing right…”

Alice placed a shaking hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and stared at it through a hazy, golden hue.

“What dear?”

Ken smiled. “I have the solution.”

The darts, clutched together in his sweaty right hand, slid through her eye ball like a cocktail stick pronging a pickled onion. The membrane popped and vitreous humour ejaculated from the socket. Alice flew back, clutching her face, wailing. Ken stayed with her, gripping her jaw and pummeling the darts into the vacant hole, sometimes driving the needle-sharp points through the flesh of her defending fingers. The tips pounded the squishy brain matter behind the remains of her eye, and Alice gave up the fight, choosing to fall to the floor and jerk around like a fish out of water.

Eye… he thought. Eye…I?

Ken, enjoying Christmas and full of festive cheer, spun to face his daughter. She cowered against the front door, which remained locked since the night before. Of course, her slutty miniskirt had no pockets. No pockets meant no keys, but the moron didn’t realise you needed keys to open a door. Her hand slid around the door handle in vain attempt to turn it.

In one fluid motion, Ken grabbed her I-thing from the I-sofa, and rammed it into her I-mouth, knocking out several of her I-teeth. She cried, her lips pulsating around her Christmas gift.

“Shhhh!” he cooed. “It’s Christmas. You know what that means?”

He stared at her. She whimpered.

“Do you know what that means?” he asked, louder, squeezing her throat.

She frantically shook her head, tears cascading down her cheeks. Her eyes bulged.

Ken leaned in close to her.

“It means…James Bond’s on the telly. Goldfinger this year. You gonna be quiet so dad can watch it?”

She sniffed, yet a trickle of clear snot escaped her nose. She locked eyes with him and nodded.

“Good,” he said, relieved. “Sing with me. Si-lent niiiiight…”

He smashed her head back against the door. Her body swayed in his grasp.

“Ho-ly niiiiight!”

CRASH!

Blood marred the white paint of the door. It looked like a face. Wilson from Castaway. Ken had it on dvd.

“Alllllll is caaaaalm….”

He put a bit more effort into this one. Her skull cracked with the sound of breaking a hardboiled egg.

“Well it is now,” he said, out of breath and dropping his daughter’s lifeless body to floor. “Now. The solution.”

He approached the window.

A man ran past, a hand pressed to a bloody wound in his head. He left a delightful pattern in the snow. A woman ran after him, brandishing a rolling pin. Good old Mrs. Perkins, making mince pies again, Ken guessed.

Ah Christmas, he thought wistfully. My favorite time of year.

Humming Jingle Bells to himself, he strode over to his wife and plucked the darts from her face. Sighing in contentment and filled with Christmas spirit, he wondered if Damien wanted a game, and headed upstairs, unaware that his jeans had fallen around his ankles.

A Gathering of Crows by Brian Keene

2010-12-20T07:23:00.000+08:00

More Keenedom. Getting through the Keene backlist is easy enough, with the pace being what they are. I was going for a weekend away to Busselton and just grabbed a book on the way out. In hindsight, I would have chosen another Keene book, perhaps Ghost Walk or Dead Hollow, as there is a chronological progression with one of the main characters of Gathering, which I would have liked to have followed.

But nothing I could have done about that, right?

A Gathering of Crows has a very simple premise. The town of Brinkley Springs is a down and out, one road town that is slowly dying as people head for more lucrative places to live. Returning there is Donny, an Iraq-vet who is all set to leave again following the death of his mother, his reason for coming back. A confrontation with his ex0girlfriend, who attempted suicide the first time he left, interferes with his plan to get out of Dodge. Alongside this, consider a giant soul cage that has descended on the town, meaning no one can get in or out. Plus, five crows, which are in fact shape shifting men in black with a murderous appetite, have descended on the town and intend to make mincemeat out of every resident. The town's only hope is Levi, an ex-Amish man who dabbles in the occult. Perhaps it was an act of God to have him in town at that moment. But with Levi unsure what these entities are, and as the bodies pile up, Brinkley Springs is fast running out of time before it dies for real.

Basically, Keene has this small group of killers having a night of fun in this deadend town, and manages to effortlessly fill a book of about 80, 000 words. Not a bad feat, as it never feels drawn out or forced.

I adore books where the population of a town is massacred in a million different ways. Gathering is no disappointment (and it broke a wry chuckle to see spliced version of mutual buds SD Hintz and Jerrod Balzer be killed off via frozen slabs of meat). While the deaths are varied and very, very often, the Keene nasty streak - as displayed in Castaways and Urban Gothic - seems to be restrained in Gathering. This would make it be the prefect starter book for new readers to Keene, or for those who like their horror, but not too much visceral details. Don't get me wrong, guts will hit the floor and hearts are ripped from chest cavities, but we have no torture or raping. It's a case of wham, bam thank you mam. Right. Who's next?

Levi, of course, is a stand out character and as Keene says in his afterword, has become a fan favourite. Imagine the Amish fella from Diary of the Dead...but not deaf and with occult powers! Okay, he isn't as fleshed out in indepth as you would want in a lead character, but as I said at the outset, I believe this ground work has been done in earlier books. Still, you fell for the guy and want him to succeed.

A Gathering of Crows is yet another Keene book with eclectic pace that whips by and reaches its conclusion before you know it. As for Levi, I do want to read more on him and am glad I have two other books that feature him on my shelf and ready to go. A great read.

The small press on the high street anyone?

2010-12-14T18:40:00.003+08:00

We're back in good ol' Western Australia for the next stop on the Samhane blog tour. Nothing like coming home after a long trip around the world, right?

Perth is the scene for today. A wonderful, modern city with Asian influences. I love it. Very clean. Besides raging in a clothes shop (HULK SMASH!), my baby son making his first gay friend (cashier in said clothes shop), McDonald whores and a $25 Yoda Lightsaber - don't you wish you came shopping with me? - there was something more important to be taken care of: writing research.

I looked into high street stores and surveyed the state of horror small press. Big thank you to Australian horror God (and official ninja) Shane Jiraiya Cummings for having my rant on his page HERE!

DWELLER by Jeff Strand

2010-12-14T06:44:00.000+08:00

Followers of my reviews will know that I have loved Jeff’s previous books, Pressure and Benjamin’s Parasite. Dweller, it seemed to me, had a lot more hype than the other books, perhaps by riding on the waves made by Pressure.

The books starts with a massacre: some holidaying soldiers during WW2 are attacked by large, hairy, fanged, clawed creatures. Skip to the 50s. Toby is a geeky kid who is being tormented by two particularly nasty bullies at school. Seeking comfort in the deep woods that surround his house, Toby stumbles across a large, hairy, fanged, clawed beast living in a small cage. His first reaction? To run screaming, of course. Years later, and as an even more bullied teenager, Toby finds the monster again. This time, in a more controlled confrontation, Toby learns that the monster isn’t a feral, rabid beast after all…it can be his friend.

So starts a friendship that lasts decades between loner Toby and the creature he calls Owen.

As with Pressure, Jeff takes us on the journey of a lifetime, and we see how events of the past can heavily change and warp the future for the poor protagonist. We have a very sympathetic lead character in Toby. You can see his inner torment, and as a reader, you get dragged into his decisions. Okay, at times things seemed a little forced to get to an action scene or bump up the tension, such as Toby making some truly awful and moronic decisions. At the time of reading, I was thinking about the level of believability. Seriously, I was asking the book what the fuck are you thinking, Tobes? However, the more you think about it, the more his ill-informed decisions fit the plot. He’s socially inept, not overly bright, and going through a conflict of emotions. Is he really going to do the right thing? Seeing him make the wrong choice, and then watching his world collapse around him, rather than frustrating gets you invested in his fate.

Enough about Toby. What about Owen? I couldn’t help but picture Owen as Wildmutt from Ben 10 as I was reading this novel. Don’t know why. Anyway, Owen is a surprising character. He could have been treated like a big dog, but Strand gives him just above ape-like intelligence, granting him some basic communication. This cements the relationship between Toby and Owen further.

The side characters are adequately fleshed out and are a good support. But they aren’t the key players here. It’s all about Toby and his monster.

The gore is not excessive (well, as much as you’d expect with a monster eating people. Nom nom nom!) and just on the money. Pacing is great, and there’s a few twists and turns.

I think that people who read this as their first taste of Strand’s work will lap it up. Personally, while I enjoyed this book, I preferred Pressure…but that might be that I read it first. Strand has shocks a plenty, but after Pressure, I couldn’t trust him, and was watching for these awful, awful shock scenes early. Pressure is the nastier novel, but Dweller focuses more on relationships and friendships. It depends how you like your horror served.

Hell, just buy both. And Benjamin’s Parasite. And anything else of Jeff’s. Period.

Samhane full wraparound cover revealed

2010-12-11T08:48:00.006+08:00

"Russell's debut novel SAMHANE really packs a punch. A thrill ride of visceral horror and suspense that steadily builds to a very satisfying conclusion. I enjoyed the hell out of it!"
Gord Rollo, Author of Valley Of The Scarecrow and The Jigsaw Man

"My oh my does it get wet within these pages, dear friends." Shroud Magazine.

"Horror lovers rejoice--you're about to be scared...or scarred. Russell's well-crafted nightmares will haunt you long after you've closed the pages of Samhane!" Fran Friel, Bram Stoker Finalist-MAMA'S BOY AND OTHER DARK TALES

Samhane is available on pre-order from Stygian Publications . All copies sold in December places readers in a draw to win an ultra-rare signed copy of Festive Fear Global Edition or a signed Necrotic Tissue #12. See older posts for more details.

Now. wouldn't that look good on your shelf? ><

JOYRIDE by Jack Ketchum

2010-12-10T22:05:00.001+08:00

I’m going to be honest in the reasoning in my reasons for buying Jack Ketchum’s Joyride. My cheapness in pages per dollar came into my decision not to buy the very short novella, Weed Species. Looking at the cover and seeing these epically evil plants (and I love my plant based horror, apart from the horrendously frustrating Garden of Evil by Edmund Le Plante – which I hope is a pseudonym!) it was hard to resist.

But along comes Leisure who have released an impressive catalogue of Ketchum’s work, and give us Weed Species as a bonus story with the novel Joyride. At the usual low low prices, I certainly couldn’t resist this time! Let’s look at the main novel first.

Carole is a nice enough, slightly posh woman who has been driven to hell and back by her abusive ex-husband. He really did a number on her with beatings, rape, etc. Now she’s with Lee, and the two are moderately happy together…apart that the ex-husband still pops around now and then for threats, harassment and the odd rape. The police haven’t done a thing, so the couple decide to indulge in some vigilante action, involving a seldom used hiking trail and a baseball bat.

Enter Wayne. Wayne is your town nutjob. In his twenties and working bar, he has a deep seeded resentment for basically everyone and a secret obsession with murder. After a failed romantic walk with his girlfriend, he takes a minute to rest, overlooking the trail.

This is where Wayne sees something he wasn’t supposed to see.

Now Wayne wants to be their best friend and share in the thrill of murder. Carole and Lee aren’t so keen, but how can you argue with a mad man?

Ketchum, as usual, hits the road running and never lets up. The novel slips by and you don’t even feel it going in. Ketchum just has this pace and sharp edge to his words that few can compare with. He keeps the plot rooted in reality, with absolutely no supernatural element whatsoever. The subject of a man who finally gives into his bloodlust in such an explosive way, while some may see this as Ketchum simply ticking his own extreme violence box, is gritty and actually, close to real life events.

It was an interesting read, as at the time of finishing, I thought it was quite a shallow read. Ketchum in third gear, Ketchum providing the cheap thrills, but with a paler moral stance than say The Girl Next Door. Only a few days after it did I start to think about it. Yes, murdering random strangers is bad, but it raises questions such as is the murder of a bad person make it acceptable? Does an ignorant society breed psychopaths?

Ketchum also has the stereotypical cop hot on the trail, but with a few atypical character flaws. A decent subplot.

Onto Weed Species. Now, the mistake I’d made (as I believe others had in the past) was that this was a story about plants. How very wrong.

A very different couple from Joyride, Sherry and Owen are serial rapists, and murderers when the situation demands it. Weed Species follows them over many years, revealing their exploits, the repercussions and how their presence affects the community (like a weed species. No plants).

This is the most rape-tastic story I have ever read. It reminded me of that famous scene from Dusk til Dawn. We got rape! We got date rape! We got anal rape! You like oral rape? We got oral rape! How about some anal rape followed by oral rape? We got lesbian rape! We got incest rape! We kinky rape! We got torturous rape!

Lots of raping. Be interesting to see what percentage of the page count doesn’t have any raping.

Ketchum really lets his hair down here on the pure gross out and explicit details. Funnily enough, just before reading this, I discussed in interviews how the first draft of Samhane was more extreme. However, Weed Species certainly would have aced it in the full-on rape stakes. Seriously, I cannot warn you enough, if you have a nervous disposition regarding rape, do not read this story. I’ve seen readers say they’re ashamed to own this book.

Is it any good? It was okay, I guess.

I prefer other Ketchum titles, but this was still a good, fast read, but definitely not for everyone.

Tomorrow comes the review for Jeff Strand's DWELLER.

Win a rare antho featuring Piccirilli, Kane, Curran, Burke...

2010-12-02T05:51:00.004+08:00

Been a very busy week, especially with the academic year coming to an end. We also got stuck in Busselton last weekend. Now, I've had my car break down in worse places. It was hot and sunny, there was MOTORFEST 2010 over the road, and at the 'fest was a cheap bar. We certainly made the most of these things while waiting to be rescued.

So what's happened since? Samhane promotion has continued, and my contributor copies of Festive Fear Global Edition arrived. Have to say, I was very, very impressed by the quality of these books. Stephen Clarke at Tasmaniac Publications once again shows how good he is, and the pride he takes in his products.

So, I thought, why not combine this week's events?

CHRISTMAS DRAW

Festive Fear Global Edition has been released. This festive favourite features stories by Tom Piccirilli, Paul Kane, Tim Curran, Kealan Patrick Burke, me and others. Unfortunately, this was a pre-release sell out, so the anthology is hard to get hold of. Should be a worthy addition to any horror collection.

For a chance to win a limited edition, numbered and signed (just by me) read on...

As this is the festive season, and Christmas is all about mass consumerism, every copy of Samhane bought from Stygian Publications or if you're a German reader, Voodoo Press puts you in the running to win an ultra rare Festive Fear Global Edition. That's one for both...erm...languages. A runner up for each will also win a signed copy of Necrotic Tissue #12. All you have to do is buy a copy from the above places to enter the draw.

"My oh my does it get wet within these pages, dear friends." Shroud Magazine.

"Horror lovers rejoice--you're about to be scared...or scarred. Russell's well-crafted nightmares will haunt you long after you've closed the pages of Samhane!" Fran Friel, Bram Stoker Finalist-MAMA'S BOY AND OTHER DARK TALES

Winners will be selected at random by the head editors at each publisher. Winners drawn on January 1st 2011.

Gewinnspiel:
Jeder, der von jetzt an bis zum 31. Dezember 2010 Samhane bei uns im
Onlineshop bestellt, hat die Chance eine von Daniel I. Russell signierte
Anthologie Festive Fear Global Edition (limitiert auf 200 Exemplare !)
zu gewinnen. Der zweite Platz erhält eine original von Daniel I. Russell
... signierte Ausgabe von Necrotic Tissue... #12. Anmerkung: Beide Ausgaben sind in Englisch.Viel Glück!

BLOG TOUR CONTINUES

Yes, the trips are slower now, but I aim to press on and arrive back in Australia next week. In the meantime, I'm still in Canada, at the humble abode of Louise Bohmer, author of The Black Act.

Jesus, Bohmer! How many rats you got? At first I thought your carpet was moving! (Might be an affect of those berries the satyr had me eat on the walk over here)

Anyway, Louise asked my opinion on what writers (especially those just starting out) should look for - or avoid, as the case may be - in a publisher. So check out the article here . Don't I sound all pessimistic?

Work calleth. Be sure to order your copy of Samhane, and I'll see you next week.