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Witch Hunts trailer and artwork competition!

Witch Hunts, the graphic novel I illustrated for authors Rocky Wood and Lisa Morton has garnered a fair bit of praise from the critics and hopefully we’ll get a few more reviews from readers.

As a way of incentive, I’ve launched a competition to win some original Witch Hunts-inspired artwork:

If you want to win this all you need to do is post the weblink to your Amazon or Goodreads review of the graphic novel on our official Facebook page between now and August 1 and one lucky reviewer will win the prize to be announced on August 10.

So you all better get yourselves a copy!

Meanwhile the graphic novel was on display at the recent San Diego International Comic-Con which was a real dream come true for me (wish I’d been there!)

Despite this, promotions continue with the release of the unused Appendix from the graphic novel, which looks at the evolution of witchcraft iconography and the trailer that I created with sound effects guru Ricky Grove. Enjoy!

Guest Blogger: Author Benjamin Kane Ethridge

Very honoured to have Bram Stoker Award-winning horror novelist Benjamin Kane Ethridge on my blog talking about the myth behind his new novel Bottled Abyss. Take it away Ben!

Five Mythology Movies that didn’t inspire BOTTLED ABYSS

By Benjamin Kane Ethridge

A little background before I start my spiel. My latest novel, BOTTLED ABYSS, is a reframing of the Ferryman and River Styx myth. Bound by a pledge to make things as difficult on me as possible, I sought to take the material to a different place, yet keep some essentials so the myth wasn’t buried in symbolism.

My reasoning for doing this was two-fold: 1) Horror always needs new monsters, and 2) Mythology is rarely used in popular entertainment the way I want to see it used.

I’ve read some amazing literary efforts that recast Greek and Roman mythology, but cinema always seems to fall short exploiting them to the fullest. Perhaps I haven’t seen the right movies, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t tried.

Myths represented in film never find any real evolution, which has always struck me as crazy because evolution, in this case the passing of a millennia since inception, feels pretty necessary.

Anyhow, being faithful to the blogging Gods, I’ve created a list of mythology movies that didn’t inspire me to write my book BOTTLED ABYSS.

Now, to be clear, while I did enjoy these movies for infinitely dissimilar reasons, reading actual mythology did more for my novel’s development. That elucidation is for another blog though. Yes, a stuffy, dusty-paged, mothball scented academic blog only enjoyed by a proof-reading Ben that orangutan-hops at his desk, so pleased with his astute references and clarifications.

1) Clash of the Titans

Pic: https://darkscrybe.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/monsters_csg263_clash_of_the_titans.jpg

I haven’t seen the new one or its sequel, but it isn’t for not trying. My household efficiently destroys all visceral effects of CGI adventure movies with screaming babies and a wife who walks into the living room, sees a winged creature onscreen and says, “So, what’re we going to watch tonight?”

But I’m not disheartened. When I was a boy, I saw the original Clash of the Titans and its bold sense of romance, adventure, and myth sent me headlong into reading books on the subject.

That’s when I discovered that the movie, while still effective as an adventure film, only presents a set of myths told in the same fashion… forever. My thinking on this, right or wrong, was, well, that sucks. Say what you will about the recent Star Wars trilogy, but at least it tried to tell a new story, with lightsabers involved.

Essentially, I discovered that mythology would always be a series of remakes, rehashes, re-rees. Perseus is always going to chop off Medusa’s head and use it as a magic weapon, and her gorgonly power, to change things into stone, will never develop into something more.

Stagnant.

Myths, while beloved, are inert.

2) Mannequin

Pic: http://www.virtual-history.com/movie/photo/04/large/04109.jpg

Well sure, you can change myths into farce. I have no problem with that. Mannequin (1987) was a riff on the Pygmalion myth, but this alteration functions on the premise that situational changes will permit us to observe it with new eyes. In other words, let’s put a great big red clown nose on it and laugh! Huhuhuhuh.

Problem is, even if a farce is done with a Jefferson Starship soundtrack, afterward it’s all downhill and you get Mannequin 2: On the Move (1991). Much closer to a myth-reframing would be My Fair Lady (1964), but there you’ve taken out the magic elements and become symbolic, or more to the point: I paid to watch a marble statue come to life, not some prostitute to be born again as a gentlewoman!

3) Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Pic: http://www.movieposterdb.com/posters/09_11/2010/814255/l_814255_7461c9a5.jpg

So, keeping the previous 1980s Kim Cattrall vehicle in mind, let’s create something new but change very little about the myth elements. It will be different because we set the story in modern times with modern people as main characters. This reminds me of every time Cap’n Crunch changes the color of its corn rafts and suddenly we are supposed to believe it’s a completely new breakfast experience!

The Greek myths used in Percy Jackson are essentially the same, but now you have this modern paint applied to their surface. It’s fun and can be captivating even, but Medusa still has serpent hair and Neptune still carries a Trident. I’m not faulting the story for this dependence on recognized norms, by and by, but pointing out that it takes the original myths in little new direction. Mythology lovers enjoy it for the same reason Batman lovers enjoy reading What-If-Batman-Fought-Crime-During-the-Industrial-Revolution comic books. So, like I said, this is not a slight on stories like this, just an observation that no matter the color, Cap’n Crunch is Cap’n Crunch.

Unless you put lotus blossoms in it… then it’s effing AWESOME.

4) Jason and the Argonauts

Pic: http://s1.moviefanfare.com/uploads/2012/04/Jason-and-the-Argonauts-2.jpg

Jason and the Argonauts (or as I used to call it in my most mature adolescence, Jason and the Aw go fug yerself). This film is a treasure and I love it to bits. The Golden Fleece myth is also a great example of what I’m trying to prove here. On display we have here an ensemble adventure story; it’s the Avengers, it’s X-Men, it’s a group of mythological heroes on one boat with the Hulk—I mean Hercules. This is why Clash of the Titans and Percy Jackson aren’t particularly new approaches: even in ancient times while storytellers recited and sung these stories, they already reiterated established myths. It’s thrilling, yes, but reliant on the piling up of positively charged emotional baggage of past myths to make someone as boring as Jason look interesting.

Those attacking skeletons are badass though.

5) Hercules in New York (1970)

Pic: https://darkscrybe.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/01-arnie.jpg

Then, let’s also consider you can squeeze all the substance out of a myth and rely on any of its aspects in the most superficial way possible. Hercules = Strong. Arnold = Strong. Therefore, the syllogism gets us Mr. Universe running around New York in a toga smashing doofus criminals’ heads together.

In the end, stories from mythology ring true to us, no matter their usage. I suspect this is because they had so many trial runs; while those epic poems and songs folks loved the most were refined, the less successful tales inspired belching contests during their recitals, and were ultimately tossed. It’s tricky to redesign something that stands against the test of so much time. In my novel, I tried to leap over the drawn boundaries of one particular Greek myth. Whether it was effective, I’ll leave for others to decide, but damn, was it ever fun.

YOU CAN PICK UP A COPY OF BOTTLED ABYSS HERE

2012 Australian Horror Writers Association Mentor program opens!

If I could offer any emerging author one piece of advice – if you can, get a mentor!

I wouldn’t have been published at all (I say humbly) if it wasn’t for the Australian Horror Writers Association’s mentor program in 2009. My mentor Brett McBean, a well-known horror author from Melbourne put up with me and my writing for several months, but it was his tireless efforts and advice which helped me find publication with Torment and The Noctuary in 2011.

I recently found my application submission letter to the mentor program. Here it is here:

Ever since I was a teenager I have told stories. From writing and drawing my own comic books to self-publishing little A5-sized photocopied novellas, I have always had a passion for creating my own worlds and characters and sharing them with people.

I haven’t had the grand success that I am after yet, but I am chasing that dream – the dream of seeing my name on the front cover of a thick tome, filled with the words and sentences I wrote.

I hope that the AHWA’s Mentor Program can help me achieve that dream. I know that I am not quite publishable yet, but I know that I want to hone my storytelling into written word of publishable standard. To have someone, who has already achieved that dream to guide me, would be invaluable.

I have many stories that I want to share with the world and if a mentor can help me, even with some simple editorial advice, then I would be indebted to them.

Editorial guidance is something that is lacking in the publishing industry and frankly it has always hindered me in my efforts to be a professional writer. So I was very happy when I read that the AHWA has a mentor program.

If I am not accepted I am not going to let it get me down, instead I’ll just get back to that keyboard and telling stories, even if I am the only one who reads them.

I don’t want to waffle on, so I’ll let my writing speak for me.

Thank you for considering my application.

Regards

Greg Chapman

I’m not saying it helped me get my foot in the door, but I think what I have accomplished since, provides proof of the value and success of the mentor program.

Now, once more the very good people at the AHWA are hosting the program and there are some terrific mentors that new authors could have the opportunity to work with:

David Conyers
David Conyers is an Australian science fiction and occasional horror author residing in Adelaide. With John Sunseri he is the co-author of the Lovecraftian spy thriller collection The Spiraling Worm and the author of the sequel novella The Eye of Infinity. He is the editor of the anthology Cthulhu’s Dark Cults, with Brian M. Sammons the editor of Cthulhu Unbound 3, with David Kernot and Jason Fischer the editor ofMidnight Echo 6: The Science Fiction Horror Special, and a contributing editor for Albedo One, Ireland’s longest running magazine of speculative fiction.

David’s short fiction has appeared in various magazines including Jupiter, Book of Dark Wisdom, Midnight Echo, Innsmouth Free Press and Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. He has also appeared in over a dozen anthologies including Monstrous,Through the Wormhole, Cthulhu Unbound 2, Best New Tales of the Apocalypse, Horrors Beyond, Award Winning Australian Writing 2008, Scenes from the Second Storey, Macabre,and The Black Book of Horror.

He has been nominated for several awards including the Aeon, Aurealis, Ditmar and Australian Shadows, recently made the preliminary ballot in the Bram Stoker Awards, and has won both the Australian Horror Writers Association’s Flash Fiction and Short Story Awards.

Kaaron Warren
Kaaron Warren sold her first story at 28, and has sold close to a hundred stories since then. Her first short story collection, The Grinding House won two Ditmar Awards and the ACT Writers and Publishers Award. Her second collection, Dead Sea Fruit, also won that award. Her third collection, Through Splintered Walls, was published this year.

She has three award-winning and nominated novels in print through Angry Robot.

She will be special guest at Natcon in 2013, based in Canberra.

Jason Fischer
Jason Fischer lives near Adelaide, South Australia, with his wife and son. His fiction has been described by reviewers as “strikingly original” and “weirdly imaginative”, while noted for containing “greasier genre elements”. Jason has a passion for godawful puns, and is known to sing karaoke until the small hours.
Jason attended the Clarion South writers workshop in 2007, and has been shortlisted in the Aurealis Awards, the Ditmar Awards, and the Australian Shadows Awards. He won the 2009 AHWA Short Story and the 2010 AHWA Flash Fiction Competitions, and is a winner of the Writers of the Future contest.
He is the author of over thirty short stories, with his first collection appearing soon from Ticonderoga Publications. His “After The World” series of zombie-apocalypse novellas are available from Black House Comics.

Cam Oliver
Cameron has been working in the film and television industry for over ten years, with a background in professional writing and editing focusing on screenwriting.

Over the last four years Cameron has worked with Greg Mclean (Wolf Creek) as an in house directors assistant in a developmental and analysis role, giving him access to some of the best horror scripts in Hollywood.

He was also directors assistant to SFX Makeup specialist, Justin Dix on his debut Sci-Fi Horror feature, ‘Crawlspace’ (currently screening at the Cannes Film Festival) and has script-edited and written for a number of other projects across various mediums.

Joseph D’Lacey

Winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer, D’Lacey is best known for his shocking eco-horror novel MEAT. The book has been widely translated and prompted Stephen King to say “Joseph D’Lacey rocks!” Other titles include Garbage Man, The Kill Crew, Snake Eyes, The Failing Flesh and, forthcoming, Blood Fugue.

Greg Lamberson
Gregory Lamberson is an award winning filmmaker and author who specializes in the horror genre. He is best known for his films ‘Slime City’ (1988) and its sequel, ‘Slime City Massacre (2010)’, as well as his ongoing occult detectives series of novels The Jake Helman Files, which so far includes ‘Personal Demons’ (2009), ‘Desperate Souls’ (2010), ‘Cosmic Forces’ (2011), and ‘Tortured Spirits’. He is also the author of the werewolf series The Frenzy Cycle, which includes ‘The Frenzy Way’ (2010) and ‘The Frenzy War’ (2012). His other books include the novel Johnny Gruesome (2008) and novella Carnage Road (2012), as well as the instructional film making book Cheap Scares: Low Budget Horror Filmmakers Share Their Secrets. In 2012, Snow Shark: Ancient Snow Beast, which he produced, will be released on DVD, and Model Hunger, which he is producing and Debbie Rochon is directing, will go before the camera. His previous films ‘Undying Love’ (1992) and ‘Naked Fear’ (1999) are included in the 2-disc DVD “’Greg Lamberson’s Slime City Grindhouse Collection’.

If you aspire to be an author, be willing to admit that you might not be quite ready for publication and put your application in to the program. It might just be the very thing you need to make that aspiration a reality.

FOR MORE INFORMATION on the Mentor Program visit http://www.australianhorror.com/member_home.php?view=95

Review: Night Terrors Anthology

(First published at Thirteen O’Clock April 2012)

Night Terrors Anthology

Editor: Karen Henderson

Publisher: Kayelle Press

ISBN: 978-0-9808642-8-1 (pbk.) / 978-0-9808642-9-8 (eBook)

Published: 13th April, 2012

Pages: 256

If you’ve never read horror before and are looking for a good place to start, then Kayelle Press’ Night Terrors Anthology might be for you.

The 256-page anthology offers up 17 short tales of horror by authors from across the globe, including three classic stories.

As a whole the anthology delivers on its promise in providing some scares and suspense, but to me some of the tales were a little under-developed.

Perhaps there were a few too many vampire-related stories (three in all), but at least the vampires didn’t sparkle! JC Hemphill’s vamp story A World Not Our Own certainly delivered on mood and atmosphere. Hunting Shadows by Mike Brooks, had a Buffyesque quality to it, but the story’s hook – the introduction of the enigmatic aelfar – is over far too quickly. Maybe Brooks plans on returning to them in a longer format. The third vampire tale, Like Father, like Daughter, also had a lot of promise, but again was too short.

Don’t get me wrong there were a number of stand-out stories: Depths, by CJ Kemp was a very engaging tale about two boys who find an imaginary cave where they can stretch their imaginations. But this “Aladdin’s Cave of Wonders” becomes all the more menacing when one of the boy’s uses its power to rid himself of an abusive stepfather. Kemp gives the boys plenty of depth in the tale.

Hangman by Lisamarie Lamb was a delightfully disturbing twist on the Hangman game. This particular version of the game, however, is a favourite of a band of monsters who live in an attic of her new school. Things take a delicious turn when the little girl realises that if she spells out the name of one of her bullies, they meet a tragic end.

The only werewolf tale, Last Night in Biloxi, by Robert J Mendenhall, is a satisfying story of survival in the tradition of some of the old EC Comics: ignorant jerk intimidates poor old man, only to sufferer the severest of consequences; some of Mendenhall’s passages are truly blood-curdling.

Other stories worth noting were The Lucky Penny by Tim Jeffreys and Product 9 by Lindsey Goddard – the only tale with a sci-fi horror bent.

My pick of the bunch however (and this is solely based on the merit of the story) is the very last tale – Andrew J McKiernan’s White Lines, White Crosses. The story deals with the all-too-present horror of road deaths and the inevitable danger reckless youth can put themselves in behind the wheel.

McKiernan’s horror is more subtle and rooted in the psychological than its predecessors, focussing on the dire consequences of risk and how one tragedy can create an unstoppable domino effect. There is a supernatural element to the story, but if anything it takes a back seat, which IMHO was a good way to round off an anthology that maybe relied a little too much on common horror tropes.

Review: The Broken Ones by Stephen M. Irwin

(First published at Thirteen O’Clock – March 2012)

Title: The Broken Ones
Author: Stephen M Irwin
Publisher: Hachette Australia
ISBN: 9780733627132

Blurb:

Three years ago, on what’s become known as Grey Wednesday, the world became haunted. Everyone suddenly acquired a personal ghost – a friend, a lost sibling, an ex-spouse, an enemy – which is unshakable as a shadow. These peering, silent phantoms have driven millions to despair, and the global economy is in freefall.

Stephen M Irwin’s follow up to his first novel The Dead Path (2010) is an engrossing blend of the supernatural and police procedural with a dash of the apocalypse – a combination that doesn’t disappoint.

In the novel, the world has virtually been turned upside down in the wake of “Grey Wednesday” – a disaster of gargantuan proportions that saw the Earth’s poles shift, creating all manner of destruction, with earthquakes and planes plummeting out of the sky. Worse still, everyone in the entire world (including Brisbane, where the story is set), suddenly found themselves haunted by the ghosts of their past, with long-dead relatives, friends, lovers and enemies following them around.

Everyone has to learn to live with their ghosts, but with society an absolute wreck, some can’t handle the stress and crimes like murder flourish. With the existence of the supernatural now living proof, many of these murderers are quite happy to use the term “the ghosts made me do it” as readily as they draw breath.

Which brings us to Detective Oscar Mariani; the lead officer of a unit tasked with investigating crimes believed to have been perpetrated by ghosts. It’s his job to separate the real murderers from the ghosts and, given that the majority of his suspects are very much alive, his job doesn’t carry much success, prestige or respect.

But when Oscar is called to a gruesome scene of a young girl with occult symbols carved into her flesh, the possibility of supernatural involvement is all too real. Oscar of course becomes obsessed with the case, all the while trying to reconcile the mistakes of his own past and handle the politics within a seemingly corrupt police force.

Oscar’s “mistake” is a core thread of Irwin’s marvellously intricate plot. The detective’s own ghost is a young boy who appeared before Oscar as he was driving, forcing the detective to crash his car with tragic consequences.

In Oscar, Irwin gives us the classic flawed hero; a tortured soul seeking redemption, but the author brings him to life with such clarity, that the mystery almost becomes secondary. The supernatural element of the novel evolves as the story progresses, moving the focus off the ghosts and more towards Persian mythology and there’s also terrifying monsters of the feathered variety lurking in the shadows, but it’s all just lying under the surface.

There are of course sub plots a plenty, including Oscar’s tenuous relationship with his former cop father, his tenuous relationships with other police officers who were once his friends and, his tenuous relationships with the lives of the families Oscar destroyed with his “mistake” on Grey Wednesday, but as in all good tales, everything weaves together in perfect symmetry to a horrific and tragic climax.

With simple language that is still somehow powerfully evocative, Irwin paints the perfect picture of a Brisbane gone terribly wrong and a man who seeks justice for a murdered girl and his own atonement. It’s a grand supernatural murder mystery that would even, dare I say it, some of today’s best thriller writers a run for their money and is well deserving of its recent Honourable Mention in the finalist list for the 2011 Aurealis Awards.

It would be good to see Irwin return to this world in the future and perhaps give us more ghosts of the past. The post-apocalyptic premise he has created is a unique one and deserves more exploration in his distinctive style, but whatever he writes next I’ll certainly be lining up for a copy.

The Fruit of My Labours

It’s finally here.

Just an hour ago I received some author copies of the graphic novel Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times.

It was a very welcome surprise as the book wasn’t supposed to have been printed until next week, but given that Rocky, Lisa and I worked quickly with the proofing, it’s fantastic that our publishers McFarland printed the book ahead of schedule.

To hold the finished product in my hands makes the 9-10 months to illustrate the tome so worthwhile. I may be biased here, but I think the graphic novel looks superb. This is an important volume; a chronology of one of the darkest periods in human history – a story that needs to be told and the authors Rocky Wood and Lisa Morton have done that very well.

Hard to believe that this all started in October 2010 with an email from Rocky, who was at the time, a complete stranger. I hope he and Lisa are as proud as I am of what we have created here.

If you wish to purchase a copy, they are available direct from the publisher HERE.

The graphic novel is currently only available for pre-order from places like Amazon.

Don’t forget about our website HERE and our Facebook page and for those about to read the graphic novel, thank you and I hope you enjoy it.

Don’t Tar All Small Presses With the Same Brush

There’s been a fair bit of chatter on the web about a recent bad experience an author had with a small press publisher.

Before I go on, you should read about the awful chain of events HERE (if you haven’t already).

My initial thoughts after reading the article were that the publisher Undead Press had, in my opinion, violated the author’s work; vandalised it and without her consent.

Fortunately, as far as I am aware, this is a rare occurrence – it certainly hasn’t happened to me, but then again I don’t submit to as many anthologies as I should. In my experience, the anthologies and magazines I have approached have always been forthright, honest and most of all professional.

Given that the article reveals all the bad things about a particular small press, I’ll give you an example of a good one that I recently had an experience with.

This particular publisher is based out of the US and last year I submitted a short story to them for their magazine. Even though I’d never heard of them they were on the leading markets website (see links below), they’d published a few issues of their magazine and it contained a few names that I did recognise. I sent them my story and like all good, patient authors, waited to hear if I’d been accepted.

After a few months I did indeed receive a response – essentially a well worded, professional email, which said they would like to publish the story if I was willing to make a few suggested revisions to improve the story. Now let me be frank here – at no point did I feel as if I was being forced to make the changes in order to be published. Their suggestions were valid ones and I do believe the changes I made and wrote of my own volition, did improve the story.

Obviously, the story was accepted after I made the changes, but the point I am trying to make is that this is how a professional publisher is supposed to operate. They respect the author and their work at all times and give them notice if anything in the story needs revision.

As an emerging author I’ve racked up probably a 100 or so short story rejections. While they were a little disheartening, each and every publisher always made an effort to motivate me, even in a form rejection. Others went out of their way to tell me what they liked about the story and even grace me with the phrase “please submit to us again in the future”.

I feel very lucky that this has been my experience as a fledgling horror author over the past few years. I know there are many fantastic and professional small presses around the globe working their guts out to maintain their reputation and I will defend them to the hilt and drag the bad ones through the mud.

Small presses like Bad Moon Books, Dark Regions Press and Journalstone Publishing are doing amazing things with horror at the moment and deserve our support

As an aside I should say that any author looking to become published should always in the FIRST INSTANCE peruse the following markets:

RALAN – This site looks plain, but as the saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover. It is considered THE resource for writers.

DUOTROPE – This site has a great search function, enabling to find the most suitable market for your story.

DARK MARKETS – This site has a good range of markets and interviews.

And don’t forget to visit the Horror Writers Association and the Australian Horror Writers Association for information on markets.

Guest blog: Author Lincoln Crisler

My blog has been infiltrated by US author Lincoln Crisler. Lincoln is the author of several books, including Magick and Misery, Wild and he recently edited the superhero fiction anthology Corrupts Absolutely?, which I am currently reading (and thoroughly enjoying!)

I think he wants to talk about his latest project though Four in the Morning, so I’ll shut up now:

In about three weeks I have this book coming out called FOUR IN THE MORNING. There are two really awesome things about this book. First, it isn’t just my book. The three stories joining my piece are each written by a talented writer I’m privileged to call a friend. Second, all four stories are dark, but each is firmly entrenched in a different genre: steampunk, urban fantasy, science fiction and horror, to be exact. So I came up with an idea and got to bring it to life with a few good pals, and readers get what amounts to a speculative fiction buffet.

Oh, and I got to write science fiction again. Make that three awesome things.

I seriously stepped outside my comfort zone when writing QUEEN, my contribution to FOUR. The MC is a middle-aged woman who’s looking to rejuvenate herself. You couldn’t find a character more contrary to my life experience. I’m a guy, and I don’t turn 30 even until a month after this book drops, and I love who I am. Those who’ve read QUEEN say I did well despite my disadvantage, and who am I to disagree? With all that unfamiliar terrain I had to navigate, though, I’m happy I was able to have at least a bit of a comfort zone.

I love science fiction. I might love science fiction even more than horror. Before I was ever allowed to crack open a Stephen King or a Dean Koontz, I had been steeped in superhero comics, Piers Anthony, Anne McAffery, Poul Anderson and Isaac Asimov for damn near a decade. The science fiction stories I’ve written—about a robot serial killer, a time-travel mistake and a drunken private eye’s thwarting of an alien plot, amongst others—number among my personal favorites.

I like my science fiction dark, though. I’m a huge fan of everything Star Trek, but my favorite series’ are Deep Space Nine and Enterprise, hands down. Nothing thrills me more than the Mirror Universe stories, canon and non-. The Langoliers is one of my favorite science fiction stories ever. Straczinski’s Rising Stars is one of the best self-contained superhero series’ you’ll ever crack open. None of this stuff is sweetness and light. None of the characters can be said to be all good or all evil. And a broken moral compass is almost a necessity.

So, while I explored the uncharted territory of the mature female psyche, I’d like to think that the uncertainty, infinite possibilities and opportunities for self-discovery offered by all great science fiction were effective tools I could use to smooth things out a bit and tell a story I’m proud of.

You’ll have to judge for yourself in the end, of course.

A young girl coming of age in an alternate, steampunk Chicago learns the truth about herself while avenging her lost friends. A bitter, teenage murderer finds acceptance and power in the arms of a dark African god’s gangster disciples. A middle-aged woman in a frigid marriage discovers her experimental age-defying treatment may be something more than skin deep. A worn, aged, small-town patriarch uncovers a web of sinister transactions revolving around his local funeral home.

Four in the Morning offers adventurous steampunk, sinister urban fantasy, dark science fiction and bone-chilling horror in three novelettes and one novella from four exciting genre voices.

Lincoln Crisler’s body of work includes two short story collections and one novella and editorship of the dark superhero anthology Corrupts Absolutely? His work has appeared in a variety of print and online venues. He is a noncommissioned officer in the US Army and a three-time veteran of the War on Terror. Lincoln currently lives in Augusta, Georgia, with his wife and two of his three children. He regularly blogs, offers his opinions on current events and publishing trends and reviews books at http://lincolncrisler.info/.

The Noctuary video

So what started off as an idea for a trailer to promote my novella The Noctuary, turned into something a lot more adventurous, with illustrations, voice-over and sound effects coming together to create a mini-movie.

I took the first one and a half pages of The Noctuary and asked the amazingly talented voice over artist Ricky Grove to narrate it for me. Ricky went above and beyond simple narration, virtually acting out the excerpt in the characters of Simon Ryan and the sinister muse Meknok.

Ricky is a former actor, with credits including Army of Darkness and Babylon 5, but he now specialises in voice acting and animation!

When I first heard Ricky’s VO and specifically his interpretation of Meknok, I had to look over my shoulder just to make sure the Muse wasn’t standing behind me! It was simply that good!

Originally the entire VO was well over five minutes and I found I had to create quick charcoal illustrations just to fill in the gaps, but with Ricky’s sound advice and sound effects, we managed to trim it back to little over three minutes.

The final result, I think you’ll agree is just superb and already I’m pondering how to present my art and writing in this format again in the future. Let me know what you think!

You can find out more about Ricky HERE

Torment trailer

Long overdue I know, but here is the trailer I made for my first novella Torment, made using Windows Movie Maker.

I’m currently working on the trailer for The Noctuary, which will be more of an animation using my own own illustration, rather than sourced photos – and if I’m very lucky – it might even include a voice actor reading out an excerpt from the book!

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the Torment trailer and by all means, let me know what you think!