The Art Of Telling

I am lucky to do a Q & A with Louis Rakovich, author of The End of the Trail . If you haven't read my review yet, go here: The Dark Reviews . Tell us about the book: 1)  What was your inspiration for The End of the Trail? I began writing the story in November 2013, and at that point had already been toying with the idea for a couple of months, so now, almost two years later, it's hard to say. It started with the sick king and his child bride – a random image of fantastical medieval darkness – and from there the rest of the story developed slowly, from the setting, to the objective of the journey, and finally to the journey itself and the man undertaking it. I can't pinpoint a source of inspiration more particular than the general concept of the dark ages. 2)  Why a novelette and not a full novel?  Originally, I set out to write a short story. It proved a bit heftier than that, and dragged on into questionable territory. I'm still not entirely sure that it...

Today, I am lucky to do a Q & A with Adam Howe, author of Black Cat Mojo . If you haven't read my review yet, go here: The Dark Reviews . Tell us about the book: 1)  What was your inspiration for Black Cat Mojo ? Check out the story notes at the end of the book for the long version.  Short version?  ‘Weird news’ and ‘dumb crime’ articles.  I started writing these goofy crime/horror stories and something seemed to click. 2)  What made you combine these novelettes into a single book?  The stories have an animal theme, and are unified by noir-ish characters, doomed by their pasts and their own bad decisions.  But for purely mercenary reasons, I required a certain word count for a print version of the book, and I wanted that print version on my shelf! 3)  Where did titles like, Jesus in a Dog’s Ass come from?   There’s a popular slogan for a UK paint brand.  ‘Does exactly what it says it on the tin.’  I was writing ab...

I moved to Las Vegas, Nevada last summer. I haven't been in the state a year and yet, the journey toward my new home became the first chapter to my new novel. A prequel to Hear Me Scream . Here's a chapter one snippet: The faded mountains in the distance, and the clouds looming above the green-yellow grass fooled no one. Baya Baez drove down the desolate highway aware of the hot sun’s mistreatment of the desert. It scolded and battered nature without recess. His old caravan was the only ground vehicle cruising down Utah’s vast landscape, the AC buzzing as often as the tires hissed from constant contact with burning pavement. The novel takes place way before all the ugliness of Hear Me Scream. Before the world became the post-apocalyptic nightmare of the next novel. It's a tad longer and some of the characters from HMS make special appearances. However, this one does take place decades before the last novel and most of the characters are not born yet. I've bee...

FALL INTO FANTASY GIVEWAY FROM OCTOBER 17-31 A massive giveaway hosted by Author Ash Krafton.  They'll be giving away books and gifts to lucky readers so don't miss your chance to win! You'll enter to win author books by following them on social media and filling out a Rafflecopter form. NEW THIS YEAR: There will be two forms--one for YA books and one for adult books. Rafflecopter: Adult a Rafflecopter giveaway Rafflecopter: YA a Rafflecopter giveaway YA/NA #1

I recently moved from Kentucky to Nevada . Yup, I left the Bluegrass State for the Silver one. Not by choice. I don't adapt to change very well. Takes me a minute--or two. However, I was looking forward to traveling across the country on a trip to the American West. Grand or simple locations can serve as great inspiration for an author's next story. And since I've been on the topic of 'End of the World', I figured I point out some of the stories set in some of these beautiful and scenic locations I traveled by:

What's my my favorite Science Fiction sub-genre? Post-Apocalyptic fiction. The end of the world scenario some of us love to write about. But I'm not the only one. People's morbid obsession with the unknowable, sometimes depressing and oppressive, future has been around for a very long time. Mary Shelly's The Last Man was published in 1826. But does that make us negative folks or just imaginative thinkers? I choose the latter.  So let us all speculate away.  There has been many books on the subject, many fiction novels, too. And many ways of ending this whole thing: pandemics, viruses, nuclear wars, solar hiccups, aliens, zombies...a lot of ways. And so I wanted to share with you some of my favorite post-apocalyptic books out there. And no, I am not including Stephen King's  The Stand  or Cormac McCarthy's  The Road. Those two books are in enough lists: