In the Shadow of the Mountains of Madness

 

Pierce Mostyn is back in an all new adventure! A creature feature extraordinaire: In the Shadow of the Mountains of Madness.

I’ve been sharing snippets with the folk on my mailing list. If you want to get in on sneak peeks and exclusive never-before-published content, sign up for my VIP Horror Readers Club. Plus, you’ll get the exclusive novella, “The Feeder” — which is not available in stores.

And if you haven’t yet discovered Pierce Mostyn, take a look at the books and pick your monster!

This time around, Mostyn and his team are sent to Antarctica to investigate why a Russian base has suddenly gone silent. Once they find out why, Dr Rafe Bardon, the director of the Office of Unidentified Phenomena, sends them off to the subglacial Gamburtsev Mountains, also known as The Ghost Mountains. Because Dr Bardon thinks they fit the coordinates of the infamous Mountains of Madness.

Those familiar with the stories of HP Lovecraft will immediately recognize where the inspiration came for my story.

Lovecraft welcomed other writers to write in his Cthulhu Mythos universe. And many took him up on the invite, and many more continue to do so today.

I enjoy working in the Mythos. It’s a walk in a world where we are not at the top of the food chain. It’s a world where there are forces at work much bigger than we are. Beings to whom we are not unlike the ants on a sidewalk. Blithely stepped on without a second thought.

The universe of the Cthulhu Mythos puts humans in a place where we are not only not equal with nature, we are less than nature. It’s a universe that makes me stop and think about all of our petty squabbles. It makes me realize how, in the big picture, our troubles and problems are truly insignificant.

I’m looking at the 25th of March as the launch date of In the Shadow of the Mountains of Madness. Stay tuned!

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

Wyldwood Books

 

In the 6 years I’ve been an independent author-publisher, I’ve met a good number of very talented indies. Sad to say, most are little known.

I’ve also seen a fair number of these very talented folks move on to other things. And we readers are the poorer.

One such little known writer is Crispian Thurlborn. He’s an incredibly talented and mature writer. I love his books and promote them often.

But he’s also a very talented and accomplished graphic artist. And that’s what I’d like to showcase in this post.

Wyldwood Books

Bespoke Book Designs and Services

Wyldwood Books is his graphic design website. And quite frankly, he can handle what you need for your book covers, promotional materials, book trailers, wallpapers, you name it. And the work is done speedily and at an affordable price. The latter is very important for me as I’m retired and on a fixed income.

And since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll let his art do the talking. Here are some examples of the quality work that Wyldwood Books does.

Interested in a trailer? Check out mine: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2cjTgIpddk

Need a book cover? Here’s the cover for the prequel volume in my Justinia Wright mystery series:

Branding? This cameo was made for my Justinia Wright series:

In need of mockups? Here are 2 from the Pierce Mostyn series:

And if I ever get my act together and make The Rocheport Saga boxed sets, I have these fabulous promo images:

I’m one happy customer. You can be too.

Wyldwood Books

Bespoke Book Designs and Services

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy marketing!

The Best Literature

 A couple weeks ago, I was talking with a friend and he mentioned that now that he was retired, he wanted to read the classics. His reason was he wanted to experience the great literature before he died.

I’ve been giving that conversation a think, mostly because I love to read and I too see the Grim Reaper lurking up ahead.

However, when I think about the classics of literature, one word comes to mind: boring. But perhaps that is unfair. After all, what classics are we talking about?

Are we referencing Shakespeare and Milton? The Divine Comedy and Le Morte d’Arthur? War and Peace? Faust? Trollope? Thackeray?

Or are we talking about Riders of the Purple Sage? Dracula? Carmilla? Sherlock Holmes? Poe?

But before we go further, just what is a classic anyway?

Merriam-Webster defines a classic as: “serving as a standard of excellence: of recognized value”. However, that definition begs the questions: Who’s setting the standard? What is the standard they’ve set? And to whom is it of value?

In other words, at the end of the day, classic literature is merely the result of someone’s opinion.

The classics are usually defined as those books generally considered to be great literature. Works by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Proust, Conrad, and the like. Books that academia has decreed to be great literature. And books that, generally speaking, few people today have read outside of professors making them read them.

And while a bunch of dry and dusty academics are certainly entitled to their opinions, I’m rather fond of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s position:

No fiction is worth reading except for entertainment. If it entertains and is clean, it is good literature, or its kind. If it forms the habit of reading, in people who might not read otherwise, it is the best literature.

Notice Burroughs’s first point: no fiction is worth reading except for entertainment. I like to think Shakespeare would agree with him. After all, Bill wasn’t writing great literature, he was writing to make a buck. And to do so, his plays had to entertain.

The point of any story is entertainment. Sure there may be a moral or lesson. But if the story doesn’t entertain — it’s an essay, not a story.

Burroughs goes on to note that if the story does in fact entertain and is clean, then it can be called good literature. Good literature is any story that entertains the reader and contains positive values.

To my mind, though, Burroughs’s most valuable point is the final sentence: The best literature is that which can form the habit of reading — in those who might not otherwise read anything.

That is a very powerful statement. The best literature is that which can turn non-readers into readers.

Quite honestly, I think reading Tarzan can make a reader out of a non-reader faster than can War and Peace.

For myself, I read fiction to be entertained. I read philosophy if I want great thoughts. And sad to say, I find the so called great classics boring. They don’t, in fact, entertain. Perhaps they did at one time, but for the most part they don’t today. IMO.

Burroughs valued reading over great literature. It was important to him that people read. That they wanted to read, hence his valuing of entertainment over greatness. And his valuing a book that turned a non-reader into a reader, over one that didn’t.

And being a reader, I think Burroughs was right in his valuation.

I’d much rather read a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs over anything by Thackeray, Dreiser, Tolstoy, or Dickens. They’re boring. Burroughs is exciting.

If you want to read the so called classics, go ahead. As for me, I’ll take the likes of Robert E Howard, Seabury Quinn, H. Rider Haggard, and Cordwainer Smith. Or the works of small press and indie authors such as William Meikle, RH Hale, Richard Schwindt, Andy Graham, Brian Fatah Steele, Caleb Pirtle III, or Crispian Thurlborn. They write the best literature.

Good literature is fiction that entertains. The best literature is that which turns a non-reader into a reader. And for any author to pen a book or story that can so move a non-reader to become a reader, that author has done a great thing to improve all of humanity.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

Happy Birthday George!

 

Today is the 336th birthday of German/British composer George Frideric Handel, according to the old Julian calendar. March 5th is his birthday according to our current calendar.

In my opinion, Handel was one of the greatest composers ever. His music was impressionistic before there was any Impressionism movement. In an age of patronage, Handel was a businessman and his own boss for most of his career. In the course of his life he made and lost several fortunes, and died a millionaire by today’s standards.

David Vickers has given us a colorful synopsis of the great composer’s life and you can read it here: https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/the-mysteries-myths-and-truths-about-mr-handel

However, what is not generally known about Handel is that he was a consummate philosopher. He wrote one philosophical treatise: his last oratorio, Jephthah. The musical drama was a rebuttal to Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Man.

An Essay on Man, published 1733-34, is a poetic philosophical treatise vindicating the ways of God vis-a-vis His interactions with humans (line 16). The poem presents the natural order of things that God has decreed for human beings.

Pope goes on to argue that since it is impossible for finite humans to know the purposes of the infinite God, human beings have no right to complain about their lot in the Great Chain of Being (lines 33-34). Instead of complaining, people should simply accept the premise that “Whatever is, is right.” (line 292)

An Essay on Man found great acceptance and admiration throughout Europe. Among it’s admirers were Rousseau, Voltaire, and Kant. In fact, Kant used to read the poem to his students; and Pope’s philosophy was an important contributor to Kant’s own philosophy of religion.

While an early admirer, Voltaire later rejected Pope’s deterministic optimism and lampooned it in his book Candide.

However, Handel beat Voltaire’s rebuttal by 8 years — publishing, in 1751, his own rejection in the form of the magnificent oratorio, Jephthah.

In Jephthah, Handel questions, with biting sarcasm, that is brilliantly portrayed in the musical interpretation of the text, Pope’s assertion that “Whatever is, is right.”

The Biblical account of Jephthah is fairly short. He sets out to fight Israel’s enemies and vows to God that if God honors him with victory he will sacrifice to God the first thing he sees upon his return from the battlefield.

Foreshadowing is nothing new, writers and readers. And low and behold, what is the first thing Jephthah sees? Why, of course, his only daughter. The Biblical account clearly implies Jephthah kept his vow, after allowing his daughter a year’s reprieve.

However, such an interpretation wouldn’t fly in 18th century London. So the librettist, the Reverend Thomas Morell, took a page from the story of Abraham and Isaac and had an angel spare Iphis, Jephthah’s daughter, from death — but to honor the vow, she could not marry and had to remain a virgin her entire life.

And of course, Iphis has a lover, Hamor. Talk about star-crossed lovers!

Through the musical interpretation of the text, Handel roundly damns Pope’s sentiment, “Whatever is, is right.”

Whatever is, is not always right. The punishment for Jephthah’s misguided and witless vow falls squarely on two  innocents: Iphis and Hamor, the young lovers who have their whole lives ahead of them. And according to Handel, that is definitely not right. Those two should not have to suffer for Jephthah’s misguided zeal.

It’s as if Handel was saying, no loving and fair God would ever commit such a travesty of justice. Spare Iphis from death, but commit her to the lifelong death of separation from the one she loves? Bah! Humbug! And no father should have to honor such a vow based on belief in religious duty that flies in the face of religious common sense. Jephthah had just defeated the followers of Moloch — who practiced human sacrifice!

Pope and his absurd position be damned!

You can listen to the oratorio here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N0N-o3KAsk

The performance is 2 hours and 40 minutes of some of the most poignant and sublime music you will ever hear. Never has philosophy been so easy to enjoy!

George Frideric Handel was and is a giant among composers. He wrote French music better then the French, Italian music better than the Italians, and German music better than the Germans (although some would cite JS Bach as the exception). No British composer until Ralph Vaughan Williams could even come close to Handel.

Handel was a great musician and a great philosopher. Happy birthday, George!

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading! (And listening!)

It Starts With Need

The need of your character gives you a goal, a destination, an ending to your story. How your character achieves or does not achieve that goal becomes the action of our story.

—Syd Field, Screenplay (Revised and updated edition)

A story is a fairly simple thing. As Field notes, you have a character. That character has a need. The need provides the ending of the story. How the character achieves, or fails to achieve , his or her need provides the action of the story.

The plot is not the thing. The focal point character is the thing. The character provides everything to make the story the story.

Of course the essential nature of all drama is conflict. If there is no conflict, there is no story. Knowing the main character’s need, enables you the writer to throw obstacles in the character’s path.

If the character overcomes the obstacles, he wins. He satisfies his need. If the obstacles win, the character fails.

So, you have an idea. How do you turn that idea into a story? I suggest you start with a person. The person will become your main character.

Write a brief sketch of your character and give him or her a need. The character’s need is going to provide you with the rest of the story. It’s Bradbury’s principle: create your character, have him do his thing, and there’s your story.

For example, my character Pierce Mostyn works for the uber-secret federal Office of Unidentified Phenomena. The agency’s mission is to stop monsters from destroying earth.

Mostyn’s need in each story is to discover what the monster is, the threat it poses, and to eliminate it if possible. That need provides the story’s ending, and all the action getting to the end of the story.

Another example: in The Bourne Supremacy, Jason Bourne needs to know who wants him dead and why. That need drives the action of the movie and provides the ending.

Knowing your character and his need gives you the kernel of your story. It is then your job as the writer to grow that kernel, that seed, into a full-fledged story.

I hope you found that useful.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy writing!

The Power of Negative Thinking

 The other week I got an email from a writing guru that actually made some sense.

I call what he had to say — The Power of Negative Thinking.

Now you might be asking yourself, what the heck is The Power of Negative Thinking? And if you are, continue reading and I’ll explain.

We all know the importance of setting goals. We also know the importance of setting up steps to achieve those goals.

Our goal might be to write a novel in one year. To achieve that goal, we might set a secondary goal of writing 190 words a day. Now that doesn’t seem like much, but we work full-time; have a spouse, kids, dog, relatives, friends; there’s mowing the lawn and taking care of things around the house; and what have you. And all of those things want a piece of our time.

The standard advice is to set aside a block of time at the same time every day to write, and to write a certain amount of words. In our example, that would be 190. So, say, we decide to set aside 1 hour at 5 am to write those 190 words. Easy peasy, right?

So how many of us have done just that — and not gotten our book written?

C’mon now, raise your hand with me. Yep. Just as I thought. We’ve all been there.

Setting up a writing goal often is no different than making new year resolutions or resolving to lose those extra pounds: our resolve has gone out the window by week three. Or maybe earlier.

This is where The Power of Negative Thinking can help us. It turns on its head the conventional wisdom and often exposes the real reason we don’t achieve our goals.

The Power of Negative Thinking works like this. You set your goal of writing that novel in one year.

Then you ask yourself: how can I not reach my goal?

Go ahead, make a list of all the things that you can do to not write that novel in a year. By doing this, you have now identified your goal killers. The things that you subconsciously let derail you. The things that you subconsciously let stop you from reaching your goal.

Now, once these have been identified, you strategize on how to eliminate them. You plan how you will not let those things defeat you. Stop you from achieving your goal of writing that novel in a year.

By focusing on what is hindering you, you can very  often identify hidden fears that are short circuiting your success. That happened to me. By analyzing why I kept putting other things before writing, I came to realize that I was afraid of failing. And by failing I’d prove my parents right. That I was a failure. Once I realized that, I also realized I didn’t need their approval and I was free to write. Yippee! :)

Or you might discover that there are things more important to you than writing a novel. And that’s okay. Writing isn’t for everyone. Just like fishing, or tennis, or video games.

But you may also discover that you simply fritter away much of your time. That you let other things occupy you. In which case, you can then schedule those other things to be done in some other time frame than your time to write. Knowing that they will get attention when it’s their turn, will enable you to focus on writing.

Since I retired, my biggest time sucks are 

• other people demanding my attention in real life 
• social media
• TV
• Computer games

To get my books written, I minimize those hindrances. I schedule them away from my writing time. I avoid going to the living room, for example, during writing time so the TV doesn’t tempt me. Another is that I write long hand, in part, so I don’t have to have the computer on.

The Power of Negative Thinking is actually an old Stoic recommendation for dealing with all the crap life sends our way. And it works! Give it a try.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy Negative Thinking! 

No Cost Editing

Indie writers get a lot of flak for their lack of proofreading. And quite honestly, some of it is justified. Although, the big corporate publishers have released proofreading horrors as well. I’ve read those books and am glad I bought them used and not at full price.

But no writer need have a problem with producing a clean text. And I’m going to tell you a very simple solution to your proofreading and line editing headache.

Read Out Loud

My writing method dates back to high school and college. I write my story longhand. Then I type it, and make corrections as I type. Once typed, I read the story, catch the typos, and maybe make a line edit or two. Then comes the trick that I read about years ago, but took a long time to put into practice.

I read the story out loud. Reading out loud brings your ear into play. Your ear will catch those clunky sentences that you thought looked okay, but they don’t read okay.

Reading out loud, also helps to catch typos and wrong words. Those things your eye glossed over, but of which your tongue and ear are less forgiving.

When I started reading out loud, I began getting a much smoother text than just letting my eyes catch things.

The ear and the tongue are invaluable assistants to the eye. Use them to get a cleaner text.

The Computer Reads

Yep. I let my MacBook read the text to me — while I visually follow along. Don’t close your eyes here!

By listening to someone else read your story (yes, you could use a human to read your story to you), you catch things that sound off. 

The advantage of the computer over a human is that the computer reads exactly what is on the page. It doesn’t have a brain that compensates for your mistakes. And if you are reading the text as the computer reads, you will catch even more goofs you made.

No Money

Neither of the above editing tips cost a cent. They are available to everyone. Yet, I’m surprised how few writers use them! 

By bringing in your other senses and by using the technology you already paid for, you can get a very clean text. Which will make your readers happy.

There’s no reason to write a good story and then ruin the reader’s experience with a sloppy text. None.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy editing!