JEA Press - JEA

Evil Stalks the Seas:

6/21/2015

Two marine biology students attempt to reopen a cursed oceanographic project off the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Annie Mitchell and her partner, Stewart Eddinger, get more than they bargain for when they find themselves haunted by intense impulses, hallucinations, and an intangible evil that seems to be the biblical Leviathan incarnate. As Annie and Stew continue their investigation into the heart of the mystery, they discover that they are being slowly consumed by an evil older than time, a horror that reaches from beyond a dark, haunted sea.

Artists

6/16/2015

Today we celebrate art from JEA. These reflect a few of my personal favorites....

Susan Simone

David McGlumphy

Michael Fisher

New with JEA: Stephen Cooney

Misc.

From JEA....

6/13/2015

5. What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
The process of working with JEA is great. They are so professional and always willing to show the author that their ideas are valued.
6. In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
Wow! Lol.

Name: Christopher St. John Sampayo

Titles: Shadows of the Inferno, Fields of Frozen Stars, Ghosts of Glass, Haunting of Rosehaven.

Down and Dirty Questions:

1.      If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
The Cheshire cat saying…we’re all a little mad here.
2.      What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
One theme I’ve explored in my books is the idea of social networking and what constitutes friendship in the internet age.
3.      Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
I have a character in my book Fields of Frozen Stars called Cuckoo John.   He was fun to write. I liked his mindset. He questions the reality around him and it was a fun thought process to explore.
4.      Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like?
Fields of Frozen Stars was a fun design process cause me and the great David Mcglumphy went back and forth discussing different ideas and trying different things to make the cover.

7.      What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
I often get over caffeinated.
8.      How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
I let the story linger in my mind for a bit then see what I feel applies.
9.   What are your strongest abilities in writing?
I like writing mindsets of characters. That’s the most exciting thing for me.

New release:

Scarlett, bearer of The Sacred Blade Of Profanity for nigh on three hundred years, untouched by linear time, unhindered by the confines of space, nevertheless has grown weary. The ancient dagger, crafted in sorcery over eight thousand years ago, requires the blood of the profane to sustain its power. Scarlett has killed scores over the centuries and will continue for as long as she possesses The Blade.
Her chance meeting with young Dera, an 11 year old mute from the outskirts of town, throws both of their worlds into chaos, as Scarlett returns to the busy town of Mills Wall, to complete a failed attempt on her most elusive target to date. Could this child be the downfall of Scarlett? The demise of The Sacred Blade Of Profanity? Dark and troubled times are all that is foreseeable for both Scarlett and the mysterious little girl. Indeed for all of Mills Wall.

Ideas for reading:

Amanda Times 2

6/10/2015

Amanda Lyons
Down and Dirty Questions:

1.      If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
A gothic lady in a mysterious library, all catacombs and age. I am always there, looking for answers, stories and personal truths.
2.      What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
Relationships, of all kinds. Also fear. What makes them work, what lengths do they go too and how they affect a change over time.
3.      Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
Mateo from the Shades of Midnight series, there is a hell of a lot going on with that man, he is broken, monstrous and often cruel all because it’s how he sees the world around him. There’s more to him than that though, a great deal of heart, imagination and passion. A lot of it comes up in Cool Green Waters and Hollow Black Corners of the Soul where we learn about his past before he met Becca or even Marie Gaston.
Wendy in Wendy Won’t Go she’s a very brutal monstrous being and she does awful things to her family over the years, but it’s all about anger, unresolved regret and the cost of family and loss. I really like what I managed with her and story in general, I like to think that it’s haunting for many reasons.
4.      Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like?
Cool Green Waters, it really captures the conflicted elements of Mateo’s nature in that cover, his face is divided between dark and light, there are clear influences around him, it jut suits the book so well. Michael Fisher did that one as well as the cover for Water Like Crimson Sorrow. I had a really hard time coming up with what I wanted to do with it and I scrambled around trying to find images and scenes to pick among for that cover. The first two came from a book that I had worked on for year so I knew what I wanted to reference.
This one I had less clearly in mind and there are so many elements to touch on, Mateo, Katja and Raven’s conflict, the introduction of some villains old and new, the changing dynamic of Zero and Michael’s relationship and self interpretation. Eventually I settled on handling Mateo as a character and I was able to find one strong image of a man that worked there along with referencing the color indicated by the title, Fish is excellent at taking elements and putting them all together, also calling you on if something won’t work. I really got a great cover for this one.
5.      What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
Publishing is complicated and ever changing, it doesn’t stop after you get published. You have to promote that book, promote yourself, and work on branding once you get it published. Authors are doing a lot of this work for themselves now, even more than they did even a few years ago. Networking with other authors is important, making sure that you are respectful, that you put out quality work, all of it is very important. You have to get to know your potential readers, not just advertising to them, but showing them what they like about you through your discussions and body of work. It is hard but it pays off in so many ways and once you have the groundwork in you can see signs of things taking off.
6.      In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
I want them to think back to certain scenes in my writing, to appreciate the imagery of a scene or the memory of how they felt reading it in that moment. Imagery is an important device to me and the emotional landscape as well. I like to make an impact in those areas and for people to reference that is such a big compliment to me.

" get to know your potential readers"

7.      Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
I love word like Labyrinth, piquant, the complicated little word that don’t get used as much as they used to be.
8.      What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
Funny, hmm, maybe writing “Frankentop” I don’t do humor because I don’t feel solid in it, but that was a lot of fun. It’s about a cat AI who sets out to build a bigger body to fit her ego, there’s humor in that one, some silliness and a touch more toward the end. I wrote it for an antho of Kaiju stories by Essel Pratt called Kaiju Rising.
9.      How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
Some things I have the title first, while with others it comes from the story itself, it all depends on what gets my mind going first. Usually it’s a reference to a scene or element in the story.
10.   What are your strongest abilities in writing?
I am not a bragger…I like to think imagery is one, characterization and emotional elements as well? Those are the things I focus on the most when I write and I work very hard to get them across the right way.

Name: A.J. Coleman

Titles: Undead Season and Rebirth

Down and Dirty Questions:

1.      If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
Brains. That’s the image that comes to mind. Not only is the human brain what makes function and be who we are, but they are synonymous with zombies, which is what I write about. Also, they’re pink (one of my favorite colors!)
2.      What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
CHOICES. I think it is interesting that we have so much power within us just by making decisions. What would have happened if your mother didn’t go to that party, where she met your dad. You wouldn’t exist!
Maybe. Maybe not.
My zombies were created by a choice that they made. I love that they have the power to decide whether or not they’ll fall into temptation or turn away.
3.      Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
Ben, who is one of my main characters, turned into one of my favorites! He is more like me than any of the others. He thinks a little outside the box and is very curious. I imagine that Ben, as a child, watched The Wizard of Oz and wondered what made the witch so angry! He wondered what would have happened had Dorothy followed the RED brick road that was swirled in the Yellow Brick Road. (Okay, maybe that is just me!)
We know for a fact that when Ben went into thrift shops or flea markets, he would come up with stories about the previous owners of whatever knick knack he would be touching. He couldn’t resist an interesting find. Basically, Ben loves a good story and he loves to tell a good story. When Ben narrates, he notices different things than his sister does in my books. He is always looking for more, even when there’s not much more to be found.
4.      Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like?
The process for both of my books’ covers was very simple. I knew I wanted brains and I knew I wanted certain colors. I wanted lime green for Undead Season- to show something infectious had happened to the brain. Then I wanted bright red on Rebirth to show that lots of blood and gore would be experienced.
5.      What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
Publishing with JEA was not necessarily an easy or difficult task. It was a bit scary for me at first though! It was scary for me to submit my work that I had put a lot into. I was terrified of rejection. That was the hardest part.
No. I lied. The hardest part was editing!
I am not the best with “the grammar” and I hardly ever put a comma in the correct place, so my precious editors have fun with my writing. Also, I’m kind of lazy so it takes me forever.
6.      In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
“She loved to tell a story and it shows when you read _______.”
7.      Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
I have lots of favorite words. Some of them come from me living in the south and using these words every single day.
y’all and precious are apparently the words I use the most!
8.      What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
I don’t suppose this happened as I wrote, but it happened after I wrote. Once at a book signing, a lovely young lady asked me if it was morally wrong to fall in love with a zombie and if it was religiously wrong.
I didn’t know how to answer her, so I did the only thing I could. I laughed really hard like she was joking and changed the subject.

9. How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
I chose Undead Season as a title because of the time period of my books’ apocalypse. It only lasts a season. Now, is that a season as in winter, spring, summer, fall? Or is it a season as in just for a small part of a lifetime? That will be revealed in the final part of The Undead Season series.
10. What are your strongest abilities in writing?
I think I’m able to make people feel what my characters are feeling or experiencing. I try to write what I know. Actually, that is the best advice I was ever given. I was given the opportunity to meet one of my favorite writers and storytellers, Katherine Tucker Windham, who is well known in the south. After she did a story telling event with a group of high school students, she was going to leave. My favorite teacher asked her to please stay and talk with me. She agreed and we had a private and personal conversation. I told her I wanted to write and she told me that if I wanted to write, to write. She told me a delightful story about her childhood and her father. Then she told me, “See what I did? I just made up a story. But it was about something I know all about. My advice is to write and to write what you know. You can do it!”

June 09th, 2015

6/9/2015

Name: Essel Pratt
Down and Dirty Questions:

1.      If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
a.      This is quite a tough question. However, if I had to choose an idea to represent myself, it would be servant leadership. Basically, this means that I don’t just give orders to others, but instead use the opportunity to teach. When editing, I attempt to give examples and suggestions, rather than simply telling, as an example.
2.      What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
a.      The one theme I tend to explore is the human psyche. As a student of psychology, I have an enormous interest in the human mind and the behaviors that accompany it.
3.      Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
a.      The first are Chij and Franklyn, from Final Reverie. Both live in a world that is very familiar to them, filled with magic and wonder. However, the past and future is largely unknown to them, so they are naïve to what dangers are out there. However, they are tasked with a journey that sees them mature in the process.
b.      The second character would be Rabin, also from Final Reverie. In the book, he is old and wise, but also a bit insane. He doesn’t get much face time in Final Reverie. However, he is a key character in the Reverie Series and will see some more time in the next book, Abiding Reverie.
4.      Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like?
a.      The cover I choose is from ABCs of Zombie Friendship, created by the one and only Catt Dahman. The cover shows the innocence of children, even when faced with death and reanimation. The planning was quite easy, I simply gave Catt a brief description of what I envisioned, and she brought it to life.

Books:

Final Reverie, ABCs of Zombie Friendship, How to Be A Successful Facebook Admin

Anthologies:

31 More Nights of Halloween, The Undead that Saved Christmas Vol. III: Monster Bash, Horror-tica, Another 100 Horrors, Dark moon Digest 13, Ugly Babies 1, Ugly Babies 2, Cellar Door II, Bines II, Mardis Gras Murder, Memento Mori, Serial Killers Quattuor, Vignettes from the End of the World, Heroe’s Best Friend: An Anthology of Animal Companions, We Are Dust and Shadow, Demonic Possession, Misunderstood: Hiding Behind a Mask of Hope, Fractured Realms, No Sight for the Saved, Nightmare Stalkers and Dream Walkers 2, Silent Scream, JWK Best of Horror 2013, The Undead War, Blood Type: An Anthology of Vampire SF on the Cutting Edge, Rejected for Content, In Creeps the Night, Autumn Burning: Dreadtime Stories for the Wicked Soul, Bones III, Floppy Shoes Apocalypse, Cellar Door III/Hell II, Indiana Horror Review 2014, The Grays, Inanna Rising, Journals of Horror: Found Fiction, Undead Legacy, Chunks: A Barfzarro Anthology, Rejected For Content 2

5.   What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
a.      Publishing is tricky. I would say that overall, publishing is not easy. There are many that take the “easy way out” and self publish, without realizing that editing, cover design, and marketing are integral to a book’s success. When choosing a publisher, one needs to be cognizant of the contract terms and the publisher’s intentions. However, when you find a great publisher, like J. Ellington Ashton Press, publishing can be easy and fun.
6.      In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
a.      In ten years, I want people to still be discovering me for the first time, looking back at my older writings, and telling me honest opinions about my work. Then, I want them to tell others bout my work and share how they found me.

7.      Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
a.      Maybe it is because I write horror, but my favorite word seems to be “nefarious”. I’m not sure why, but I use it a lot.
8.      What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
a.      I wrote a story that is quite strange, involving a baby, eating, defecating, and birth. I received an acceptance, although the book as sense faded into nonexistence, and I showed it to my wife during my daughter’s dance recital at school. She read it and yelled out, “What’s a butt baby?” during intermission. I laughed quite hard as people around us stared her down.
9.      How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
a.      Titles are always hard for me. Some book titles just come to me out of nowhere. Others remain hidden until the end. I usually try to use a concept from within the story and summarize it into the title.
10.      What are your strongest abilities in writing?
One of my strongest abilities in writing is to take a concept or idea and create a story out of it. I think that is why I love writing for anthologies, the themes give me a base to write from and I get to create the sce

Name: Roy C. Booth

Titles: The One: Children of Destiny; Inanna Rising: Women Forged By Fire; All That Remains; Doorway to Death; Points; Rejected For Content 2; Midnight Remains; A Werecat's Journal: First Life; A Werecat's Journal: Second Life; Autumn Burning; JEApers Creepers; and Kaiju: Lords of the Earth.

Down and Dirty Questions:

1. If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
Top of my head: A fleet of fully operational smiley faced Death Stars with no inherent design flaws. Welcome to the Roy C. Booth Empire, folks.
2. What's one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
Postmodern rationalizing.
3. Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person
High Shaman Ozen from The One: Children of Destiny, an ancient, shriveled up, horrid-looking, bobbing up and down Ogre who only communicates through cackles, gestures, and the rattling of his fetish staff. Although thought by some to be quite mad, his “words” of wisdom often speak volumes.
4. Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like?
The Werecat's Journal series covers are by David McGlumphy and reflect the the skylines of the cities the books primarily take place in, such as Atlanta, GA, Birmingham, Al, et al. He pays attention to the source material, a huge, refreshing plus.
5. What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
Ever changing, yet adaptable if you keep up with current market trends, work hard, research, network, pay attention to your audience, have something to say, allow yourself to grow as a writer, which should be an ongoing, continuing process, and a few other niggling heres, theres, and wherefores. (It also helps to pay forward on occasion, if even just for the warm fuzzies.)
6. In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
“He's still alive and cranking out bestsellers. I bought his latest five books yesterday. Check out his author page on Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/roycbooth.”
7. Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
When I collaborate as of late: “Blink/ed/ing.”
8. What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had? Alas, currently unavailable for print and/or public consumption.
9. How do you title a book? Where does it come from? Very carefully with full regards to reflecting the overall story inside.
10. What are your strongest abilities in writing?
Dialog (I'm also a playwright/longtime theatre person), plot points, and collaboration.

Monday Madness...Down and Dirty Style

6/8/2015

Name:   Sharon L. Higa
Titles: #6, Rose & Steel, Horrors & Occupational Hazards, The Dam. Anthologies with my short stories: Innana Rising: Women forged by fire, Autumn Burning: Bedtime stories for the wicked soul, Midnight Remains, Fish Tales I, Mental Ward: Echoes of the Past, Monster Attack.
1.      If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
I would say it would have to be the mythical unicorn. Though it is a just and pure creature, it is still wild, and abides by its own laws – goodness prevails in the creature, but so does justice and righteousness.
2.      What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
I would have to say vengeance or justice, however you wish to look at it. I’m very bad about viewing things as either black or white, and I feel a lot of times my stories reflect this mentality. The bad guy rarely wins, and if he does, it’s because of the circumstances, not the villain, per se.
3.      Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
I love my character, Ida Moreno, in the novel, # 6. She perseveres even in death and initially is determined to seek vengeance. Her attitudes and ideals change as the story unfolds, and though she does achieve her justice, she also learns more about her essence, her soul, than she had ever understood while alive.
4.      Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like?
I would have to pick the cover for # 6. It represents the actual essence of the tale, the images tying in with the actual story. The cover was done by Velma Giggle Wink, an illustration artist whom I connected with almost immediately. It was rather surreal, the way she was able to pull my image for the cover out of my head and make it a reality. The cover is exactly what I had imagined, and she hit it spot on.
5. What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
To be published, now…there is only one word for it…amazing! JEA made my dream come true. Prior to being published by them, I had spent five years sending out query letters, six a week, to any and every agency around with no luck whatsoever. The rejection letters were the most difficult part, but I kept on writing, knowing there was some publisher out there who would ‘get’ my stories. JEA made this dream a reality, and has continued to encourage and allow me to grow in all areas of my writing. I can tell people that I am a published author all because JEA Press was willing to take a chance on an unknown writer.
6.      In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
That I have improved and they still want to read what I write, and pass the word on to others about this author!
7.      Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
That’s a good one…I love using old sayings, “ Soonest begun is soonest done,” sarcastic comments like, “Did your mother have any kids that lived?”, and swear words when appropriate with the setting. I make up some pretty creative ones, and my husband loves to joke about me being a ‘Marine’, though he claims I’ve come up with some strings of words that he’d never heard in his life, and he’s a former Marine!
8.      What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
I came up with an idea for a story while shopping in Wal-Mart, and hadn’t realized I’d been talking the plot out loud while pushing the cart around! I then grabbed a notebook and pen, ripped them open and wrote the whole thing down right there in the aisle! Yes, I did pay for the items at the cashiers!
9.      How do you title a book? Where does it come from? The weird thing is, the books that I have written, as well as my short stories, all seem to title themselves and for me, it seems the simplest title seems to be the best fit. For example, I wrote a short piece about a beauty salon and titled it ‘scalping season’, which came to me as I was explaining the story plot to my hair dresser!

10. What are your strongest abilities in writing?
I think one of my strongest abilities is I’m able to start a story at any point. I can imagine the ending first, and work the plot around that, or just a random sentence can get the story started in my head. I think that I can explain and carry through a scene and still give the reader a chance to use their own imagination and that is a big thing to me. I want my readers to be able to picture in their minds what I am laying out in a storyline, and when they’re done, put the book down and say, “Wow!”

Name: Ash Hartwell
Titles: Zombies, Vamps, and Fiends

Down and Dirty Questions:

1. If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
Answer; Equality and Liberty.
2. What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
Answer; The demons and monsters that lurk within us all. Whether we care to admit it or not we are all capable of evil deeds, of corrupting others, or even committing the most heinous of crimes. This may be as a result of mental illness, depression or some psychotic break, or out of simple lust, greed or envy. The way we deal with it, that internal struggle between good and evil, is what makes us the person we are, or the monster we may become. We are all Dr. Jekyll but we are also all Mr. Hyde

3.      Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
Answer; In Zombies, Vamps, and Fiends in the story Concrete Skull the character of Dr Thorne is fascinating. Despite a less than normal childhood she overcomes all the odds to become a successful psychiatrist studying the mind of a child killer and writing a book about it. However, she is fatally flawed and as the story progresses you find she is more involved in the crime that you first think until, finally you learn the tragic truth.
The story pits good and evil together and shows the difference between the two is so thin. Just a different decision here or there and their lives could have been so different (I’m trying not to give too much away here).
4.      Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like?
Answer; ZV&F. Designed by David McGlumphy. The fire represents the idea of gathering around a camp fire to tell tales of horror and the supernatural. The figures above are characters from a few of the stories appearing in the smoke. David and I exchanged Emails of about three days, we never disagreed on any aspect. I think he understood what I said from the start. We experimented with a few elements but agreed instantly on what worked and what didn’t. I think the whole process was done and dusted in 3 or 4 days despite us being about 5,000 miles, and several time zones apart.
5. What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
Answer; Frustrating. Editing can take so long to get right and it is important to get it right. Nothing frustrates a reader more than frequent mistooks. (Haha) With a good publisher, editor and formatter, and JEA have all these in abundance the process of publishing is a breeze. (Well it was for me. I expect it was a nightmare for them.)
6.      In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
Answer; “I remember him when he was a nobody, and look at him now?” That would be nice, but honestly, I settle for still writing in ten years and having other people take the time to read it. If that’s the case then I’ll consider myself successful. I’d like to think people viewed my work as an honest attempt to tell a story for the sake of the story, not writing what I think will sell just to make a quick buck. That never works because there’s no emotional investment. (If anyone wants to send me a quick buck, then please feel free! Lol)
7.      Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
No, not really. I try to find a word suitable to the story and the character involved. I expect if you read my book (and a recommend you do) you would find I have common or favourite words, but everyone does in their natural speech. The art of writing is too try and remove them, or find a substitute as often as possible to prevent repartition.
8.      What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
Answer; I used to go to a writers group in the local town. It wasn’t a big group, only 15-20 regulars, who were generally older. They asked for us to read a section from a piece we were currently writing. After several women’s magazine style romance pieces I stood up and gave them a gruesome murder of a Santa Clause figure. You could hear a pin drop when I finished, then the chairman said, “Oh well, keep at it.” A week later I signed a contract with JEA and sold that story to an anthology for another publisher.
9.      How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
Answer; This one just came to me. I obviously need to credit Cher with giving a little help. I thought, ok it’s about Zombies, Vamps and… what else. Thieves… were did that come from? Then the song dropped into my head and after a few minutes, fiends seemed to have taken root.
With short stories the title often comes first and inspires the story. Sometimes after the stories written I go back and change the title, but not often.
10.      What are your strongest abilities in writing?
Answer; Being able to use spellchecker, even if I don’t always agree with it (smug know-it-all) Being perfectly honest, I don’t know. Maybe you should ask someone else that question.

Upcoming Titles

Fish and Toneye....Down and Dirty (and deep)

6/6/2015

Name: Michael Fisher
Titles:
Currently released: DC’s Dead, Feral Hearts, The Return of the Devil Fly in Midnight Remains, The Church of the Divine Greasepaint in Floppy Shoes Apocalypse, Out of Darkness Comes Life in Rejected for Content: Splattergore, The Darkness of the Soul in Rejected for Content: Aberrant Menagerie, Children of the Damned in Axes of Evil 2: Rise of the Metal Gods

Coming Soon from J. Ellington Ashton Press: The Curious Tale of the Canine Hairsuit in Urban Legends, Wake Up Dead in Doorway to Death, Boca Duende in Under the Bridge, It Always Bites You in the End (A Vignette) in A-Z.

Works in Progress: It Always Bites You in the End, Water, Water, Everywhere.

Down and Dirty Questions:
1.    If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
I would like to think creativity represents me, both in my writing and cover design as well as my tattooing. If I had to narrow down an image, I would say it would have to be a Hawaiian shirt, printed with horror imagery, such as slashers and body parts
2.    What’s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
I think it is a theme that Mr. King has explored, in a different manner, which is the horror that is hidden in the normal. How something as innocuous as a retirement community, a psychiatrist, or friendly dog can go oh so dark, where going to a concert can end your life, or talking with the wrong missionary will bring you too close to the faith.
3.    Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
I will give you one in print and one that will be coming. The first is Vince Price, from The Return of the Devil Fly. An all American boy, who after going off to serve his country during the Korean War, brings back something worse than most of his comrades. While he tries to maintain, and resume his pre-war life, he descends into madness. It would be pitiful if Vince wasn’t so dangerous.
The second is Homicide Detective Bill MacCallen of the Washington, DC Metro Police. He’s a jaded cop who thinks he has seen it all, until one day, he finds a body that has no reasonable cause of death. Ever a realist, he desperately tries to solve the case using conventional means. As bodies keep piling up, in increasingly grisly manners, he starts opening his mind to other options. Mac’s determination is his most admirable trait, while his flexibility is what gets him through the challenges.

4.    Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like?
I have created the covers for most of the books I have appeared in, but I will have to go with DC’s Dead. I started working on the cover around the time I started writing, and it went through a great number of redesigns, evolving from the floating heads that are all to common on movie posters these days, to a dynamic cover, communicating both action as well as a sense of foreboding. The process was trying, to say the least. Sometimes, I can nail a cover on the first shot, while others are constantly demanding revision. Let me clarify; the author is not demanding the changes, but the art itself.
5.    What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
Writing is the easy part of the publishing industry. After your manuscript is turned in, it goes through the arduous process of multiple edits, as well as cover design, formatting, advertising, promotion, ending in, hopefully, sales. For the author, it can be easy, but for those of us on the other side, it becomes the thing that consumes your life, which is the sacrifice we all make because we love putting out some of the best books on the market.
6.    In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
What? There’s a new Michael Fisher book coming out? I’ll see you at the release party, if we can get in.”
7.    Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
I don’t necessarily have favorite words, but rather, a favorite style. I believe in writing my dialogue in a very realistic style, and if that involves using profanity, so be it. I have been critiqued saying that the use of profanity is the equivalent of lazy writing, using empty words. I disagree. I write what I have experienced, in that regard, and when people use the term “swears like a sailor,” I remind them that I was a sailor.
8.    What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
I don’t know if I have had any funny experiences, other than the day-to-day laughs I get with the wonderful staff at JEA.
9.    How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
My titles usually come from a line in the story, although occasionally, it is just a concept the story represents.
10. What are your strongest abilities in writing?
Like Bill MacCallen, I think my strongest ability is my determination, sticking with the story until it is done. Otherwise, I think it is my ability to create believable characters, so full of color that they are people you could imagine knowing in real life.

coming soon

Toneye Eyenot

Down and Dirty Questions:

1.       If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
Toneye- The first thing that lurks from my mind… Darkness
2.       What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
Toneye- Various forms of insanity are very prevalent in a lot of my work.
3.       Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
Toneye- Well, my only book to date is The Scarlett Curse, (which is actually a series of books eye am working on, called The Sacred Blade Of Profanity series). Eye will give you my most loved and most hated characters from this story… DERA HARKE – Dera is my favourite. Eye love this character. An eleven year old girl who lives alone with her mother, on the outskirts of town by an ancient forest. Dera lost her father at a very early age and has chosen to remain mute throughout her life. Her “friends” are not of this realm, and she has a small mirror, which makes interaction with her friends a lot easier. She is a tough, yet very naïve character. Oblivious to the true purpose of the mirror and especially her friends unseen, who have been with Dera since she was two. Her relationship with the main character, Scarlett, after a chance meeting in the dark, is really sad, even depressing at times. The little girl’s life is turned upside down, to put it mildly, as is Scarlett’s. Dera is a little warrior. She adapts to things effortlessly, but eye was careful to show the inner turmoil that plagues Dera during the events of the book, and how she deals with those traumas… JOSHUA MELKERIN- Eye tried to make a character that the reader is going to despise. Somebody with absolutely no redeeming qualities, and eye think eye did this with Joshua. Just when you think you can’t hate him anymore, he just gets worse as the story unfolds. (cont.)

(Cont.) Eye think eye nailed the downward progression of his character well. His character is the most full of surprises. He has secrets. Very bad secrets that have caused him to be the main focus of Scarlett and The Sacred Blade Of Profanity throughout. He is a thief, a con artist, a kidnapper and child trafficker. He isn’t a stranger to the odd occasional murder either. One of my favourite lines in The Scarlett Curse is where Joshua is sitting on the end of his bed, realizing what a despicable piece of shit he is, and tells himself out loud… “Joshua Melkerin, you sir, are a worm. You will get what you deserve for your transgressions.”
4.       Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like?
Toneye- Once again, The Scarlett Curse, done by JEA’s own McG.! David McGlumphy took my idea of a young woman, who is actually more like 300 years old but untouched by time, and of course, a dagger to represent The Sacred Blade Of Profanity. With just the description from the first paragraph of the book he put together a truly awesome cover! Scarlett appears almost precisely how eye imagined her. Eye look in her eyes and see that weary, ancient gaze. She has seen and experienced so many different things in her time with The Blade, and David absolutely nailed it! So haunting, and dare eye say, beautiful. Especially with the trees behind, depicting Mellowood Forest and The Sacred Blade wallowing in a recent bloodfeast in the foreground. Eye couldn’t be happier with the result.
5.       What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
Toneye- My experience with publishing has been so easy and exciting! The support network throughout the world of the independent author and publisher is phenomenal, and eye have been on a constant learning ride since eye first approached JEA. Eye had my very first submission accepted (T.S.C.) by JEA as well as some poetry eye submitted for REJECTED For Content anthology. Eye then had several subs accepted with JEA and another fine independent press, James Ward Kirk Fiction in other anthologies before getting my first rejection, from eye don’t remember where now. Eye was still on such a high though, from the whirlwind eye found myself in. Rejection is fine. It brings you down to earth and keeps your feet on the ground. My writing obviously isn’t going to appeal to everybody, and eye understand that. The hardest thing, and at the same time, most exciting, is the waiting. All eye have to do is write, submit, wait, and promote. Everything else is done for me, which is great, because until eye got serious with my writing, all eye knew how to do was write scary stories. Now, by working with editors and a publisher, eye have learned so much more to it. Then, there’s always tomorrow. Learn something new every day J Eye would like to one day try my klaw at self-publishing something, to see just what goes into the creation of a book to the finished, marketable product, and also to see if eye have what it takes to be able to pull it off. Right now, though, eye just love to write stories, short or long. Eye am very happy with the situation eye am currently in, so that plan will remain in the pipeline for the time being.
6.       In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
Toneye- Wow! He really isn’t the monster he portrays in his books!... Or, is he?
7.       Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
Toneye- Blood gets splashed around quite a bit in The Scarlett Curse, and it’s spattered throughout most of my work. Eye like the sound of the word, and how it looks like it should read as “blued” hahaha.
8.       What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
Toneye- This one time, at band ca- uh yeah, where was eye? Oh! Yeah. Oh, by far eye would have to say, is when eye recently jumped genres and tried my hand at Bizarro for the CHUNKS2 antho coming soon from JEA, and came up with a sick and twisted tale called “What Are Turds Worth?” It was hard to type, because my eyes kept tearing up from laughing so hard. My neighbours would’ve heard me, for sure hahahahaha! Eye hope it was gross enough to be accepted hahaha.
9.       How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
Toneye- The Scarlett Curse was inspired by a friend by the name of Scarlett, who told me to write a book, so eye did, and named the main character after her. The sub-titles of Books 2 and 3 came about when eye was around 10k words into each book. Usually once eye see a definite thread of something which permeates the story eye base it on that. Sometimes, eye will base it on where eye want to see the story go. Very rarely, eye come up with a title first. An exception is my poem, “Fred, The Dis-embodied Head”. That title jumped into my skull one day and eye just started writing. It’s one of my favourite pieces.
10.   What are your strongest abilities in writing?
Toneye- Eye like to think eye am pretty good at setting and building a mood. Whether eye have an entire book to create in, or a poem to capture the reader’s attention and pull it along to the end. And… Eye do believe we’ve reached the end. Muahahahaha! Thanks Catt, for the deep n meaningful. It’s been great answering these questions. Lots of fun! Let’s do this again sometime J
Anybody wants to know more or just to konnekt, you’ll find me here at these links below. Cheers, Hails ‘n’ Howls to you all! Hope you enjoyed the tour

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Candela/ Gregory/ Piney on a Friday

6/5/2015

Kevin Candela

Titles: Mushroom Summer, The Ballad of Chalice Rayne and Dragon’s Game (a.k.a. The Dragon’s Game Trilogy) on Riot Forge, also nine short stories featured in the following J. Ellington Ashton Press collections: Straight to Video, Straight 2 Video, JEApers Creepers, Doorway to Death, Suburban Secrets: A Neighborhood of Nightmares and Drowning in Gore. Upcoming JEA novel A Year in the Borderlands.
1. If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
I think the Mona Lisa dragon face depicted so brilliantly by artist Kati Drinkwine on the cover of my book Dragon’s Game is probably it. I’m the kind of guy who figures the dragon was saving the beautiful young girl from her selfish fellow townsfolk, all of whom were willing to sell her off for good crops or protection.
2. What’s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
The Truth. I know this is an elusive cryptid in a subjective universe but the world epidemic of pro-conflict propaganda, denial and self-delusion is something I feel compelled to resist. The Dragon’s Game Trilogy, a twelve year effort, pulls back the media lies and reveals the ultimate greed and power lust of a few individuals bent on controlling the Earth and using it to further their own raw, selfish ambitions.

3. Give us one (or 2) character(s), tell us the book(s) and tell us why you admire/hate/love that person.
Chalice Rayne is sweet and loveable and wants to save the world but doesn’t really know how. She’s the farthest thing from a modern era butt kicking female protagonist though: an absolute peacenik, she is extremely vulnerable to the dark forces she seeks to expose as the trilogy begins. But she deals with it. In the end she doesn’t become what they are. She finds another way (admittedly with the help of a couple of more world-wise people with the same noble intentions.) Still, I love her for her wondrous heart. She’s kind of a really hot little Gandhi.
4. Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like?
Well, since I already mentioned Kati’s great work on Dragon’s Game (she did the beautifully eerie cover for The Ballad of Chalice Rayne too) I’ll go with the cover “Superman” Don (D.F.) Noble did for Mushroom Summer. I told Don “Well, how about some bright red-yellow-green fungi on there to both grab the eye of the potential buyer and depict the core concept of the first book: that alien intelligences may well exist within the networks of mycelia of mushrooms?” Don knew well where I was coming from as he and I had talked of Terence McKenna, cathedrals of the mind and machine elves the first time we met. And so the trippy cover, with Chalice in the center of a mind expansion mandala, was born.
5. What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Is it easy? Why?
Like anything (self) publishing is easier if you know someone who is doing it already. The groundbreaker again here was Don, who was already self-publishing and had the system more or less down. He showed me how to format so I do that for myself now (unless I sign a contract to let someone else do it.) He also put together the books once they were formatted, adding his (and later Kati’s) artwork and finishing the documents for upload. We had to go back and forth some once I went into upload mode so that I checked and marked all the right boxes for Createspace and Kindle. But once I had published Mushroom Summer I went back, looked at everything I’d marked and written and created a “publishing guide” MS Word document to make the process much easier for subsequent book uploads. After three books I pretty much know where to put the check marks, etc. anyway though.
6. In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
Ideally that it is important and that I have created something worthy of those writers, musicians, scientists, philosophers and movie makers who influenced me. Oh, and that I was on the good guys’ side and I went about it all very cleverly. That’s ideally. I’d settle for “the guy was out there but his books are really fun.”
7. Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
I like to work in every word I can. It bugs me when I catch myself repeating an uncommon word twice in a paragraph or two; makes me feel like the thing is echoing around in my head. Specific words really appeal to me but I can’t just pick one. I roll D and D dice on occasion to determine alien character names, but by the same token I often seek meaning in the name by going to behindthename.com and running a little research. The real key is that in the end whatever words you use run like a roller coaster and don’t hit snags.
8. What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
Well, I’ve made myself laugh a few times. I guess tops to this point would be my short story Emerald City Confidential, which is to be featured in an upcoming Riot Forge anthology called Baum-Ass Tales. The story is narrated by the No Longer Cowardly Lion, who is telling a tale of intrigue in which he gets drunk in a bar, is shanghaied and eventually tortured for information. The torture is unique: he’s still drunk, very proud of his fine clothes, and his interrogator straps him to a rotating wheel and spins him around until he throws up and ruins his suit. Thinking about that scene is making me smile again even now. His best line: “If you’re not supposed to eat them how come they’re called Munchkins?”
9. How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
Mushroom Summer came out of the cosmos while I was mowing our lawn. After its completion a similar bolt from the blue named both of its sequels at the same time. I knew The Ballad of Chalice Rayne and Dragon’s Game would be the titles the moment they popped into my head (in the hot tub, in fact.) A Year in the Borderlands came from the concept (one story dedicated to each month of the year) and the idea that the Borderlands were the space where our reality meets others. Plus Twilight Zone and Outer Limits were already taken. I guess, like my man Keith Richards has said many times, “I’m just an antenna and it’s coming to me from somewhere else.”
10. What are your strongest abilities in writing?
Character and plot. I’m an engineer by trade, not a writer, so all that book-standard technique has had to come to me as I’ve struggled along. I like to think that I can envision very believable and well-defined characters without beating on the details. And I’ll stand by my plots. My stories start somewhere, go somewhere and the path can be traced (generally without too much effort and with little contradiction.) I’d also like to think that I have my style down fairly well by now and my work is an easy read.

Name: Samantha Gregory
Titles: After, Queen of Hell
Down and Dirty Questions:
1.       What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
I’ve always liked the idea of the outsider or the outcast being the hero. I think being an outsider gives you a unique perspective.
2.       Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
I think my favorite character to date is Mackenzie Murphy from Daemon Persuasion. She’s tough, kicks butt and can take care of herself. Despite being a half demon, she cares about others.
3.       Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like?
I’ve loved all the covers of my books but I love the After cover. It’s eye-catching and creepy. I wouldn’t have thought of using the zombie Jenna comes across as the cover photo but it works. It is the first moment where Jenna realizes that zombies are still out there. The cover was created by Susan Simone.

4.       What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
For me, getting published was relatively easy, but I believe that it was timing and luck. While I had submitted other work in the past to publishers, it was nowhere near ready for publication. I think small presses are the future. Sure, everyone would love the big name publisher and the royalty check that comes with it, but with a smaller press you know you are being listened to and you have more of a say. I love the atmosphere of JEA. It is a real community, which you wouldn’t get with a big publisher.
5.       In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
I would like them to say –She tells great stories. If one person loves my books and looks forward to future releases then I’ll be happy.
6.       Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
I don’t have favorite words but I do find myself using the odd phrase in different projects and then I have to change it.
7..   How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
Sometimes the title comes first, although this is rare. Once the book is written I try to think of a theme or phrase that works. After was actually the file name on my computer and it stuck. I chose Queen of Hell for my other book because I think it is an interesting title and tells you what the story is about.
8.       What are your strongest abilities in writing?
I think I write good dialogue. I try to sound as natural as possible and read it out loud. It helps that I like to talk so I have plenty of practice.

coming soon

Name: Tina Piney
Titles: The Warp in Whittick Estates
Down and Dirty Questions:
1. If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
That would be impossible. I am so many people, all within myself. If I was so limited, I would feel as though my soul had been jailed.
2. What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
Dementia. Is there anything really, more terrifying than losing your mind and who you are. Spiders and trees that grow out of deep water, yes, also scary but putting your whole life into who you are just to lose it near the end. When my grandfather, who was a brilliant man, lost his grip on reality in the end, he would do things like phone me up and ask me for the number to call his dead mother. He knew she was dead but thought it would be so much easier to call her because he kept seeing her ghost and wanted to speak with her again. It made me think about how it feels to have your body in reality and your mind somewhere else.

3       What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
I’m new to this. Suburban Secrets is only my second published story so I would have to say the whole idea is still pretty damned exciting.
4.       In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
“I can’t wait to read what she writes next!”
5.       Do you have favorite words to use in writing?
I always thought bamboozled was a funny word though, maybe I’ll work that in somewhere. “Ham bag” also funny.
6.       What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
When I was writing “Chuckles” and he weighs his new role as the liberator of the dead dogs against his current moniker and decides to keep Chuckles because Liberator would make a shitty clown name. I still laugh out loud when I read it.
7.       How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
My stories so far have sort of named themselves due to content. I did have a couple of ideas for “Warp” though and I put them out there to my fellow writers to see which one sparked the most interest. It was so helpful to have that kind of support.
8.       What are your strongest abilities in writing?
I’m a beginner so I can’t really say for sure but it seems no matter what I’m writing about I always seem to find the character’s emotional flaws and drag them out in the open.

Goforth and Noe Down and Dirty Like We Like Them!

6/4/2015

Name: Jim Goforth
Titles: Plebs, With Tooth and Claw, Feral Hearts, Rejected For Content: Aberrant Menagerie (editor) and numerous stories in such anthologies as Rejected For Content: Splattergore, Floppy Shoes Apocalypse, Autumn Burning” Dreadtime Stories For the Wicked Soul and several others.

Down and Dirty Questions:
1. If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
Grindhouse splatterpunk heavy metal driven horror pretty much sums up what I write and what I would be happy to stamp my brand all over. There are no single images which would best represent that, more of a collage of different things.
2. What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
I explore a vast assortment of themes ranging from friendship, finding purpose, isolation, fear and terror (of course), relationships (of all sorts), revenge and many others which are probably relatively common in the horror genre, but I always like to put my own spin on them. For the purpose of the question, I’ll confine it to one theme and one that does recur through a lot of my work relates to a blurring of lines between man and monster. There may be truly inhumane monstrous entities drifting through a particular story, but often their deeds pale alongside the monstrous things human monsters can be capable of.
3. Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
Ah I have many characters I’m quite fond of in several ways, be they good, bad, utterly reprehensible or just somewhere in the murky middle. Most of my characters aren’t clear cut good or bad per se, but are generally just shades of grey, as is the case with most people. There are several characters I could pick from Plebs, notably the female protagonists, but since the second person I’m going to mention is a strong female character from another book, I’ll go with Corey Somerset from Plebs. Corey is an easygoing guy, sometimes to the point where he is too easily led by more strong willed associates and that gets him into all sorts of trouble. He is also something of an idle slacker, with no real purpose in life. However, as things progress he grows and develops, finds things in himself that he wasn’t aware of, and gradually acknowledges that there is more meaning out there for him than random partying and mindless good times with his buddies.

The second is Angela Rollins, my chief protagonist in the collaborative novel Feral Hearts. Angela is somewhat cut from the same cloth as some of the strong women in Plebs; she’s had a horrendous life riddled with abuse, mistreatment, betrayal, drugs and all manner of sordid activity, but rather than break her it has made her stronger and resilient. Granted, it has also left her with some deep seated commitment issues and inability to allow many people to get close to her, but it leaves her wholly prepared for the worst from people and having experienced plenty of humanity at its ugliest, she is ready to combat anything. She’s quick-thinking and spirited and above all she’s a fighter, having never let the worst of life get the better of her.

4. Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like?
I’ll go with the cover for Plebs, which is still one of my favourites. The cover itself is an ideal representation of what transpires in certain events in the story as it essentially captures a snapshot of a pivotal location in the book. It neither gives too much away, nor proves to be too mysterious or obscure, but instead is a perfect balance between the two. The cover was done by Catt Dahman and the planning was very well thought out, and came out of many back and forth discussions, looking to get it just right. Sidenote, somebody actually sent me their own interpretation of a cover that they’d made of their own volition for Plebs. That was an interesting thing for somebody to do, though I’m more than happy with the cover Plebs has. It is easily recognisable and I never get sick of seeing it, particularly in paperback on my bookshelf.
5. What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
When I first started trying to get into publishing which was many, many moons ago, I would have said it was virtually impossible. I’ve mentioned this a few times in a variety of interviews, but back then when I originally attempted getting books published, social media sites and the types of networking which exist today were non-existent. Publishing today, in comparisons to those days, is certainly much easier and it is primarily due to the advent on social media and quicker ways to connect with folks all over the world. Naturally, there are still the same old prerequisites such as attempting to get stories and books accepted for publication, and that hasn’t ever changed if one wants to be traditionally published, but by the same token, self-publishing has become a major thing too. I have no experience with self-publishing, so I’m not expert on the matter, but the mere fact that it exists means that technically, yes publishing is easier than it ever has been in that regard.
6. In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
Hopefully they will still be saying the same kinds of things they are saying now. I aim to have a large body of work, since I have a massive amount of stories in my head to tell and it would be cool if folks are still hanging out eagerly awaiting the next release. Or perhaps, with the length of books I’ve been known to write they will be saying if he puts out just one more book, I’ll finally have enough books to complete my house made solely of Goforth book bricks…
7. Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
I could tell you, but then the interview might become unprintable. In reality though, all words are my favourites, I love words in general and doing all kinds of things with them, but I have found that I do have some commonly recurring ones. Once I realised I was doing this, I had to make a conscious effort not to use those terms so regularly, or to find some other way to describe things. Bountiful and abundant when describing women’s breasts springs to mind. Have a read through some of my books, you’ll see what I mean…
8. What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
I write ultraviolent, bloodthirsty, explicit extreme horror. Every experience there is funny to me. I think there might be something wrong with me…

9. How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
It varies. Sometimes I have a title already and base an entire book/story etc. on it while other times I might write the whole thing, or majority of it, without ever having any title, bar a working title if that. Then I might pull some key phrase, word or symbolic thing from the story itself and that becomes a title. I have titled stories after songs (predominantly heavy metal ones) and I have completely changed titles I thought were fitting until I actually finished the story, to something else. I also have an enormous list of potential titles which I made up many years ago for stories, songs, poems and other things I was writing which are always there to fall back on. I used to look through them, pick one that grabbed my interest and proceed to write something revolving around that.
10. What are your strongest abilities in writing?
I’ve heard a few different things such as character development, intensity, bold, no holds barred and things along those lines, but to me, the main thing I’d say is storytelling. That is the chief thing I set out to do each time, tell a story. It may be visceral, gruesome, comprehensively drenched in blood, with a splash or two of humour or even romantic overtures, some explicit detours into various shenanigans and a few characters with mouths that would make sailors blush, but the bottom line has to be the story itself.
Then, there are probably some people who will say, one of my abilities is writing a lot of words. Which I can definitely do too.

Name: Michael Noe

Titles: Legacy, Dynatox-A-Go-Go, Chunks: A Barfzarro Anthology, Undead Legacy, Destroy All Robots, Autumn Burning: Dreadtime Stories for the Wicked Soul, and Rejected For Content 2
Down and Dirty Questions:

1.       If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
              Originality, and that in order to succeed in anything you have to believe in what you’re doing or else you’re never going to achieve anything.
2.       What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
The dark side of human nature. I want my monsters to he human. These are people you could encounter anywhere. My approach to horror is to take the world around me and throw a mirror up and reflect it back at my readers.
3.       Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
                Wow, Kevin from my debut Legacy. I admire him because he’s so brutal, but he’s a guy that appears normal. He was a fun character to create because I was able to chuck away my morals and beliefs and create a guy that is just vicious and everything I’m not.
4.       Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like?
         Legacy was my first book and I like the cover because it fit the darkness of the story. Steven Scott Nelson came up with it.
5.       What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
                   I’m still a rookie. Legacy was my first novel and I’ve had quite a few stories in anthologies but I would say it’s been pretty easy so far. I’ve never had a bad experience yet.
6.       In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
            That they still like what I’m doing.

7.       Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
      I try and avoid favorite words because I don’t want an editor or reader to become annoyed with me, but I have always wanted a cool catchphrase.
8.       What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
         I’m still new. I have yet to do interviews or conventions. I’m sure those will be coming up though at some point.
9.       How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
       Titles are hard. I sometimes will hear a song or hear somebody say something and I’ll use it. I’m working on a novel now that needs a title.
10. What are your strongest abilities in writing?
     I’m not afraid to take chances as long as it fits the story. I usually try and not just push the envelope, but ball it up and throw it away. As a horror writer I just throw on a helmet and seat belt and head straight for the wall.

3 for Wednesday

6/3/2015

Name: Brian Barr, aka Aghori Shaivite
Down and Dirty Questions:
1. What is one image/idea that represents you?
Fertile earth
2.       What is a theme you cover and explore within your writing?
Cults
3. Tell us about a character.
I love and admire Wei from Carolina Daemonic. She’s a strong, smart character, and she isn’t afraid to speak against societal wrongs.
4.       Tell us about the cover:
Michael Fish Fisher did the cover for my Carolina Daemonic book. The cover features a rendition of my main character, Titus, in steampunk gear, since the novel has steampunk elements. Michael was kind enough to make a cover for me, since he was one of the editors for the book. I had a previous cover I did for the novel, but Michael’s was way better. He brought Carolina Daemonic to a whole new level.
5.       What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
Both easy and difficult. It’s a process, with different parts easier than others. Easy to write when you’re in the flow, hard to edit and format, and sometimes hard when you’re writing and not in the flow.
6. In 10 years, what do you want readers to say?
I want people to say that I love writing and don’t just write books that I think are popular or an easy sell for a “target audience”. I write books I really care about, and I love being a writer.
7.       Do you have favorite words to use in writing?
Surround. Whenever I use it, I think “oh no, I use that too much!” so I try to switch it up with envelop and other words relating to the context.
8.       What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
I had a poetry workshop class once. The teacher had a very strict idea of how to write poems. One day, the teacher and the students analyzed one of my poems, saying it needed more concrete images and they weren’t sure what my poem was about, etc. I didn’t say anything or defend myself, just listened. Then, a fellow student spoke and completely broke my poem down to the other students, talked about how good it was and how narrow minded they were about what made good poetry. The entire class went speechless. I was always thankful to her, and found it humorous.

Coming Soon

9 How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
I think about the story and what title relates to the tale, as well as what sounds cool.
10. What are your strongest abilities in writing?
I’m heavily influenced by Dostoyevsky and Burgess, so I think my characterization can be pretty strong. Creating characters. Psychological writing.

Name: Sam Reese

Titles: “Immolation”, as well as short stories in “Inanna Rising” and “Autumn Burning”.

Down and Dirty Questions:
1.       If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
A strong woman. For whatever reason, even if they’re not the protagonist, they tend to show up in my work.
2.       What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
The transforming of the perceived weak to become strong. In other words, I write about how people who are very flawed-and not necessarily heroes in the traditional sense-overcome insurmountable odds to effect great change, even if that change is within themselves.
3.       Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
Lavender (the protagonist in the short story “A Raven’s Blessing” from “Inanna Rising”). I admire her for her sense of duty and honor. Despite being grossly unqualified and untrained, as well as terrified, she did what was asked of her because she realized that to refuse could mean death for those she loved.
Lydia (I sense an “L” pattern here) from my novel, “Immolation”. I love Lydia, because for me she represents every person-male or female-who keeps getting knocked down but stands right back up. Throughout the horror that is her life, she remains strong and, in the end, does what I think very few of us could do given her same set of circumstances.
4.       Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book.
Since I only have one book that is truly “mine”, I’ll go with the cover to “Immolation”. It was started by Susan Simone and completed by Michael Fisher. It was a wonderful experience, working with both of them. The planning was pretty straightforward. I gave a description of what I envisioned, and they ran with it. Fish, who completed it (and, I think, did most of the work) made sure to send me updates and ask what I thought. I always felt like it was “mine”, even though he did all the artwork. My only complaint is that it’s too scary for some people. Oh well, they’ll need to quit being such wimps, lol.
5.      What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
Self-publishing is irritating, truly. Too much work, and I’m too anal to do it without having a figurative aneurysm. Publishing with JEA is wonderful, because all of the annoying stuff is taken out of my hands and put into the hands of people with my best interests at heart. The professionalism is amazing, but so is the camaraderie. Now if I could just get a publicist, since I really suck at promotion.
6.       In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
While I’d love to make lots of money writing, I’d like for people to say that my work helped them make it through a tough time in their lives. C. S. Lewis said the following: “Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.” For me, my primary purpose in writing is to tell it like it is, but to provide hope that people do make it through to the other side.
8.       What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
I don’t know. Probably when a guy who hadn’t read “Immolation” said, (cont)

(cont) “I liked it better when it was called “Carrie”. For some reason, that just made me laugh, because it is nothing like Carrie except very superficially. I didn’t even read Carrie or watch any of the movies until probably a year after I finished the book.

. How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
I wish I knew. It just sort of comes out. Sometimes, I write a story based on a title I’ve thought of, and other times I finish the thing and rack my brain forever trying to find a title. A good example of the former is a short novella I wrote that I hope to get published entitled “Closing Time”. It was inspired by a comic book store I used to frequent in college. It was this little place in the middle of a small town. Nothing really special in it except the comics and the proprietor. I was talking to him one day, and he got up to lock the door and said, “Well, I guess it’s closing time.” Suddenly I had my title, and the story just went downhill-or uphill depending on your perspective-from there.

9. What are your strongest abilities in writing?
Getting through the first draft without editing. Not everyone can do that, at least without constantly editing. It might take me a hundred years to finish the first draft, but I rarely edit as I go.
Also, I’ve been told my dialogue is phenomenal, as are my character interactions. People tell me I write people the way they really are, and that they never feel fake or contrived. That’s important: my characters are real people, they just happen to live in a fictional setting.

Bring Out the Dead

7.       Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
I like using “as if” and “as though” in describing events, thoughts, and environments through metaphors.
8.       What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
A crossover fan-fiction between Warhammer 40,000 and SpongeBob Squarepants (courtesy of being a parent). No, you cannot see it.
9.       How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
More often than not, I have a book title before I have even a single word written. Books typically come to me as concepts, and title is usually deeply embedded within such a concept. In fact, it is not uncommon for me to see a story grow out of a title, which may represent a setting, an underlying concept, or perhaps other inspiration for the story. A title is a summary of what the story is about, perhaps a quick imposition of its message, and maybe even a homage to one of its underlying themes. For example, “Bring Out the Dead” has nothing to do with that one Nicholas Cage movie, was inspired by everything I read about the Stalinist “repressions” in the Soviet Union, the stories of the labor camps mining precious metals from the frozen ground – and the untold victims of those heartless exploits. Thus, when the winter brings out the dead, it is the living who would suffer the consequences of their one time misdeeds.
10.   What are your strongest abilities in writing?
I like to think that my greatest strength as a writer is creating characters with a degree of moral ambiguity. This always helped me both in creating more dystopian settings that I tend to enjoy, and in giving my characters a measure of realism.

Down and Dirty Questions:
Alex Shalenko

1.       If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
A long time ago, someone told me that I was here to be a storyteller, and it has been an idea behind both my writing and music. While I would love to come up with some kind of a grandiose, pompous, or otherwise pathos-filled image, I hope that the image and the idea that represents me is the sum of my creative endeavors, the atmosphere I created in them, and ultimately the stories that meant something to my readers and listeners. Perhaps, then, this is it – creating a meaningful message.
2.       What themes do you cover and explore within your writing?
Complexity of human experience. While much of our feel-good popular culture attempts to teach us the world in simple terms of pure good or absolute evil, the reality of human experience is rarely as straightforward. No one sees himself as a villain, after all, and character progression is only possible for characters who are not at the extremes of the moral spectrum, both in fiction and in real life.
3. Tell us about a charcter
In writing “Bring Out the Dead”'s Jake Levin, I tried to create the character that was not only realistic, but also not exactly a knight in a shining armor. A big part of the novel is Jake's journey from a self-obsessed, ambitious, and unscrupulous state to someone who discovers a degree of humanity and, eventually, self-worth. I enjoyed writing him, and writing about his development over the course of the novel. Of course, Jake himself, at least at the beginning of the story, is not a particularly nice guy. He schemes, he plots, he puts his own immediate gratification over all other concerns, allows paranoia to guide him, and has the kind of personality that thrives in certain industries, but perhaps does not inspire trust. This facade is a reason enough to dislike Jake – his transformation, and his ability to become his own man despite everything his environment was trying to teach him, is the reason why I admire who he became.
4.       Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book.
The cover for my debut novel “Bring Out the Dead” was done by David McGlumphy, and it was probably one of the easiest, most intuitive, yet fulfilling experiences I had as an author. It was as easy as communicating the key words from my mental image of the cover, and then reviewing the work and providing the feedback. I was hoping to incorporate the key themes of the environment where the novel is set – the depth of Siberia, where the polluted and frozen city of Severozavodsk is as much a character as any of the individuals in the novel, and David delivered!
5.       What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
The process of getting published was a rather long affair for me; it took eight years from completing my first novel to my first publishing contract. In fact, the actual process of seeking to become published can be somewhat discouraging, especially after the euphoria of completing a lengthy work and feeling very elated. Once the contract is signed, it is a matter of patience, and, more importantly, of being understanding and flexible during the editorial process. In my case, I have to say that JEA made the process of being published very easy, both due to professionalism of its staff, and due to very supportive environment. I think I learned a lot during this process, and believe that it made me a better writer (not to mention probably easier for editors to work with!).
6.       In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
I hope that the stories I tell will be seen as shedding some light on the human experience, all of it – the good, the bad, the ugly. My ultimate ambition as a writer is to create the work that asks these existential questions, and perhaps provides an interesting perspective to my readers. If ten years from now, my readers will say “he made us think” about me, I will be happy.