In Which I Talk Scary Books

Since we're coming up on Halloween super quick now, I figured today was a good day to list, in no particular order, my top 5 favorite scary books.


House of Leaves - Mark Z Danielewski

 

 

 

Synopsis:

 

A young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane discovers something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story -- of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams

 

 

Thoughts:

 

House of Leaves is one of those books where the back cover (the synopsis above) isn't accurate. Though it is a story about a house that is bigger on the inside than the outside, at no point do the children wander off or go missing.

 

BUT! That said, this books is terrifying. It's a story within a story, following a tattoo artist who discovers a video where a family does an experiment to show that their house is bigger on the inside than the out. The tattoo artist's tale is told via footnotes (pages and pages of them) as he becomes obsessed with this video (and the obsession builds to a point where you can't tell if he's gone crazy, or if the mystery of the house actually has some effect on him). And as you follow his story of obsession, the reader learns everything he learns about the house and the family that lived there.

 

Seriously scary, both in a psychological way and also in a "WTF is in the HOUSE??" way. But, it's not an easy book to read. At all. At points, the footnotes will last for whole chapters, and they'll be written upside down, and in spirals and in any other weird way you can imagine.

 

 

The Amityville Horror - Jay Anson

 

 

 

Synopsis:

 

The Lutzes moved into their dream home on December 18th, 1975. Four weeks later, they fled in terror. The home was the scene of a mass murder a year before, and the Lutzes claimed paranormal phenomena caused them to fear for their lives and forced them to abandon the home

 

Thoughts:

 

The Amityville Horror is touted as a true story, but it's not. Though, to be fair, the murders did happen, but the Lutzes made up the stuff that happened to them.

 

BUT!! That does not change that fact that this book is terrifying. This is the kind of book that you can read in broad daylight, in a crowded public place, and still need to set it aside at points because you're just so scared.

 

The first time I read this (back in high school) I had to share a bed with Twin because I was just that scared. I mean, come on! Ghosts are scary. Very few things scare me more than ghosts.

 

The book is hard to find, though. It went out of print for a while (I used to snatch up any used copies I could find) though I did see a new paperback at a borders closing last year (snatched that one up too).

 

 

The Season Of Passage - Christopher Pike

 

 



Synopsis:

Dr. Lauren Wagner was a celebrity. She was involved with the most exciting adventure mankind had ever undertaken: a manned expedition to Mars. The whole world admired and respected her.

But Lauren knew fear. Inside—voices entreating her to love them. Outside—the mystery of the missing group that had gone before her. The dead group.

But were they simply dead? Or something else?
Thoughts:

This book isn't overtly terrifying. There aren't ghosts, or monsters etc. But there are moments of extreme tension and fear, and most of them take place when the characters are on Mars. And let's get real here, space horror is terrifying because you can't escape it. There's nowhere to go.

There's a scene in this book where the MC is floating on a boat in a cave on Mars and the scene is so wrought with tension and fear, it actually gave me nightmares when I first read it in high school.


Grave's End: A True Ghost Story - Elaine Mercado

Synopsis:

When Elaine Mercado and her first husband bought their home in Brooklyn, New York, in 1982, they had no idea that they and their young daughters were embarking on a thirteen year nightmare.

Within a few days of moving in, Elaine and her older daughter began to experience the sensation of being watched. Then came scratching noises and weird smells, followed by voices whispering, maniacal laughter, shadowy figures scurrying along baseboards, and small balls of light bouncing along the ceilings. From the beginning of the haunting, "suffocating dreams" were experienced by everyone except the younger daughter These eventually accelerated to physical aggression directed at Elaine and both the girls.

This book is the true story of how one family tried to cope with living in a haunted house. It also describes how, with the help of a parapsychologist Dr. Hans Holtzer and the medium Marisa Anderson, the family discovered the tragic and heartbreaking secrets buried in the house at Grave's End.

Thoughts:

I LOVE this book. I read it at least once a year (it's short and fast. I can read it in one sitting). Like I said, ghosts freak me the eff out, but also, I LOVE reading real ghosts stories.

The author isn't the best writer, but the experiences she and her family had are terrifying and every time I read it, a different experience strikes me as the most terrifying (the last time I read it (a few weeks ago) it was a scene where the youngest daughter went to the bathroom in the middle of the night and when she came back into her room, she saw an old woman sitting on her sister's chest, and she was too scared to say anything so she CLIMBED BACK INTO BED WITH HER SISTER and closed her eyes. OMG I can't even...)

If you like true ghost stories, definitely check this one out. It's also great because they do get some answers to their haunting at the end. Not everything, but quite a bit.


N. - Stephen King

Synopsis:

There is something unearthly and mysterious deep in Acherman's Field in rural Maine. There is a Stonehenge-like arrangement of seven stones with a horrifying EYE in the center. And whatever dwells there in that strange, windswept setting may have brought about the suicide of one man...and harbor death for the OCD afflicted "N.," whose visits to the field have passed beyond compulsion into the realm of obsession.

Thoughts:

Okay, this is actually a short story/novella in King's Just After Sunset collection. BUT it's also been made into a comic.

This short story is just terrifying. To me it has the number one aspect needed for a great horror story: something that cannot be stopped. It's so creepy, you can't help but wonder if just by reading it, maybe the standing stones will affect you too, which is when you know it's a good story, when you start to wonder if maybe it's not fiction.



So there you have it! My top 5 scary stories.
Let me know some of your fav stories - I'd love to read them!
 

In Which I Share Good News

Yay! You're back! I'm glad to see it.

Because I have some fun news to share today!

What is it, you ask? What could it be?

Simple.

I sold my short story Hole Ridden!

Woot!!! That's right! I'm going to officially be a published author!!

It will be appearing in Dark Moon Digest #6, which should be available for purchase in early December. It will be available as an ezine at a later release date.

I'm super excited guys. It's nice to know that when I actually put in the work to get something published (this was the first story I actually submitted anywhere) it can happen.

This is, hands down, my favorite short story I've written. It's also the short story that people who have read it tend to remember the most. People refer to it as "the hole story", which is a pretty accurate description.

I've mentioned it in posts here, here, here and here (where it was picked as editor's choice on OWW).

In that third post, which was mostly about how my wordle cloud for it ended up being a creepy, ominous cloud that was a perfect visual representation for the story itself, Twin had stated that when it was published she would make me a nice frame with the wordle cloud.

Well, she didn't forget:

Yay! Thanks to everyone who's ever beta read it for me or offered me advice on dealing with submissions. YOU ARE ALL AMAZE BALLS. Glitter in the air for all!

In Which Teenage Alien-Hybrids Don't Know How Good They Have It

So I had a post planned for today, but then, when I went to write it, it kinda seemed like a bad idea. So I scrapped it. Instead you get a mishmash of a post which probably won't make any sense, though I could be wrong about that.

I'm so so close to being done with the WIP. If I'm super lucky, I may even finish the first draft today. That would be awesome. It's taking up so much of my time. I'd really like to be able to get back to doing some of my usual chores on Sundays instead of writing, especially since I prefer to do no writing in the evenings or the weekends. Not if I can help it.

Also, I'd love to free up some time to look through my collection of short stories, to see if anything is even close to being something I can work with. The magazine I submitted Hole Ridden to back in January personally asked to see more of my work. Which, I'm not going to lie, was SUPER EFFING AWESOME!

Or, at least it would've been if I A) had something else prepared for submission (I don't) or even B) had time to write something new (Ha! Yeah right...)

Ah lack of time, my oldest enemy.

THIS is why I want to the super power from Out of The World. You know, where she freezes time, but can unfreeze people by touching them?


example of her powers at 0.53 seconds. Feel free to stop watching after that. I did.

Do you know how much sleep you could get? Or the books you could read?

Not to mention people you could rob.

Just kidding. I'd only rob banks.

So. How's your WIP coming? Give me an update, and I'm serial. I actually/really want to know how it's going.
Don't make me stalk you...

In Which I Hodge-Podge

Hodge-Podge! I feel like a hodge-podge post needs a theme song or something.

Something along the lines of Grandad Robert Freeman's "Good food. Good food. Good foo-oo-oo-ood" song from the Boondocks.
Do you watch the boondocks? You totes should. Though it has a lot of language. A lot. But it's kind of the point.

This weekend we found a new game on our xbox arcade that we immediately bought because it looked awesome.
And it was.

It's called Limbo and is loosely about a boy who's sister goes missing and so he travels through Limbo to find her.

There's no music, and the whole game is black and white. It's side-scrolling and full of puzzles and scary creepy things like giant spiders, glowing slugs that attach to your head and drown you, and creepy Limbo children who set bear traps for you.

It's kinda gory, for a black and white game, but there is an option to shut off the gore. It's also pretty short, maybe just a few hours of game play.

We all agreed that we either wanted a movie like this, or a book. It totes made me want to write. AND I know I would have freaked out at its awesomeness had I been a graphic novelist/artist.

For reals, if you have an Xbox 360, get this game.

Here's a video and screenshots for those (like me) who can't always access vids:










I wrote a new short story this weekend. It came about because Hannah (Palindrome) had mentioned on her bloggy (and received agreement from Lindsey (at Dangerous with a Pen)) that sunflowers creep her the hells out. This had never occurred to me, that sunflowers could be something that frightened people.

AND THE STORY IDEA WAS BORN!

It's about 2k. I did a quick tightening but now have to sit on it to see if I can come up with a theme or junk to weave throughout. For me, themes don't come until after the story is complete.

But I was pleased with it. Hannah said it was creepy so that's good.

I also have another idea for a short story, and I had a dream this last weekend about a zombie-hunting family that I MAY (but probably not) write for NaNo instead of my sea serpent plan. We'll see.

There will be a two week span in August where I will be mostly away from the interwebs. The first week I will be camping and have no Internet access.
The second week I have to go into the office for fun time Six Sigma greenbelt training and since the commute is 1-1.5 hours one way, I will have less time to visit.

This is just a heads up. There will be more reminders later. I'll probably repeat some posts and maybe have a few new ones written as well.

And that's it for this Hodge-Podge experience!

How are things for you?

In Which I Share My Editor Critique

I'm back with my critique for Hole Ridden.



I had a good half a month between when I was notified of the editor's choice pick and when I received the crit so I had plenty of time to be impatient for it. I really wanted to send Hole Ridden out on submission asap so delays were a little prickly (good thing I had Foxfire revisions to keep me distracted). I also knew that once I got the crit I would most likely be upset for a day or two, which is typical for me. Be upset, wait 1-3 days, then address the issues.

BUT after I read this crit, I found I wasn't upset at all. I was excited and energized. I plan to finish up Hole Ridden this week, and then make a list of submission options. Then it will be all growed up and ready to branch out on its own.

Anyhoo, here's the crit. My thoughts will be pasted in red.

Here's another definition of the Editor's Choice Review, from OWW:

"If a submissions of yours is selected as an Editor's Choice, it's partly going to be used as a teaching tool for other members: the editors pick submissions that can be reviewed in such a way as to help both the writer and other workshoppers learn something about their craft. But rest assured: it's also a compliment"


THE CRIT

While it stands as a solid piece of short-story telling as it, the problem with "Hole Ridden" is that -- even at just barely 2600 words -- it's still too long. (this was a surprise to me. I had a few crits from readers who expressed that they wished it was longer. Since I don't really make things longer, I had dismissed these thoughts. But this was the first time someone actually came out and said, "make it shorter") Sarah tends to find moments upon which to linger in order to provide her central character, Janice, time to consider/judge/dismiss things so that the concept of this ever-opening maw of Earth will be accepted by the reader. For the most part it works, but there are a couple of instances where Janice's hesitation in the face of a singularly terrifying truth see, either, a) put there in order to draw out the suspense a little more, or, b) make Janice seem naïve (and borderline stupid). (this is something that I've struggled with throughout the drafts so it doesn't surprise me that he caught a few instances where it's not quite there yet)

A secondary problem lies in Sarah's narrative voice. For easily 80-90% of this story that voice is in complete control, which is one of the main reasons that the tale zooms along, barely stopping to catch its breath. The pacing is excellent, but because the story remains about 300-600 words too long, it could be even better.

Okay, specifics: The story opens with this exchange between Janice and Arthur:

"Are you sure that thing will be able to move a rock that size?" Janice gestured with doubt (already established with the gesture, so repeating it here is redundant) ) to Arthur's tractor. (I can't believe I missed this redundant tag. Gestured with doubt is just another way of saying gestured doubtfully. Smooth Sarah)

Then, in the middle of sentence (he must mean paragraph here...) which was until now solely from Janice's POV, you wrote:

Arthur wrapped a chain around the boulder and paused to look at his machine. He glanced at Janice, nodded and returned to the chain.

Which means that the next line of dialogue below if from Arthur, yet his actions remains attached to those of the last speaker, Janice.

"Yep, it'll hold it all right." Arthur rubbed dusty hands against his overalls and straightened his back. "Now you sure you want me to move it? God doesn't put something like this here for no reason."

Action always remains with the speaker; always. Everything after "Arthur's tractor" in the opening exchange needs to be separate from Janice's opening line an initial gesture.

(I was a little irritated at first by this part of the crit. When you upload work to the OWW system, it doesn't convert easily from Word so you have to go in and add a hard return between each paragraph. This was just a spot where I missed adding the hard return. A typo, more or less. But then I remembered that the crit is also supposed to help everyone else too, and I'm sure there are writer's out there who need help with this area.)

Shortly after this, as Arthur readies to removes the rock, you have a lovely observation from Janice that goes like this:

Janice nodded and retreated a few feet. Poor man had probably never even had champagne, though he seemed confident in his ability to remove rocks.

It's a sweet moment for a couple of reasons; this is the first - and I believe only - time in the story Janice spares a sympathetic thought for anyone but herself, and she's so jaded she doesn't even realize how outrageously condescending it is.

(This comment I enjoyed because the above line is one that I got mixed feedback on. I was glad to see that he liked it and understood the reason I had put it in)

That leads me to the next problem. You skirt far too close to the line of caricature with Arthur and Janice; she being the hard-bitten, cynical, judgmental, impatient, take-no-prisoners type who would have been played by Jane Fonda; Arthur, the almost too-laid-back neighbor and jack of all traits with so much homey wisdom and advice he's just waiting to share. You don't cross this line, but it comes close. (This is something I know the story has issues with. I've been slowly trying to fix it, but it's been difficult since many of my solutions seem to be related to another cliche) But there's an easy fix - and you're not going to like it. (when I read this, I got really worried. What wasn't I going to like? And why? Would I have to lose a character? Rewrite the whole story (I soooo don't do rewrites))

Move Arthur's story about "stopping a hole with a hole" into this scene, along with the few other pertinent bits of information that are exchanged out by the pickett fence Arthur is repairing. This confrontation scene simply doesn't work; it seems forced, it reads forced, and seems to serve no other purpose than provide someplace for Arthur's "a bigger hole to stop a hole" theory. There is no sense of culture clash, no reason for Janice to so vehemently accuse Arthur (even she knows that she didn't hear the tractor start up), so there is no point to this nasty little confrontation they have here.

Cut it. Take what necessary information you need from the scene and scatter throughout the opening sequence.

(After I read this part I was like, "That's it? That's what I'm not going to like?" Clearly Gary doesn't know me at all. Because cutting a whole scene (in a story that only has 3 or so) and moving the important info elsewhere, is not an issue for me. Not at all. I'm actually looking forward to playing around with it. So, huge sigh of relief when his major suggestion was something that I actually enjoy doing with revisions. Also I think he's completely right. I always knew that scene was the weakest. It actually used to be much much worse...)

Last point; your final line:

"If it came down to that, she knew exactly where to put the final one."

This is almost exactly the same thing you did in the story's opening line, only here, instead of voicing doubt while making a gesture of doubt, you have Janice look at her gun, make the connection ... and then tell us what that connection is, just in case someone doesn't get it.

Please cut the final line and use "...Maybe the only way to atop a hole was with another hole." As the final one. It'll be less obvious and much more chilling as a result.

(This one hurt a little. Not because he isn't right (because he so so is and I'm a little sad that I didn't realize how blatant it is) but because I always liked the final line. This will be a "kill the darlings" sort of revision for me, but I think the story will be much stronger if I follow his suggestion.)

In case I forgot to mention it, the entire central conceit of the story is exceptionally clever and compelling, and when the earth starts falling into itself as Janice makes good her escape, I was on the edge of my seat.

(Yay!)

What you have here is an excellent story. I think it can be made even better with some judicious pruning and re-arranging of smaller moments within scenes.

--Gary A. Braunbeck


So there you have it! After reading the crit I was super relieved that he didn't tell me to rewrite, eliminate a character etc, all things I probably wouldn't have done, even to make the story better.
His suggestions were right on the mark and he hit all the spots I knew were the weakest.

I was also excited to see the the Editor's choice for Sci-Fi was a member who had exchanged crits with me, he on Hole Ridden and I on his sci-fi novel chapter one. It was kind of like knowing someone else who had been chosen. Like when you see a friend or family member on TV. (I KNOW them! you think...)

Anyone else get some exciting news lately?

In Which I Share Exciting News

So how was everyone's weekend? Did you have a good time? We did (well except for when we saw The Last Airbender. I'm a HUGE fan of the show. Mr. M. Night Shyamalan, I hereby revoke your movie license. The writing was terrible. Writing 101 - Show Don't Tell.)



Remember how a few weeks ago I requested some crits for Hole-Ridden, well they were super helpful, so thanks again everyone.

A few months ago I discovered a little community called the Online Writer's Workshop, or OWW for short. I actually learned about it from Colleen Lindsay and since I have a bit of a literary business crush on her, I do pretty much whatever she says.

It's an online writing community for sci-fi, fantasy and horror writers. You critique people's submissions which gives you a point and when you have 3 points you can post a piece of your own (up to 7k words) to be critiqued.

I had done something like this before, with The Next Big Writer about 5 years ago. At first I liked that system but then it became clear to me that the crits I got back from the other writer's weren't at my level and so therefore I wasn't getting out as much as I was putting in.

OWW seemed a bit better because they make sure the crits are valid (no one sentence, "good job" allowed) and also OWW has a lot of professional authors as members (Elizabeth Bear, Karin Lowachee (and you all know how much I heart her)).

The first month is free (cost is $50 a year) so I signed up and submitted Hole Ridden to see what kind of crits I got. They were OK. There were a few that were helpful and a few that were either below my level or just clearly didn't understand the story or horror writing in general.

And then, I got the email...

"Hi! A submission you made to the workshop last month has been selected as one of our Editors' Choices (to be reviewed in the next newsletter)"

I freaked out!

What is an Editor's Choice you ask?

"Each month our Resident Editors select one outstanding submission in each category as an Editors' Choice and review it in the newsletter. Editors' Choices do not count against a member's three-submission limit, and remain on display, with their editorial reviews, in our Editors' Choice archive for about four months."

If I had a sci-fi piece that was chosen as an Editor's Choice, it would be critiqued by Karin Lowachee (swoon). Alas this was horror so it would be Gary Braunbeck while Jeanne Cavelos is out.

This would be a crit to end all crits! I was excited because I knew after this crit Hole Ridden would be probably as strong as it could be. But I was also worried. I thought it was pretty strong as is, so what was he going to find wrong with it?

Tune in tomorrow for a special Tuesday post regarding my editor critique of Hole Ridden!

In Which I Conference

So I mentioned on Monday that I was out all weekend (and Friday evening).
And the reason was:

Palindrome and I went to a writing conference!!

4th Street Fantasy to be exact.

It was our first writing conference and Hannah located it by doing an interwebs search for local writing conferences. She's just so clever.

It was quite a bit of fun. And we got 4th St Fantasy pens that were also flash drives! AWESOME!

The Program and thoughts (in red) are as follows:

Thursday, June 24, 2010

8:00 PM – Three Shouts On a Hill
Last year we added a pre-conference opportunity to laugh and play. It was so successful that we decided to continue it and establish a tradition! Tonight we share in presenting the world premiere of Jo Walton's play version of the Irish legend of the Sons of Tuirean: Three Shouts On a Hill.

Jo Walton, Author, on the right

Hannah and I did not attend Thursday. We have day jobs and junk.
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Friday, June 25, 2010

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM What should I be reading (that I'm not)?

An open discussion of what's exciting out there: not limited to fantasy or genre at all! We want to know what's getting us jazzed in the world of books and web stuff.
Tom Whitmore, with much audience help

Tom Whitmore, Conference Organizer and retired reviewer

Again, the day jobs prevented us from hitting this one. Too bad because I bet it was a lot of fun. However they made a list and posted it online.


5:30 PM – 6:30 PM How do you know when a story's going wrong?

An editor, a writer, a reviewer and a reader talk about how to tell when a story is going wrong, and what to do about it, from their perspectives.
Steven Brust, Karen G. Anderson, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Pamela Dean

Steven Brust, author, and his awesome editor Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Hannah pulled some strings at the day job and was able to leave work early. So we got zazzed up and hit this panel as our first foray into the conference. Both Steven Brust and Teresa Nielsen Hayden (editor for Tor books) were fantastic panelists. Funny and enlightening. Mostly the conclusion was, things can go wrong in the beginning, middle and end, but the middle and end mistakes are usually brought about by poor revision. Also this panel served to add to my confidence that the majority of work in the slush is terrible so we're already at an advantage.


8:00 PM – Getting to know you gatherings

Join Steven in the Smokers Den for Philosophy and Fun, Peggy in Courtyard Ballroom A for Singing and Silliness, Tom in Courtyard Ballroom B for Musings and Meanderings, or Janet in the ConSuite for Munching and Mischief... or stroll among them all. Other amusements will undoubtedly ensue.

Since we weren't planning on attending anything on Friday, we skipped this because we'd have to be up early for Saturday. Next year, I would definitely stick around to get to know everyone better
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Saturday, June 26, 2010

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Mixing genres

We've had a raft of different ways of mashing up genres over recent years. Fantasy with rivets, dragons with novels of manners, future-setting fantasy — what's coming next, and why does this sort of synthesis work well (when it does)?
Jo Walton, Elizabeth Bear, Teresa Nielsen Hayden

We started off with a delicious breakfast. Twin came with and I brought my camera to take photos but for some reason it stopped working (though it's miraculously OK now...).
Elizabeth Bear told a fun story about how her first novel she submitted was All the Windwracked Stars which has MCs that are: A Valkyrie, Fenrir and a two headed mechanical horse. The response from her editor was that it was a good book, but not suitable as a "first novel". It was eventually published as her fourth book (and both Hannah and I picked it up from the dealer's room)



11:30 AM – 12:30 PM Beyond promotion: Reputation management

Why is it wrong to put a stack of your books in front of you at a panel? What is effective at a convention in terms of promotion, and why? How do you get a reputation, and what do you do once you have one?
Steven Brust, Ctein, Patrick Nielsen Hayden

This was my least favorite panel. They pulled someone from the audience who was actively engaged in self promotion to sit on the panel as well. But all the authors more or less said, why would anyone want to self promote themselves when that's what the publisher was for. Which wasn't very helpful for everyone in the audience who didn't have publishers. Or who were published at small prints and couldn't even get bookstores to understand that they weren't self pubbed. Still, it was an entertaining panel. It just made me think that I should try real hard to be published with Tor books (BTW, they still accept un-agented submissions. Crazy awesome, right?)


2:00 PM – 3:00 PM How does the medium affect the story?

There are many ways to tell stories. Why choose graphic novel over song? What are the advantages of keeping it short or making it long? Why has epic poetry pretty much died?
Adam Stemple, Elise Matthesen, Elizabeth Bear

Elise Mathessen, writer, jewlery maker

This was an interesting panel. It ended up mostly focusing on using music or jewelry as a medium. Elise Matthesen was one of the most interesting people at the whole conference. She also had a jewelry booth set up for shopping where Hannah bought a set of earrings based on Jo Walton's discussion of her face shape. Hannah also bought an old Renfest costume of Elise's that she was selling for $80 which is ridiculously cheap. (I wanted one of her necklaces, but it was $425 and there's no way I could ever justify that). While the panel was going on Elise made us vote on what kind of jewlery we wanted to her to make. Eldirtch Horror won out, and then Pirate (even though Steampunk was CLEARLY the better choice...). When the panel was done she had created two necklaces.

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM Fantasy vs. Progress

Sarah Monette had a blog post which began a discussion on the nature of progress in fantasy, and how conservative fantasy tends to be. Of course we had to continue it.
Sarah Monette, Marissa Lingen, Adam Stemple, Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Elise Mathessen, Sarah Monette, Elizabeth Bear (aka Bear), authors

This panel discussed why, in fantasy, we rarely reach, or go beyond, the industrialized age, and why we think that is so. Topics included Tolkien and his supposed dislike of technology that somehow allows him to have bicycles and umbrellas in The Shire which are not simple bits of technology



5:00 PM – 6:00 PM Submit, or die!

What keeps you from submitting and what keeps your submissions from being seen by the right people? Includes stories about the story an author won't submit.
Tom Whitmore, Elise Matthesen, Skyler White

For some reason, I can't remember what was discussed in this panel... WTF

Update: I now recall, with help from Hannah, that the discussion more or less centered around the fact that sooner or later, it becomes more painful to not submit, than to submit

7:30 PM – 8:30 PM Second thoughts: The morning after

The aftermath of Food, Fashion, and Fornication. Happily ever after? I don't think so. Unruly, lively discussion of what happens next.
Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Jon Singer, Elise Matthesen, Karen G. Anderson


We skipped this one and went home so we'd have more energy to tackle Sunday
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Sunday, June 27, 2010

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Point of view: How not to suck

Who's telling this story, anyway? Why should I care? Does it make a difference?
Jo Walton, Sarah Monette, Steven Brust

This was a fun in depth discussion about POV and authors that use it well and those that don't. A lot of focus was spent on the unreliable narrator



1:00 PM – 2:00 PM The new cliches

When does something change from a fad to a cliche? What's jumped the shark recently (besides "jumping the shark")?
Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Tom Whitmore

Discussion ranged from anti-cliche's that become cliches to trends. General consensus was that if you begin a story by examining a cliche, it was probably OK, but if a cliche was the punchline of your story (ie - aliens come to earth in the past and create Adam and Eve) then you're in trouble


2:30 PM – 3:30 PM But that's a different panel...
Everything you wanted to discuss that got tabled until now.

We voted on two topics to discuss. And though both Hannah and I voted for "Why the horror genre collapsed" the winners were "How to make your problems fun" and "When to stop revising"

For "Problems" there was discussion about how every writer is given a "freebie" which is a writing skill that just comes naturally. For me, it's dialogue. Then to take that skill and use it to help the areas you suck at. Bear stated she hates setting, so she uses her freebie, which is fun, to try and make setting fun to work on.

For Revisions it all depended on what kind of writer you were. Do you know the ending? Then you probably need less revisions. If not, you'll need to go back and work it in. All the authors said they had had a book that they either had to, or came close to, starting completely over on. Also they pointed out that every writer, on every book, will always reach the point where they feel like they're the worst writer in the world.

So that was it! It was super fun and I'll definitely hit it next year.

The Movie Deadly Dozen Blogfest

Mr. Alex J Cavanaugh, author, is hosting a blogfest today, the Movie Deadly Dozen blogfest, where you round up twelve of your favorite films and gush.

Since that sounded fun, I signed up.

Let me tell you, it was super hard to narrow down my list to 12. I tried to stick to movies that were maybe a bit more obscure, just to zazz things up, though that's certainly not the case for all of the movies.

Here we go! (in no particular order)

Sunshine

Synopsis - a team of astronauts are sent on a mission to restart our dying sun. Along the way, they realize an unknown person is hiding on the ship with them

I love this movie. I guess it would be classified as space horror, since it does have quite a few intense moments towards the end. It's hands down one of my most favorite sci-fi movies. The astronauts are all completely believable. These aren't miners sent into space, but people with multiple PhDs.
It has a great cast, including Michelle Yeoh, Chris Evans and Cillian Murphy.
This movie will make you appreciate the sun like you never have before.


Tombstone






Synopsis - A successful lawman's plans to retire anonymously in Tombstone, Arizona, are disrupted by the kind of outlaws he was famous for eliminating

I think most everyone can agree that this movie is straight up awesome. Even if you don't like westerns (and why wouldn't you?!) this movie is excellent.
Kurt Russel, Bill Paxton and Sam Elliott round out the fantastic cast. And this is arguably Val Kilmer's best role (though Madmartigan is awesomesauce). I don't know anyone who doesn't love this movie


Whale Rider






Synopsis - a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize

Have you seen this movie?
If you haven't, you need to rectify that immediately. For reals. Go watch it right now.
This movie is one of my all time favorites and totally deserves all the acclaim it received. It will probably make you cry, but by the end you'll be happy and it will most likely be one of your favorites too. When I look back on my list of movies, this is the one that makes me gasp because I love it so much.


The Royal Tenebaums





Synopsis - An estranged family of former child prodigies reunites when one of their member announces he has a terminal illness.

This is one of those movies that you have to watch 2-3 times to really get a full appreciation for it. I find this movie hilarious and will watch it any time I see it on TV. Also it's a touch bittersweet and that's always a plus for me.
It has a killer cast, including, but not limited to, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Gene Hackman, Luke Wilson, Gwenyth Paltrow and Bill Murray and is narrated by Alec Baldwin.


Love Actually





Synopsis - Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely and interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.

This is, in my opinion, the best Christmas Movie Ever. Period. I don't know anyone who isn't ridiculously happy after watching this movie. Combined with a great soundtrack and an amazing cast including Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Colin Firth and Liam Neeson, there's something for everyone in this movie.
It's pretty much a Christmas staple in our house.

Lagaan

Synopsis - The people of a small village in Victorian India stake their future on a game of cricket against their ruthless British rulers...

I don't think I can properly convey how much I love this movie. It is excellent. It's another movie on my top 5 list. I think everyone should watch this movie.
It's a mix between a sports movie, a musical and an underdog struggle. Also it will make you want to play cricket.
The villain is easy to hate, the hero is adorable and the action so fun that by the end you'll be on the edge of your seat.
Even if you've never seen a single bollywood film (and this was my first) and find the music a little strange, by the end you may want the soundtrack.
I cannot recommend this movie enough.



Spirited Away





Synopsis - In the middle of her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and monsters where she is forced to work at bathhouse for these creatures

All of Miyazaki's films are excellent, but for me the top two are always Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. My favorite of these two fluctuate, but typically Spirited Away edges out in front for it's fun plot line and the touch of unheimlich. Also I could watch Sen work in the bathhouse all day.
I pretty much always recommend any of Miyazaki's films for anyone who is looking to get into anime.


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles





Synopsis - A quartet of humanoid turtles trained by their mentor in ninjutsu must learn to pull together in order to face the menace of Shredder and the Foot Clan.

This movie epitomizes what was awesome about the early 90s. Still trying to hang onto the 80s, yet trying to break away. I remember seeing this movie on opening night when I was in the 3rd grade. We watch this movie every couple of months in our house. It's that awesome.
Also this movie will solidify my love for Elias Koteas and Casey Jones in general and contains brilliant dialogue such as:

"Cricket? You gotta know what a crumpet is, to understand Cricket."
"I'll show you. See that? 12 runs."

ahh, good times


28 Days Later



WARNING - TRAILER CONTAINS FULL FRONTAL MALE NUDITY



Synopsis - Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.

This is my all time favorite Zombie movie. I know many purists say it doesn't count because the infected aren't actually reanimated dead, but I don't care. It's also one of my top 5 fav movies of all time. I really enjoy the "Who is the monster and who is the man" theme and this movie has that in spades. This is also the movie that more or less began Cillian Murphy's career (yay!).
Obviously this a a Danny Boyle horror film so it is chock full of blood, gore and extreme violence (just the way I like it) but this movie is not for the faint of heart. But if that's not an issue for you and you haven't seen this movie, check it out.


Poltergeist





Synopsis - a little girl is kidnapped by the ghosts that haunt her family's home

When people ask what movie I think is the scariest, I always answer Poltergeist. Mostly because this is the scariest movie we used to watch growing up (though my parents did take the time to fast forward through the part where the guy rips his face off. At least until we were older). Clowns strangling children under the bed? Scary. Ghosts walked down the staircase? Hella scary. Little girl getting sucked into closet to then vanish? Effing scary.
The nerd part of me wants to point out that this movie is less about a poltergeist and more about a haunting, but that's beside the point. When I watch the Family Guy Poltergeist homage episode, I get freaked out because they use the original Poltergeist soundtrack.
I need to get this movie on Blu-ray or DVD.

The Last Unicorn






Synopsis - A brave unicorn and a magician fight an evil king who is obsessed with attempting to capture the world's unicorns.

We loved this movie growing up and I still love it now. It's one of those movies that changes as you get older so your appreciation deepens. Jeff Bridges, Mia Farrow and Christopher Lee all voice act in this movie and though I LOVE IT, I would say it's not really appropriate for very young children due to some scary scenes including:
The Red Bull, creepy drunken skeleton and tree nudity.
Also, the soundtrack by America? Awesome.



Bugsy Malone





Synopsis - New York, 1929, a war rages between two rival gangsters, Fat Sam and Dandy Dan. Dan is in possession of a new and deadly weapon, the dreaded ‘splurge gun’.

This is your average 20's gangster movie. Except the gangsters are children. And instead of bullets, they throw pies. Also, it's a musical.
We grew up on this film in my house. To this day we still sing the songs when the mood strikes us. This is a movie you can watch with your children, they'll love it. But it's also a movie you can appreciate as an adult.
Both Scott Baio and Jodie Foster star, though they're probably around 10-12 years old.

I mean, what's not to love about a movie who's theme is:

You give a little love and it all comes back to you?

Nothing, that's what.

In Which I Share A Favorite Term

So when I was messing around with duotrope, looking for submissions options, I came across my favorite term.

Unheimlich.

I discovered this awesome term a few years ago. Loved it immediately. Then promptly forgot all about it.

heimlich means roughly "familiar" so unheimlich is the unfamiliar, uncanny.

BUT heimlich can also mean "concealed" or "obscure" so unheimlich can also mean "the revealed".

In horror unheimlich is that moment we experience as being uncanny - akin to seeing something unseen. When we’re forced to reinterpret everything we understood in light of new knowledge.

Freud comments that a sense of the unheimlich is “often and easily produced when the distinction between imagination and reality is effaced, as when something that we have hitherto regarded as imaginary appears before us in reality, or when a symbol takes over the full functions of the thing it symbolizes"



I love dealing with the unheimlich in my short stories. I think short stories are the perfect medium to explore things that normally aren't unusual or frightening, but with a little twist can be scary.

So what about you? Do you have any favorite terms? Or favorite themes you like to explore in your writing?

In Which I Discuss Duotrope

First off I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for those of you who offered to beta read for me. Everyone's crits were very helpful in catching things I had overlooked and a few aspects I had questioned myself (note to self: if I question something, it's probably worth changing).

Just a bit more work and it's off to the world of submissions (GASP!)

I'm going to use Duotrope's Digest. Have any of you used it before?

If you haven't, it's awesome.

It's a (free) website where you can search for markets for your pieces. BUT, you can do fun things, like sort by pay scale, or sort by markets that respond the quickest or that have the highest acceptance rate.

If you register it lets you save your searches and make reports on markets that accepted your work or declined you etc.

Honestly, every time I go there to play around, I spend at least and hour looking through all my market options.

I haven't done any work on Foxfire since Friday. Mostly because when I look at it now I'm all "Eff off Foxfire, I'm hanging with Hole Ridden right now".

And that, right there, is why I'm not typically allowed to work on more than one project at a time.

I don't really know why I picked up Hole Ridden. I had been planning on revising it soon, but I'm not sure why Friday was the day.

Oh well, the revisions will be done shortly, then I can send it off and I can go back to Foxfire, who may or may not be angry at me for not giving it any attention over the last few days.

Also I want to apologize to everyone who didn't see comments from me on Monday. With Blogger's dickery, most of my comments didn't save. What a jerk move, Blogger.

In Which I Request A Beta

Hi all!

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? We pretty much just sat around and played video games. Which was awesome, of course.

Also I did a bit of a blog cleanup so there's now a few more pages to visit if you're interested (and yes I know I've received more blog awards than that. I had them saved in a blog post draft which then accidentally got erased. Le sigh)

I didn't get much work done on Foxfire, but I did, however, get tons of revisions done on a favorite short story of mine, Hole Ridden.

It needed one more large-ish rewrite (well I thought it would be large but it turned out to be really easy). It had to be retyped because somewhere along the way I lost the digital copy (this was before I started using Dropbox). Good thing I still had a printed version. So I typed it up, gave it another line edit (since I've clearly grown a lot since the last line edit) did the rewrite, ran it through Wordle (genius, btw. Does anyone know how to save your Wordle word cloud? Mine looked so ominous that I wanted to keep it...) and then saved it.

So now, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in beta-ing it for me? Both Teebore and Palindrome have read it multiple times before, and though I'll probably shove it their way again (haha! Surprise!) I was hoping maybe someone who hasn't seen it before would be interested in taking a look at it?

I'd be mostly looking for a high level crit, mostly what works and what doesn't (though if you want to do a bit of line editing, I certainly wouldn't turn it down.I just don't want you to feel obligated).

It's not too long, just a bit over 2500 words, and you could certainly take your time.

Also it's in the Horror genre (as most of my short stories tend to be), though it's not gory or anything like that.

no vampires this time, promise.

So if you're interested, let me know either in the comments or via email.

Can you believe we're already into June? I can tell already the summer is going to go too fast.