Tag Archives: Peter Straub

Feb 18 2014

Author Catherine Bell Discusses ‘The Children of Manson’ and More

 

By Jason Harris

 

Catherine Bell

Catherine Bell

JH: Your adventure in writing started in 2001. How did that come about?

CB: I had just started secondary school at age 11, and had always enjoyed reading in my spare time. In English classes, my passion for writing began to flourish, partially because of support from teachers, as well as at home, so it became something I enjoyed and felt confident in pursuing.

JH: The Cathy Stories came about from your time in school. Can you tell my readers how that came about, what’s it about and how long this work is?

CB: This book still makes me smile now, mostly because I get very nostalgic when talking about it. It was a fun piece to write, probably only 50 or so pages long, and was all about “Cathy” the main character, and her friends, who battled evil demons while having to crack puzzles and codes. It was all based in at school, too, so the mentors in the book were all based on teachers. It was a comedy, and it was my first attempt at writing for a particular audience.

JH: How did the opening of your first book, Whistler’s Travels, come about being published by Manchester Metropolitan University and why only the opening?

CB: This was a piece I submitted as part of a writing competition, and so I got it published that way. At that point I had only written the opening, so it was a good opportunity to test the water, and see if it was something worth following up [on].

JH: What inspired you to write your first book and what was the idea behind it?

CB: My first serious completed work was Eden from the Ashes. With it being my first piece, looking back I feel it is quite disjointed, so I will definitely be undertaking a  huge re-edit before it comes into the public domain. It was a really interesting project for me, as it allowed me to experiment and really understand the freedom of writing. I finished that book when I was around 18, so it will be good for me to have a look back, and try and develop some of the ideas behind it.

I was inspired to write it as I had suffered hugely from bullying, and as, at the time, I was a very shy, reserved person, I had no real outlet to express how I was feeling. This is where writing became a huge emotional support for me, and continues to help me alleviate stress as well as being a very enjoyable pastime.

JH: The title for Whistler’s Travels was changed to Eden from the Ashes? What is it about and what was the reason behind the name change?

CB: The book itself is a fantasy fiction, focused on a socially isolated character, who decides to leave the village he has lived in all his life, and break away into the unknown. The story is about him developing as a person, learning more about his interests and limits, and understanding how his interests and habits had been formed by his environment, not be his personal choice.

The title Whistlers Travels was never a serious title for me. It came about because I needed a name to reference my work, and that was a simple one. It kind of stuck, however, but once it was finished, I wasnt happy with that as a final title. It didn’t fit well with the storyline as it had developed, and didn’t really give an insight as to the meaningfulness of the book to me. Eden from the Ashes is much more fitting.The-Children-of-Manson-book-Cover1

JH: Your second work Nomed was also re-named. It changed to Apocalypse 2012, then to Man Down, then to The Children of Manson. What’s this work about and is there a story behind all the different title changes?

CB: The Children of Manson is a horror [story], which ties together terror, gore, and psychosis, with a subtle political undertone. It was a way of expressing some of my views about some real life issues as an undertone, while the predominant storyline was horror. It centres around Dee, a student who seeks comfort from her isolation at University from her flatmate Lily, and their friendship quickly blossoms into something more.

Unbeknownst to Dee, a sinister figure is watching her closely. He grows exceedingly paranoid as he tracks her movements over time, as he fears she knows about his own dark secrets. Underneath the home in which he is cared for, a maze of passageways are home to a cult following, vigilant in their tasks under Lloyd’s watchful eye.

Their aim? To prevent pregnancy, destroy fertility, and if necessary, will go to the very extreme to achieve their goals.

The reason for the many name changes was that the book underwent a huge re-edit, where the plot line massively changed. For this reason the first title was no longer relevant. I re-named it Man Down to continue the story, but again, wasn’t entirely happy with this new title either.  It was when I decided on the cult following as a major part of the storyline that I became set on The Children of Manson. There are also other subtleties in the storyline , for example the “Family” reference, that helped me decide that this was a most fitting title.

JH: You published The Sick & Sombre Tales of Sinister Town-Part 1 this past October. This was another work of yours to sustain a name change. Why the name change and why break it up into different parts? And how many parts will there be?

CB: The name change was to allow myself some flexibility as to the content. My focus for Part 1 was to give some background as to the characters and the general environment of Sinister Town. Initially there were 7 short stories, but I felt some were better placed in Part 2, so I needed to change the title to reflect that.

At the moment, I plan there to be 3 parts. Part 2 is well on its way to completion, and I’m already building some ideas for Part 3. Whether there will be further parts after that … we will just have to wait and see.

JH: What are the different styles and what’s the impetus behind this series?

CB: I’m planning for the three parts to have three different focuses, i.e. the first one was about building up the actual characters who live in Sinister Town, so the next part will  [focus] instead on an invader to the town, and the defense mechanisms the town uses to keep intruders out.

JH: Do you have a specific writing style?

CB: I think my writing style is quite distinguished, in that it is probably recognizable, but in saying that, I try to experiment with different styles depending on what I’m writing, and the type of atmosphere I’m trying to create.

JH: What genres do you write in?

CB: I write predominantly horror, though I am thinking of expanding in to fantasy/comedy, as I have bits and bobs still in the planning stages.

JH: Who is your favorite author/authors and what is it that really strikes you about their work?

CB: My favorite author is Stephen King; my favorite work by him was a joint piece with Peter Straub, called Black House. It is to this day the best book I have ever read in terms of fear. I remember vividly being too scared to turn the page, and even flipping forward a couple of pages first to steel myself into going back to read it.

That is what inspired me to write horror myself. I want to instill that feeling in others; I feel that the images the imagination conjures are so much more powerful than those fed to us by films.

JH: What books have most influenced your life the most?

CB: R.L. Stine deserves a lot of the credit for introducing me to the horror genre as a child (though I enjoyed all sorts of non-horror titles as well), as I would devour his books every evening after school.

Through my teenage years I did read some of  R. L. Stine’s more mature works, but quickly became enthralled by Stephen King, and have never looked back. In fact, I have two of his books by my bedside as I type this!

JH: What are your current projects?

CB: I am currently working on a new horror [story], called The Black Sheep. I am looking to create a piece that explores the deep emotional effects of bullying, and the characters in this book play out a physical expression of those effects.

JH: Where can readers find your work and find out more about you?

Please have a look at my website to find out more. You can also find me on Twitter: @TheCathyStories. On Facebook. I am also on Google Plus or on Amazon.

Jul 27 2012

Three Reasons to Attend Necon

Three Reasons to Attend Necon

by Jason Harris

I have been going to the Northeastern Writers’ Conference (Necon) for over 13 years. I can’t believe it’s been over a decade since my first one. Since I started going in the late 90s, I haven’t missed a year. I have been going to this convention longer than I have known my wife, who I have gotten hooked on Necon as well. It’s funny that it took a friend from Florida to introduced me to Necon since this convention is based in New England; a place I have lived my entire life.

1. The first reason to become a Necon camper is to meet fellow writers or fellow readers if you are not a writer. Here are a few writers that have attended the convention in the past: Stephen King, F. Paul Wilson, Peter Straub, Rick Hautala, Christopher Golden, Neil Gaiman, Craig Shaw Gardner, Tracy L. Carbone, Stacey Longo, Dan Keohane, Wraith James White, Brian Keene, Simon Clark, James A. Moore, Weston Ochse, and Jack Ketchum.

2. The second reason is to learn about the publishing industry and upcoming trends. Every Necon, there are always panels with varying topics such as e-books, young adult horror, trends in horror, vampires, zombies, and movies to name a few that have been held at this convention. The e-book topic is fitting since Necon E-Books was announced at Necon 30. Check out the selection of e-books here.

3. The third reason is to pick up more books and have the authors sign it. On Friday night during Necon, there is a “Meet the Authors” event. This is the time where you can get books that you brought signed. Or you can buy a book direct from the author. There is no better way to potentially meet the next Stephen King. And when they do become famous, you can tell your friends that you met and talked with the author at Necon. Your friends will be very jealous.

The NEHW table at Necon’s Authors’ Night. Photo by Jason Harris.

There are more reasons to attend Necon, but the main three are found above. Once you attend, you will find out the other reasons why this convention is so great. When you decide to go, just write on the registration form that Jason Harris referred you. You won’t regret it.

Necon happens in Rhode Island every July. For more information, click here.

Jul 17 2012

Readercon, My Favorite Speculative Convention

Readercon, My Favorite Speculative Convention

by Bracken MacLeod

This past weekend in Burlington, Massachusetts I attended Readercon, a conference as they describe it, devoted to “imaginative literature” — literary science fiction, fantasy, horror, and the unclassifiable works often called “slipstream.”

Bracken MacLeod and Lucien Soulban at Readercon 23.

This is one of my favorite speculative cons as it is devoted (like my other favorites, Necon and Anthocon) to literature–no cosplay, no gaming, and almost no media (there’s plenty of talk about movies in panels because movies can inform prose story-telling, but no movie panels). Although the conference is usually weighted a little more toward Sci-Fi and Fantasy than horror and slipstream, there are excellent horror writers in attendance like Gemma Files, Laird Barron, Nick Mamatas, to name only a few, and the guests of honor this year were dark fiction legends, Peter Straub and Caitlin Kiernan. Sadly, I will have to defer to other NEHW contributors for a recap of Mr. Straub’s contributions to the con as his panels and readings were concurrent with other panels I attended.1 Instead, let me give you a short recap of what were the high points from the panels I attended.

The dystopian fiction panel led by NEHW member Jack Haringa, “Through a Glass Dystopianly,” was an excellent deconstruction of the recent trend in YA literature to make everything The Hunger Games. I’m not being fair. There’s a lot of good YA (and adult) dystopian fiction out there. But there’s a lot of drek too. As a genre, Leah Bobet seemed to nail the intention of YA dys fic with her deliberate oversimplification of it as the literature of mom and dad (i.e., the repressive government) won’t let me have the car or stay out late, so I’m going to escape to the forest and drink and have sex as much as I want! Or if you prefer that idea to be unpacked, the idea being, that dys fic is a reasonably fertile ground for young readers to identify their own struggles with autonomy and authority by imagining themselves as potent agents struggling under the dystopian regime. When pressed on the issue of dystopia versus utopia versus post-apocalyptic setting, Haringa threw out my third favorite bon mot of the conference: “All science fiction is optimistic because it all assumes we have a future.”

Next on the list of favorites was the panel titled “Wet Dreams and Nightmares” about weird and transgressive erotica. This panel stayed blissfully distant from paranormal romance and actually addressed real erotica and transgressive sex in a mature and unflinching way. Would you expect anything different from a panel featuring Caitlin R. Kiernan? The give and take between Gemma Files and Kiernan regarding their distinct approaches to erotic body transformations and what they individually find sexy made this panel pure gold.

The panel on horror and the social compact (another one featuring Dear Leader Haringa) presented some interesting viewpoints on the scope of horror versus science fiction, wherein it was posited that it is actually very difficult to discuss horror in the context of a Hobbesian social contract. With a few exceptions (e.g., Soylent Green—which I’d say is both sci-fi and horror), most horror is about violation of trust and/or autonomy on a personal scale as opposed to a societal one.

This panel shared an interesting deconstructive quality with one on Sunday titled “Uncanny Taxonomies,” where the conclusion was also reached that taxonomies of speculative fiction (i.e., genres) weren’t all that helpful for anyone other than book marketers and possibly consumers. It was during this panel that Kiernan gave my second favorite line of the convention: “All [novels], by definition, are fantasy; they did not happen.”2

My second favorite session of the weekend was Dr. Laura Knight’s slideshow titled “Autopsy and Postmortem Primer for Writers,” which gave the audience a basic rundown of the process of a typical autopsy and human decomposition. The con organizers grossly underestimated the appeal of a dead body slideshow to fantasy and sci-fi (and a few horror) fans and about a quarter of the attendees to the session were left sitting on the floor or standing when all the seats filled up. One poor woman who was standing in the back of the hot room (possibly with her knees locked) fainted when Dr. Knight put up the slide of decompositional bloat and a little body degloving (I am sure the heat and having to stand were also contributing factors). Sadly, that attendee missed the next slide of the two people whose little yappy dogs had partially eaten their faces. (Cat lovers take note: Dr. Knight commented that in over 2,000 autopsies, she had yet to see a feline case of filiaphagia–but those nasty little dogs… they’ll turn on you in a minute.)

Finally, at the top of my list of favorite events at Readercon (unrelated to standing in a blacked out hotel bathroom staring at disintegrating atoms in a spinthariscope—look it up—and drunken yoga in the hotel lobby) was “A Story from Scratch.”

The basic conceit of the session (in several parts over three days) was that using models from the audience and props provided by celebrity guests, Hugo-winning writers Michael Swanwick and Elizabeth Bear will crowd source a story outline and write a short story to be professionally brought to life by photographer Kyle Cassidy and illustrator Lee Moyer. On Sunday, the story would be read aloud by Swanwick and Bear accompanied by a slide show of the work that Cassidy and Moyer produced. Bear provided a very condensed version of her course on effective fiction writing and the small crowd of participants began throwing out ideas for the story. What eventually took shape was the sad tale of a Chinese restaurant owner whose wife has been taken hostage by the Yakuza (I know), and must find the ransom before her wife (it is Massachusetts after all) loses all of her fingers and her entire memory (somehow stolen with each successive finger chop).

When the call was made for volunteers to be photographed by the amazing Mr. Cassidy, of course I volunteered. Given my cuddly and welcoming appearance, I was immediately cast as one of the Yakuza gangsters. The short version of the rest of the story is that, as one could predict, this became another instance of “and then Bracken took his shirt off” at a con. Fortunately, this bout of semi-nudity led to Cassidy and Moyer making me look like the coolest fucking American Yakuza since Viggo Mortensen and Bear and Swanwick crafting a Philip K. Dick style story containing my single favorite line of the entire Con: “Tom and Bracken were evil men, but not brutal.” (As soon as the story, titled “Dismemberance,” and photos are posted online I’ll be sure to link to them.)

The bottom line is, if you have a broad taste in genre literature, you could do a lot worse than attend a Readercon, but you’re going to be hard pressed to do better.
Cheers!

1 I know. I know. Revoke my horror fan card if you must.
2  Other excellent lines came from Michael Swanwick: “Wincing equals good fiction,” and Elizabeth Bear, “The worst reaction a reader can have to your story is ‘Fuck you!’”

Jul 11 2012

Readercon 23 Begins Thursday

Readercon 23 starts tomorrow and runs until Sunday, July 15, at the Boston Marriott Burlington.

There will be four New England Horror Writers’ members, Don D’Ammassa, Craig Shaw Gardner, Jack Haringa, and Paul Tremblay, at the convention. For a list of other guests, click here.

Tremblay mentions his Readercon schedule on his website, which you can click here to see it.

Guests of Honor include authors Peter Straub and Caitlín Kiernan. The memorial guest of honor this year is author Shirley Jackson.

If you have a smartphone, you can download the Guidebook app then have the Readercon program at your fingertips during the entire convention.

If you tweet about Readercon, the official twitter account for the convention is asking people to use the hastag, #Readercon.‪

Dec 27 2011

NEHW Authors in Charity Anthology to Benefit HWA President

NEHW Authors in Charity Anthology to Benefit HWA President

by Jason Harris

Daniel Keohane and Nate Kenyon, both NEHW members, have stories in the new collection, Rage Against the Night.

Keohane’s zombie story, “Two Fish to Feed the Masses” is appearing in “an amazing charity anthology,” he said.

Kenyon’s story is called “Keeping Watch.”

All the proceeds from Rage Against the Night will go to the Rocky Wood, an author and current President of the Horror Writers Association, who is battling motor neurone disease.

According to the Wikipedia website, “motor neurone diseases (or motor neuron diseases) (MND) are a group of neurological disorders that selectively affect motor neurones, the cells that control voluntary muscle activity including speaking, walking, breathing, swallowing and general movement of the body. They are generally progressive in nature, and can cause progressive disability and death.”

Amazon states the stories in this anthology detail the brave men and women who stand up to “the darkness, stare it right in the eye, and give it the finger.” These people are under the onslaught of supernatural evil and their good acts can seem insignificant.

The anthology was edited by Shane Jiyaiya Cummings and also features stories by Stephen King, Peter Straub, Jonathan Maberry, Ramsey Campbell, F. Paul Wilson, Nancy Holder and Scott Nicholson to name only a few of the authors in this charity collection.

Vincent’s story, “The View from the Top” is reprinted in this anthology, he said on his website. As of right now, it is only available in e-book format, but there will be a print copy in January, Vincent said.

The e-book is $3.99 through Amazon.