The Horror of it all...

Back again in 2011....the wait's probably been killing you all...

I can only give two excuses for my tardiness - the Australian Christmas holiday break (which on one occasion in the sixties went right through to June) and getting caught up with other things (like visiting New Zealand).

So, without further delay, let's get down to business. Although I've (still) been working on The Cabin - with a great new twist that raises the interesting question DNA plays when we think about mass murders - I haven't written many new short stories, but then again it's quality that counts not quantity, isn't it? However, I have been polishing some of my 'works-in-progress' and sending them out into the big bad world to fend for themselves.

Behind Every Successful Man and Honus Wagner are two of my 'literary offspring' that fall into this category. Behind Every Successful Man arrived as one of those fully fledged stories, a whimsical moment that began with someone repeating that old phrase 'Behind every successful man is a woman' and my imagination hijacking my mind for a few moments. The feel of the image in my head was a sort of mini tribute to B-grade, last night, schlock horror and the little man that keeps the records in my computer tells me that it happened sometime in early June last year. It's definitely horror, but I can't help laughing myself silly every time I read it.

Maybe that says more about my mind than it should...

Anyway, you can see for yourself and be the judge...Behind Every Successful Man has now been published in the Sex and Murder (USA) Issue 16, my first published story for 2011!!!

Honus Wagner is horror too, but on a different level. This one came about by chance with me opening a page on Honus Wagner, the famous American baseball player. An incredible man in his own right, and the facts about him and his legacy about his stand against cigarettes in my story are all true. This idea didn't arrive in my head as a finished product, strangely only the character of Josh remains as I first saw him. It took months and months of gentle tweaking and a final wholesale slash and burn approach (it's approximately 2800 words, it was 4300). Hard work, but I'm glad I took my time. Maybe not my 'favourite' story, but certainly a labour of love.

Honus Wagner T206 Baseball Card

When I wrote Honus Wagner I wrote it for myself, because I wanted to see it on paper and read it and I had no real 'market' in mind. Despite that, it has now found a home where it belongs - in the USA. Sex and Murder have just accepted it to be published in either their March or April issue!!Maybe that should tell me something.

On another note, I'd put Jack Be Nimble on the back burner for a bit but I had another look at it and decided to return to where my writing began to get a fresh perspective. In this case, that's Irina Dunn - author of The Writer's Marketplace (Allen & Unwin, Aust), former Executive Director of the NSW Writers' Centre and currently the director of ID Editing and Publishing Consultany. When I first started writing, I had a 'supersession' with Irina. These are really a form of manuscript assessment with a one hour face-to-face feed back session addressing character, story, plotline, tone pacing etc. Irina not only did this but was also able to assist me by advising the courses that would best assist me. I've now sent off a sample of Jack be Nimble to her and in a few weeks we'll be sitting down again. I'm feeling very positive that she will be able to help me in the right direction once again.

So, it's back to Jack Be Nimble, The Cabin and the longer version of Long Live the King! for me, probably with the more than occassional horror piece thrown in for good measure. When will the next post be? Who knows...

Cheers

Long Live The King!

No, no...I'm not talking about me, I'm not that egotistical...yet

Let me explain...

At the end of last year I set myself a goal of getting one publication credit per month for 2010. Reach for the stars, I've been told, and even if you don't make it, you'll still have a hell of a trip. In some ways, my target is a little ambitious, but then again if I really am a storyteller of any worth, I should be able to do it. Let's consider it a sort of litmus test...

So, to this end, in January I had Cruisin' published in House of Horror Issue 8. This is a bit of a fudge because I actually knew about it last year, but I'll take every free hit I can get.

As announced in my last blog, Ease of the Midnight Visit was accepted for publication in Short and Twisted 2010 for June publication. Not exactly a 'Feb publishing credit' in the true sense, but I refer to my 'free-hit-rule' again and have the score as 2 - 0 in my favour.

And yesterday, I was advised that my new American crime short story, Long Live The King!, has been accepted by the US ezine, Sex and Murder. It's described as 'a magazine of extreme horror, dark fiction and splatterpunk', so another departure from the Horror, Romance, etc, genres I've been published in, and yet it isn't really. It's crime, gritty and real, (vaguely reminiscent of the 'American/Pulp Fiction/Gangster' mode) and I really like the main character. Could there be a follow up/longer story  to be written from it? I hear you ask.

We'll see...anything's possible.

Haven't got a publication date for it yet, but when I know, so will you.

So, I make that three publication credits so far (2 KO's and 1 on a points count). Maybe a publishing credit per month was a little rigid...Maybe I should go for twelve (or more) for the year...never let it be said that I'm not prepared to move the goal posts in the middle of the game...

And, as usual, something from the past...

Twenty years as a debt collector taught me a lot of things...one of the most important is that if you lead an argument, you'll win the argument. Think about it...if you're answering the questions, if you're on the back foot, you've already lost. Try leading next time...you'll be surprised.

Gotta run...haven't written anything in a while...been 'researching'...

Cheers