Happy Halloween from Owen

"The Monster in the Night"
by Owen Polson

Once there was a monster named Harold. He didn't know how to trick or treat. He heard voices in the distance. He didn't know who it was so he went in the graveyard. It got louder and louder until he could see them. They were zombies. The zombies were his friends. He said, "Hooray they will help me trick or treat."

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Halloween Treats

Treat #1: Being an obsessive Googler of my own name (as all good authors should be, right?), I'm not sure how I missed this lovely review of "Empty Vessels" from Morpheus Tales VIII:

"... modern-day horror story set in the bayou and the Gulf of Mexico after a disastrous flood has drowned hundreds of local people. Elroy Jantz, a boatman who occasionally contracted for shrimp companies, is drafted along with many other small boatmen to retrieve the water-logged bodies from the waters. This was one of the gems of this issue and made for a strong finish. The imagery is dark, but unique, and the development of the reader’s understanding of Elroy’s past is revealed carefully, without stunting the pace of the story."

Read the rest of reviewer Maggie Jamison's take at Tangent Online.

Heck, read "Empty Vessels" for free via Scribd.

Treat #2: Tangent keeps coughing them up...a bit about "Precious Metal" (Albedo One #38) from reviewer Dave Truesdale:

"...Aaron Polson's "Precious Metal" gives a snapshot of a post-collapse world where professional gangs ravage the countryside for anything of value, in this case scrap metal of any sort. Using mob tactics, they regularly extort from one old man who lives in a junkyard and who, on the sly, makes the most wonderful creations. His pride and joy is a mechanical owl who can think (think steampunk here). When the mobsters visit the kindly old man in what turns out to be their final visit, the tragedy turns poignant as we learn the mechanical owl has been imbued with feelings as well as thought. Though reminiscent of the devotion flesh and blood animals feel for their owners/masters (especially dogs), this—for want of a better decription—"emotional vignette" achieves its purpose. The final image is well drawn."

More here.

Treat #3: The incomparable Gef Fox allowed me to write about two of my favorite movies (with the same name): Thing One and Thing Two for the Monster Movie Marathon. I like to talk about monsters...

And finally, Treat #4: Joe Nazare has some author blurbs about their favorite Halloween costumes. The blurbs won't be posted until Halloween, but I suspect I'll be busy. Check it out at http://www.macabre-republic.com.

Hammer for Halloween

Yes, Halloween is a very special time of the year.

Back from the Dead for Halloween: The Bottom Feeders

Look what's back from the "dead" in time for Halloween.

Download The Bottom Feeders and Other Stories for Kindle.

Download The Bottom Feeders and Other Stories for Nook.

Download The Bottom Feeders and Other Stories at Smashwords.

(You can even download a shorter version for free at Smashwords.)

...and The Bottom Feeders would like to be your friend at Goodreads.

WIP Wednesday: The Inferential Power of Hint Fiction

Yes, I was one of those who received my pre-order of this:

...before the official release date. I shared a story, Joe R. Lansdale's "The Return" with students and had them riff on it during a quick, three-minute writing session. My favorite (I haven't edited a word, but I want to):

They buried him deep again. The morning before we buried that old man six feet deep and covered him good. But last night, we found his open coffin with no one in it. The town was quiet. No one told their children. Our arrogant sheriff said it was rain that washed him up, but it was hardly a storm.

I love the last line, especially the well placed use of the word arrogant. Sometimes, I feel like the students are "getting it". (I reprinted that little snippet with permission, of course.)

The other magic I've found in the pages of Hint Fiction is how each tiny story encourages inference.

From the Kansas State Reading Standards:

1.4.5 - uses information from the text to make inferences and draw conclusions.

This is hint fiction--it's all inferences and unsaid conclusions. Many of the stories, even in the life & death section, are quite funny.

Nice work, authors. Nice work, Mr. Robert Swartwood. Thank you for helping me reach my students.

In WIP news, I'm looking over edits for Loathsome, Dark and Deep. If you haven't checked out the novel's web site, here it is. I smell a contest coming...

Oh, and buy a copy of Hint Fiction, okay?

Saying "No"

Some of you undoubtedly read my tweet yesterday:

"I just turned down a book offer. Why?"

As I tried to explain in the subsequent tweetage, it was an offer on my first book. I wasn't sure I wanted it "out there". But there's more, of course.

The offer was from an e-book company (a very solid e-book publisher, I might add). When I subbed the book in the summer of 2009, the poor dear had gone through massive edits--maybe twenty rounds or more. It is my oldest child, the one who faces the parental missteps and unintentional abuses. I just wasn't sure I wanted to let it leave the house just yet, and I'm pretty darn sure I don't want to sign a deal for e-rights only.

Not today. Not in 2010.

Why?

Because I can release it myself if I choose and keep the profit. Sure. Because I'm becoming a real sonuvabitch about creative control, too.

But what's the trade off?

Well, no "outside" editing, for one. While I'm fairly confident in my editing abilities (at least for my own stuff), I always miss something. I haven't touched The Last Days of the Springdale Saints in over a year. I'm going to give it another pass before making any final decisions.

Number two: the "stigma" of self-publishing. Yeah, well, whatever. I'm really not interested in hiding in the cave and waiting for the other dinosaurs to come home. I feel I've built a body of work I'm proud of, some of it published in nice, well-respected venues. I can write fairly well at times, at other times, my writing sucks. Hopefully I'll live long enough to spot the difference.

I don't know if I'm going to set The Last Days of the Springdale Saints free or not. I love the book as only a parent can love an oldest child. I've rewritten it a few times. I've edited it almost too many to count. It has taught me more than any of my subsequent novels. In its latest incarnation, a slim 67K, I've cut almost 30K words. The aforementioned e-publisher was the only one to see the slimmed down Saints. Maybe the book is ready.

Time will tell.

A Repeat, a List, and an Echo

It's Monday, which means I'm tired and sunburned from watching the Kansas City Chiefs put a whooping on Jacksonville, 42-20. I'll admit there was a little nail-biting in the third quarter, but after a pick six by Derrick Johnson, the hammer was most effectively brought down.

Okay, enough sports blah-blah-blah.

1. A Repeat

Friday night (I had the day off after a marathon twelve-hour parent/teacher conference day on Thursday), we held our second trying-to-be annual "drive-in" movie night in our backyard. It was load of fun as you can obviously tell in this out-of-focus and rather dark picture:

Last time around, we watched Scooby-Doo. This year, it was Shaun the Sheep, Little Sheep of Horrors. Claymation fun for everyone! (Yes, we projected the movie on a sheet attached to our roof.)

2. A List

The table of contents for Day Terrors (from The Harrow Press) is official, and it includes:

Ataraxia — Scott Brendel

Sea of Green, Sea of Gold — Aaron Polson

The Wish Man and the Worm — J.M. Heluk

The Woman in the Ditch — Scott Lininger

And the Crowd Goes Wild — John Jasper Owens

No Sin Remains A Secret — Jack Bowdren

The Heat Has Fangs — Trent Roman

In Lieu of Flowers — Chad McKee

Down Where the Blue Bonnets Grow — Daniel R. Robichaud

The Infatuate — Adam Walter

Fiddleback — Lorna D. Keach

Daddy Long Legs — Harper Hull

Miss Riley’s Lot — Gregory Miller

Closing the Deal — Lee Clark Zumpe

Customs — Mark Rigney

A Day at the Beach — Lawrence Conquest

Uncle Alec’s Gargoyle — Rebecca Fraser

Carrington Cove — Davin Ireland

Lollipop — Jason Sizemore

Companion — Rob E. Boley

Sands of Time — E. C. Seaman

The TOC with story blurbs can be found at The Harrow. I had fun with my story because it let me make up more crazy sh*t about Kansas. I sure like to make up crazy sh*t about Kansas...

3. And finally, an Echo...as in Leigh Blackmore has informed me that "In the Cave of Stories" will find a home in Midnight Echo #5 (Midnight Echo being a publication of the Australian Horror Writers Association). I love this piece and it was well worth the wait to hear the "yes".

WIP Wednesday: I Have Conquered #10bythen

I like challenges, and I usually attack them with vigor. #10bythen has been good to me this month...in fact, I just shipped off submission eleven. Granted, it was an old story which sat unloved in an editor's inbox for nearly two years before I pulled it...

In the past month, I've made submissions to The Zombie Feed, Clarkesworld, Fantasy, Gloom Cupboard (a poem!), Whidbey Writers Workshop Students' Choice Award, Pedestal Magazine, Three-Lobed Burning Eye, Scape, Trembles (another resurrected story), and Ghostology. I have three pieces of flash ready for editing, including a rather chilling (at least I think so), story inspired by Jeff VanderMeer's brilliant short, "The General Who is Dead", and bog mummies. I have two more short stories, about 3K each, which need editing, too. One is destined for submission to Kevin J. Anderson (Blood Lite 3), but I won't hold my breath that lightning will strike twice. The other is weird and haunting, but not horrific. Literary markets, here comes "The Emperor of Empty Spaces".

And, for the record, all of the markets to which I've subbed this month pay, at least a token sum. I don't like to make official decisions, but it looks like I've but my fiction where my thoughts are.

Thanks to Mercedes and all the #10bythen crew. I needed a kick in the pants, and October has been an awesome run of writing (so far). With five stories waiting in line, time to hit the edits, eh?

No, I Will Not Work for Free

Let me clear something up from yesterday's post: I have no desire to be a starving artist. I believe in paying a "content creator" or writer or illustrator or (fill in the blank here) for their work. I believe being paid is a sign of work well done.

But I also believe pay comes in many forms: a good review, a prestigious (if not well-paying) publication credit, the respect of colleagues. This example from Norman Partridge. (How bad ass would it be to get a letter like that?) Money is nice, too. Feel free to send some.

This is the point I was trying to make: I'm not in a place where I want to yield too much creative control for money. If a story I write doesn't sell, so be it. It goes in the "junk" folder. The junk folder is not in danger of starvation. What about "some day maybe" when an agent/publisher tells me to change a key element in a novel so I can get the book on the shelves of Wal-Mart? That would be a nice problem to have, but I'm not in a place to make that decision (nor do I foresee myself there any time soon). What is "too much"? Each artist/writer/what-have-you must make his/her own decision about how far they're willing to go. I won't pretend to make the choice for anyone else.

I can only make my own decisions. For example:

1. I will keep writing.
2. I will support markets which publish short fiction I respect/enjoy. Any writer who loves short fiction is obligated, in my opinion, to do so. Realms of Fantasy collapsed again, folks. Don't let this happen to your favorite pub. When every paying, well-respected venue for short fiction goes the way of RoF, what kind of "pay the author" conversation will we be having?
3. I'm going to offer any book with my name on it (as primary author or editor) to libraries in the U.S. for free because a good library has always been an author's friend. I plan on hitting some librarian hangouts online and sending a few postcards. (or, if a librarian happens to read this...drop me a line aaron.polson (at) gmail.com).
   

Go forth an be awesome, dear readers.

I'm Not Here to Sell Anything

"Manning Up" is live at Misfit Magazine where you can read it for free. Free-free, not "everyone who donates blood receives a free t-shirt" free because, really, the t-shirt isn't free, is it? You donated a pint of blood for that shirt.

I've been thinking about how "selling" art ruins it (and yes, I consider writing art, even the pulpy lies I write). By ruin I mean changes it--if the goal is to sell a piece of art, market conditions will, even if unconsciously on the artist's part, alter the art. Thomas Kincaid doesn't mass produce his garbage because it's an inner expression of his heart and soul. He mass produces it because it sells. It's not art. It's commodity.

I know some readers of this blog won't consider writing "art". Okay. Fair enough. But I consider the best short fiction to be a pure aesthetic experiment with the ability to conjure a visceral response. (er...art) Consider "The General Who is Dead" by Jeff Vandermeer and Guernica by Pablo one is a short story...the other a painting. Both deliver the horror of war. Both linger long after viewing.

My favorite children (stories) were born from a desire to tell the story rather than write for a market. Maybe I'm not normal, but I write best when I write for nothing but the story. Yes, those stories are hard to sell at times. But they're free. I like short fiction because of that freedom--because short stories are the play land of experimentation and experimentation is vital for art to exist. I'm afraid to write another novel because of the time commitment involved with (at least) a little pressure to write something which can sell.

I'm not here to sell anything, even if I had something to sell.

Have a lovely Monday.

TGIF (The Ghosts Invade Friday)

I just finished Ghost Hunters by Deborah Blum, a non-fiction account of William James and his colleagues as they searched for verifiable evidence of various psychic phenomenon at the close of the 19th century and dawn of the 20th. The book shares a wealth of information, and I like Blum's direct approach. Many books on the subject of psychical research are either 1) silly or 2) condescending (like some of the opinions Williams and crew faced). Funny how some of the same questions are being argued about today...or not, according to hard-core skeptics who simply won't join the conversation on neutral terms. (Not much has changed in 100+ years, folks.)

Head over to Beyond Fiction for my review/insight into one of my favorite films of all time, Ghostbusters.

And hey, The Borrowed Saints might have a ghost or two...read this week's installment.

Beautiful Things

Thanks KV Taylor for staring a beautiful meme.

1.

2. Read Al Sarrantonio's "Boxes". Oh man, the imagery and word play.

3.

'nuff said.

WIP Wednesday: I Have a Story and I Swear it is True

Why are you reading this when you should be ordering/reading Cate's short story collection?

On Time

A few thoughts on time for today...

First, I'm happy to report "Mandatory Waiting Period" will appear in Permuted Press's forthcoming Times of Trouble anthology edited by Lane Adamson. Our escapade with time travel was one of the last times Jamie and I exchanged manuscripts and beta-read for one another, so this one's for you, Jamie. Thanks.

I've been thinking about time lately, how much of a curse and blessing a full time job can be. For one, it eats oodles of time. I see other writers in my relative position all over the social media map, and think, how the hell does he/she/it do that? I'm lucky to blog a few times a week and maybe hit a forum once or twice. My kids eat oodles of time, too, but I love those little scamps. There's a weird trade-off: my job and my children provide plenty of inspiration and writing fodder, but suck away the space to sufficiently use it (hence the curse/blessing).

Finally, NPR (I'm addicted) broadcast an interesting science tidbit last week on the way we perceive time. It's worth the read/listen. "How to Live Forever! Or Why Habits are a Curse"

Here's hoping you find the time to do what you want/need to do today.

Guest Starring: Jeremy D. Brooks

Take it away, Jeremy:

My debut novel, Amity, is on the streets...

One of the over-arching themes in Amity is anonymity--specifically, the potential for abuse thereof in online worlds.

In general, the ability to say what you feel in a global forum without fear of personal reprisal is a powerful thing with huge, Peter Parker-esque clauses hidden in the fine print: use it for good or be confident that somebody will eventually swoop down on your favorite online haunts and take that anonymity away.

The internet is rife with examples of free-range anonymous trolling, particularly the chan-style forums.

Imagine Lord of the Flies, but the island inhabitants are cloaked head-to-toe, unidentifiable by size, gender, or age. And there are tens, hundreds of thousands of them lurking about at any given time.

The users have the default option of being anonymous, and that insulation breeds interesting results. Intellectuals become perverts, teenage introverts become leaders, cops share their snuff fantasies, conservative professionals show skin to strangers. The walls are painted with racist jokes and hateful pranks.

Creativity soars. Bits of artistic brilliance often float in unremarkable slime.

Sometimes good deeds are done from behind the wall--recently, thousands of the anonymous users from 4chan called a 95 year old WWII veteran to wish him a happy birthday, much to his delight. They are also known for peaceful protests of the Church of Scientology (and peaceful protests are always a good thing, both the Peaceful part and the Protest part).

But, when a crowd of that size is both self-regulated and anonymous, you can't expect that they will behave themselves often. The collective id tends to take over. And those stories aren't hard to find.

Amity takes the concept of a chan-style website (I feel compelled to repeat that the fictitious website Amity is not, in fact, 4chan, although 4chan did serve as an inspiration) and takes it to darker places. The worst of 4chan is comparable to the most innocuous parts of Amity. It's a kind of thought-experiment: what is the logical conclusion of that world, drawn as a characterization of itself?

The results were, as you'll find in the book, creepy.

Anyway...Amity is available in paperback or Kindle on Amazon, and in most other electronic formats at Smashwords. Check out my website for details: http://jeremydbrooks.com .

And thanks to Mr. Polson for giving me a day on his blog!

Lawrence Zombie Walk 2010

A few interesting photos from last night's Lawrence Zombie Walk:

Cell phones? Cell phones? C'mon, zombies...

Wait...wait...is that zombie in the purple shirt texting? Scandal.


Now that's what I'm talking about; children can't run far on their little tiny legs...

On Monday, we'll have a special guest post from Amity author Jeremy D. Brooks. Until then...watch the skies.

The Beast

The Beast wants you to stop writing.

The Beast lusts for failure, self-defeat, and destructive self-talk.

It is always hungry.

It tells you each rejection isn't just a rejection of your story, it's a rejection of you, the person.

The Beast lies.

The Beast will always be hungry.

It smells exhaustion and frustration and resentment and jealousy like a shark noses blood in the water.

But you can defeat the beast.

You win each time you submit a story, each time you have the courage to sit down in front of a blank screen, each time your pencil or pen touches paper. You spank the beast on the nose each time you write despite the odds, despite the reward, despite what anyone--including yourself--might say.

It's weak, really, this Beast. Weak and small and alone, and it wants you to feel that way, too.

It will always be hungry because it is a nothing, a hollow thing. Empty.

Read my post on Shimmer's blog about fighting the Beast with persistence.

On Plagiarists, Fake Names, and Other Random Things

Let me say one thing about stealing someone's fiction and claiming as your own: it doesn't pay. It doesn't pay in financial terms, and it sure as hell doesn't pay in the destructive force said plagiarist calls upon him/herself, especially in the era of Google searches and the interweb^TM. Not to mention a whole slew of explicatives I'd love to sling at plagiarists for being total %($&#@s, but this is a "family oriented" blog after all. (Like hell it is.)

Evidently there's a new plagiarist in town, but he's not new at all.

From Jodi Lee: "I was recently tipped off (via twitter) to proof that David “Doc” Byron has been plagiarizing works, presumably from people that have submitted to one of his many little for-the-love projects."

You can track the discussion from there.

This has happened before, to me. I'm sure it happens all the time. I don't understand the mind of some people, especially when stealing someone's story and posting for free online...or giving away to a FTL market...dude, nobody's reading your steaming, stolen, pile of dog sh*t. (Not that the original story was dog sh*t...it just became so when you put your name on it, thief.) Are you trying to build a reputation? Well, you have one. Jerk.

Speaking of names (cool off, Angry Aaron), I intended to post a little bit about fake names (for fiction). Yes, we're all familiar with random name generators, especially for fantasy and science fiction...check out this site for run-of-the-mill, normal people names (and other information). Kind of spooky...it gives you a fake credit card number even. (I hope those are fake--sheesh.)

Speaking of random, Andrea Allison of Southern Writemares plays around with random titles at her blog. My suggestion? Mix and match the words from various titles and generate something truly random, like "Flowers of Shards" or "The Twinkling Boyfriend".

(I think I've heard of that last one...)

Speaking of overused transitional phrases, have a great day, huh?

Monday, Monday

The good K.Hinny has tagged me, and it being Monday, I can't refuse.

1. If you could have any superpower, what would you have? Why?

Healing. Wouldn't that be nice? Of course, no matter your superpower, the rest of the world will find out, and then you'll never have privacy, soooooo maybe what I really, really want is invisibility. And healing.

2. Who is your style icon?

Huh? Style? Are we talking clothing...if we are, I have no style. Okay, maybe that's not entirely true. I tend to dress like my Drawing II instructor in undergrad (t-shirts and jeans) when given the choice. I really have no style. That's why I write: it can be done in a solitary place and nobody cares what I wear.

As for writing...hurm. I don't know. I think I've gotten to a place where I'm starting to feel out my own style. There are writers I admire, but I'm not them anymore. At least I don't think I am.

3. What is your favorite quote?

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

- from Hamlet, Act I, scene V

4. What is the best compliment you’ve ever received?

First, when my wife said she would marry me. In writing, I've been compared to some pretty illustrious writers. I think the comparisons fall down upon closer inspection, so I won't embarrass myself here, but it's still nice to hear.

5. What playlist/CD is in your CD player/iPod right now?

It's October, so the somewhat cheeky goth boys of Midnight Syndicate are in heavy rotation.

6. Are you a night owl or a morning person?

A morning person. But so much so I may as well be a night owl. Sometimes I wake at 4 AM and write, write, write.

7. Do you prefer dogs or cats?

If it's the right cat, I'll take it. Dogs are great if you have the space. Poor Owen is allergic to both, so we are a bunny family right now.

8. What is the meaning behind your blog name?

Well it's my name, isn't it? As for the lies part, I had a student (four years ago now...how time flies) tell me all fiction was lies. I quote: "Why would anyone want to read a bunch of lies?"

As for who to tag...it is October, so I'm thinking with my October brain:

Mary Shelley

H.P. Lovecraft

Edgar Allan Poe

Bram Stoker

E.F. Benson

and Algernon Blackwood

Heh.

Blood Lite II on the Shelves

Hey look, they shelved it under "Armstrong" because her name is first on the cover. Gotta love bookstores, eh?

Owen was at the store with me and asked about the "red stuff" on the cover...I'm glad he didn't pay much attention to the other Kelly Armstrong books (I'm not ready for that talk with my seven-year-old).

Stephen King, My Miniview, and a Thank You

Thanks to Cate Gardner for leading me to The Wasteline Counter. Yes, I tried it out on my own writing, but even more effectively, used it with my writing students. Wow, did those "heart attacks" open some eyes...

You can take a peek inside my dusty cranium at Red Penny Papers. C'mon, it's only three questions.

I've sent out my first story for #10bythen today. 30 more days to send out 9 stories...maybe I can do it.

Finally, some words from the master (Stephen King) about my favorite form in fiction (the short story).