Monster Men Podcast : Paranormal TV
From the stygian depths of two minds addicted to all things dark and scary. This time around, we talk about the state of paranormal television and wrap things up with my own encounter with a ghost in a hotel room in Spain.
I hope you like my hat. I’ll sign that wonderful straw hat and mail it to a random commenter, so all you need to do is tell us what you think and you too can look like an escapee from a country fair! As you can tell from this still, even my partner Jack is having a hard time looking at it.
Agents in the Crosshairs : How to Find Your Target
OK, this one is for all the aspiring writers out there toiling away behind keyboards, attending writing workshops and reading every inspirational and how-to book they can find. It’s exciting, crazy, fun, scary, daunting, passionate. I know, I’ve been there. In fact, I’m still there. Writing, for me, is like touching a live wire while standing in a puddle. I get that kind of charge from it.
I know there’s always been a debate whether an agent is necessary or not. I’ve expressed my opinion on the matter before and in upcoming articles : hell yes! I know that finding one is just about as arduous a task as getting a book deal. For most, it can be a long slog. For the lucky few, it happens in the blink of an eye. But, it doesn’t happen to either if some homework isn’t done first. So, while you’re busy writing your next book, take time to start looking for your target agents. Build your list so you know who to query when your work is complete (and as near perfection as you can make it).
How do you find them? Actually, this part of the entire writing and publishing process is quite easy.
- Hopefully you read lots of books in the genre you’re writing in (otherwise, how do you know what sells?). Look at the dedication and acknowledgement pages. Plenty of writers take time to thank their agent. Add their name to your list.
- You can go online to Writer’s Market or buy a copy at your local bookstore. They have a full listing of agents. Go through the entire list to find ones looking for work in your genre.
- Join a writing organization. For example, I’m part of the Horror Writer’s Association. They provide lists of agents and publishers that work in horror.
- Attend trade shows and conferences. You’ll not only meet real live agents, but you’ll also build a network of writers with a similar passion. Feel free to pick their brains. Most of us writerly types are happy to share our trade secrets.
- Subscribe to Writer’s Digest and The Writer. Both have great articles by agents, how to find an agent and listings.
If you can manage to do at least most of the above, you’ll have a robust list of agents to reach out to when you’re ready. It’s best to list them in order of preference. I had my dream team of 5 agencies I wanted to work with, and am happy beyond belief to be signed on with one now. The time it took me from saying I wanted to write to getting to where I am today took a long time, but I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t do my homework.
In the words of David Lee Roth, Class dismissed! Go make your list…and don’t forget to keep writing.
Monster Men Podcast Debut!
I’ve recently partnered with fellow horror maven, Jack Campisi, to do a series of podcasts we like to call Monster Men. In each podcast, we’ll focus on a particular topic, from the state of zombies to paranormal TV, book and movie reviews and the latest horror news. Our first episode is Vampires Kinda Suck. We hope you agree…
My Road to Horror: The Beginning…Chiller Theater by guest blogger Thomas Scopel
(Thomas is the author of the novel Twitch and I think you’ll find his beginnings are very similar to many of the horror hounds out there.)
Even before I had my first taste of Chiller Theater, I read horror comics and magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland. So, I can say I’ve always been drawn to the macabre.
At seven years old, I first watched “Chilly Billy” Bill Cardille onPittsburgh’s channel eleven’s Chiller Theater. I don’t recall the name of the movie, but I can tell you the movie surrounded astronauts marooned on Mars and when each one died, the remaining astronauts buried them and the dead person would rise and attack. Someday I’ll find out the name of the movie and I’ll re-watch. I suspect the film won’t have the same effect and will be considered cheesy by today’s standards. I won’t care and simply view with fond reminiscence.
Regardless, with my father snoring on the couch and me sitting in the dark watching fear, it was the night I became a true horror junkie.
Although that specific night offered clear weather and the reception, unbeknownst to me, was better than typical, I set my sites for watching again the following week. All of a sudden, Chiller Theater had become, with the first viewing, one of my all-time favorite television shows. Coincidently, along with Twilight Zone, Night Gallery and most Hammer Films featuring Peter Cushing and/or Christopher Lee, I would be hard pressed to choose just one.
But the following week’s planned horror viewing extravaganza was not to be when I learned how lucky I had been to watch the previous week’s episode. For where we lived (one hour southwest of Pittsburgh) and in a valley, the top of the house antenna had a rough time tuning in the distant channels and in cloudy weather, the channel offered a little more than shadowed snow. I may have been disappointed, but I wasn’t deterred…for I had a solution.
My Aunt Sandy and Uncle Dave lived eight miles up the road, on top of a hill, and their reception was exceptional. So, I started spending my Saturday nights with them. They always allowed and even joined me in watching the usually ghoulish films, at least until they fell fast asleep on the couch and in the chair respectively. Typically, I would make it through the first feature and just barely into the second before joining them in slumber on my spread out across the floor blanket. Of course, I always woke up with the sun in my eyes, angry at myself for missing the second feature and would secretly vow to remain awake the following week.
And so, for some time following, this routine became my Saturday night norm. Eventually though, after being fortunate enough to have a portable black and white television in my bedroom, I learned tin foil makes a wonderful adjustable antenna and I started watching alone in the darkness of my room, surrounded by miscellaneous monster magazines and various horror based plastic models I had started to build.
Click here to read more about Twitch and order your copy today!
I wasn’t yet a writer, but the seeds were firmly planted.
Twitch is available for download at Amazon, Smashwords and Barnes & Noble dot com for only 99 cents. Want to win a free copy of TWITCH (digital) along with a signed photo? Simply email winacopyoftwitch@yahoo.com and indicate you read this on https://huntershea.com/. If you are the winner, I will request your mailing address for sending the signed photo. And, rest assured, I will not use it for anything else…I promise.
New Story Available for Nook
One of my never before published short stories, The Dig, is now available for download through Barnes & Noble for only 99 cents. Heck, that’s less than a McChicken on the dollar menu (and much better for you)! It will be available in other formats soon, as will other stories over the next few months.
The Dig is the first in what will be a series of horror shorts with an archaeological theme. Here’s the breakdown:
While digging in the Mongoloian heat, Felicia Tang enters an archaeological mystery. What looks like a normal burial mound is actually the entrance to a centuries old chamber housing countless urns within rough hewn niches. Who built the vast chamber and why? What remains lie within the urns? Most of all, what is still very much alive in the dark?
Click the cover image to learn more or download your copy.
My October Book Release
Samhain Publishing has finally announced their October lineup of releases for their new horror line. My book, Forest of Shadows, is in some pretty esteemed company. Can you say Leisure Horror, part 2? Excuse me while I do the happy watusi for the rest of the day.
Movie Review : Super 8
It took me a few weeks to haul my butt off the couch and see Super 8, despite the fact that the first time I saw the coming attractions, I decreed it THE MOVIE TO SEE for the official start of the summer. (On a side note, the actual must-see movie for me this year is Captain America. This from a guy who has Cap’s shield tattooed on his arm. ‘Nuff said) Why the delay? you might ask. Well, despite some decent critical reviews, I’d heard enough from my peers to make me think twice about spending my hard earned money. Even the folks in Twitter Land warned me against it. 
Well, twits and friends be damned. I came. I saw. I ate too much popcorn. I liked. I liked it alot, and here’s why. The movie is set in 1979 and centers around 5 boys and 1 girl, all around 12 and 13 years old. Well, that’s pretty much my age in 1979. The entire movie, for me, was a trip back to my childhood. There were the Famous Monsters models I used to put together! There’s the Keep on Truckin’ poster my friend had on his wall! Look at those awful clothes! And most of all, being a kid was damned near perfect and magical before Pac Man invaded. I kept watching and saying (softly and to myself), “That’s little me up there. Go kid, go!”
I’m not going to bore you with a breakdown of the movie. Plenty of other people and places have already beaten me to that punch. Suffice to say, the boys and girl, while shooting a zombie movie by the train tracks, witness the most horrific train derailment you’ll ever see. Something is released from the wreckage, a monster you don’t really see until the end (kudos to director J.J. Abrams on that one), the military takes over the town and it’s up to the kids to save it as well as themselves. I have to say, the cast of kids was the best since The Goonies. Abrams is a bright student of the Speilberg film school (who produced this) and he manages to touch on all the right pressure points. Yes, there are some gaps in logic and the end is less than satisfying. But I finally have a movie I can show to my kids and say, “Now THAT is exactly how I grew up. We only wished there was a monster wrecking the town. It would have given your old man a great excuse to unleash some of his stash of M-80s.”
Nothing beats a good old monster movie. There’s magic in Super 8 that has been sorely missed. Don’t you miss it, too.
Interview with new author, Scott Doornbosch
This is a wonderful interview with a new author who is facing some very tough times right in the midst of the excitement of publishing his first novel. Please read his interview, conducted by author Joe Konrath, and support the book! If his story doesn’t touch your heart, nothing else will.
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/06/interview-with-scott-doornbosch.html
Great Novels Not By King or Koontz – Scott Nicholson’s They Hunger
If you’re not reading Scott Nicholson’s books, go to Amazon, B&N, wherever, and rectify that. You can’t be a fan of modern horror if you don’t have a few Nicholson books under your belt. A good place to start is They Hunger. Set in the Appalachian Mountains, several groups of strangers come face to face along the rapids with unadulterated evil. It’s a very sleek twist on the vampire mythology and must be pretty damn good for me to recommend, because like most grown ups, I’m pretty sick of vampires. 
The vampires in They Hunger, thankfully, are mindless, merciless beasts driven solely by a need to feed. And feed they must! The great turn here is that the “helpless” human prey in their sights may have darker souls than the creatures gobbling them up like popcorn. You have an abortion clinic bomber who thinks he’s a prophet, a failed FBI agent, a drug addicted Native American, a complete A-hole jock and a whole host of fully formed, damaged individuals. It’s up to you, the reader, to decide who is truly evil : the flawed prey who have the ability to choose between right and wrong, or the hell bent hunters who have only one mission in life.
They Hunger is a great read, as are all of Scott Nicholson’s books. Also highly recommended are The Harvest and The Home. You can’t go wrong. Check out his website for a full listing of his work. If you have a Nook or Kindle, you can start reading in minutes!
My Inspiration For…By Shaun Jeffrey
This month’s inspiration comes from author Shaun Jeffrey. He’s been publishing short stories and novels for years, and his latest novel is now a movie!
So, without further ado, the following page is Shaun’s stage…
The old adage goes ‘Write about what you know’, but in the case of monsters and serial killers, that’s easier said than done. Now, although monsters are figments of the imagination, serial killers are rea – but how can you write about killing people if you’ve never done it? This was my problem when I wrote The Kult. OK, aside from risking imprisonment and actually going out and killing people, which I’m not going to admit to in public, you have to make shit up. You have to let your imagination run riot.
When I started writing the novel, I set out to write something that I’d like to read, but sadly, at first it didn’t work out that way, and the novel I wrote was nothing like the novel that was published.
The story started out about a group of mutated individuals seeking revenge for the continual harassment they suffered at the hands of others. I finished the novel, landed an agent and then waited for it to sell. And I waited, and I waited. But nothing happened. A publisher expressed an interest, but then nothing came of it. So in the cold light of day, I reviewed what I had written and realised that I didn’t like it at all. To cut a long story short, the agent and I parted company, but I knew there was something in the novel that I liked, so I went over it again, and realised that there was another story there, a much better story that needed telling. So I rewrote it, and as I did so, the story flowed. It was as though it had been there all along, but I had tried to shape it into what I wanted it to be, rather than letting the story be what it wanted to be. Once I had finished, I was much happier about the whole thing and the new novel was nothing like the original apart from containing a few of the same characters. Next thing, I knew I had sold it to a small press publisher (who has sadly since gone bankrupt, but the book is available in various ebook formats) and then, before long, the book was optioned for film. Shooting finished last year and the first trailer has just gone online.
So it’s not always about what inspired you to write the story as much as it is about the story wanting to be written, and that’s something you have little or no control over. Of course when you’re writing about a subject that you know little about, such as when I wrote, The Kult, you have to research. My study involved reading about heinous crimes and the mindset of killers so I could ‘walk in their shoes’ so to speak. Because of course I’d never really kill anyone, unlike the characters in my novel …
For more info, please check out www.shaunjeffrey.com
Hunter Shea 