Department of Justice

The Latest Column

2012-02-01T17:47:00.001-05:00

I had to give the badge a rest this week. It’s in the shop for a good shining.

This week’s column differs from most of my others in that every word of it is absolutely true.

It’s a little peek into my sordid radio past, and you’ll find it here on page 9.

Don't Stand Too Close...

2012-01-29T08:35:00.003-05:00

While taking a walk yesterday, I came across the creepiest tree in town. Sure, it looks pretty harmless in the sunshine, but at night it yanks its roots from the ground and goes looking for kids who sneak out of their houses. You can just tell that's it's very hungry...

Pod of Horror #67

2012-01-28T20:14:00.003-05:00

What? They’re back already? Pod of Horror #67 features horror writer James A. Moore, the author of Smile No More and The Subject Seven novels. Kelly Laymon discuss the legacy of her father, Richard Laymon and the long road to publication for In Laymon’s Terms. Jason L. Keene returns with a laugh packed installment of our film feature Moonshine Matinee, Nanci has all the news, and humiliation and belittlement for our host in The Call of Kalanta. The stack of prizes gets bigger in The Tomb of Trivia. And we review new books from Dean Koontz and Brett McBean. Pod of Horror is produced and hosted by Mark Justice. Listen to it here.

For Your Litter Box Lining Pleasure

2012-01-25T07:00:00.002-05:00

What do The Possum Ranch and Sherlock Holmes have in common? They're both in my new column in the Ashland Beacon.

2012 Writing

2012-01-23T04:19:00.001-05:00

How was your weekend? Mine was fine, thank you.

We watched some movies, took care of family stuff and other odds and ends. I wrote my newspaper column (for what it’s worth, I think it’s one of my best; you can decide for yourself around the first of the month).

On the fiction writing front, I have a rough idea of what I’m going to be working on for the rest of the year. Of course, a lot of this is subject to change, as the last couple of years have taught me.

When I finish with the second Dead Sheriff book, I have to write a couple of short stories that I’ve promised to editors.

By mid-February I hope to finally start on a horror novel called Reaper Road.

Up next is a revision of a novel I wrote a couple of years ago. I parked it in a drawer because of a few issues that confounded me. A recent re-reading of the manuscript showed me a way to fix the problems that seemed insurmountable earlier. This horror novel doesn’t yet have a title.

Following that I'll finish a novella I pledged to a publisher about two years ago. The window may have closed with that particular house, or maybe not. Regardless, I love the story and I’m confident I can find a home for it.

If all goes as planned, this Fall I will start on a humorous mystery novel, something I’ve wanted to write for a long time.

Don’t worry, horror fans. I will never abandon the field. I have many more horror novels I want to write.

I also have two or three more novellas and at least two more stories that have been bubbling under the surface for a long time. I’d like to write them down in the near future.

There you go. Lofty goals, as always. Let’s hope the year is as productive as I’ve planned. If the Mayans are right, then I’ll go out typing. If they’re wrong, then maybe 2013 will finally be the year I get around to writing my haunted amusement park novel.

Interview

2012-01-20T06:21:00.003-05:00

Over at the Inspiration Forum, Fiona McVie has posted a new interview with me, including a free short story. Check it out here.

Later this weekend I'll post an writing update and share some of my goals for 2012.

Zombie Pontificating

2012-01-19T11:24:00.003-05:00

I have an essay in a new ebook called Zombie Writing, edited by Armand Rosamilia. My contribution describes the writing of Deadneck Hootenanny. The ebook is free for a couple of days. You can order it here.

***

I also have a new column in a local paper, The Ashland Beacon. It's supposed to be funny, so if you want to laugh while reading it, I won't be offended. Heck, even a mild chuckle is fine. You can read it by clicking on the paper's name a couple of sentences above. My column in on page 9.

Mug Shot of the Year

2012-01-14T10:54:00.000-05:00

A 53-year-old guy from Blue Island, IL was picked up for driving under the influence… this is the mug shot that followed.

Happy Birthday, Dad

2012-01-13T11:54:00.002-05:00

Today’s my father’s birthday. He would have been 79.

He’s been gone a while , almost 26 years. Even now, my feelings about him are complicated. I loved him and I know he loved me, but he could be a difficult man to be around. To his friends, he was a happy, funny guy, quick with a joke or a sarcastic comment. In private he was often miserable. I’m not sure why–he never talked about it to me. But I suspect it had a lot to do with his own childhood.

He was never abusive to me, at least not physically. When he was angry, though, his words could cut deep and his unhappiness was often radioactive, spreading throughout the house.

Most of the time I can focus on my memories of the positive side of our relationship, and that’s what I want to do today. My father passed along a great sense of humor and a love of books. He supported my early attempts to write fiction, and if he would have lived to see me published, I’d like to think he would be proud.

Happy birthday, Dad.

Onion Rings and Me

2012-01-11T06:12:00.002-05:00

I have a new column today in the Ashland Beacon, a local paper.

If you don't reside in the Ashland, KY area (or once lived here) your enjoyment of the column may be slightly diminished. But I think it's pretty funny anyway, and I do get to remember one of my favorite restaurants and make fun of Celine Dion, so it's a win for me.

You can read the paper online. I'm on page 9 this week.

Looking at the World on My Kindle

2012-01-06T13:50:00.005-05:00

Amazon has just listed the Kindle version of Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye, for those of you who, like me, usually prefer the ebook (by the way, this is a complete turnaround for me, who always said, “Confound you whippersnappers! I’ll never give up my paper!" That’s worthy of its own blog post sometime).

Over one hundred thousand words of fiction, most of it scary, some of it funny–intentionally so. Two original novellas. And the reprinting of the long-unavailable Deadneck Hootenanny, all for just $3.99.

You can get it here.

And, as always, if you do read the book, I would appreciate a review at Amazon. Your comments on it are welcome here, as well.

Thanks!

It Was An All-American Christmas at Casa de Justice

2012-01-04T14:23:00.000-05:00

My New Gig

2012-01-03T10:54:00.002-05:00

I'm doing a weekly column in a local paper, The Ashland Beacon. The paper publishes on Wednesday, but it appears the online version is available at least a day earlier. You can read the whole paper right here.

Fair warning: the column is aimed at a local readership, so if you're somewhere else, it may hold zero interest for you. In fact, if you live here, it may hold zero interest for you. All I know is I'm having a great time writing it.

The Best Christmas

2012-01-02T19:26:00.002-05:00

Christmas 2011 was always going to be the greatest of my life, simply because my wife was still with me. But it took on ever greater meaning, thanks to an email.

When I’m on vacation, I rarely check my work email, yet for some reason I did on Christmas morning. It was about 8:00 AM, and I hadn’t even had coffee when I got the message from Nevada. A woman wrote the radio station about three hours earlier. Through Facebook, she had been in touch with a school friend whom she hadn’t spoken with in many years. Her friend’s husband had been out of work for months and had just told his family there would be no Christmas. The couple had two kids and had taken in another woman and her infant soon who had no place else to go. The family had no presents and no food. The children also needed clothes.

I read the letter to Norma and told her I didn’t see how we could find clothes and toys on Christmas day.

Her reply was simple. “If there’s a day for miracles to happen,” she said, “it’s today.”

I immediately placed a call to one of our friends, who has three young grandsons.

What I didn’t know was that she had been up most of the night. Like a lot of people, she has had a rough year, but every time she was in desperate need of help, help arrived. She told me she was hoping trying to figure out a way to payback some of the good fortune she had received.

Then I called. She immediately started putting together clothes and toys, including two nearly new bicycles. Her grandsons gladly donated new toys that they had just received as gifts. Then her sister-in-law pitched in with new clothes and new toys.

Next, I got in touch with another friend, who along with her husband had been feeding the hungry through their church for many years. They quickly put together a week’s worth of food. They showed up with their truck full of food and we loaded the clothes and toys. We caravanned to the home, which was about fifteen minutes away. We had a little trouble finding it–some knocking on doors was required, but we eventually located the family. I knocked on their trailer door several times before anybody answered. When they did, I told them Santa had asked us to make a delivery. We began carrying boxes into their home while the family alternated between stunned silence and tears.

Since we don’t have kids, Norma and I had little to contribute, except for some cash. But we were able to find the right people to help this family have a Christmas.

Driving home, we were both a little overwhelmed by what had just happened. Christmas hadn’t felt this good in many years. This was the second time I’ve been able to take part in helping a family that was down on their luck. I hope it won’t be the last.

Happy Naked Jennifer Aniston Day

2012-01-01T10:18:00.005-05:00

Welcome to 2012 and my blatant attempt to get more hits for this blog. If it works, I will make Ms. Aniston the official mascot of the Department of Justice.

Face it, everything becomes more interesting when viewed through the prism of Jen.

Take politics, for instance. Does Newt Gingrich have bigger boobs than Jennifer Aniston? Who wouldn’t tune in to see how that debate played out?

Or sports. Who would you rather see in a Tim Tebow jersey–Tebow or Jen? ‘Nuff said.

On the cultural side, some people are worried about a Mayan prophecy that claims the world will end in 2012. I ask you this: would an ancient human-sacrificing society predict an Armageddon that would also destroy Jen??? Okay, bad example.

Let me concentrate on the practical. When you surf to this page, would you rather view a photo of Jen or one of me?

I rest my case.

The Last Blog Of The Year

2011-12-31T21:53:00.002-05:00

Adios, 2011, you ball-breaking beeotch. And good riddance.

Ah. Feels good to get that out of my system.

This year has not been the best I've ever had. Most everybody who cares to know why already does, so there’s little need to belabor the point.

I’m planning on a better 2012. Healthier, happier and more productive. I have several writing projects lined up that I’m excited about.

I’m starting a new weekly column in a local paper. I’ll link to when the first one appears.

Two new books should be out in the new year, and a few short stories, if I get them finished.

I realize January 1 is just an arbitrary date, but I’m in need of a fresh start and new beginning. I plan to embrace it. I hope you do the same.

Enjoy the new year. Hold your loved ones close and tell them how much you care about them. Don’t put off your dreams for another minute.

Goodnight, world! Sweet dreams.

Pod of Horror #66

2011-12-28T07:45:00.004-05:00

Pod of Horror is back to wrap up 2011 and prepare for Mayan destruction in 2012.

On PoH #66, Cullen Bunn discusses his award-winning series The Sixth Gun and his new young adult horror novel Crooked Hills.

In Scary Words, we review the second series of Maelstrom books from Thunderstorm Books and Brian Keene.

We have a winner in The Tomb of Trivia. Nanci delivers all the news that fits, and we announce the return of a member of the PoH family.

Get it at iTunes or download it here. Pod of Horror is hosted and produced by Mark Justice. And visit our Facebook page.

Free E-Book. But Hurry!

2011-12-25T16:00:00.003-05:00

Just got this from Graveside Tales:

First 100 people, who send their name and preferred digital format to orders@gravesidebooks.com will receive. Looking At The World With Broken Glass In My Eye by Mark Justice.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T15:05:00.002-05:00

This is just a quick note to wish you happiness during the holiday season, whatever your beliefs or non-beliefs.

As I've said here and elsewhere, I had a massive realignment of priorities this year. Life's everyday aggravations, once the source of quite a bit of agony, now seem very insignificant.

I hope you get to spend time with those who are most important to you. I know I will.

That's all, folks!

Do You Know How Many Plates of Pancakes We Went Through To Get This Shot?

2011-12-19T04:08:00.003-05:00

Free!

2011-12-15T08:46:00.009-05:00

Here’s a cool bit of news.

As a holiday gift to you, Permuted Press is offering the e-book of Dead Earth: The Green Dawn for free. You can download it for Kindle, Nook, iPad and iPhone and ePub. Here’s the link. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find our little book.

I had a great time writing this with Dave Wilbanks, and I’m happy it’s now available again to anyone who would like to read it.

By the way, look for the third book in the series, Dead Earth: Sanctuary, sometime in 2012 from Permuted Press. The manuscript has gone through the stringent Mark & Dave revision process and is in the hands of the editor.

Thanks to everyone who has picked up a copy of my collection Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye. I appreciate the feedback.

Speaking of feedback, if you would leave a brief review at Amazon, I'd be grateful.

I still don’t have a firm release date for The Dead Sheriff, but Evileye Books assures me it will be sometime in Spring of 2012. Work proceeds on the sequel.

The Girl With The Tramp Stamp Tattoo

2011-12-10T15:11:00.000-05:00

The Girl With The Tramp Stamp Tattoo from Emma Roberts

New Column At Horror World

2011-12-09T06:25:00.002-05:00

My new Horror World column--titled "The Three Scariest Words"--is up now. You can read it here.

First Trailer for The Three Stooges

2011-12-07T16:17:00.002-05:00

Pre-Who

2011-12-06T12:35:00.001-05:00

Here's a mini-episode leading into this year's Doctor Who Christmas special.

The Wussification Of MEN Continues: Dancing With An iPod In Public

2011-12-05T15:54:00.000-05:00

Slow Writing Week, Pulp Fiction, Balls

2011-12-02T00:01:00.002-05:00

It's been a crazy week, with very little writing and little to report.

But wait! Donovan Pike and the City of the Gods has been updated at Pulp Nocturne. Go there now and read it.

This week has been heavy with wacky videos here at the ol' DOJ. That's partly because I have been updating the blog so infrequently and wanted to offer new content.

Also, I believe the world could use more wackiness. Or, hot chicks talking about how much they hate balls:

Katherine Heigl Hates Balls from Katherine Heigl

25 Signs You Spend Too Much Time on the Internet

2011-12-01T00:01:00.001-05:00

1. Whenever you find a penny or dollar bill, you hear that “Congratulations! You’ve won!” voice inside your head.

2. The prospect of any phone conversation provokes an unreasonable level of anxiety.

3. You just steal sh*t when you’re bored.

4. You know where your high school best friend’s former roommate’s gorgeous ex-girlfriend goes for the summers (Nantucket. Her cousin Becky is kind of terrible though, you can tell).

5. You find the concept of paying for pornography endearing.

6. You’ve had multiple conversations with friends speculating about the sexuality of someone you haven’t seen since you were six.

7. You’ve forgotten that watching TV on the TV used to be, like, a thing.

8. You have a legit panic attack when you can’t reconnect to your WiFi network.

9. You’ve seen all of “Felicity” despite never enjoying a single episode.

10. You hate Jeff Dunham way more than he even deserves.

11. Going to the movies counts as having a “break from technology”.

12. The phrase “follow me” does not even remotely invoke thoughts of physical movement.

13. You send emotionally complex, romantically tinged messages by “Like”-ing sh-- on Facebook.

14. You know far less about the Mayor of your city than you do about the Mayor of your local Panera Bread on FourSquare.

15. You think a beautiful sunset lighting up the New York skyline on a November evening just looks like a crappy desktop background.

16. You treat people who say they don’t have Facebook as if they have a horrible illness that you have to do your best to appear optimistic about.

17. You haven’t been on a date in months, but you do have a really messy, emotional “friends with benefits” situation going on in SecondLife.

18. The words “LiveJournal” or “Xanga” bring up far more nostalgia than any old home movie could.

19. Your reading responses for classes often just say: “TLDNR”.

20. You’ve gotten past the tenth page of comments on the YouTube video of that little British girl rapping with Nicki Minaj on Ellen.

21. You can name more celebrities with leaked nude photos than American presidents.

22. The last family argument you had was over Gchat.

23. You haven’t read a whole book in a year, but you have read the entire Wikipedia pages for “Sleep”, “Jon Voight”, and “Yo momma (maternal insult)” today.

24. Your day is completely made when you get a “what up my brother!!” tweet back from @mark_mcgrath from Sugar Ray.

25. You know what (insert 90s rapper/or one-hit wonder/Da Brat) is up to these days.

Santa needs A Light Saber

2011-11-30T00:01:00.000-05:00

Charlie Brown/G.O.P. Debate Mashup

2011-11-29T00:01:00.000-05:00

William Shatner's Steps to Unfriending Recovery

2011-11-28T02:08:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T00:02:00.000-05:00

I hope this day goes exactly as you want it to, whether that means spending it with family and friends, as I will, or flying solo.

As I've said elsewhere, I have so much to be thankful for this year--more than any other Thanksgiving--and I will be taking time to reflect on the blessings in my life.

I expect those blessings to include dressing, mashed potatoes and pie.

Have a good one.

Cramming for Stuffing

2011-11-20T07:32:00.002-05:00

One more brief day of work, then I’m on vacation. It’s the first real vacation in what has been a very long year.

Here’s my vacation plan:

1) Don’t get up at Oh God o’clock every morning.

2) Help Norma with whatever needs to be done to prepare for Thanksgiving (including–but not limited to–being the official taster. Oh, what a burden I bear). This year I have more to be thankful for than at any time in my life and I want to take the time to properly appreciate that.

3) Write. I have to finish two non-fiction pieces, one overdue short story, a final edit on Dead Earth: Sanctuary and continue with the second Dead Sheriff book.

I thought about adding “eat leftovers” but I think that is assumed.

I hope you have a good week.

500 Miles, Changes and Farts

2011-10-31T17:34:00.006-04:00

Here's a nifty little video that was created for the end of producer Russell T Davies' and star David Tennant's run on Doctor Who. And who doesn't like singing, dancing aliens ?

Nice, eh? I think the world needs more of Billie Piper dancing. But that's just me.

***

I have a theory. I think we’re changing all the time, you and I. Even when you think you aren't. Even that hard-headed redneck miscreant who doesn't seemed to have evolved past the Neanderthal stage. He’s changing, too.

Some of the changes are big, and you can feel them happening, like when that guy who comes over and drinks all your beer while you watch football wraps his truck around a tree when he’s loaded, leaving you reeling like the elevator door opened and you almost stepped through into that empty, black abyss. That’s the moment you quit drinking.

Some of the changes are smaller and almost glacier-slow, like the way your political views morph as you spend time with friends and/or a spouse, or the way you start out hating musicals, but you put up with them because they’re important to the woman you’re in love with and, quite unexpectedly, one day you find yourself humming “Seasons of Love” or “Tonight”.

So what’s this all about?

As most of my friends know, 2011 has been a hell of a year. It was so hard on my wife. And, it turns out, it really kicked my ass, too. The experience–the ongoing experience–has changed me both profoundly and in subtle ways.

It’s like I can feel my brain being rewired. Things that once seemed so important to me are now little more than dusty curiosities, while others things, things that were always vital, are now so significant to me that I have trouble find the words to express their importance.

I’m Mark 2.0, with 2.1, etc, not far behind.

But just so you don’t think I’ve changed too much, here’s a video of Peter Griffin farting.

Ends and Odds

2011-10-01T09:42:00.004-04:00

Here’s what’s been going (or hasn’t been going) on:

Writing

Dead Earth: Sanctuary is being revised. Dave Wilbanks and I want this manuscript to sing before we turn it in to the publisher. When I sent it to him, it probably sounded closer to William Shatner than Tony Bennett. I’m sure when it returns to me the pitch will be closer to perfect.

I have begun the second Dead Sheriff book for Evileye Books. It’s a bit difficult to talk about it, since the first book isn’t out yet (and I don’t know the release date), but I can share the opening of #2:

The Indian youth screamed when Arlo Belcher bit into his shoulder and ripped away a mouthful of flesh and muscle and blood.

“Damn it, Arlo, I ain’t even got the fire built yet,” his brother said.

“Cain’t help it, Billy,” Arlo said, around a mouthful of meat. “I was hungry and this here Injun tastes good.”

I have a couple of short stories in various stages of completion, and another novel I will be writing as soon as The Dead Sheriff #2 is finished. As always, my writing schedule and productivity waxes and wanes with the demands of my full-time job and personal life.

Reading

For my birthday, Norma got me a number of books by Jack Kirby and others featuring the work of Kirby and his partner of many years Joe Simon. I’m working my way through these slowly, a story or two at a time, so I may savor the experience for as long as possible.

I’m also reading Killing the Blues by Michael Brandman. Or, more precisely, Robert B. Parker’s Killing the Blues: A Jesse Stone novel by Michael Brandman. This is a continuation of the popular series from the late Parker. Brandman is a writer/producer on the CBS Jesse Stone movies. His style is not very close to Parker’s, and the novel reads in places like a first draft, but I’ll stick with it and see where it goes. Parker’s Spenser series is also being continued by mystery writer Ace Atkins.

Next up in the queue: The Affair by Lee Child and Feast Day of Fools by James Lee Burke.

Pod of Horror

I hope to have another episode up this month. Other than that, I don’t have much to report.

Rainy Days and Mondays, Blah, Blah, Blah

2011-09-19T16:27:00.004-04:00

It’s a strange day, even for Monday. I feel melancholy. Maybe it’s the weather–overcast with drizzle.

Also, I seem to be trying to come down with a cold or a bug. They may also be weather-related, but I rather suspect it has something to do with living a stress-filled life for months, with little or no down time.

I seem to once again be buried under commitments, despite an effort about a year ago to try to prevent this very thing from happening again.

In the cold, harsh light of day (well, a day other than this grey one) I realize that some of the things I have agreed to do are things that I no longer have much enthusiasm for. Another pruning is in order, a scaling back. I have a birthday in a few days and recent events have made me outrageously aware of how fleeting time really is. I spend enough of it engaged in activities that bring me no joy and may be wearing my soul down a silly millimeter at a time.

That has to change. I’ll spend the rest of the year finishing up those things I have promised, then I will make some hard decisions about the sort of projects I want to take on.

(By the way, my wife is doing great. Her health is excellent and her amazing spirit and resilience inspires me every day. Her pumpkin pie ain’t too bad, either.)

Meanwhile, here’s something that makes me happy.

That’s Callie, standing on my bedside table next to a copy of The Losers by Jack Kirby.

I’m going to wrap this up, brush my cats and read for a while. Now that’s a wise use of my time.

9/11 Again

2011-09-11T09:26:00.004-04:00

In 2001 I was doing a morning radio show in Kentucky. In 2011 I still am, though I work in a different city. I was on the radio when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Like everyone else, at first I thought it was simply a bizarre accident. And, like everyone else, the second plane changed things. Shortly after that, the radio station went to total news coverage and I had a lunch to cancel.

A few day’s earlier, the manager of another radio station (or, rather, his representative) set up the lunch to discuss my interest in simulcasting my radio show on his station.

If you were around then, you remember the confusion, the fear, that we all experienced. Would there be another attack? Were more enemy-controlled jets in the air? Were major cities going to be torched by nukes? Were enemy armies now waiting to invade our country? I heard all of those suggestions, and some more bizarre, in the hours following the morning attacks.

Talking about a silly morning radio show didn’t seem very important that day. I called the other station, and to my surprise, the man who’d approached me still wanted to have lunch. “There’s nothing else we can do,” I was told.

So I went to lunch and had one of the most surreal experiences of my life.

The restaurant was normally a busy place, where one had to wait a few minutes for a table, even at lunch.

There was no wait. There were no other diners, save for the other radio guy, his employee (a friend of mine who had served as the intermediary) and me.

We took a table by the window, which gave us a view of the busiest street in town, a street that should have been bumper-to-bumper at lunchtime on a weekday.

During the hour or so I was there, I saw maybe 10 cars. Every one traveled well below the speed limit, like members of a funeral procession that was spread out across a continent.

The change in the world was disorienting. I had trouble concentrating on what the other radio guy was saying. As soon as I could, I left for home.

My strongest memory of that afternoon and evening was the sadness my wife and I felt. We flipped through the television news channels, trying to find answers, but at that point, most of what was being discussed was pure speculation.

The most chilling thing was the number of channels that went off the air. As we went from channel to channel, many of the non-news cable channels were not broadcasting any programming. In most cases, a title card and the picture of the flag was the only thing on the screen.

Ten years later, some things–like airport security–seemed to have changed in a fairly permanent way, while others–politics, for example–seem to be back to “bidness as usual”, as we say back home.

Nothing ever came of that lunch, except for the memory of that strange day. I was listening to meaningless babble while most everyone else was gathered around a TV in the office, or huddled at home with loved ones, crying or angry or scared. Or, most likely, all three.

New Column

2011-09-07T18:12:00.001-04:00

My latest Horror World column is up and ready for your eyeballs. You can read it here.

Time Is Running Out...

2011-08-29T15:25:00.004-04:00

...to get in the drawing for a signed copy of my collection Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye. The winner will be drawn on September 1. You can still sign up here.

Waiting on Fall

2011-08-21T17:44:00.006-04:00

The other morning as I was crossing the street between the lot where I park and the building I work in, I caught a hint of Autumn on the early morning breeze.

That’s a good thing. It’s been a dark, difficult summer. I’m hoping Fall, a time of the year that has always been good for me, is going to bring better things on all fronts. Good tidings, if you will.

Don’t worry, kids. This isn’t one of those whiney blog posts (okay, it stuck a toe across the Whiney county line, but that's all). It's actually a writing update.

Actual work is getting done, though circumstances have made me less productive than I hoped to be.

Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye is generating good feedback. The publisher has promised that an e-book version is on the horizon. By the way, you can still sign up for a free, signed copy of the book. The winner will be announced on September 1,

Dead Earth: Sanctuary is almost done. We’re running slightly behind schedule (all my fault, believe me) but I suspect The End will be typed by Dave or me sometime this week. Then we start the revisions. We hope to turn in the final manuscript by the end of September.

With any free time (ha!) I might have in September, I will finish up one project and write a story that’s long overdue. On October 1, I will begin writing the second Dead Sheriff book.

By the way, since I mentioned it here last, a couple of new chapters of Donovan Pike and the City of the Gods have been posted at Pulp Nocturne.

I’m also prepping episode 66 of Pod of Horror. The current plan calls for it to go live in mid-September.

I’ll be back with another update soon. As Garrison Keillor says, be well, do good work and keep in touch.

And let Autumn get here soon. I need it.

Pod of Horror # 65

2011-08-07T17:52:00.003-04:00

Pod of Horror is back with nearly two hours of fear-filled fun. On PoH #65, Don D’Auria discusses his move from Leisure to Samhain Publishing. Bestselling thriller writer James Rollins returns to talk about The Devil Colony. Writer and actor Kealan Patrick Burke gets Slimed. And Matthew Warner reveals the inspiration for Blood Born. Jason L. Keene gives the Moonshine Matinee treatment to more fright flicks. Nanci Kalanta has the news (and drops the F-Bomb–and we don’t mean “Fudge”). Tim Curran, James Newman and James A. Moore get reviewed in Scary Words. And we finally have a winner in The Tomb of Trivia. Get it at iTunes or download it here. Pod of Horror is hosted and produced by Mark Justice.

Zombie vs Baby

2011-08-01T18:36:00.001-04:00

Click to embiggen.

Heh heh.

Nice Review

2011-08-01T18:16:00.004-04:00

Over at the Vintage Horror site, Matt Cowan has reviewed my collection, Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye.

Check it out.

A Review of Doc Savage: Python Isle

2011-07-31T15:24:00.005-04:00

As a fan of pulp magazines, Doc Savage and radio drama, I was the perfect audience for Radio Archives' new series of pulp audiobooks. So when they sent me a copy of Doc Savage: Python Isle, I was prepared to be entertained.

Python Isle was the first Doc Savage novel written by Will Murray, based upon an outline by original Doc scribe Lester Dent (this is all covered in a nice featurette accompanying the audiobook, sort of like the extras on a DVD). As a Doc Savage story, Python Isle is nearly perfect. It contains all the ingredients of the best Doc Savage novels: high adventure, a lost civilization and humorous interplay among Doc’s aides. Radio Archives has produced an unabridged version of the novel that encompasses 8 CDs (well, seven and a half).

The narration is key to any audiobook, and Michael McConnohie does a fine job. He makes each character distinct and individual, and he carries the narrative without sounding too announcer-y, if you’ll excuse the made-up word.

Roger Ritner produced and directed Python Isle. He was involved with the Doc Savage radio series on NPS in the 1980s.

My complaints about the package are minor. Sometimes McConnohie pronounces Python as PY-thun, which was a little distracting.

And the musical cues took a while to grow on me. At first, they struck me as generic cuts from a production library. If they were, then the cuts were more carefully chosen for the second half of the book.

All in all, listening to Python Isle was a very satisfying experience. Radio Archives has already released a second Doc audiobook, as well as that NPR series. And audibooks of other pulp characters are on the way, including The Spider. It’s a great time to be a pulp fan.

Check out the offerings of Radio Archives at their site.

The Dead Sheriff Is Covered

2011-07-27T13:02:00.002-04:00

Evileye Books has unveiled the cover for the first book in my Dead Sheriff series. Here, take a look:

Pretty nice, eh? I know I’m happy with it. You can read an essay on the creation of the cover here.

It will be a few months until the book is released, and that’s okay. Evileye has a marketing plan in mind and I trust them in this department.

Meanwhile, in a few weeks I will begin writing the second book in the series. We’ve made a long-term commitment to the Undead Avenger of the West, so you can expect a lot of The Dead Sheriff in the years to come.

You can follow all the news on the project right here or at Evileye Books.

Hey, Kids! Free Fiction

2011-07-25T16:34:00.002-04:00

Here's a free story from my collection Looking at the World with Broken Glass in My Eye.

Life's Work

They’re retiring me tonight after 67 years of faithful and uncomplaining service.

Too cruel, they say. Inhumane. There are more pleasant, socially acceptable ways to get the job done. As if a deviant who abducts a child from her home, then tortures and rapes her before ending her life deserves society’s pity or compassion.

I don’t pity. My justice is final and absolute, dispensed like lightning.

I give comfort to the families of the victims. I deliver a message of vengeance, one that tells all who witness it that the punishment does fit the crime.

Or it used to. Now I’m obsolete, politically incorrect, a reminder of simpler times, when choices were more obvious and right was right. But no more. I’ve heard them say I’m the last of my kind in the state. The protesters already gather outside the walls of my chamber, paying for a reprieve that will save a monster from my embrace.

I can pray too, and if there is a god for my kind, my prayer is that I be given this last chance. I need it. I am so close now.

I first achieved sentience in the late 40s, though I suppose I was always aware in a dim and cloudy sort of way. But it was the death of Arnold Reeder that lifted me out of the quagmire of mindlessness.

Reeder had murdered an entire family – father, mother and six children – then had sex with their corpses. All of their corpses.

When he was strapped into me and fed the first jolt of 2400 volts, I stirred. When the second and final jolt was delivered through my electrodes to his head and both ankles, I awoke.

With each death I dispensed, my knowledge and my perceptions grew. Was I receiving consciousness from those I executed? Did their essence, their souls impart strength to me?

I’ve had years to ponder the question and I still have no answer. I’m not a philosopher or theologian or scientist. I am oak, copper wire and leather restraints; efficient at my job.

And tonight I will be decommissioned.

They bring the condemned to me at ten minutes before midnight. His head has been shaved and he stares vacantly at me. While he is strapped against my polished flesh, I can reflect on my last task.

With each electric death delivered, I grew in strength and cunning. I could listen and understand the people around me and, after a time, I learned to extend my senses beyond these walls.

Even as the tide of public opinion turned against my kind, I found the need for my decisive retribution was greater than ever.

The idea came to me three years ago. I was still too weak to accomplish my goal, as I was used with less frequency. If I wanted this to work, I had to be stronger.

Three executions since then had brought me nearly to the zenith of my power. If the Gods of Justice favored me, tonight would be enough.

His name is Danny Black. He was a murderer many times over, though he had only been caught once, when an attempt to rob a market ended in the death of two people. One of them was a pregnant woman. Danny doesn’t regret what he’s done. I can feel his emotions seeping into the whorls of my grain. He’s happy that no one knows about the other deaths he’s caused. He holds those memories close to him like precious gifts and here, in his final moments, he cherishes their sweet bouquet.

When the switch is pushed, the living fire leaps from my electrodes into his body and Danny Black convulses madly.

After one minute the power is turned off. Ten seconds pass, and a second jolt is delivered. It’s unnecessary. After the first dose, I felt his life flee from his body, passing through me and hopefully leaving behind just enough to do what needs to be done.

The doctor doesn’t approach until my failsafe switch is thrown, the Energized light goes off, and my two power switches are turned off by key.

The doctor places a stethoscope to the chest of Danny Black and listens to nothing.

Randall Kirtner has been a physician for thirty-two years. He’s gone through three wives, a fortune and half the booze in the state. He’s marking time. He’s a ship without a rudder. He no longer has a purpose.

As he leans forward, he places his left hand on my arm.

All my planning, all my prayers have come to this.

I jump.

The doctor stumbles back, nearly falling. He gasps in surprise. He only fights me for a moment and then I shove him down deep into a place where he can do no harm.

I look around the room and take my first tentative steps.

I turn back to Danny Black, and, for the first time, I see me. I am solid, strong. For 67 years I cleansed the world of its worst elements.

Now they can carry me to the basement. I’ve outgrown that body.

I allow the doctor to rise up long enough to sign the death certificate and to shake hands with the warden.

I am escorted out four gates until, finally, I step into the world.

Nothing I’ve heard can prepare me for the beauty of this earth. I am momentarily overcome as tears roll down my face.

This only reinforces my dedication. This is too precious a place to allow the Danny Blacks and the Arnold Reeders to infect it.

My old body may have been retired, but my mission continues. The old doctor lacked a reason to live and I have given it to him.

I walk to his car and briefly set him free so he may teach me how to drive.

Then we must be going.

There is much work to be done.

-End-

If you enjoyed the story, you can order the book here or here.

The Cult of the Walking Download

2011-07-21T06:24:00.001-04:00

The Secret Agent X story I wrote a few years ago is now available as a download to your cell phone or tablet. iPulp Fiction has a wide variety of classic and new pulp stories on their site, and you can download my “The Cult of the Walking Dead” for one dollar. That’s over fifteen thousand words of blazing gunfights, ninja assassins, and great pulpish fun for a mere four quarters.

You can download the story here, after you register for free.

Dead Earth News and More

2011-07-16T15:50:00.003-04:00

It’s official. The next Dead Earth novel will be called Dead Earth: Sanctuary. Permuted Press will again be the publisher. I’ll announce the publication date when it’s locked down. I would expect it to be Spring 2012.

Meanwhile, Dead Earth: The Vengeance Road is still available in paperback and ebook formats. Thanks for all the nice reviews.

Speaking of reviews, I could use them at Amazon for Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye. If you read the collection, please consider leaving a review.

You can still sign up for a free, signed copy of the book at Horror World.

The other big news (well, big for me) is the arrival on my doorstep of In Laymon’s Terms. The anthology, a tribute to the great horror writer Richard Laymon, includes my story “The Red Kingdom”. It was my first professional sale, made all the way back in February 2003. It’s nice to see it finally in print.

And for those who care about such things, I'm now on Google+.

Looking at Me

2011-07-13T12:59:00.005-04:00

I'm profiled in this week's edition of The Ashland Beacon, a local weekly paper. Although the focus is mostly on my radio career, the article touches on my writing. You can read it online here.

And thanks to Tanya Pullin, our amazing State Representative, who managed to sneak a mention of Deadneck Hootenanny into today's Ashland Daily Independent.

Looking At A Free Book

2011-07-08T06:17:00.003-04:00

Horror World, my home away from home, is giving away a signed copy of my new collection Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye.

To enter the drawing, sign up here.

I'll be happy to inscribe the book to the winner.

Joke of the Week

2011-07-07T18:10:00.000-04:00

A frog telephones the Psychic Hotline and is told, "You are going to meet a beautiful young girl who will want to know everything about you."

The frog says, "This is great! Will I meet her at a party, or what?"

"No," says the psychic. "Next semester in her biology class."

Review: The Devil Colony

2011-07-06T12:21:00.005-04:00

The Devil Colony by James Rollins
William Morrow
496 pages

The Devil Colony brings back Sigma Force, James Rollins’s cadre of government superspies, all ex-special forces trained in a scientific discipline then given guns and sent out to battle the bad guys. And in Sigma’s world, there are no shortage of evildoers. The Sigma thrillers are modern pulp writing at its finest (Rollins has confessed to being a fan of the Doc Savage novels) and I’m happy to report that the latest novel in the series maintains that tradition.

From the novel’s 18th Century prologue in Kentucky to it’s fiery climax in a well-known state park, The Devil Colony is the most American of the Sigma adventures.

When an archeological site is disturbed in the Rocky Mountains, an uproar is ignited, both literally and figuratively. In a cavern filled with mummified bodies that appear to be Caucasian Indians, a cache of gold plates is discovered, each inscribed with mysterious writing. The cavern also holds a mystery substance, which may turn out to be the most destructive element on earth.

Sigma director Painter Crowe is called in to investigate, thanks to a very personal connection to the events in the Rockies. Crowe takes the stage early and holds on to it, playing the lead role normally assigned to Sigma Operative Gray Pierce. Rollins lets the reader get to know Crowe more than in earlier books, as he explores Crowe’s Native American background in depth. Plus, we get to see Crowe as a man of action, a nice change of pace.

Fans of Commander Peirce shouldn’t fret. He and his best friend Monk (nice name for a pulp hero, eh?) see their fair share of conflict and flying lead. In addition, both characters go through dramatic changes in their personal lives. It’s a decent bit of character development that elevates the Sigma books above some of the other pulp thrillers out there.

Rollins always combines real history with real science. In The Devil Colony, it’s the founding of this nation that propels the narrative, particularly the secrets of the founding fathers. The scientific MacGuffin is nanotechnology, unregulated and unchecked, and far older than I would have dreamed possible.

Sigma’s arch nemesis The Guild is back, and in this installment we learn a little more about how far the evil organization’s tendrils extend, culminating in a revelation that will have fans waiting impatiently for the next book in the series.

As always, Rollins supplies an appendix outlining what concepts are real and what were created for the book. And, as always, I’m dumbfounded to discover that certain things that I was certain had been made up by the author are actually true.

Ultimately, though, a thriller lives or dies based upon how well the author delivers the, well, thrills. Rollins once again proves his page-turning prowess. With more cliffhangers than a Saturday morning serial, The Devil Colony is served up to the reader as an electrifying mash-up of Die Hard and The History Channel, in a story that would fit right in among the Indiana Jones and National Treasure series.

Highly recommended to all fans of adventure fiction.

Happy Fourth of July

2011-07-04T10:46:00.003-04:00

Happy Independence Day. It’s one of my favorite holidays, in part because of my annual re-reading of Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles.

This tabloid-sized comic came out, of course, in the summer of 1976, just in time to keep me from losing my mind during a particularly unenjoyable family vacation. Our family always took two vacations each summer. The first was a beach trip, which I loved. The second was a fishing vacation. By the time I was sixteen, the last thing I wanted to do was spend a week with a bunch of grouchy relatives on a lake with little in the way of distraction or entertainment.

I had purchased the Captain America book on the way to Tennessee. Buying it was a no-brainer. Jack Kirby had been my favorite comic book artist for years. If fact he drew (and likely plotted) the first comic book I ever owned–Fantastic Four #39. A few years later, he took his talents to DC where he created an epic cosmic saga of gods and humans that unfolded across four titles: Forever People, The New Gods, Mister Miracle and Jimmy Olsen. Within a couple of years, three of the books were canceled and Kirby turned to other work, some original (OMAC, The Demon) and some not (The Losers). By 1976 he was back at Marvel, writing and drawing Cap, Black Panther, Devil Dinosaur, The Eternals and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

By the time of the family vacation I was well-acquainted with Kirby’s bombastic dialogue and extreme fondness for the exclamation point. He was like a composer whose musical style was unique and instantly recognizable. No one wrote like Kirby. In fact, some critics argued that no one, not even Kirby, should write like Kirby.

Anyway, Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles sent the star-spangled avenger on a journey through American history, with each chapter embellished by a different inker.

It was a spectacular story with a breathtaking scope. At 16, I was already evolving into the cynical adult I would soon become, yet Kirby’s story made me proud of my country, even in those wary post-Watergate days. It was a little piece of magic.

My original copy fell apart years ago and I replaced it (Yes, I also bought Marvel’s reprint a few years ago, but the tabloid version is still the one I take down and read each summer).

So I’ll enjoy the cookout and the fireworks and my family today. But sometime before the day ends I’ll relive the best part of the summer of 1976 with my shield-slinging hero.

I hope you have a great Fourth of July.

Catching Up

2011-06-26T16:02:00.004-04:00

Now that Norma’s recovery is on track (or actually ahead of schedule, according to my totally non-professional observations) I’m starting to catch up on stuff. It’s slow progress, to be sure, but progress nonetheless.

I’m back to working on Dead Earth 3. In fact, Dave and I have just worked out the novel’s finale. We’ll see how much of the plan survives to final draft. I love plotting out these books, just as much as I love seeing how much we deviate from the plan.

I am also going over what I hope will be the final edits on the first book in The Dead Sheriff series. I really want this one to come out soon.

Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye is here. I got my copies this week. I’ll post a pic when I have more time. The book looks great. I’m planning a couple of promotions to give away copies of the collection. Keep watching this space.

We’ve been watching the last season of Burn Notice. I have several episodes on the DVR, along with the Sam Axe movie. It’s one of my favorite shows. Even if Fiona rarely wears a bra.

That’s a joke, son.

I’m still working on the next Pod of Horror. Events of the past few weeks have put the show on hold. I’m hoping to have a new episode ready by mid-July, depending on how things go.

We also watched Crazy Heart last night, with Jeff Bridges as a down and out country singer. He was phenomenal in the role. The rest of the flick was equally well-cast. Highly recommended.

I also have been cooking a bit, under Norma’s guidance. It reminds me of the idea I had to combine two popular genres into a cooking/ghost-hunting TV show.

It would take place in the kitchen of a different house each week. Norma would make a fabulous recipe, while I would wander around behind her with my cool ghost hunting electronics and things like “Did you hear that?” and “If you’re here, send us a sign” and “I hope that shows up on the tape” and “The temperature just dropped 30 degrees. Can you feel that?”

This has “hit” written all over it. Interested networks can contact me here. Have your checkbook ready.

Pulp Fever

2011-06-24T08:26:00.005-04:00

It’s a recurring disease that hits me every summer. Suddenly, the thought of reading “legitimate” fiction is repulsive. I need grotesque and heinous villains, larger than life heroes, mayhem and hot lead.

I have no choice. I have to read pulp fiction.

Over the next couple of months I’ll read a few escapades of Doc Savage, several Spider thrillers, a couple of Phantom Detectives, A G-8 WWI adventure, maybe an Avenger or a Secret Agent X or Captain Future, supplemented with a couple of Candid Camera Kid tales and a Suicide Squad adventure.

When summer rolls around pulp becomes my crack.

I also have to write pulp fiction.

Yes, I love reading and writing horror, but the 12-year-old that still lives inside me occasionally must have his way. And he wants more pulp from my keyboard.

I hope to write a big chunk of Donovan Pike and The City of the Gods in the next few weeks.

I also have two other big pulp projects in the work, one set in the anything-can-happen blood and thunder 1930s and the other in World War 2.

I’m not sure yet where they’ll show up. Perhaps over at Pulp Nocturne, or maybe I’ll self-publish. Take it from me, nobody is getting rich from pulp fiction. At least not the writers. You write it because you have to.

By the way, new pulp fiction is becoming quite the cottage industry. There’s some good stuff being published by the next generation of pulp writers. At the same time, some of the stuff is simply awful. But that’s the way of most things.

(Quick aside: the fandom that has sprung up over the new pulp fiction is a little schizophrenic. On one hand it’s great to see a lot of enthusiasm over something I’ve loved since I was 9 years old. At the same time, the territorial fiefdom of fandom can be a little confusing. A few years ago I was invited to join a blog for pulp writers. This was about the time that a publisher (not associated with the members of the blog) was beginning a series of pulp facsimile reprints of Doc Savage and Shadow novels. I made a post about the topic on said blog, only to see the post deleted because I had violated the unstated rule of talking about a pulp project that wasn’t originated by a blog member. Later, I was asked to leave the blog because I wasn’t posting enough.

The other day I dropped in on the blog and discovered a post heralding the new series of original Doc Savage novels.

The unstated rules have apparently been rewritten.)

Anyway, the pulp fever rages and Tylenol can’t touch it. Time to dig through the boxes of moldering paper. There’s a dirigible and a tommy gun waiting for me.

Joke of the Week

2011-06-18T14:01:00.000-04:00

A man staggers into an emergency room with two black eyes and a golf club wrapped tightly around his throat. Naturally the doctor asks him what happened.

"Well, it was like this," said the man. "I was having a quiet round of golf with my wife when she sliced her ball into a pasture of cows. We went to look for it and while I was rooting around, I noticed one of the cows had something white at its rear end. I walked over and lifted up the tail and sure enough, there was my wife's golf ball... stuck right in the middle of the cow's butt. That's when I made my mistake."

"What did you do?" asks the doctor.

"Well, I lifted the tail and yelled to my wife, 'Hey, this looks like yours!'"

Donovan Pike and The City of the Gods

2011-06-16T10:18:00.001-04:00

Two new chapters of my pulp adventure novel have gone up this week. You can check them out at Pulp Nocturne.

The Man of Bronze Is Back

2011-06-15T12:09:00.002-04:00

Altus Press has just announced a series of new Doc Savage novels to begin in July.

For those who don’t know, Doc Savage was an adventure magazine published by Street and Smith in the golden age of pulps, the 30s and 40s.

In the 1960s, Bantam Books began reprinting the pulp novels, covered by striking paintings by James Bama. Eventually, Bantam reprinted the entire series, included an unpublished novel from the pulp era. Afterwards new Doc books appeared, first from science fiction legend and uber-Doc fan Philip Jose Farmer, then several books written by pulp historian Will Murray, based on unpublished work by primary Doc Savage writer Lester Dent.

Apparently, this new series by Murray, titled The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage (which makes me think Doc is teaming up with Austin Powers; Yeah, baby!), will also be based upon Dent’s unpublished notes, outlines and fragments.

As a Doc fan since my uncle gave me three of the paperbacks in the late 60s*, I am excited to have the chance to read new Doc novels and I hope the series is a massive success.

However, some of the Savage novels Murray wrote in the 1990s suffered from excessive length. Doc works best as a short, lightning fast adventure tale. Frankly, a couple of the 90s novels were a trudge through the mud. Whether the word count was imposed by the publisher or was the author’s choice, I hope the new series gets back to the sleek, rocket ride that made up the best of Dent’s pulp yarns.

I’ll definitely be there when the first one rolls off the press next month.

*For those completest out there, my first three Doc novels were Dust of Death, The Flaming Falcons and The Other World.

It's Been A While

2011-06-15T11:42:00.000-04:00

Two weeks ago today my wife Norma Kay had heart surgery. Discussing her health online makes her just a tad uncomfortable, so let me just say that she is improving and, in my opinion, her recovery is ahead of schedule. As I’ve said elsewhere, my wife is the kindest, gentlest and most unselfish person I’ve ever known, and the world is a better place with her in it.

We both appreciate the unbelievable outpouring of support, prayers, well-wishes, visits and calls. We have amazing friends and family, and we are humbled by your response.

Hopefully, you’ll understand if I’m late in responding to emails or other correspondence. I’m working to catch up now.

I’m also endeavoring to make up for lost time on writing assignments. I just sent off my latest installment of the next Dead Earth novel to Dave Wilbanks. I have the final Dead Sheriff edits to do this week and a short story to write.

The past three weeks have been dizzying and, at times, terrifying, but I think both of us will end up being stronger (and healthier) because of it.

Thanks for your continued support.

My New Favorite Song

2011-05-24T15:10:00.002-04:00

Eric Bibb's cover of Guy Clark's "The Cape".

Joke of the Week

2011-05-23T14:20:00.000-04:00

A young couple were driving down the road one day, happily, deliriously in love and due to be married the next day. Suddenly, a large truck swerved from the oncoming lanes into their car! BOOM! And they both died.

At the Pearly Gates, the young couple confronted St. Peter. "Sir, you have to help us! We were to be married tomorrow. Is there any way we can be married in Heaven?"

"Hmmm," replied St. Peter, "I don't recall there ever being a marriage in Heaven. Well, let's take it up with God and see what he says."

So they approached God with their plea. God sat for a moment, pondering the request. Then he looked down and said, "Come back in five years and ask me again."

Five years later, the couple approached God again, even more in love than ever and pleading that he allow their marriage. God paused for quite a while, musing over their request. Then he spoke, "Come back in five years and ask me again."

And once again, five years later, the couple was again in the presence of God, more in love than ever and begging God's permission for the third time to marry. This time God smiled broadly and thundered, "Yes my children, you may marry!"

Well, the wedding went off beautifully, the reception was huge, everyone thought the bride was simply breathtaking and the groom was soooo handsome, and everyone was happy! Until...

Two years later, the couple was back before God, and things were not looking so good. The couple had come to the realization almost immediately that although marriages were made in heaven, they didn't last very long there! And, in spite of their struggles to come to terms with the situation, they had decided there simply was no alternative but to get a divorce.

Black clouds fractured by lightening rolled across the sky, and the ground shook with explosive thunder. God glared down at the tiny couple before him, his face becoming dark and angry, and he roared, "Divorce?! Impossible!!! It took us TEN years just to find a priest in Heaven! Do you have any idea how long it will take to find a LAWYER?!!"

Another Book Sighting

2011-05-19T07:07:00.003-04:00

My new collection Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye is now available at Barnes and Noble.

Also, here's the link for ordering it at Amazon.

Or, if you prefer to order directly from the publisher, we've got you covered there, too.

Interview With Me

2011-05-13T13:17:00.001-04:00

Since Blogger ate the first version of this post, here's another link to Matt Cowan's interview with me at Vintage Horror.

Thanks to Matt. He's a great guy and a true fan of horror fiction.

If Superheroes Had Been in Charge of the Osama Bin Laden Mission

2011-05-10T14:43:00.002-04:00

Looking at Amazon

2011-05-09T17:09:00.004-04:00

Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye, my new collection, is now available from Amazon.com.

I know some book readers prefer to order there, so here's the link.

Teaser

2011-05-07T13:10:00.005-04:00

If you drop by here on occasion, you know that my collection Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye is now available to be ordered (Just $13.95 if you order now.)

My publisher asked for a piece for their newsletter that included an excerpt from one of the stories. Here's what I gave them.

Is It Okay To Laugh When a Man is Chewing His Way Through Another Man’s Entrails?

By Mark Justice

Let’s start with a confession. Maybe it will be good for my soul. Lord knows I need all the help I can get.

I love horror. I love writing horror. But, sometimes, humor wants to creep in.

Case in point: “Deadnecks”. I wanted to write a story about a few good ol’ boys in a small town being turned into zombies. After all, we’ve all seen the zombies at the mall and shambling through the streets of a big city. How would zombies shamble through the hollow (or, as we call it back home, the holler)?

Little did I know when I typed the first sentence that my zombies would still want to drink beer, watch NASCAR and hang out at the neighborhood watering hole long after they got the craving for flesh. Sure, there’s plenty of gore in “Deadnecks” and its sequel, “Deadneck Reckoning” but there are some chuckles, too. The first story was published in Dark Discoveries magazine, and both tales ended up in a beautiful chapbook from Novello publishers, which quickly went out of print. Now the stories bookend my collection, Looking at the World with Broken Glass in My Eye.

Those beer-swilling dead guys weren’t originally part of the book. As submitted to another publisher, the book was a leaner collection of an original novella—Deadtown (notice a theme in my titles?)—and a few of my short stories. When the first publisher trimmed his line, he dropped the book, and I was free to shop it around. By the time it landed at Graveside Tales, it had “swole up like a poisoned dog”, as pappy used to say. I added several more stories—some straight horror, others my peculiar horror-humor combo. I also decided enough time had passed that the Deadneck stories would rise again.

(Also, the other publisher wanted to change my weird, long title. But, hey, it’s my weird, long title and I look it, so it’s back on the book.)

(And pardon another brief digression, there are other Deadneck stories, and since I am occasionally asked about this: yes, there will one day be a Deadnecks novel. Keep watching the skies. I mean, the bar that’s showing the race.)

So now you get over 100,000 words of horror. And much of it is straight-ahead, full-tilt, eyeball-clawing scary fiction. All for such a low price, you could probably find enough change in the floorboard of your Ford Falcon to cover it.

To tempt you into placing an order, here’s a teaser, the beginning of a story called “Nursing Home of the Gods”. Enjoy.

Anubis settled onto the cracked linoleum of the rec room couch, sighing when he found a spot that didn’t poke the frayed fabric of his robe. The television was on, as always, blaring some insipid game show. Anubis had requested The History Channel but the others had overruled him. In the corner, Mammu played checkers with a large coyote, probably one of the Native American deities.

While the annoying game show host blathered on about phrasing answers in the form of a question, Bastet came in curled up in a chair opposite Anubis. They had never been overly fond of each other, but Anubis found her to be less irritating than some of the others in his pantheon.

“What’s up, Nooby,” she said.

“Please don’t call me that.” Nicknames were demeaning, robbing one of one’s dignity. And Gods knew dignity was in short supply at this place.

Bastet laughed and lit a cigarette. With her free hand she stroked her whiskers, smiling at him through the cloud of smoke.

“You hear about Zeus?” she said.

“What happened?”

Bastet drew a long nail across her neck. “Last night.”

Inwardly, Anubis shuddered. Another one gone.

At least Zeus didn’t have to sit on this couch and watch game shows anymore.

A clockwork nurse clicked and whirred to the couch. She offered Anubis a cup of pills.

“Do you have one that can make me young?” he said.

The eyes of the nurse shuttered open and closed until he took the pills and swallowed them down. He hoped one of them was a laxative. Anubis felt like he’d been backed up since The Exodus.

The nurse handed Bastet her pills, then clacked away, only to be replaced by the rolling roar of another resident.

“Ho, dogface!” the newcomer bellowed.

“Thor,” Anubis said, less than enthusiastically. He’d given up trying to explain the difference between a dog and a jackal to the senile warrior.

The wheelchair bound god rolled up close to Bastet. Anubius thought he smelled like urine.

“Ah, cat head. How fare thee?”

“Okey-doke,” Bastet said.

“Tis my birthday,” Thor proclaimed. “Can thou guess mine age?”

“Hmmm,” Bastet said. She dropped her cigarette to the floor and crushed it out with one slippered foot. “I think I can, but I’m going to have to see your hammer.”

Thor reached for the stone mallet that always hung from his belt.

“Not that hammer,” Bastet said.

It took a moment, but realization slowly dawned on the Norse god’s bearded face. He raised his loincloth to display the largest penis Anubis had ever seen.

Bastet lifted the organ with both hands, stroking it to rigidity, a process that took several minutes. Finally she said, “You’re three thousand seven hundred thirty-seven.”

Thor gazed at her in open-mouthed wonder. “How didst thou know?”

Bastet turned loose of the organ and smiled. “You told me yesterday.”

To be continued…

Start Looking

2011-05-01T15:26:00.003-04:00

My collection Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye is now available for pre-order from Graveside Tales. For a limited time, as they say on TV, the book is only $13.95.

It's over 100,000 words of chills (with the occasional chuckle thrown in). It's reprints the sold-out Deadneck Hootenanny (thus the chuckles) and includes two previously unpublished novellas.

Get your copy by heading over here.

The Perils of Vocabulary

2011-05-01T09:37:00.002-04:00

While speaking at the Dogwood Writing Conference yesterday, I recalled the first story I ever wrote (or the first I finished; I’m sure there were several earlier attempts).

I was in sixth grade, and when I was given the assignment, I set pencil to paper and wrote a story about a bullied sixth-grader who responded by developing destructive telekinetic powers (and this was in the 1960s, long before Stephen King’s Carrie).

The lined notebook paper with my story has long been lost, but I remember that in his rage and fear, the boy destroyed the school, killing the staff and the students. Had a kid written that story today he would probably be hauled off to a shrink and put on a Homeland Security watch list.

Instead, my teacher accused me of plagiarizing the story or of having someone else write it for me.

She said the writing was too advanced for my age, and she was particularly troubled by my use of the word “visage” to describe the bullied boy’s face.

To say I was devastated would be a massive understatement. Like a lot of kids, I craved the approval of the authority figures in my life, especially my parents and teachers. Now I had not only failed to please my teacher, she was accusing me of cheating.

Even now, I remember my frustration and, yes, my fear. I imagined being punished or even kicked out of school. Even worse, the incident could follow me around forever as part of that eternal threat from the forces of education, my Permanent Record.

I tried to explain to her that I had come across “visage” dozens of time in books and, especially, the Marvel comics written by Stan Lee. She wasn’t buying it.

Here comes the part that separates true stories from fiction: I don’t remember how it ended.

I think my parents got involved. If so, they would have told my teacher about my voracious reading habit. And my father would have certainly lost his temper. It was something he did very well.

Ultimately, life went on and my permanent record was unscathed. I got an early lesson in handling rejection. Sometimes I think it would be cool if Dad was still around to yell at publishers for me.

Thanks to the Dogwood Writing Conference for the invitation to speak. The audience asked some great questions and bought several of my books. Being around like-minded people for a little while is always a good experience.

The location was the lodge at Greenbo Lake State Resort Park, a gorgeous setting. Here’s a pic of the lodge, likely taken a few years ago:

Updated Book Cover

2011-04-28T12:44:00.002-04:00

Click cover to biggie-fy

Coming soon to an online bookseller.

Writing Talk

2011-04-27T18:01:00.005-04:00

I'll be doing a panel at the Dogwood Writing Conference, Saturday April 30, titled "Writing Outside the Genre Box". It starts at 9:00 A.M. and the conference is at Greenbo Lake State Resort Park.

It's a gorgeous location, and here's one thing I know for sure at my panel: it's at 9:00 A.M.

I'll provide more details as they are given to me.

UPDATE:

The talk has a new title: "Thrills, Chills, Collaborations and Podcasts" and it's set to run for 45 minutes. I hope there's coffee.

Oh, and I will have books to sell.

Writing Update

2011-04-23T11:54:00.002-04:00

It’s been a while since I’ve done this. Here are where the current writing projects stand.

Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye is done, as mentioned in the last post, and should be available in a few weeks.

Book One of The Dead Sheriff, my supernatural western series, has gone through several rounds of editing and appears to be finished. A release date has not been set but I expect it to be out by summer. Watch this space for future updates.

The third Dead Earth book continues along nicely. I would think it should be finished by the end of May, If accepted by the publisher, it could be in print early next year. Of course, that’s merely speculation on my part.

My novella The Ghosts of Logan County is nearing completion. It’s been put on hold a few times, due to the projects we’ve just discussed, and for some additional research.

Also, I continue to update Donovan Pike and the City of the Gods over at Pulp Nocturne. Work on that pulp adventure novel continues when my schedule permits. I’m having a great time writing it, and the novel is only going to get wilder as it progresses.

Other projects are bubbling just under the surface, though I am hesitant to mention them yet. I have enough on my plate, along with my job, to fill most of my writing time.

I do have a humorous horror story I want to write for an upcoming anthology. I also recently received two interesting invitations to licensed-character anthologies. I’m waiting to hear more details, including deadlines, before I commit. Anything else I sign on for has to fit into my crowded schedule or I can’t do it. This is me trying to learn a lesson from my past.

Also, Pod of Horror #65 is coming along. I’m aiming for a mid-to-late May premiere date.

Okay. You’re updated. Now it’s time for more coffee and much more typing.

Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye

2011-04-19T07:24:00.003-04:00

This is the cover of my collection due out in the next few weeks from Graveside Tales.

It contains about 100,000 words of fiction, much of it unpublished. The collection also includes the long sold-out Deadneck Hootenanny and two original novellas.

Here's the lineup:

Introduction by Ronald Kelly

Author’s Foreword

Deadnecks

Black Wings

Closure-Unpublished

Life’s Work

Father’s Day

Nursing Home of the Gods-Unpublished

Auschlander’s Gem-Unpublished

Looking at the World with Broken Glass in my Eye-Unpublished

Hell is a Lonely Street-Unpublished

The Losers Vs Beelphegor

Song of the Bones

Deadtown-Unpublished

Agent of Death-Unpublished

Hole in the Sky

The Truths We Cannot Bear-Unpublished

Das Hollenfeuer

The Autumn Man-Unpublished

Deadneck Reckoning

As soon as the book is available, I'll give you a link.

Sex-Charged

2011-04-12T18:06:00.004-04:00

I got a mention in Nick Cato's review of the long-awaited, long-delayed anthology In Laymon's Terms. Here's what Nick said:

Mark Justice’s ‘The Red Kingdom’ is a sex-charged thriller dealing with blood-soaked “amazons” attempting to bring their Dark Lord back to earth (did I mention this one was sex-charged?).

You can read the full review here.

The book is a tribute to the influential and much-admired horror writer Richard Laymon, who died too young in 2001. As his readers know, Laymon often used sex to advance the plot in his novels and stories, and I was happy to do the same in my tale.

How long has the book been delayed? I sold the story in February 2003. It was my first professional sale.

By the way, Laymon was one of the nicest guys I've had the privilege to interview. He also seemed to greatly enjoy the genre he worked in and expressed delight when I told him his books gave me the same thrill I got from seeing a cool B horror movie at the drive in.

As a writer, Richard Laymon has long been an idol of mine. His A Writer's Tale is one of the best books on writing ever published, and long overdue for a reprinting in an affordable edition. If you've never tried him, I'd like to suggest that you start with two of his finest novels, here and here.

Pod of Horror #64

2011-04-11T13:49:00.004-04:00

On Pod of Horror #64, legendary horror writer Ronald Kelly discusses his many upcoming projects and reveals the publisher of the Essential Ronald Kelly Collection, reprinting all of his novels from the 80s and 90s. Also, Jason L. Keene’s Moonshine Matinee explains that hoodoo and afros can be a powerful combination. In the Call of Kalanta, Nanci covers the news of note in the horror field, and the pile o’ prizes grows large and threatening in The Tomb of Trivia. Get it at iTunes or download it here. Pod of Horror is hosted and produced by Mark Justice.

PoH has a new message board.

And a Facebook page.

New Five Star Review of Dead Earth: The Green Dawn

2011-04-10T11:01:00.002-04:00

From Amazon:

"Fun read with an alien twist on the Dawn of the Dead-type Zombie genre. The
book's charms are that its fast-paced & does not take itself too seriously -
the tone reminds me of the Evil Dead movies. The book's only negative is
that it ends with the reader wanting more (which the sequel promises to
deliver)"

A Dead Earth Interview

2011-04-04T18:08:00.002-04:00

Dave Wilbanks and I talk about our zombies and aliens and Marvel Comics.

Inspiration, Motivation and Masturbation

2011-03-02T07:53:00.001-05:00

I have a new column up now at Horror World. You can read it here.

Winter Writing

2011-02-06T11:04:00.006-05:00

There’s little to report this time around, except work continues on the third–and still untitled–Dead Earth novel. At this point, the writing is going well and it feels like a great story. I know I’m having fun.

When I’m not taking my turn on DE3, I’m writing a long horror novella. I’m aiming for 35 thousand words. The story has produced a character that I’m fascinated with, and one that may show up in future tales, provided he survives. We’ll see. Meanwhile, the novella is set during the blistering heat of summer. Is that a reaction to the weather outside the window while I'm writing? Probably. Am I asking questions of myself and answering them ala Donald Rumsfeld? Yes. Yes, I am.

By the way, the novella finally has a title. It’s The Ghosts of Logan County.

Digital Pulp

2011-01-31T06:29:00.004-05:00

Black Bat Mystery, the pulp anthology I was a part of, has gone digital. Now you can get all the action and adventure on your e-reader. Click here, then scroll to the end.

Dead Earth in Horror Fiction Review

2011-01-31T06:21:00.004-05:00

I've loved Horror Fiction Review, dating back to the days when it was a photocopied and stapled fanzine that arrived via the post office. Now it's a digital zine, and I'm happy that Dead Earth: The Vengeance Road was reviewed in the new issue. Check it out.

Pod of Horror #63

2011-01-30T08:11:00.002-05:00

Pod of Horror is back with over two hours of ghastly goodness. On episode #63, we talk books with Necon’s Bob Booth and Matt Bechtel, author/actor Michael Boatman, Pod of Horror co-founder David T. Wilbanks, and Cutting Block Press’s R. J. Cavender. Nanci has the news, Jason L. Keene critiques the movies and we introduce our new book review segment, Scary Words. We’re also giving away a bunch of great books in The Tomb of Trivia. Get it at iTunes or download it here. Pod of Horror is hosted and produced by Mark Justice.

Don't forget to check out the new PoH message board.

Pod of Horror Message Board

2011-01-29T15:29:00.004-05:00

It just went up at Horror World. Do drop by with your questions and comments and random observations.

Later today, I hope to be back here to tell you that the new episode of Pod of Horror is at long last available for your listening pleasure.

The Social Podcast

2011-01-23T16:50:00.005-05:00

Pod of Horror, the Internet radio show I do with Nanci Kalanta and Jason L. Keene, finally got a Facebook page.

This is where all PoH-related announcements will be made first. If you're on Facebook, I hope you'll give us a "Like".

The next episode of PoH should go live next weekend.

***

It's been a productive writing week.

We made great progress on Dead Earth 3 (more on that on the next Pod of Horror).

Both Dead Earth books are selling well. Dead Earth: The Green Dawn is an especially good deal for your e-reader--zombies, aliens and much ass-kicking, all for 3 bucks.

In an Amazon oddity, the e-book versions of the two Dead Earth books appear in two different fiction categories. Dave Wilbanks discusses that here.

I also finished my revisions and edits on my supernatural western series The Dead Sheriff. I'll have a lot more on this as it gets closer to publication.

Now I'm working on an untitled novella set in West Virgina. There are no zombies or aliens in this one; just ghosts, grief and a Drive-In theater. Giddyup!

Chiller Theater/Why Horror/The Dead Sheriff

2011-01-16T17:08:00.006-05:00

This morning, The New York Times ran an article on SyFy’s so-bad-they’re-fun original movies. This line caught my attention:

Syfy’s Saturday-night movies harken back to the so-called “creature feature” days of local television. Starting on a widespread basis in the 1960s and continuing through the 1980s stations programmed off-peak hours with old horror movies like “Creature From the Black Lagoon.”

Anybody who reads or writes the stuff I love has gotten some variation of this question: “Why horror?”

(Of course, it’s sometimes phrased differently. As in Why do you read that junk/ that crap/that weird shit, and the line is delivered by someone who, upon discovering your copy of Night of the Crabs by Guy N. Smith or Salem’s Lot by Stephen King or, going back further, a copy of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, looks like he or she just bit into a nice steak only to find it was filled with thick, squirming maggots.)

Here’s my answer: Chiller Theater.

Chiller Theater ran on Channel 13 in Huntington, WV, from the time I was a child until sometime in the 80s. By the end, they ran the pre-packaged Elvira show and I rarely tuned in.

When I say “a child”, I mean exactly that. One of my earliest memories is a Saturday when I was sick and my parents let me stay up to watch Chiller Theater. I remember walking down the stairs from my bedroom, realizing I had never walked down those steps at night.

We moved from that house when I was four.

So this horror thing has been with me for a while.

Channel 13 (which went by the call letters WHTN when I first tuned in, then later became WOWK), unlike many stations in other markets, never had a horror host, at least that I recall. For a couple of years, they had an out of focus dude with Christmas lights on his clothes moaning about something, but I usually took advantage of his time on-screen to run to the bathroom or get a snack. Remember, those were the pre-VCR or DVR days.

During one period, Chiller Theater had Barnabas Collins doing the weekly opening. Channel 13 was an ABC affiliate at the time (they’re with CBS now) and Dark Shadows was a popular ABC daytime soap (and the only soap with vampires and werewolves). Jonathan Frid, the actor who played the tortured, blood-sucking Barnabas, made a publicity stop in Huntington, and the TV station got him to record some brief segments for Chiller.

Since Dark Shadows was also one of my favorite shows, this was awesome.

At least for the first couple of years.

After a while, it sunk in that the TV station only had Frid for a short time, and they ran the small handful of Barnabas bits over and over and over.

But, God, I loved all those horror movies. Chiller was where I was introduced to the classic Universal monsters and the darker and sexier Hammer flicks. It’s also where I saw the AIP library. Even then, I knew a lot of it was crap, but who could resist tuning in to The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow? And don’t forget, AIP also gave us all those cool Vincent Price movies based on the works of Poe that ran every few month during my adolescence.

So if you are wondering “Why horror?” it’s because of Chiller Theater. And Dark Shadows. And Famous Monsters of Filmland and Marvel Comics like Werewolf By Night and Tomb of Dracula and Ghost Rider and The Living Mummy.

***

I got some writing done this weekend, including my latest section of the third Dead Earth novel and another chapter of Donovan Pike and the City of the Gods (that’s three chapters in a week, kids) over at Pulp Nocturne.

I started revisions on The Dead Sheriff today. This is going to take more than the couple of days I set aside for it. There are so many red editorial comments on every page, it looks like the manuscript was used to clean up after a Manson Family party.

I need to hire an editor to edit my stuff before it goes to the actual editor.

Anyway, there are several good editorial suggestions regarding the plot, and I have to give them serious consideration. This will be my major project for the next week or so, along with prepping the next episode of Pod of Horror.

What’s next?

I’ll be getting back to a novella set in West Virginia. It’s a ghost story, and I did some research for it a couple of months ago. It will be good to get the story written.

After that, I’m revising a horror novel to submit to a publisher.

I also have an idea for a 12-issue horror/SF comic book series. I’d like to type up the proposal and script the first issue, but it has to sit on the back row for a while. My 2011 vow is to stick to my schedule. Besides, some ideas get better with age.

Now I need to go find a copy of The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow.

Brief Update

2011-01-13T18:11:00.009-05:00

For those keeping score at home, I submitted the long (and long overdue) story yesterday. That's one more 2010 obligation out of the way. I'll be sure to let you know when it will be in print. Of course, the editor could always reject it, but I think it's pretty good, and regardless of what happens with it now, I'm happy I finished it.

Today, I also crossed another late assignment off my list, this one a book review.

And I put up a new chapter of Donovan Pike and the City of the Gods over at Pulp Nocturne.

That clears the schedule for a couple of days. Dave Wilbanks sent the Dead Earth 3 manuscript to me last night, so I'll be focusing on it for the next two days. Then I'll do the edits on the first Dead Sheriff prose book, which should be published in the spring. Evileye Books gave me a great editor for the series, and he provided the best notes I've ever received on a project. I'm looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and digging into it.

So far Operation Catch-Up is going well. Don't confuse it with Operation Ketchup, something I plan to combine with Operation Tater Tot later this weekend.

So how was your week?

Machete Don't Blog

2011-01-09T17:42:00.005-05:00

But I do.

So let me use the space to tell you if you ever went to a drive-in theater or have enjoyed an exploitation flick, then Machete is must-see viewing.

If you don’t enjoy over-the-top violence, gore and nudity, well, I don’t wanna know you.

Director Robert Rodriguez and his cast have their tongues buried to the hilt in their cheeks for Machete. From the scratchy film in the opening scene to the way every wound fountains arterial blood like a Monty Python skit, this movie is a hoot.

It is such a drive-in flick, at one point I swear I could taste the stale popcorn my local passion pit served.

Speaking of the cast, how did they get Robert DeNiro for this?? The stellar list of actors include Don Johnson, Jessica Alba, Cheech Marin, Michelle Rodriguez, Jeff Fahey and a bloated Steven Segal. The title character is played by the ubiquitous Danny Trejo, who proves you don’t have to be pretty to carry an action flick.
If you still don’t think this movie is for you, allow me to borrow from Joe Bob Briggs. Machete features weedwhacker fu, shoe fu, meat thermometer fu and, in one of the movie’s funniest scene, intestines fu.

Still not convinced? The movie has a naked Lindsay Lohan, a sorta naked Jessica Alba and a nearly-naked and phenomenally buff Michelle Rodriguez.

Here’s hoping there's a sequel some time soon.

***

The writing has gone well this weekend.

I polished my latest section of Dead Earth 3 (nobody, by the way, likes my title: Dead Earth 3-D) and sent it to Dave Wilbanks, then spent the bulk of the day working on that overdue story that is trying to become my personal Waterloo. Fortunately, I have the beast pinned to the mat. Let’s see if I can hold it there until the ref finishes his count.

Write On

2011-01-08T20:21:00.003-05:00

For those who are interested, work continues on the third – and currently title-less – Dead Earth novel. I finished my first pass at my most recent section earlier today. I’ll give it a polish tomorrow and send it back to Mister Wilbanks.

It’s still very early in the proceedings, but I have a good feeling about where this one is headed. Several possible cool twists occurred to me during today’s writing, so I’ll pass those on to Dave, so he can mock them. Hopefully, at least one of the ideas will make the final cut.

After a long delay, I also posted a new chapter of Donovan Pike and the City of the Gods, my pulp adventure novel. You can check it out at Pulp Nocturne.

Another DEAD Review

2011-01-06T15:26:00.003-05:00

Author, editor, talk show host and publisher Nick Cato has read Dead Earth: The Vengeance Road and he liked it.

True Grit

2011-01-02T21:51:00.003-05:00

The new version of the 1969 John Wayne/Glen Campbell/Kim Darby flick (which is supposed to be more faithful to the Charles Portis novel, which I have never read) is a pleasant surprise. It's a good western which also succeeds as a great movie.

The Coen Brothers have crafted a solid and entertaining film, resisting the need to bombard the audience with quick edits, a modern soundtrack or distracting special effects. Instead, they created a solid script, hired superb actors and an excellent cinematographer, and came up with a film that is violent, touching and surprisingly funny.

Speaking of superb actors, Hallie Steinfeld is a revelation as Mattie Ross. She should have been third-billed in the credits, ahead of Josh Brolin, whose role is comparatively brief.

Jeff Bridges, as Rooster Cogburn, deserves another Oscar nomination.

But the thing that pleased me the most about True Grit was that Glen Campbell wasn't in it.

Next, they need to make a movie about the breakfast my Dad always forced on us when we were on family vacations. But would anyone go to see True Grits?

2011, Day One

2011-01-01T15:22:00.006-05:00

Today I wrote the first words in the new Dead Earth novel. Later, I'll be working to finish up a long overdue story.

Welcome to the new year.

Here are the random thoughts rattling through my head today:

The Larry Sanders Show is the greatest sitcom ever. Hanging in at #2: The Andy Griffith Show (the first five seasons only). I have worked with Hank Kingsley.

I am to technology what Blatz beer is to gourmet dining.

The strongest force on earth is Jennifer Aniston's nipples. Nothing can stop them.

Can't they lie to Dick Clark and just pretend the camera is on?

When certain guests come over, hide the good beer.

If you look up "mediocre" in the dictionary, you'll find a picture of the Cincinnati Bengals playing the Cleveland Browns.

When did Vince Vaughn decide his new career path was making unfunny movies?

I refuse to pose for a Rex Ryan foot fetish video. I have my standards, you know.

You should never, ever say "good sir" unless you're working at a Renaissance festival.

Resolving to be Resolute

2010-12-28T12:54:00.004-05:00

So. Here we are. The year ends, and since we use this arbitrary system of dates to mark beginnings and endings, let me just say, “Adios, 2010, you rat bastard.”

There was a lot of good this year, to be sure. But the year was also filled with many frustrating roadblocks, from a health problem that had a serious impact on my productivity, to family drama to those charming little surprises the universe tosses your way from time to time. I accomplished perhaps one-tenth of what I had planned this year.

And it’s all my fault.

My time management skills went out the window in January. Or I got Time Management Amnesia. In any case, my schedule became a game of Jenga, with work and writing commitments and personal responsibilities piling on one another until the tower of babbling buffoonery toppled.

I missed deadlines. I had to drop out of projects. Everything I managed to complete was very late. Some publishers were understanding and other not so much. I’m thankful for the former and I do not blame the latter. The second worst offense a writer can make is agreeing to a deadline and blowing it (the first is turning in a manuscript that reads as if it were shat out by a diarrhetic monkey).

Looking ahead, I’m working hard to get back on track. A big part of this is figuring out how to balance my writing with my day job. The job takes a lot of hours and I need to make a realistic writing schedule that reflects that.

This week I’m finishing up another long-overdue project. Next, Then Dave Wilbanks and I start writing the next Dead Earth novel on January 1. At the same time, I will do rewrites on the first Dead Sheriff prose book, then starting on a new horror novel, thanks to our collaboration schedule which allows me three days of “alone” writing time after turning in my latest segment of the DE novel. Following that, I will write the second Dead Sheriff book.

I will also continue my serialized pulp-adventure novel Donovan Pike and the City of the Gods.

There are other stories and novellas I would like to write next year. However, the projects mentioned above take precedent. Anything else will have to wait for the rare window in my schedule.

I also have to get better at saying no. Even though I’m near the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to writers, each year I do receive a smattering of invitations to write something for an anthology or other project. In 2011, the project will have to be either incredibly compelling or very lucrative to get me to sign on. That goes for audio book narrating, too.

Where does this hard-line scheduling leave Pod of Horror?

Good question. I love PoH. I love talking with other writers. I love working with my friend, the very patient Nanci Kalanta (but please don’t tell her I said that).

It takes me roughly 12-15 hours to put together a typical episode. That includes scheduling segments, prepping interviews, conducting interviews, editing, and the other boring details that are a part of every episode. Because of the previously mentioned day job–which gets even busier near the end of the year–I didn’t have 12 hours to spare in December, so there wasn’t a Pod of Horror.

Despite my best efforts to keep the show monthly, I end up producing far less. In 2010 there were only four episodes. Part of that is due to the issues that affected my productivity all year long. Still, I have to be honest with myself and admit that I won’t be doing 12 new episodes per year. I think a more realistic goal is 6 shows in 12 months. If I manage to squeeze in an extra show that will be gravy on the mashed potatoes, as we say back home.

I’ll check in regularly and let you know how the plan is working.

Fangora Reviews Dead Earth: The Vengeance Road

2010-12-28T11:30:00.002-05:00

On their website, Fangoria magazine gives a positive review to the novel. In my favorite quote,the reviewer says the book "packs in a heavy dose of blazing shoot-’em-up action and intense scares."

You can read the review in its entirety here.

You Are Invited

2010-12-09T15:34:00.003-05:00

One Reason Why I Always Need A Nap

2010-11-21T10:49:00.002-05:00

Pod of Horror #62: F. Paul Wilson and David Morrell

2010-11-09T17:48:00.005-05:00

Pod of Horror returns with a double dose of best-seller action. First, F. Paul Wilson talks about FATAL ERROR, the next-to-last Repairman Jack novel (sorta). And David Morrell tells us why he went Kindle-only with his new book, THE NAKED EDGE. In the Call of Kalanta, we get some news along with Nanci’s metamorphosis into a southern belle. And we have a bunch of free books in The Tomb of Trivia. Get it at iTunes or download it here. Pod of Horror is hosted and produced by Mark Justice.

Signage

2010-11-09T06:48:00.001-05:00

Dead Earth Review

2010-11-04T14:36:00.002-04:00

Here's a nice review of the first book in the series, Dead Earth: The Green Dawn.

More DEAD EARTH News

2010-11-02T17:33:00.001-04:00

Mark Justice and David T. Wilbanks' DEAD EARTH: THE VENGEANCE ROAD is now available in paperback and eBook. Order before Nov. 20 and get a FREE eBook of DEAD EARTH: THE GREEN DAWN as well! Go here for details.

Writing Dead Earth

2010-11-02T02:14:00.002-04:00

This month in my Horror World column, I discuss collaborating On the Dead Earth series with David T. Wilbanks. If you like behind-the-scenes stuff, you might enjoy it. It's like a special feature on a DVD.

You can read it here.

Dead Earth Interview

2010-11-01T09:27:00.002-04:00

David T. Wilbanks and I were interviewed by the International Thriller Writers regarding Dead Earth: The Vengeance Road. The result is in the new Big Thrill newsletter. You can read it here.