The Garbage Man ‘cover’ by JD’L

I’d like to echo Bill’s sentiments on cover art.

I’d like to do that because today I received the proof copies of The Garbage Man. I’d like to talk about ‘mood’, ‘subtlety’ and ‘menace’ as key aspects of my latest cover.

I’d like to but I can’t.

Here’s why:

Film Review: The Dead Outside

Another twist on the zombie genre – a neurological pandemic has swept the United Kingdom, but those with the infection don’t die immediately, becoming increasingly incoherent, unstable and violent. The infection mutated, went airborne and the government’s so-called vaccine only slowed down the symptoms. The result: the infectious period was extended and the disease spread unnoticed and the virus wiped out most of the misinformed population. Six months later, and the landscape is littered with wandering psychopaths and scavenging survivors.

The Dead Outside has an overwhelming air of purposefully half-explained menace: the virus might still be airborne; touching the afflicted in any way might result in infection; the turned victims are after blood and attracted by noise, so living a quiet life becomes vital to survival. So what better place to be than in the Scottish borders? Sparsely populated, lots of space and plenty to eat if you find a suitably isolated farm and can grow your own. Which is exactly what Daniel does after his wife and child are infected. But he wakes up the next morning to find April peering down the barrel of a shotgun at him. Braehead is her family’s farm and she doesn’t exactly welcome strangers, not even healthy ones.

‘The Absence’ Cover

Well, after blogging about the importance of the cover, I’m happy to give HR a first proper glimpse at the cover design for my second horror novel, ‘The Absence’. I’m absolutely thrilled with the artwork, which conveys just the mood I have tried to capture in the book. As with the subtle design of ‘Through A Glass, Darkly’, I hope you will agree that the artwork is sombre and menacing without being a traditional in-your-face horror cover. Anyway, over to you – what do you think?

Digital Wasteland #1

This will be the first of a regular update, (is ‘regular’ non-commital enough, JD’L and Bill?) concerning recently published articles of interest for all us horror fanatics. Not much comment on my part you’ll be glad to know I’m sure, just plain, old-fashioned linkage. Hopefully it’ll save you guys and gals some time trawling through this great stinking, dripping Digital Wasteland. 

First up, something for genre readers by Lisa Tuttle. She reviews horror, science fiction and fantasy for The Times’ Books supplement on a Saturday. A few nice, new parchments of darkness to budget for can be found here.

Weird Tales – yes THAT magazine, (good old HPL et al), is giving away the July/August  issue as a PDF here. It’s a big 100 page baby that make takes a few minutes to deliver, but it’s worth it. But be quick, it’s for a limited time only and obviously trying to encourage a subscription-drive. The issue features fiction from Norman Spinrad, Nick Mamatas, and Karen Heuler; an in-depth interview with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola; a journey into H.P. Lovecraft’s dreamlands; an exclusive excerpt from Stephen Hunt’s steampunk epic The Court of the Air; and lots of other things. Even the ads are worth a read.

Part one of Bill & Joseph’s series on novel writing: The idea

Over the course of the next few months these sorry scribblers will be talking about the construction of the novel, from the blueprints to laying the foundations, from shoring up that load-bearing wall to the final decorative flourishes upon the architrave.

They begin with The Idea…

BILL:  So, Joseph, what’s the Big Idea…? Sorry, that came off needlessly aggressive. My question is that dreaded by all writers – where do you get your ideas from?

JOSEPH: I was hoping you wouldn’t ask me that. However… the simple fact is I have no shortage of ideas. They come to me all the time, like flies to poop, and I write them in a notebook. Boring, I know, but true.

BILL:  Ah, the ideas notebook. I always have good intentions when it comes to the ideas notebook. I try to carry mine around with me but generally leave it lying about at home. At the end of most days, I find my pockets full of receipts, restaurant bills and sweet wrappers covered in incomprehensible babble with things like ‘What if there was an X in the middle of X and the whole X had no idea it was buried there.’ Then it’s just a matter of deciphering what the hell I was talking about… But the germ, Joseph. The germ of a novel or short story. Where does it come from? Meat, for example…

A tale for Halloween by JD’L

Lights Out

by

Joseph D’Lacey

Outside the Benedict house on Birch Avenue, the daylight died so quick it was as though its throat were cut. Night was the one who did it. The lights inside were dim behind closed curtains, a weak yellow glow struggling to keep out the darkness.

            In a small upstairs room a father sat on the edge of his son’s bed with a story book open in his hands. The boy interrupted the tale.

            “Daddy?”

            “What is it, Joseph?” sighed the weary man, putting his finger to the last sentence he’d read and looking at his boy. Joseph, so bold when he’d cut in, now lost his confidence. His words came out a croak.

            “I…I get scared sometimes,” he said.

Halloween at The Whitby Bookshop by Bill Hussey

Hi All

Just popping by to say I’ll be appearing at the Whitby Goth Weekend this Friday (31st Oct – Halloween in Dracula country!). I’ve been invited to come along and talk about Through A Glass, Darkly  and horror writing in general by the good people at The Whitby Bookshop (88 Church Street, Whitby, North Yorkshire YO22 4BH tel. 01947 606202). I’ll be there from 7pm, chatting, signing books and doing a reading. Be there or be pumpkin-shaped!

Cover Story, The Sequel by JD’L

I’m glad Bill brought this subject up. He’s absolutely right in what he says about how people buy books. It’s an attraction thing, just like choosing a lover. Psychologists understand the generalities which men and women find attractive. These generalities appear on the covers of magazines and sell them in their millions per day. We call these generalities models. We call them celebrities.

Of course, selling books can’t work in exactly the same way but similar psychological principles apply. Discovering the secret of what is attractive in the right way to as many people as possible is the name of the game. If not, all books would have plain covers; titles alone would be enough to send people digging for their wallets.

COVER STORY by BILL HUSSEY

Okay, maybe I’m getting slightly ahead of myself here. Joseph and I are about to launch into a series of discussions on the business of writing a novel, from ‘the Idea’ straight through to the final edit. In the journey of the novel the decision about cover design is, if not the last consideration, pretty near the end. However, in the world of modern publishing a book’s cover is almost as important a factor in the finished product as the merit of the book itself. Many highfalutin’, so-called literary writers would balk at what I’ve just told you. They would stand by the age-old adage that one should never judge a book by its cover. They’re the very same folk who are dismissive about the importance of plot and pacing. My answer to that sort of thinking is quite simply: get real! You want to write? Well then you’ve got to write books that people want to buy. Publishing is not (and never should be, in my opinion) a charitable cause in which people with a few bob throw their money at scribblers who simply want to ‘express themselves’ on paper. Publishers are not modern day patrons of the arts: they are businessmen. Sure, the best of them are invested in the quality and integrity of the books they produce, but those books need to make a profit. With this in mind, the decision on a book’s cover is a vital one. Because, and let me make this very clear, 

VIRTUALLY EVERYONE JUDGES A BOOK BY ITS COVER!

The Chronic Rift by JD’L

On Saturday morning I was participating in the Chronic Rift’s latest podcast. It couldn’t have been a more appropriate activity – a roundtable discussion on the evolution of horror.

I felt sorry for those New Yorkers – it was 6 am for them! That said, they all seemed far more lucid than I. You can judge for yourselves…

http://thechronicrift.podomatic.com/player/web/2008-10-19T16_28_26-07_00

The horror chat kicks off around minute 38 but the whole podcast is great and I really enjoyed the experience.