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Killing A Second YearThe first issue of the second year of Killing Time - Horror E-Rag is available now. There are a number of changes that come with a new set of issues. Some are stylistic, others a matter of content. Some of the original style changes from the first run of the E-Rag, as a bunch of web pages, did not make it into the new magazine format. That had to do with colour issues and considerations that were not pertinent in a PDF publication. I did not remove mention of these unused changes in the Letter From the Editor. I find it more important to retain the historical nature of these re-issues. The first new article is a bit of Q and A. It held up amazingly in the time between when it was first written and now. Speaking of holding up. I noted that one of the stories has dated itself in tiny little ways. It's interesting to note how some things have changed in the world in 8 years. The new stories are something special, not that the ones before them weren't or the ones after. The first story gained some of its own notoriety the first time I unleashed it on the public, making it a fan favourite. Now, the second story... if you thought that any of the previous stories were twisted, you had better hold onto your proverbial hat. This one is bizarre, and might I add sick, in a good way if such a thing is possible to you. Be careful sleeping after you read it. A new year means a new serial story. This time out we join Benjamin Roland Burke whom is looking to become a parapsychologist. Little does he know how much he will have to learn hands on out of the classroom. The Franchise Discussions will only appear every other issue now; in the vacant places will be the Horror Cinema Autopsies. Each of those will take a more in-depth look at one particular movie. Happy reading. Music: Blessed Are You by Iced Earth.
June 18, 2010 Masters of Horror Anthology:
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Marty Young was interviewed by Karen Johnson Mead. His contribution to the anthology is titled "Fireflies of the Bushfire".
Where did you come up with your anthology idea?
This story was written back in 2007. It's actually based on a true story. I was living in Canberra (ACT) during the 2003 bushfires, living in the suburb of Kambar, which was one of the heavily hit places. I woke up that day to a surreal world, headed out (through necessity) to the supermarket and found it filled with frightened people, then when I came out, noon had become pitch black. The fire front reached the house across the road from me before the wind took it back upon itself. So the story idea was really given to me. All I had to do was survive.
How long did it take for you to put together your story?
Not long at all. I think the first draft only took a couple of days to write. The revisions always take me longer.
Why did you submit your MoH story – was it one you have had for a while or one that you put together especially for the Anthology?
Fireflies of the Bushfire is a story I've been proud of since I wrote it, but for whatever reason, I never got around to actively submitting it anywhere. When this anthology came along, I thought brilliant!
What research / preparation did you do for your story?
I usually do a whole heck of a lot of research for my stories-this probably stems from me being a scientist during daylight hours. Research is part of the job, so that obviously carries over into my fiction writing. My stories have to be grounded in fact, they have to be realistic, or else I won't believe in them.
Why do you write horror? What is the fascination in it for you?
I don't choose to write horror; I just write whatever stories turn up in my head. Most of the time, these stories are pretty dark, although I prefer the 'quiet horror' side of things. All that blood and guts isn't for me. I like the shadows, the monsters hiding in the dark, the things you hear but don't quite see. I reckon that works far better than the violent in-your-face stories and flicks that are so common.
How long have you been writing?
I started writing back in the early 1990's, but somehow got waylaid by science and geology before I got anywhere. In 2002, I was in the early stages of my PhD and feeling the pressure, so I began escaping into fiction again. As a consequence, I founded the Australian Horror Writers Association (and have acted as the President since our official launch in 2005). But it wasn't until I finished my studies in 2006 that I started spending more time on writing fiction. The problem here though was that I'd spent over a decade writing science, and that is a whole world away from fiction; it's taken a long time to be able to separate the Dr. Marty Young from Marty Young, the writer. And running the AHWA didn't help matters either, because when I should have been writing I was building the organisation. It's only this year that I finally decided my writing had to come first.
Why do you write?
I write because I love writing, I love creating stories, and because I need to write. Ideas spiral into my head and I need to write them out. I also think that writing keeps me balanced. It stops me from going postal-only kidding. I think...
What are you currently working on?
I've been spending the majority of my time lately on my novel, actually. I've been working with an editor friend in the States, who has pulled my novel apart and demanded I do better. In March this year, I finally finished the last edits of the story, got my editor's approval, and am now working on writing a synopsis and researching agents. My editor (Paula) has been brilliant; she's really made me pull my finger out, and the end result is something of which I'm immensely proud. The next step will be to submit it to agents, and that, I imagine, will be a horror story in itself!
Tell us about yourself (that you didn’t put in the Anthology) a bit about you as a person, your writing habits / styles etc. Something so the reader of the interview gets to know who you are.
I grew up in Hawkes Bay, and take particular delight in watching the All Blacks win. I'm also a massive cricket fan, but this isn't always as much fun being a kiwi… I'm a geologist by day, but once the day is done, dinner finished, and my time my own, I slink away to my study, put on loud cranky music, and write for at least an hour a day. It's a schedule I keep religiously. I'm far more comfortable writing novels than short stories though, and am 1/3 the way through my next novel. But still those pesky short stories hound me, forcing me to take time away from my novel writing to clear them from my head. And yep, I'm a massive Stephen King and Clive Barker fan, but I'm also a new fan of Charles L. Grant (can't believe I haven't read Grant's work before now! That's just embarrassing). My blog is martyyoung.blogspot.com and this is my AHWA Member’s Page-–oh, and I love scotch!
You can read Fireflies of the Bushfire in the Masters of Horror Anthology.
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Welcome back to the regular scheduling for Inchoate Ascendant. I am still sort of on hiatus, but only because I have three more great interviews. Please continue to check back in for the rest of them including:
B. L. Morgan was interviewed by Karen Johnson Mead. His contribution to the anthology is titled "The Ladies of the Scale".
Where did you come up with your anthology idea?
I love to do short stories that are inspired by songs that I like, especially songs that seem to be long forgotten. Ladies of the Scale was originally inspired by The Lamia by Genesis. It’s a very weird song and the story is weird also. I just liked the feel of the song and tried to give that feel to my story.
How long did it take for you to put together your story?
This story was put together some years ago. To tell you the truth I don’t actually remember exactly how long it took to do. I would guess it took around a week to complete it.
Why did you submit your MoH story – was it one you have had for a while or one that you put together especially for the Anthology?
1st Question: It was because Lee Pletzers is the guy that runs the publishing house. He’s one of my favorite authors in the world. He’s not gotten even one percent of the notice that he should get. He’s also extremely honest and hardworking. I have found that while most authors are hardworking finding a publisher that is hardworking and honest is extremely difficult. Lee always does the honorable thing. He should run for president over here. We need somebody in the US that we believe is really honest.
2nd Question: I wrote this story some years ago. I can’t even remember when. It’s always been one of my favorites and never been published. I did send it out to an anthology that was cancelled and after that got seriously into learning novel writing and stopped producing shorts. (I really should do some more.)
What research / preparation did you do for your story?
Not a whole lot. Listened to the song The Lamia maybe twenty times to get the strange mood that it put me in. Mixed it with another type of story that I had always wanted to do (a hit-man type thing) and went at it. Preparation? I don’t remember actually preparing a lot for this one. The character was pretty much there when I started and the setting grew as the story went. It was a strange journey this guy takes.
Who’s story are you most looking forward to reading? Why?
Actually I look forward to reading all the shorts from all the authors for one reason: I haven’t read hardly any short stories for a few years now and I do love reading short stories. Usually I read books that prepare me for the book I am doing. I am going to specifically take time out from that to dive into this collection and I’m really looking forward to experiencing some good short jolters.
Why do you write horror?
Actually, what I write doesn’t really seem to fit in any one genre. An example is the first novel I wrote: Blood And Rain had gang-bangers, drug dealers, voodoo and zombies in it. It also had a lot of violence and blood. Horror is the one genre where you can mix other genres and it still all goes together. Oh, one other reason: I like a lot of blood and guts in what I read and write so it usually is horror.
What is the fascination in it for you?
Stories that deal with life and death are basic to the human experience. We are most concerned about the eternal struggle against death and how to deal with the inevitability of the end in a brave and honorable way. Horror is fear. People want to conquer their fears but you’ve got to feel fear to conquer it.
How long have you been writing?
Since around the age of 10 or 11. I’ll be 51 on May 24th, 2010. I’ve been at it a few weeks.
Is writing your full time thing, or do you have a day job?
Sadly I haven’t been able to make enough money from writing to be able to quit the full time job. I do have a full time job as a property manager.
What is it?
We manage a rental property with over five hundred and fifty tenants. It does get interesting some days.
Why do you write?
Writing is a lifelong obsession that I choose to indulge. I am a reading addict and love falling into a good book and getting lost in the alternate reality of a very good story. I want to be able to give a reader what my favorite authors give me: a really good exciting roller coaster ride that is an escape from their daily lives. We all need to escape every now and then.
What are you currently working on?
Currently I am bumping up the word-count on a novel named Red Simon: Vampire Punk to submit it to the major publishers. It’s all a matter of taking the next step in career development.
After that, who knows? I may complete a novel I started working on before I got the word that Red Simon needed to be longer. Or I may just take a few months off and just do shorts. I’m not sure what comes next. That’s what makes life interesting.
To give a little bit about myself:
I do value my privacy so this won’t be the place where you’ll read that juicy bit of tabloid stuff that seems to be everywhere these days. B.L.Morgan is actually Bob Morgan Jr. He lives in Washington with his wonderful wife Judi, a dog named Willard, and a cat named Dexter. Yes, our pets are named after characters from horror movies and television series.
I write anytime I can fit the time in. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and write for two hours then go back to bed. Sometimes it’s in the evening. Sometimes it’s before work in the morning. The times during the day vary. What I do that does seem to work for me when doing a novel is set a page count to get done per day. I make it so that it is an easy amount to get done and force myself to make certain that I get that amount of pages done.
This works at least for the first draft.
About me as a person:
Again I am a very private person. I just can’t understand these people who do the reality shows where they get followed around with cameras twenty-four hours a day being filmed. To me, that would be hell. What if you want to scratch your ass or pick your nose? Would you have to tell the cameraman to go take a break?
Anyway, after a misspent youth where I did some extremely stupid things, I now live a very peaceful, quiet life with my wonderful wife. I used to be an adrenaline junkie and now I value peace and quiet. I guess I learned that every day does not have to be more exciting than the day that preceded it to be a very good day. Today will be a good day.
Books out: Blood And Rain, Blood For The Masses, Blood On Celluloid, (next month: Blood And Bones), Night Knuckles & You Play, You Pay.
What the future holds only God knows and he ain’t telling.
You can read The Ladies of the Scale in the Masters of Horror Anthology.
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