THE NEXT BIG THING

Okay, I've been asked to try something that's fairly new to me, but seeing as I've based a lot of my career on trying something new, let's go ...

The Next Big Thing -- brainchild of Lisa Lane -- is a meme that creates a chain reaction through the blogs of authors of various genres, wherein they answer the same 10 questions about one of their forthcoming works. So, I'll dutifully get to it.

1. What is the title of your story?
It's the newest tale set in my fictional English town called Birchiam-on-Sea, it's called 'Across the Tracks,' and it is due to appear in Spring 2013 in a fascinating new anthology of different and disturbing horror stories called The Speed of Dark from Chase Enterprises, based in Canada. A lot of the better anthos seem to come from that part of the world these days.

2. How did you come by the idea?
Well, 'across the tracks' or 'the wrong side of the tracks' are fairly common North American expressions which relate to crossing from a well-off part of a town to a far less well-off part. Going across from one world to a rather different world, in other words. Which is what this story is -- quite literally -- about. The central character in the tale -- a lawyer called Norman Miller -- has some good news for the resident of what is called in the UK a 'council estate' and in the US a 'housing project,' but leaves it till the evening before he goes there. Bad mistake. Anyone who lives in a large Western city is more than familiar with such districts, but more about that later.

3. What genre does your story fall under?
I often like to use the term 'dark fantasy,' which I see as more appropriate for some of my work, the Raine's Landing series, for instance. But in this case, no. This is straightforward HORROR, with more than a whiff of the Lovecraftian about it.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters if it was a movie?
Apart from a very brief appearance by his wife at the end, Norman Miller is the only -- human -- character in the tale. He's a middle aged lawyer, and I think in terms of his astonished reactions to the events he comes across, William Hurt would play him perfectly, although he'd have to learn a British accent.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your story?
A lawyer ventures into a bad part of his hometown that he's never visited before, and finds that it is a considerably worse place than he could ever have imagined.

6. Will the anthology be self-published or traditional?
Chase Enterprises is an independent but traditional publisher. Which is not to say that there will not be an ebook version of The Speed of Dark ... there will.

7. How long did it take you to write the final draft of your manuscript?
I don't have any exact recollection, I'm afraid. With a short story, the first draft usually takes a couple of days. But then I pick it up and put it down over the next few weeks, correcting it and whittling away until I'm happy with it. Then I put it aside for a month or three, and reread it with my mind fresh, which is when I usually decide to revise certain parts completely.

8. What other tales would you compare this story to within your genre?
One of my own, actually. Back in 2003, an anthology came out called Gathering the Bones, edited by Jack Dann, Ramsey Campbell and Dennis Etchison, which carried a new story of mine called 'The Lords of Zero.' It was about a penniless writer who moves onto a bad housing project, had a touch of Lovecraft too, and was very well-received, so much so that John Ajvide Lindqvist -- the Swedish author of Let the Right One In -- sought me out at World Horror to tell me how much he liked it. 'Across the Tracks' comes at the same subject matter, but from a different direction.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this story?
I said earlier on that anyone who lives in a modern city is familiar with the kind of district described in the tale, and if you're wise you stay away from them. But I found myself in circumstances where I could not. Years back, London's politicians tried out a new scheme in an attempt to revive bad housing projects -- people from outside could move in for a very minimal rent indeed, in an attempt to put some folks with proper jobs and stuff into the social mix. And two friends of mine, one a writer, the other a critic and essayist, gave it a try, since they were low on funds at that particular time.
The scheme didn't work of course, for obvious reasons. One of my friends got held up at knifepoint, and the other took a waling from a gang of thugs. But I visited them more than a few times, and got to know those kinds of places better than most people do.
The point of both 'Lords of Zero' and 'Across the Tracks' is this. There actually are worlds beyond the normal one we're used to right here in our cities. The rules and moral codes are different, life is lived in a completely different way, and -- though they might exist side by side -- you don't cross over from one to the other without taking a big risk. That is where the horror really comes from, in both tales.

10. What else about your story might pique the readers interest?
If I haven't managed that by now, then I give up. Wait till The Speed of Dark comes out, get hold of a copy, and enjoy! (If that's the right word).

Other contributors to this meme are: Clayton Bye, Delinda McCann, J.A. Vasquez and Ron Cherry. Look them up as well.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW -- CLAYTON BYE

A resident of Kenora, Canada, the multi-talented Clayton Bye is an extremely busy man. He’s the author of nine books – including two instalments in a fantasy series, FROM EARTH TO EDEN -- and numerous short stories and poems. Additionally, he’s an editor, a publisher, an anthologist, and a prolific critic, principally through his review site The Deepening. But I managed to get him to pause long enough to give us his views on his own work and writing in general. You can find out more about him at www.claytonbye.com

Q1: You write in a pretty wide variety of genres. Can you tell us about that?

Several books ago, after trying to decide what kind of writer I wanted to be, other than a good one, it occurred to me I had already made that choice. I was an independent. A true independent, someone who wrote books for profit and did it all myself—before I had ever heard the term POD and in a time when I was painted with the brush of stigma. I'm also a Contrarian, a term I ripped off the backside of the financial world. My definition of a Contrarian is: someone who looks to the average person when determining which direction to go or what decision to make. You see, the average person, or in our case the average writer, is that way because of the choices they make, just as the rich or the famous achieve what they do by taking certain uncommon steps. So, in a nutshell, I try not to do the same things the average person does but, rather, to emulate the people who have achieved what I want from life..

I had no interest in being a genre writer. It was also notable that my favourite kind of story is trans-genred, if I'm allowed to be playful. I'm speaking of Horror, by the way. Horror can go anywhere it wants and nobody can do a thing about it. So, I took my inspiration from the average writer and from my love of horror stories and decided I was going to try out as many genres as I can before I die.

Since I'm more of a book writer than a short fiction writer, this means my body of work will probably never support me monetarily, but that's just the way it is. I'm still having fun. The year before last I wrote a book of poetry. It's a damned fine book, too, entitled "What I Found in the Dark." Last year I published an anthology of short stories by a group of authors who have talent to burn and seem to be unconcerned about going OUT THERE INTO THE VOID. It's called "Writers on the Wrong Side of the Road," can be found virtually everywhere online and in discerning bookstores in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia. I can handle Europe as well, if someone wanted to sell books. And, finally, this year's offering is a short sequel to my fantasy novel, The Sorcerer's Key. Genres? Horror/Religion/Sci-fi/Fantasy.

Q2: What got you into writing in the first place? Would you say you’re a naturally born author, or did it only come to you in time?

I began my odyssey to become a writer as far back as I can remember, which would be about four years of age. I was reading and printing by that time, and a short while later one of the beautiful Rombiero twins showed me how to make written letters. So, in grade one, while others were learning the basics, I spent as much of my class time as I could, learning to write from the flash cards lining the borders of the walls, close to the ceiling. They had the printed letter, then directly below would be the written one.

School was always like that for me. If I didn't like something or liked something else better, then I would add it to my curriculum. This transformed into a personal development course when I was in grade 7 and is still used today.

Q3: Writers generally fall into two basic types … those who heavily research their material, and those who rely on their own experiences for the background of their work. Which one are you?

Both.

Q4: Which writers have influenced you most? Who do you admire, and even envy?

Damon Knight's “The Man in the Tree” provided the inspiration for “The Sorcerer's Key,” which is not my most popular book but is, arguably, my best.

People Like Og Mandino, the former editor of “Success Magazine,” and a wonderful author, as well. Zig Ziglar, who taught me how to sell—along with a few crotchety dinosaurs (I spent most of my adult life as a salesman of some sort).

Louis L'Amour, who taught me the secret to being a writer. He's the man who said “Temperamental I am not...” and claimed he could sit down in the middle of Sunset Boulevard and type away. As the one-time fourth bestselling novelist in the world, he knew of what he spoke. I own every one of his books.

John D. MacDonald, who showed me the only thing that's truly important in a novel is interesting people doing interesting things. I own every one of his books.

Stephen King, who I believe is the greatest, modern storyteller alive today. I own every one of his books. Sure, Neil Gaiman is more the face of horror today than King, but it doesn't make him a better storyteller.

Then there's the advent of something really new. It's called Bizarro, and the writer to watch is a young man with an imagination that's scary. His name is Jeremy C. Shipp. I own every one of his books but the latest, because I've been too damned busy to buy it!

I am not an envious man. People sow what they reap. But if I were ever to be jealous, it would be of Jeremy Shipp; he's young, he's positioned to be one of those “overnight sensations,” but most of all he's in for a ride like no other, immersed in worlds so strange that he might just be happy to stop at home every now and then and visit THE CLOWNS IN HIS ATTIC.

Thanks, Clayton.
Copyright© Clayton Clifford Bye

LAUNCHING HOLMES

Last week, I took part in the online launch of Dark Arcanum: Uncanny Tales of Sherlock Holmes (see 'Sherlock Holmes Week,' further down this blog). And this week, Gaslight Gallery -- a website about the entire Gaslight series -- is running a short interview with me. Yes, another one! I certainly have a load of people asking me for my opinion these days, more fool them. Incidentally, 'The House of Blood' -- my story from that anthology -- also appears in my Kindle collection More Sherlock Holmes in the 21st Century.

ED GORMAN Q&A

When my first novel -- The Harvest Bride -- came out in 1987, it was not only nominated for a Bram, it got a fine big bunch of good reviews as well. And the best of them -- so glowing that a quote from it is still on the banner of my website home page -- was from that excellent and prolific writer of horror and suspense, Ed Gorman. Now he's done the same again, publishing his summings up of my collection Shadows and Other Tales and my newest venture, Our Lady of the Shadows, on his blog, alongside a small interview with me. You can read the whole thing here. When you're a writer, you discover down the years there is a small handful of people that you find yourself beholden to. And Mr. Gorman's one of them in my case. Almost a quarter of a century has passed since my debut, and the guy's still handing out the praise. So huge thanks, Ed. More power to you.

A FAN FOR THE LADY

The paperback of my newest collection, Our Lady of the Shadows, has been out for a few months now. It's made up of eleven stories -- four of them brand-new -- and a complete novella, and is mostly ghost fiction or stories about ghost-like subjects (there's an imaginary friend, and even an 'angel' puts in appearance). And it's had some good reviews so far. But Wendy Zazo-Phillips has just looked at it for MonsterLibrarian.com, and has given it a genuinely rave one.

She starts out her summary like this: "There are the books that are required reading, perhaps for a class or because your cousin/friend/coworker just wrote one and bullies you into reading a copy. There are the ones you read for pleasure, but afterwards you place it on the shelf and forget about it, or give it to a book sale, and you say, “Yeah, I read that,” when anyone asks you about it. But then there are those special books that you come back to every so often, the books you pick up on a lazy Saturday morning to read in bed for a while. I’m pleased to say that, for me, Our Lady of Shadows has become one of those books."

Wow! You can read the rest of the review by clicking here.

Incidentally, the interview I recently did, also with Wendy, has been moved from MonsterLibrarian's blog to a permanent posting on their website.

BLACK STATIC

I've contributed more than a few short stories to first the excellent, groundbreaking The Third Alternative, and then to its new incarnation Black Static, the UK's leading dark fantasy magazine. But in Issue #9 of the latter, I have the honour of being the Featured Author, with reviews of both the first Raine's Landing novel, 'Dark Rain', and my collection 'Shadows and Other Tales', plus a lengthy interview ... I just can't stop my lip from flapping sometimes ... with the magazine's reviews editor, Peter Tennant. If you haven't yet come across this superb publication, at least give it a look. The links are right here. And I know that times are tough at the moment. But where else can you get so much entertainment for so little money? If you're into dark and supernatural fiction, a magazine like this one deserves your support. (The cover of Black Static #9 is reproduced here by kind permission of TTA Press).

Oh, and news about all this has just been posted on the Eos Blog.