by john | Jun 3, 2015 | Uncategorized
I’ll tell you a parable, as it were, in the fashion of another sandal-wearing dude who didn’t like to shave.
There once was a devout man who lived a religious life. He went to church every Sunday, sang in the choir, tithed regularly and performed volunteer work for his church. He was a good man. He never hurt anyone, never had a bad word to say about anyone. He was a good man, a real rarity. His house lived near a river, and one day, in a time of torrential rains, the river overflowed the banks and threatened his home and entire neighborhood.
Emergency workers came to his door in a Hummer to evacuate him, but he refused to leave. “I’ve given my life to God, and God will take care of me.” The emergency workers pleaded with him, but eventually had to leave him. Before long, the water rose so high that he had to climb out onto his roof. As he sat on his roof watching his possessions float away, a man in a boat came by and tried to talk him into leaving the house. The old man refused. “God will take care of me,” he said, as his dining room table crashed through the picture window and floated down the street.
The water continued to rise, and darkness fell on the old man’s street. Eventually the water was so high that he had to climb on top of his chimney to keep from being swept away. A helicopter came over him and lowered a rope, but the old man refused. “God will take care of me,” he shouted to the rescue workers. They tried to convince him to get in the basket they lowered, but eventually they left him there. A few hours later, the waters swept the old man away, and he died.
When he came to the pearly gates, they swung open for him, and he looked up at the kindly man there with a confused expression. “I gave my life to the Lord, why didn’t he save me?”
Saint Peter laughed and said, “We sent a Hummer, a boat, and a helicopter to save you. What more could we have done?”
What does that have to do with Caitlin Jenner? Valid question, I suppose. My friend Trish posted on her Facebook page today her ire with people saying that “God doesn’t make mistakes” and thus transgender people should live in the bodies they are born in and just cope with it. Well what about my cousin with the cleft palate? Should his parents have not had surgeries performed when he was a baby to fix the problem and let him live a normal life? Or should they have sat on their roof and said “God will take of us?” Should my friend Dave still be mostly deaf or should he have the hearing aids that let him live a fuller life? Should I stumble around the world bumping into everything, unable to drive or probably read? Or should I wear glasses and contacts and live a better life?
If you’re a religious person, and where I am on that scale fluctuates daily, you believe that all blessing flow from God. So do all medical advances. So do all scientific advances. So all the technology and medicine that allows Caitlin Jenner to live the life she feels she needs – they all come from God. God allowed her doctors to perform any surgeries that have happened, prescribe any medicines that have happened and basically have allowed her to find her life. God doesn’t seem to have a problem with Caitlin. Why do you?
Note that if a plague of locusts suddenly descends upon LA I reserve the right to change my opinion on whether God has a problem with this. But if THIS is the thing that finally gets a plague dropped on Los Angeles, then somebody wasn’t watching the last three Star Wars movies.
by john | May 22, 2015 | Uncategorized
Since it’s only a week away (shit! gotta make sure I have books ordered!) I figured I’d post my ConCarolinas schedule so that y’all know where to find me.
I mean, other than the bar. And at my table, selling shit.
FRIDAY
4PM – Selling & Pitching – A workshop for writers – This is for the writer guests and anyone else who has stuff published or ready to submit and has trouble working on their pitch. I’ll go over back cover matter, query letters, elevator pitches, log lines and hand-selling. I’ll talk about how to profile a customer, how to tell who’s going to buy shit and who’s just there to hang out, and how to upsell into a more profitable book or more books overall. This is a zero-bullshit, NSFW, hands-on workshop where I will listen to pitches and tear them apart. Not for the faint of heart, or for anyone who doesn’t have anything to sell. If you think writing is all rainbows and unicorns, stay away. If you’re here to make a buck, sit down, shut up, and strap in.
6:30 PM – Paranormal in Literature – Me, Emily Leverett, Tally Johnson, Sharon Stogner and a bunch of folks I don’t really know. I’m not moderating, so expect me to be my usual charming (read: smartass) self.
9PM – Those Winchester Boys – We’re gonna talk about Supernatural, y’all. I’m only on Season 6, so I got a LOT of binge-watching to catch up on by the time Friday hits!
SATURDAY
5:30 PM – This oughta be the most easily politicized panel of the weekend – What’s an award worth, anyway? I’m on a panel about awards with John Scalzi (the man most hated by Puppies both Sad & Rabid), Edmund Schubert (2015 Hugo Nominee, withdrawn), Gray Rinehart (2015 Hugo Nominee), Wendy Delmater (2015 Hugo Nominee for Abyss & Apex Magazine) & Misty Massey (wonderful human being). This could get heated, and I just hope none of my friends get their feelings hurt. There are a lot of nasty things swirling around the Hugos this year, and hopefully we can cover some of them with everyone remaining civil.
9PM – The Bad Ones – I edit an anthology series called The Big Bad. I think I’m qualified.
SUNDAY
3PM – Supernatural Detectives – Yup, I’m down with that.
4PM – Do I need a writing group – This would be a great time for me to channel the asshole hat I’ve worn on this blog for the past couple of weeks and send little baby writers running out into the world crying. And at 4PM on the last day of a convention, I’m liable to be pretty punchy.
This is one of my favorite cons of the year, what with the entire guest list being a who’s who of my friends, and with it being close enough for me to sleep in my own bed every night. So I hop you’ll come out and say hello, and pick up new print copies of Raising Hell, Straight to Hell and Fair Play!
by john | Feb 21, 2015 | Uncategorized
Hey y’all, we interrupt all the goodness surrounding The Big Bad and Women in Horror Month to give you my panel schedule for ConNooga next weekend.
Friday night will be a Triple Threat Launch Party for Big Bad 2, Tales from a Goth Librarian 2, and the new Pulptress novella from Andrea Judy! Come join us for food, drink, friendship, drink, snacks, drink, books, drink, readings, drink and shameless pimpage! And drinks!
Saturday morning at 11AM I’ll be doing a reading. I don’t know what I’m reading yet, but it’ll certainly be something lively to get everybody going in the AM.
Saturday at 1PM I’m on the Indie/Self-Pub/Trad-Pub Panel, and we’ll have plenty to talk about I’m sure!
Saturday at 8PM – Plot or Die! Gameshow Panel. This was ridiculous last year and sure to be silly and self-indulgent and hilarious again.
Sunday at 1PM I talk about Writing for an Anthology, then I drive home.
Hope to see you there! If you don’t know Connooga, it’s definitely worth the trip!
by john | Feb 13, 2015 | Uncategorized
Nicole and I once sat on a panel together about “Writing the Other” in which I had to state that as a straight white man I had no idea what I was doing there. As a black woman, Nicole was wondering what I was doing there, too! We were great friends before, and even better friends since that panel, and it’s always an honor and privilege to share her words. Listen to what she has to say about Women in Horror.
13 Wonderfully Wicked Women in Horror Writers
Horror—long synonymous with famous and male authors like Poe, King, Baker, Kootz, and Carpenter, the fairer gender is often shoved into the darker parts of the proverbial popularity party. February serves to focus a bright light into the ether of ignorance in the form of awareness.
Welcome to reader enlightenment. It’s Women in Horror Month.
Coming out from the bleakness of those cold, frightening nights are women who pen painfully delicious horror.
So, in honor of Friday, the 13th, and Women in Horror, here are 13 female authors who are not only kick-butt writers, but also trendsetters and genre heavies. This is an eclectic grouping of my own choosing. These authors’ works are who I reach for when I crave dark, decadent horror.
If you enjoy the scare of horror, heck, if you get goose bumps from fine, tight writing, and high quality storytelling that sticks long after “The End,” you won’t go wrong sticking an icepick in these.
Ignoring them would be terrifying indeed.
- Mary Shelley-The mother of madness and the dark and stormy nights, her work, Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus was written in one night as a response to her husband’s and his friends’ dare of who could pen the scariest story.
- Octavia Butler-The shining pinnacle of diverse speculative fiction, her works like Kindred and Fledging take real world horror and science fiction and creates a literary concoction, readers return to consume again and again.
- Shirley Jackson-Renowned for her short story, “The Lottery,” Jackson’s storytelling took ordinary people and demonstrated the real terror behind human beings. Who needs monsters?
- Tananarive Due-Poetic. Polished. Perfect. Her works, My Soul To Keep and The Living Blood, demonstrated the real power of diverse horror and the results of mastery storytelling.
- V. C. Andrews– Taking a branch from Jackson’s tree, V.C. Andrews’ style of horror came not from things that go bump in the night, but things that drum in the hearts of men—or attics. Flowers in the Attic tore out the mother archetype of protector and caregiver. Instead she presented the real terror of greed, ambition, and perverted love.
- L. A. Banks- Vampires, demons, and humans clashed in Banks’ Vampire Huntress series of novels. They pushed the envelope of what vampires could do, but also propelled a powerful heroine that looked more like me than any I’d seen before. Some truly horrible events unfolded, but the heart and moral compass kept her grounded. John’s note – I loved L.A. Banks’ writing and was crushed to hear of her death just months after I discovered her fiction. I then had the opportunity to meet her sister at a function completely unrelated to writing and tell her how much she was missed.
- Anne Rice- Almost single-handled popularized vampires—again—and took readers down into the dark and depraved parts of those left with only a single strand of humanity left.
- Eden Royce- A talented author and editor, Royce delivers a fresh take on horror that stretches it beyond its stale confines by mashing and mixing with light hints of other genres. Her poem in The Grotesquerie, demonstrates my point.
- Nnedi Okorafor-With a sure hand and a creative mind the size of Antarctica, Nnedi’s novels push the boundaries of horror and fantasy beyond those of European influences and into more lush literature.
- Crystal Connor-A sensation in Seattle, Connor’s brand of horror is nothing short of large and enveloping, engrossing, and enigmatic. She writes with a sure hand, and one that demonstrates a confidence in her talent and in her storytelling. Her prose commands you—no dares you—not to be afraid.
- Poppy Z Brite- Readers love her balls to the wall, honest, violent, and sexy horror.
- Sumiko Saulsen-Saulsen’s inclusion here, like all the other entries before, is purely of my own volition. Her uses real world grit and grim to convey the complexities in horror-laden city life. Creative and colorful, Saulsen’s works are sure to reach a growing number of hungry readers, ready for something new.
- S. H. Roddey- Roddey’s brand of horror writing is akin to a battle in the ring against an opponent who continues to fool you before knocking you firmly on your behind. Short hits to the body ensures the reader is going down for the count—and loving every minute of it.
Want more women in horror? Mocha Memoirs Press author, Sumiko Saulsen, (http://www.sumikosaulson.com) offers a complete and exhaustive list of Women in Horror writers.
As for me, my horror, short story, “Sweet Tooth,” appears in The Big Bad, Volume Two, from Dark Oak Press, and my other horror story, “Reanimation,” appears in the upcoming anthology, Athena’s Daughters, Volume Two from Silence in the Library.
If you aren’t too frightened, Follow me on Twitter @nicolegkurtz, find me on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/nlkurtz), and groove with me on Google+ (mochamemoirspress). You can find my other works of horror at Other Worlds Pulp, my website, http://www.nicolegivenskurtz.com.
by john | Feb 11, 2015 | Uncategorized
So it’s been a tough week. My friend Bob died on Sunday, and Monday would have been my mothers 82nd birthday. Couple that with writing a horror story and the sequel to Raising Hell, and I’ve been in kind of a melancholy place this week. Which is a bummer, because some good things are happening. Tonight was a very entertaining writer’s meetup group with Gail Martin, Jay Requard, Darin Kennedy, Jaym Gates, Nicole Burns and a bunch of other folks, and I’ve started getting things lined up for Connooga. I’ve got my panel schedule, which I’ll unveil a little later, and we’re still hoping to find time to squeeze in a Big Bad 2 Launch Party at the convention, if we can get some guarantees that the print books will be on hand.
So just to go over my anthology schedule for the year, and also partly to put it all in one place where I can find it if I need to, here’s the list of anthologies I’ve committed to for 2015.
February release – Big Bad 2 – edits only, I don’t have a story in this one
Release TBD – Dreams of Steam V – this features a Great-Grandpappy Beauregard short story
Release TBD – Capes & Clockwork II – featuring another Great-Grandpappy Beauregard short story
Release Summer 2015 – Untitle corset anthology – Edits only, I don’t think I’m writing anything for this one, but maybe if I come up with something. I plan to edit this in March and have it released this summer.
Release Summer 2015 – Untitled horror anthology – I just got this invite a couple weeks ago, but I’m working on a ghost story for this one.
Release Late 2015 – Tales of the Weird Wild West – this will feature an original Bubba the Monster Hunter in the Wild West story
Release Early-Mid 2016 – Untitled Sci-Fi Wrestling Anthology – Co-editing with Jay Requard, this one I’m writing the through line/interludes and editing.
Release Mid 2016 – Big Bad 3 – No, we haven’t even started talking about this one yet. But you all know it’s coming.
So that’s got me committed to a minimum of six anthologies in 2015, plus a Bubba short story each month, plus a Harker novella each quarter, plus a Black Knight Chronicles novel, plus revisions on a dragon novel that I want to finish up. That’s two dozen releases this year. Yeah, I’m insane. But lets see how many we can manage. So far I’ve completed my portion of two Bubba stories, one anthology and one novella. I’m halfway through another short and another novella, so we’re making good progress. As long as I can keep the pipeline full I’ll stay busy, and that keeps me from getting maudlin. I’ve also got a story to write for Mama Tried, an outlaw country music-themed crime anthology that James Tuck is putting together. That gets us to 25 in a year. Not counting the re-release of White Lightnin’, Fair Play, or the collections of things that are coming out.
And we haven’t mentioned for a while the fact that sometime this spring we’re making Fair Play into a movie. So that’s a thing. I guess I’d better quit navel-gazing and get back to work.
by john | Feb 9, 2015 | Uncategorized
You might have heard about this little anthology I’ve got coming out that I co-created and co-edited with Emily Lavin Leverett, call The Big Bad II. All month I’ll be hosting guest blog posts from authors in the anthology talking about the Evolution of Evil – how they came up with their story for The Big Bad. This is Eden Royce’s take.
When asked to write about how I came up with the concept for my Big Bad II story, “Voodooesque”, I wondered what to write. I wanted to say, “It’s a true account of what I did last week! C’mon!”
But no, I don’t go out spellcasting…anymore. I’ve got a decent job and no criminal record and it’s gonna stay that way.
I’ve read a great deal about voodoo in short stories and novels, and have watched even more movies that use it. For the most part, authors and filmmakers tend to take one path when portraying conjure magic: It’s evil and must be destroyed. The same goes for the practitioners. Oh, and they’re usually old. Or ugly. Or both.
In these tales, voodoo is practiced in tiny hovels in the backwoods of “insert Podunk town name here”, Louisiana or on the dusty, impoverished streets of the Haitian mainland. Spells are directed at seemingly blameless people out of spite or for some nebulous reason only the truly evil mind could understand. And the practitioners are either hideous crones, or beautiful, yet demented women who dance partially clothed in the swamps at midnight, slashing the necks of flailing chickens.
I wanted to change that perception.
And with that, the confusion between conjure magics. What movies show as voodoo is usually not. Many people now know, unlike some of the writers of books and movies from the last century, voodoo, or Vodoun, is a religion practiced alongside Catholicism, which itself is ritual heavy. Yet the stereotype of it being steeped in evildoing and the love of destruction persists.
Hoodoo and other conjure magics are typically not as flagrant in their applications as the many iterations of Vodoun. Who wants to get caught sprinkling brink dust in someone’s yard? Ooooh, scary…
Authors and filmmakers understandably focus on the dark side of conjure magic. Blood and ritual is always alluring in horror circles. The unknown, the unusual can be most frightening—and fascinating. Conjure can be cool and/or creepy to someone unfamiliar with it, but what if it’s the norm?
My great aunt was a practioner of root, the Carolina’s term for hoodoo and conjure. Most of the time, people came to her for helpful spells, not things to hurt other people. (I’m not sure she would have done a negative spell.) My great aunt was scraping six feet tall and her frame filled most of a doorway. She drove a late model Cadillac and always told the best stories, punctuated by her table-slapping laugh. The ones I remember were hilarious—from people asking to win big in the local number-running racket to people that wanted to get their boss off their back.
My cousin went to her for a potion so she could marry before she was thirty. I’m not saying it was because of the spell, but she got married the week before she turned thirty. I was in the wedding, but I wish I asked for a spell to make her pick another bridesmaid’s dress. *Shudders*
Anyway, I wanted my story to reflect what I grew up with in regard to root. The side where women are strong and powerful, but with an elegance and grace under fire. Women who helped each other and worked their magic for the greater good, even if that meant breaking a few heads. Uh, I mean eggs. My Big Bad story is a world where these women are compensated well for their talents. Where workers of hoodoo, conjure, root—whatever term you want to use—were normal people who held jobs, paid taxes, and raised families. But cross them and you would find your death served to you on a silver platter. With a slice of pound cake.
I set the story back in time just a bit. I stepped back into turn of the twentieth century Charleston, where you showed manners to those you despised, and what others thought of you mattered. Here the racial dividing line was thick, but for the right reason, people were willing to step over it.
Where did the title come from? From my early attempts to explain root magic to people outside of the family:
Root is conjure magic.
What’s conjure?
Have you heard of hoodoo?
No. Is that like voodoo?
Not exactly, but it’s Voodooesque.
