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The Year in the Rear-view

The first half of the year was quite outwardly productive with the release of the third year of Killing Time - Horror E-Rag™ issues. Then after that things quieted down. Killing Time's fourth year will not begin this year (2011). At this point I have no expectation of when it will happen. I won't get people's hopes up. It will arrive when it does or it won't at all. I have not worked any further on the serial story and I will not begin a new year of issues without that done completely in first draft this time. I will also have to do most of the short story work first. I'm keeping the submissions page open at Battered Spleen Productions™, but it's all a chicken and egg process where I don't count on submissions until the certainty of the E-Rag is resolved. I do not expect it would be any different even if I offered to pay a pro rate. That's the way these things go. Time will tell.

R.G. Male's Dark Corners made its transition to it's new home. There are still miles to go before I sleep on that one but it's been a mostly smooth transition. It was a fine year over at Learning Dark Arts. I created a number of tutorials. I posted throughout the month of October during Dark Corner's "13 Nights of Hallowe'en" rather than taking October off entirely there. I made a fair number of images this year not even counting the ones from Killing Time. The big event of the year was On Dark Rhoads™. It burst onto the scene in April and ran almost every Saturday until December 3rd. It had a great run and you won't want to miss what's going to happen when it returns in January.

Okay. That is all I have. I wish everyone a Happy December/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah/Solstice/Yule or a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. See you in 2012!

• Tags: Battered Spleen Productions™, Christmas, Halloween, Hanukkah, hiatus, Killing Time - Horror E-Rag™, Kwanzaa, New Years, On Dark Rhoads™, R.G. Male's Dark Corners, Solstice, writing, Yule.

Last week I brought you my review of S.S. Michaels' first novel, Idols and Cons. If you missed it, do yourself a favour and check back for it. Today I have another post that you will find exciting. I knew when I was asked to review the book that I certainly would, and if at all possible I would follow it up with something a little more intimate. That said, I present to you my...

Interview with S.S. Michaels

Tell everybody a bit about yourself, please.

I am a recovering accountant and Hollywood drone hoping to become the next Chuck Palahniuk.

Do you do a lot of pre-planning for your writing or do you just jump right in and sort the details out as they show up?

I do waaaay more research than I need to. Then, I make meticulous outlines and plot charts. And then, I throw all that away and write the story.

Why did you choose to use multiple first person perspectives in Idols & Cons? Were there other styles you considered?

I chose multiple first person because I wanted the reader to be able to get inside everyone's head, to know what they were (or were not) thinking. I did consider a boring third person omniscient, but that just didn't work for me.

What do you consider the most important element in a story? (Character, setting, mood, etc?)

I think you've got to have a story. Having great characters is a close second, but if they don't have anything to do, then what?

How does it feel to have your first novel published?

It feels great! It's even better than an Adventure Time marathon!

Do you have your second novel in mind already?

I have three novels completed, actually. You've only seen the first one so far. The second, REVIVAL HOUSE, will be out sometime early next year. It's a quirky horror story, of course.

Do you have a lot of stories just bouncing around waiting to be pulled out of your thoughts?

I have stories about all the stories I've got dancing around in the caverns of my head.

What is it like to have a great quote for your novel from Jeremy C. Shipp? Jeremy gets a lot of great accolades himself from big names, and you certainly deserved yours.

Jeremy is a great writer - one of my new favorites - so I was, of course, over the moon to get such high praise from him. It really means a lot to me and I'm very thankful.

Have you done many interviews yet? I expect there will be a lot sooner than later.

I have done several so far.

What question would you like an interviewer to ask you, that they otherwise might not ask? What's the answer to that question?

Where do I get my ideas. The answer: everywhere.

Thank you for answering my questions. I hope this is the start of a long and distinguished career.

Thank you, Robert!

• Tags: horror, interview, Jeremy C. Shipp, perspective, publishing, S.S. Michaels, story.