Feb 23 2012

The Atavist

This entry originally appeared on New England Horror Writers’ member, Paul Tremblay’s website.

The Atavist

by Paul Tremblay

Last month I saw journalist turned boutique publisher Evan Ratliff give a live talk/presentation of his impressive new venture,  The Atavist:

“The Atavist is a boutique publishing house producing original nonfiction stories for digital, mobile reading devices. We created a new genre of nonfiction, a digital form that lies in the space between long narrative magazine articles and traditional books and e-books.”

So, yeah, long form non-fiction published digitally. The hook (besides well-written, well-researched, thoughtful pieces) is–if you have an iPhone, iPod touch, iPad–their unique digital platform. The multi-media that accompanies each piece truly enhances the stories. Embedded pop-ups include maps, personality histories, side bars, audio clips, images related to the story, video, and on and on. Watch the YouTube video below for a demo. It’s impressive stuff, and for the first time, I feel like I’m seeing digital reading taking full advantage of the medium’s possibilities. (The publisher app is free, then each story costs $2.99 ; you chose whether or not to purchase)

Thus far, I’ve read Lifted, a story about an elaborate government bank heist in Sweeden (the story includes, as it’s stunning prologue, actual surveillance footage from the break in–clips included in the YouTube clip below) and Baghdad Country Club (animated prologue included below), a story about a bar set up in the Green Zone during the height of the Iraq war.

Feb 22 2012

Five Reasons to Lead a Workshop

Five Reasons to Lead a Workshop

by Kristi Petersen Schoonover

As writers, we’re expected to do everything: blog, publicize, teach, learn, read, critique, edit, revise, judge contests—let alone just write. Sometimes, an opportunity comes our way to lead a workshop, and sometimes, we pass because we’re just overwhelmed.

Left to right: Trisha Wooldridge, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, and TJ May

When New England Horror Writers’ members Trisha Wooldridge and TJ May asked me to be a co-presenter at a NEHW day-long workshop at Annie’s Book Stop in Worcester, MA, on February 4, I really had to think about it. I knew it was going to be just a couple of days after arriving in Provincetown, MA, for my annual winter stint at the Norman Mailer Writers Colony. I knew I didn’t want to go anywhere since it’s my time to disappear and write, write, write. But I said yes anyway, and I’m glad I did.

TJ covered the craft, I covered revision and critique, and Trisha covered business; the participants were engaged and seemed to have a great time. I learned a great deal in the process, as well as getting a refresher on some things I’d forgotten over the years. I left there jazzed, and as I was driving back to Provincetown, I thought that when we pass on a workshop presentation opportunity, we really do miss out.

Here are five reasons to never say no to leading a workshop:

1. Pay It Forward. Your workshop’s participants are there to learn from

The presenters and participants of the writers' workshop. Back row, left to right: Cheryl Cory, Tracy Vartanian, Deborah Sadenwater, L’Aura Hladik, Kris Star, Bob Blois, and Trisha Woodridge; front row, left to right: TJ May, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Lisa Jackson, and Jennifer Allis Provost.

you—the same way you once sat in a workshop eager to learn from the presenter. Sharing your experiences and knowledge with other writers is giving back what someone gave you— which helped make you the writer you are today.

2. Learn New Things—or Relearn Old Ones. Because writing tends to be discussed rather than instructed, there’s loads to learn or re-learn from either presenters or participants. Get ready to take notes!

3. Appreciate Your Success. Let’s face it, being a writer means getting beat up and feeling not-so-fresh sometimes. But when you start sharing your war stories, you begin to realize that no matter how many times you’ve failed, you’ve accomplished and know quite a bit—in fact, you’ve probably come a long way, baby!

4. Make New Friends. Writing is a solitary venture, and it’s usually an instant connection with someone else who does this solitary venture, too. Yes, you can make great contacts through workshops—but you can also make great new friends.

5. Get Inspired. There’s nothing like being around other writers and talking about the craft to give you a renewed ambition and sense of purpose. Spend a day around that energy and you’ll be driving home on a natural high—you just might spend the evening cranking out new material.

The next time you’re offered a chance to lead a workshop or to participate in one, don’t say no. You won’t regret it.

Feb 21 2012

Pictures from Queen City Kamikaze

Pictures from Queen City Kamikaze

by Jason Harris

Winner of the MS "Hell in a Hand Basket" Linda Jacobi, of Nashua, New Hampshire

From left to right: Pembroke, NH residents Gifford Scanlon and Kayla Scanlon, who was dressed as Saya Takagi.

Zombie on a leash.

Author Kristi Petersen Schoonover posing with Star Wars' characters.

The NEHW tables.

A convention-goer checking out a book.

Shea dressed as Vriska from Homestuck.

Sian Thomas, an intern at Dandelion Studios.

Feb 20 2012

The NEHW Survives High School a Second Time

The NEHW Survives High School a Second Time

by Stacey Longo

Nobody really wants to go back to high school, but that’s exactly what the New England Horror Writers did when they attended Queen City Kamikaze at Memorial High School in Manchester, NH on Feb. 18.

The NEHW had four tables set up at this anime and video game convention. While some skeptics might think that an auditorium filled with gaming consoles and Japanese animation may not be the best fit for a group of horror writers, the event was a huge success for NEHW. All throughout the day, fans young and old stopped by the booth to meet the authors, buy some books, and learn more about what it is, exactly, that is so fascinating about the horror genre. NEHW members Tracy Carbone, Alyn Day, Sarah Gomes, Scott Goudsward, Jason Harris, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Nathan Schoonover, Rob Watts, K. Allen Wood, and myself were on hand to meet the convention-goers. Author T.T. Zuma and Sci-Fi Saturday Night creators The Dome, the Dead Redhead, and Illustrator X stopped by the booth as well.

The attendees were largely made up of high school age students, dressed up in creative costumes that varied from anime and manga characters to the occasional Darth Vader and assorted storm troopers. While this particular writer would have never been allowed by my father to leave the house dressed in some of the outfits on display, the mood of the crowd was upbeat and squeals of excitement could be heard as each new Pikachu and Vegeta costume came through the door. Despite not really knowing who these characters were, the attendees’ enthusiasm was contagious, and the NEHW members had an entertaining day.

The Women in Horror panel. From left to right: Stacey Longo, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Alyn Day, and Tracy Carbone. Photo by Jason Harris

Tracy Carbone, Alyn Day, and Kristi Petersen Schoonover participated in a panel on Women in Horror, moderated by myself. The panel debated such topics as victimization of female characters in the horror genre and who would win in a catfight between Halloween’s Lori Strode and Nightmare on Elm Street’s Nancy Thompson. They were followed by a panel on Trends in Horror comprised of Nathan Schoonover, Rob Watts, K. Allen Wood, and myself. It was moderated by Jason Harris. This group discussed the cyclical nature of horror trends and deliberated over the future of shows like The Walking Dead and Finding Bigfoot. Audience participation was high for both panels, and both groups received enthusiastic applause at the end of the day.

Personally, I had a great time at Queen City Kamikaze. I gained a new fan (thank you, Artie!) and was able to visit with old friends and new. Book sales were high, buoyed by the morning’s announcement that the NEHW’s first anthology, Epitaphs, was now officially a Bram Stoker Awards nominee. Going back to high school wasn’t bad at all, but of course that should have been a given—no matter what the age, horror writers are usually considered to be the cool kids in class.

Feb 19 2012

Organization’s First Anthology Makes the HWA Final Ballot

Organization’s First Anthology Makes the HWA Final Ballot

by Jason Harris

It became official on Saturday, January 18, the New England Horror Writers’ first anthology is now a Stoker nominated collection.

Epitaphs is on the final ballot of the Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Awards for works published in 2011. The Awards will be presented at a gala banquet on Saturday, March 31, at the World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“It’s a great achievement for the NEHW to have its first anthology get this far,” Carbone, who is the editor of the collection, said on her Facebook page. “We all put in a tremendous amount of work in a short time to get this off the ground and I want to again thank the board and all the contributors.”

To purchase a copy of Epitaphs, click here.

Feb 16 2012

Panels at Queen City Kamikaze

The New England Horror Writers’ organization will conduct two panels this Saturday at the Queen City Kamikaze anime and video game convention in Manchester, New Hampshire.

The NEHW panels are titled: Women in Horror and Trends in Horror: From the Apocalypse to Zombies: Where is Horror Heading?. The Women in Horror will be moderated by author Stacey Longo and start at 4 p.m. She will be joined by fellow authors Tracey Carbone, Alyn Day, and Kristi Petersen Schoonover.

The Trends in Horror panel will start at 4:50 p.m. and be moderated by Jason Harris. His guests will be authors K. Allen Wood, Rob Watts, and Stacey Longo. Demonhunter Nathan Schoonover will also be joining the panel.

The Queen City Kamikaze Anime and Video Game convention takes place at the Manchester Memorial High School at 1 Crusader Way in Manchester, New Hampshire. It operates from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

For more information about the convention, click here.

Feb 15 2012

Queen City Kamikaze Happens Saturday

The Queen City Kamikaze anime and video game convention happens this Saturday in New Hampshire. It’s only days away and the New England Horror Writers’ organization is preparing to be there.

Authors Stacey Longo, Tracy Carbone, K. Allen Wood, Alyn Day, Rob Watts, Kristi Petersen Schoonover and Scott Goudsward will be selling and signing books at the convention. The Demonhunter a.k.a. Nathan Schoonover will also be on hand to talk about being a paranormal investigator for almost 20 years.

Here is the list of the books/magazines that will be available at the NEHW tables: Huldufolk, Shock Totem, Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole, Malicious Deviance, The Soul Collector, Trailer Trash, So Long And Thanks For All The Brains, Traps, Shroud magazine, Shadows over New England, The Zombie Feed, In Poe’s Shadow, Dark Things IV, Darkest Thirst, Shadows & Nightmares, Wake the Witch, Shadows over Florida, Daily Frights 2012, Nobody, Hell Hath No Fury, How the West Was Wicked, and 2012 Daily Bites of Flesh.

Epitaphs, the first NEHW anthology will also be available to buy. Longo, Wood, and Goudsward all have stories in this collection, which was edited by Carbone.

The Queen City Kamikaze Anime and Video Game convention takes place at the Manchester Memorial High School at 1 Crusader Way in Manchester, New Hampshire. It operates from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

For more information about the convention, click here.

Feb 14 2012

Rebecca Rosenblum: Oh my God, my friend is a writer! What do I do?

This article originally appeared in the National Post’s section, The Afterward, back in December.

Rebecca Rosenblum: Oh my God, my friend is a writer! What do I do?

Rebecca Rosenblum’s fiction has been short-listed for the Journey Prize, the National Magazine Award and the Danuta Gleed Award. Her first collection of stories Once (2008) was one of Quill & Quire’s 15 Books that Mattered. Her latest collection is titled The Big Dream (2011). Rosenblum lives, works and writes in Toronto. She will be guest editing The Afterword all this week.

Don’t panic—this is something most adults will eventually have to deal with, if only until they can find a way to leave the bar. Maybe it’s a new friend, that great guy or gal from work or the gym, who suddenly blurts it out as if you should have somehow known from his or her lack of dress sense and unfocused stare. Or maybe it’s a friend you’ve known for years, a trusted confidante who you’d never have suspected harboured such a secret. But now here you are, where you never expected to be—a person with a writer in your life.

Ok, so calm down, take a deep breath and think. Is this a friend you want to keep? Because if you’ve been dreaming of ditching him/her, now is your chance; writers are used to rejection.

But say you like your friend enough to overcome this objectionable habit. How then to keep on spending time together, sanely, safely, without undo melodrama or romantic-poetry intake (which can be one and the same)? Here is my handy FAQ below—how to be friends with a writer.

Will my writing friend drink during the day/be surely at dinner parties/refuse to hold down a job?

Actually, that’s not a writer you’re describing; that’s a midlife crisis. Most writers support themselves and their families adequately, try to be kind to their friends and their partners, and many have jobs or at least some unliterary human interaction in their lives in addition to their writing. Sure, there might be a modest amount of nihilism, but this more usually takes the form of a third beer on a Tuesday rather than a 2-week bender. The Hunter S. Thompson-style shenanigans are largely the stuff of fantasy…or two-week vacations.

Do we have to talk about writing all the time? Because I don’t know whether truth is beauty or beauty, truth—and I don’t care, either. Is my friend going to be boring from now on?

Maybe; many people are boring. But writers don’t seem to turn up in this category any more or less than any other group of folks. We definitely like talking about books—if you happen to be into it, bring on the literary discussion. But depending on the writer, he or she may enjoy discussion of television, war, ethics, celebrity sex scandals, low-fat recipes, this weather we’ve been having, all of the above or countless other things. And writers who wish only to speak of their own work are as cloddish as lawyers, doctors, and anyone else who wishes to speak only of themselves. Disown immediately.

Should I read my friend’s writing? What if it’s bad? What if it’s really good, but I don’t understand it? What if I just don’t bloody want to?

I’ve found that the only folks in a writer’s life who need feel any pressure to read their work are fellow writers; the rest of you lucky ducks are off the hook. Writers like to give each other their manuscripts for shoptalk and advice; laypeople should only ask, offer, or agree to read manuscripts if they think they can contribute a serious opinion that would help improve the text, or else a cheerful one that might improve the writer’s mood. I never offer to read other writers’ unpublished work unless I’m clear on what sort of feedback they are looking for, and we set a timeline. The same is true for when kind friends offer to read mine. I have found that generally otherwise such impulses go into an abyss where, except for bimonthly protestations of guilt and insane busyness on the part of the (non) reader, it is never discussed again.

All that applies to unpublished work, of course. If a writer publishes something in a journal or a book, all friends except those who have recently declared bankruptcy are expected to purchase one copy each (multiple copies for gifting optional). This wanes with subsequent publications, but at the beginning, the support is so terribly valued and appreciated. When my first book came out, everyone I knew bought one, including those whom I knew to dislike reading short stories, reading fiction, or reading period. It was so terribly kind of them, and a pleasant surprise for us all when a few informed me that they’d read and liked some of my stories. I was truly touched. However, many of these friends have never mentioned their experience of the book, except to proudly point it out on the shelf when I visit. Did they read it and hate it? Never touch it at all? I don’t ask and they don’t tell; that’s what friends are for.

Feb 13 2012

Experiencing Arisia

Experiencing Arisia 2012

by David Price

When did steampunk become so popular, would someone tell me? I went to Arisia for the first time this year, which, for those who don’t know, is a yearly science fiction and fantasy convention in Boston. Now, admittedly, my convention-going experience is limited. When I was a kid, I used to go to some of the local comic book and Star Trek conventions, but that was over twenty years ago. Last year, I went to a horror convention called Rock and Shock, in Worcester, Massachusetts, and a horror writers’ convention called Anthocon in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Neither one of those prepared me for the spectacle I would find at Arisia.

I had expectations for Arisia. I’ve seen these kinds of things on tv, so I thought I would find a bunch of people dressed up like Starfleet officers, Klingons, Jedi, Hobbits, Elves, and Battlestar Galactica pilots. My expectations were, however, blown out of the water. Instead, it seemed like every science fiction fan woke up one morning and said, “Hey, I finally get that 1960s television show, The Wild Wild West. You know the show, right? Robert Conrad and Ross Martin were James West and Artemus Gordon. These two were a couple of James Bond types during the time of the Old West. It was half science-fiction, half western. The gadgetry they employed was far in advance of what you would expect for the period, with things like cyborgs, force fields, flamethrowers, and batman-style grappling hooks. The 1999 version starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline really sucked, but they played up the whole steampunk angle even more than the series. So that’s what steampunk is, this blending of Old West and Victorian era time period with science fiction elements.

If the the Arisia I attended is representative of what it is usually like, they could just call it a steampunk convention. There were plenty of people dressed up in costume, that’s true, but most of it had that steampunk theme. I saw one Starfleet uniform, one hobbit, and a couple of guys who might have been Jedi, but they didn’t have light sabers, so I couldn’t be sure. Dressing for the occasion seems to be the way to go at one of these things too, as I would say a good three quarters of the convention-goers showed up in costume. I was in the minority. It was fun to go there and people watch, though. Let me tell you something; nerd girls dress up in some of the, ah, *ahem*, most appealing costumes you could imagine. I’ll admit they surpassed what I expected. There may not have been any Slave Leias, but there was a scantily clad elven archer from the Lord of the Rings or Skyrim, a seductive assassin from the video game Assassin’s Creed, and a very revealing Poison Ivy from Batman wrapped in only, you guessed it, ivy.

All right, so I still decided I would go in there and enjoy myself. I like Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica and Babylon Five as much as the next geek. Stepping into the dealer room was like entering some alternate universe, where geeks didn’t even know who the Doctor, Captain Kirk, Han Solo or Starbuck were. I wandered around and checked out everything they had to offer, but nothing really jumped out at me. I’m amazed to say that I walked out of Arisia without purchasing a single thing. When I went into the dealer room, however, it seemed the dealers got the same memo that everybody else did. It was Steampunk Central in there. I’m an introvert by nature and I have to admit that I found the place to be a bit overwhelming. I think I could have settled in better if I found some of the familiar Harry Potter and Star Wars elements that I expected to, but those things were almost non-existent, except for one notable exception. One of the highlights of the day was a life-sized stormtrooper cake that was on display. Towards the end of the day, it was sliced up and served to a very long line of hungry Star Wars fans. I passed on that, because hey, how good could it really be? If it was Darth Vader cake, maybe, but stormtrooper? It was probably just a cloned recipe, anyway.

The biggest lesson I learned from this convention, was that I should have made myself familiar with the schedule before I even walked in the door. There were hundreds of events that included movies, seminars, discussion groups, and even combat sword training. I know I would have enjoyed a bunch of those, and next time I intend to have a plan of attack. I missed the discussion I had planned to attend, which was a panel of critics wrapping up the science fiction movies from 2011. A friend of mine, Woody Bernardi, had what they call a “fan table.” Woody started a group called the Boston Science Fiction Association, which is really just a bunch of fans who get together and hangout sometimes. He got the fan table to drum up some more interest in the group. So far we’ve mainly been getting together for lunch at the Tavern at the End of the World, in Charlestown, Massachusetts. I agreed I would take a turn watching the fan table for Woody so he could go to some of the discussion groups that interested him. I think he was particularly interested in a tribute to Anne McCaffrey. I was happy to sit down and unwind a bit. I actually talked to more people sitting at that table than I had wandering around the crowded dealer room.

I look forward to the next one, though, now that I’ve had a chance to process the experience. As a writer, I dream of a day when people will be dressing up as characters from my fantasy novels. That would be something to see. Would I go in costume? I don’t think I’m ready for that yet. Of course, my ultimate goal is to be one of those guys sitting behind a table with a long line of people waiting to see me. I’ll be serving the Darth Vader cake, of course.

Feb 12 2012

Experiencing the iPhone

My New iPhone

by David Price

I was born two years before man landed on the moon. My earliest memory is actually watching the moon landing on a static-filled black and white television, up at our cottage in New Hampshire. I have grown up in the age of hand-held electronic gadgets, and I have seen them all. The very first has to be the transistor radio, followed by those nifty electronic calculators that we used to write “ShELL01L” upside down. I guess I have always been intrigued by these devices, because I can remember owning all of them. Digital wrist watches were cool, with their glow-in-the-dark faces and their nifty electronic beeps. Remember the first hand-held electronic video games? I had this “football” game which was really just a bunch of red dots on a screen. You controlled one electronic light and had to evade all the others on your way to scoring a touchdown. In eighth grade, I even remember having a digital watch that had a scaled down version of Space Invaders on it.

There was some electronic innovation in the eighties, of course. The eighties gave birth to some of the technology which today practically runs our lives, like the cell phone and the personal computer. There were some cool gadgets too, like the Walkman. Everybody had to have one of those. This was also the time of the birth of the Compact Disc, which would go a long way to revolutionizing music. I bought my first VCR in the eighties, too. Then in the nineties, cell phones started to catch on and become an affordable technology. The Palm Pilot was a nice digital replacement for

those hefty day planners some people used. Personal computers and video games took a giant leap, and the internet was born. It’s all gone crazy since then, hasn’t it? Now we have technology that looks like it is straight out of science fiction. Star Trek even seems a bit short-sighted, doesn’t it?

What if I were to tell you that there is a device that can replace just about every hand-held device you have ever owned, except for possibly the Taser gun? That device is, of course, the iPhone. I purchased my iPhone about six weeks ago and I am constantly amazed at how useful it is. The keys are the apps. You have to find the right apps, but once you do, you find out what an amazing little device this is. Where do I begin? Last week, my wife had to travel to a bridal shower in an unfamiliar town. She was going to just use the GPS, but couldn’t find the power cord. I pulled up the GPS app on my iPhone, programmed in her destination, and sent her on her merry way, with my iPhone, unfortunately. But hey, at least the emergency was solved. When she returned from the shower she told me it was a good thing I had given her the iPhone, because the directions she had received from my mother were wrong.

Another app I particularly enjoy is called “Around Me.” This is another one that uses the GPS feature, and will show you just about any kind of business in the area that need. Around Me lists stores, banks, atms, bars, coffee shops, gas stations, hospitals, movie theaters, and, well, you get the picture. It is very useful. As a contractor by trade, I travel to wherever the jobs take me. Sometimes we find ourselves in unfamiliar cities looking for a bank, or someplace to grab lunch. Problem solved. With the Xfinity TV app, I can set up the DVR to record a show from anywhere. I also have a local news app, which has proven useful with traffic and news alerts. I like sports, so I have a few of those apps that keep me updated with scores and information. Do you like space? I have two NASA apps; one for regular news, and one for NASA TV. There are also cool sky map apps like Sky Safari and Star Walk. With Star Walk, you can point your iPhone at the sky and it will identify constellations and satellites for you. If you are one of those people who has all those rewards club tags hanging from your key ring, there is an app called, you guessed it, Key Ring, which will scan all of those into your phone so you don’t have to carry them around anymore. If you just can’t live without your social media there are apps for Facebook and Twitter.

Is going green important to you? Thanks to the iPhone, paper and pencils are now obsolete. The iPhone is a notebook and a calendar. With the Stitcher app, you can link to magazine articles that interest you. Combine this with the Nook and Kindle apps and you have the ability to carry around a small library. Add a crossword puzzle, Sudoku, and word search app, and time spent sitting in a waiting room flies by. You actually have access to what you want to read, not what the dentist office sees fit to provide (like two years of Golf Digest or Woman’s Day). If you are a comic book geek, you can even get some cool comic book apps like Comixology, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Dark Horse Comics. Comic books delivered right to your phone. Who knew? Last month, I attended a science fiction convention in Boston called Arisia. An app called Guidebook took the place of a paper program and listed every event available at the con.

I have tried to show how this amazing little device can take the place of every other device you own. The iPhone was based on the iPod touch, so saying it plays all your music goes without saying, but I also added the Pandora radio app, because I don’t like to clog up the phone with too much music. I am always trying to improve myself or learn something new, so I like to rotate an audiobook through there. I would rather leave enough space for any cool apps that come along. Flixster is great if you like to go to the movies. I’ll never call Movie Phone again. You can even watch movies and TV on your phone with either Netflix, Hulu, or iTunes. I’m not really one for watching video on the small screen, but my kids seem to like it. One app that looks cool, but I haven’t had a chance to try yet, is called Bump. If you and another person both have this app, you can just touch phones and it exchanges contact info. I like to get little bits of inspiration once in a while, so I also have the Notes from the Universe app by Mike Dooley. I’ve saved the games for last because I’m sure most of you are familiar with many of the addictive games that are available. In case you are not, many of the favorites are Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Cut the Rope, Tetris, Bejeweled, Doodle Jump and Words with Friends. That’s pretty much everything I have experienced with the iPhone so far. Six months or a year from now, who knows what else I will be doing with this amazing little device? To sum up, it’s awesome.