On-Line Reading and Interview

Evening kiddies, I just wanted to give a quick little bit of info.  Last night I recorded a reading and discussion about my views on the horror genre with Austin Moss at whattheglasscontains.com.  It went very well and had an unexpected twist.  I began by reading my flash fiction piece “The Conversation” (from Pill Hill Press’s Daily Flash 2012).  I didn’t plan on reading anything else, but the topic of today’s society and how the horror genre fits in started up.  I spoke a bit about In Memoriam and how it came from social issues facing the country today.  In the end, I read the prologue to the novella and it was well received.  I will post the links to the interview when it goes live around August 27th.    Hope everyone goes and checks it out.

Now Armand and I will begin the final edits and get it out for the masses.

Goodnight…

Voice in the Wilderness

Busy, busy, busy…

I have signed and sent in the contracts for the Chained In The Attic and Undead Tales 2 anthologies, the novella is out there being looked at, and I really want to throw someone under a bus still.  That last comment is because I had another story accepted, but the way you communicate with an author over your uptight idea of a signature is not to insult a signature made by a mouse in Adobe.  Seriously, how many signatures are legible any way?  Not that damn many judging by the ones I’ve seen so I pulled the story.  Anyway, the story was the first non-flash fiction piece I ever wrote and I thought it wasn’t great, but I was trying to prove a point to myself.  It did however connect to the novella and introduced the best watering-hole in White Creek.  Will the tale ever come out?  I’m not betting on it, but I might put it up sometime so that you can see how far my work has progressed.

The new projects pile is four strong right now.  There are still shorts, but the four things are going to take a lot of time away from the shorts.  First, I’m researching  for a novella sequel to the story “Stonewall”.  The tale is still one of my favorites and there is more story to finish what I started with that one.  The second two are a series of shorts.  One focuses on the town of White Creek and introduces you to the wicked that reside there.  The other is the continuation of the Dark Frontier concept I’m playing around with.  A short intro to it was published in Pill Hill Press’s Daily Flash 2012, but things have changed a tad.  The center piece story is almost complete and then I’ll start fleshing out the rest of the humanity’s downfall.  Lastly, the outline for the novel I want to write first is complete and right after you meet White Creek, I’m going to kick it in the ass.  The town is a place of myth and legends and of hurt and pain.  Ground paid for in blood and protected by betrayal can’t be safe forever as they find out on March night.

Overall, I know everything sounds ambitious, but I think the walls I set up around me in the past few months have finally tumbled down.  My head is clear and my motives are clean so I’m ready to lace ‘em up and kick ass.

Goodnight…

Daily Frights Now Avalible and a Rant

Welcome!  I am pleased to announce that Pill Hill Press’s Daily Frights 2012: Leap Year Edition is now for sale.  I have two tales haunting its pages, “Monster” and “Dr. Forsythe’s Cure”.  Once again, both are 500 word flash fiction stories.

“Monster” was an idea that had been floating around in my head for a month or so about a boy trying to cope with the monster that lives under his bed.  His family doesn’t believe him, so one night he takes matters into his own hands.  The end was not how I envisioned it, but when I typed it, I loved it. 

“Dr. Forsythe’s Cure” I sat down and whipped up quickly for the hell of it.  The idea of how a doctor would attempt to treat a phobia and its unintended consequences intrigued me. 

So, go forth and read in 2012!  Pick up Daily Flash or Daily Frights and enjoy my four yarns and the other 364 in each book.  At 500 words or less you can relax, kick your feet up, and enjoy a bunch of cool stories from a bunch of talented people. 

Disclaimer…next is my opinion on the current political landscape.

Ok, rant time.  Facebook and the government are the devil.  Both are filled with a bunch of B.S. from the extreme right and the extreme left.  Facebook has become a place for the ends of the spectrum to tee off on each other and flood the site with a ton of crap.  In Washington, both parties find themselves trapped by their power. 

Trapped how?  Well, they like their positions and would really like to keep them.  Where the Dems and the Repubs have problems is the primary voters.  Primaries don’t bring out your average everyday voter, they bring out the venom spewing demon spawn from each side that would rather burn the country down before they would work with the other party.  These are the people our “representatives” bow to.  Without the primary, they can’t run in the general election. 

Take the Repub presidential fiasco going on right now.  There is no way in Hell Newt can win against Obama in 2012, but because the fringe right loves him (and their other favorites have epic failed), he is leading the polls right now.  Mitt is a more center-right person who is more likely to work with the left to get something done and polls better in head-to-head match ups against Obama.  Guess what?  He is second or third in some polls because of this.  We end up with politicians who owe their power to the extremes on both sides and gridlock everything because they can’t get along. 

How dare they work together!  While these far end voters take control of the politicians, where does that leave the other 80% or so of the rest of us?  Where is my voice in all the yelling and screaming and name calling and finger-pointing?  I know where my voice is…ignored.  The system is failing the majority to appease a small minority voting block.  Does the middle have a voice anymore?  No and I don’t get it.  Once the pinheads win the primary, they need the middle to vote for them to win the general election.  Mitt has some issues now because as he tries to make the extreme right happy to win the primary, he has gone back on many middle-of-the-road stances he once held and he is going slaughtered for this flip-flopping.

If you are in the middle, stand and be proud!  Go to the polls and vote this primary season so the fringe’s voice gets muted a little bit.  We need to start taking the country back for all of us, not just a privileged few on the right and the left.  We are a united country that needs to find its identity again and not from the SEIU, NRA, Sierra Club, or the Heritage Foundation.  I am an a American and I am in the silent 80% no longer.

Goodnight…

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Whatever (Buy A Book)!

Like I said in the title, what ever it is you celebrate… have a happy one!  To make all your family’s dreams come true this holiday season, give the gift of books.  What?  Do I know of any good ones?  Why yes I do!  As you can see to the left…Daily Flash 2012 from Pill Hill Press is now out (and please the bottom of this post).  I have two tales in it and there is a ton of great stuff in it from many great authors like my friend Wesley Southard.  The book is 366 stories, one for each day of the year, and each is 500 words or shorter so that you can read each day’s story in a few minutes.  Taking the train, taking the bus, stuck in traffic?  Pack this tome with you and never be without entertainment.  Now about my stories…

“The Conversation” is the November 23rd story and is a very personal one.  This was the one where I bleed on the page.  Every time Brantly speaks, the words coming out of his mouth are my words and my feelings.  It needed to be told.  I originally had a longer story planned, but I could never make it work the way I wanted it, so I tossed it out.  Problem with this story is that due to the subject matter, it hung around in my head.  When I saw the submission call for Daily Flash, I sat down and tried again.  The result is something I hope you enjoy, I bled it out for you.

“On the Wings of Darkness: A View From the Dark Frontier” will find you when the calendar flips to August 26th (I might have the dates flipped- if I do forgive me).  While trying to form an idea for a series or a collection of interwoven short stories, this was the first part of the concept I came up with.  Now that I’ve had time to work it the overall arc more, some stuff has been altered slightly from how it is described in this story and you’ll have to read about it later.  This one was hard to write due to trying to pack it full of background, but still try to tell a story about how one man views the new world he finds himself in.  I had fun with it, so you are allowed to have fun too!

This week also saw another anthology with a story from me go on sale.  Wicked East Press’s Under the Stairs came out with my story “Calvary Hill”.  I guess I’ll give you a quick story note on this one too.  I never really set out to write a Western and strangely enough, I find myself doing it again right now as we sit here talking books.  This one started out being focused on something and then I found myself more intrigued by the other main character more.  In fact, two characters from the story appear in the new story and the town is penciled in to pop-up again when I get the chance.  Calvary Hill still has more story left in it, blowing through the empty streets like tumble weed in the desert wind.  Overall, I enjoy the story a lot. 

I have updated the Biblio page with links to the four books with my stories at this point.  The links can take you to multiple places to shop, so have at it.  If you like something you buy, please go back and leave a review or press the like button on the book’s page.  As long as I know you want to read them, I’ll keep writing them.  This page should be changing soon as it will morph over to brentabell.com or something close to that and I am going to set up a fan page on Facebook so I can separate things over there (you are ordered to ‘like’ it when I’m done).  My Amazon Author’s Page is up and looks nice now that there is more than one book listed for me.

So, have a happy whatever and support your local and other small press authors this Holiday Season.  Goodnight…

Time…and some news.

I can feel it breathe its hot breath on the nape of my neck.  I know it lurks behind me like my shadow and walks lock-step with me.  I feel it start to close its grip around me while I stand in the palm of its hand.  Every time I awake the days gone by leave aching remnants in my muscles.  Time is closing in and I think I am at  peace with that at last.

A few years ago if you were to tell me that I would finally be trying to live my dream of writing, I would have laughed at you.  Now, here I sit typing this with some stories in print, some at the press, and more upcoming.  I also have a novella being finished up, a novel started (two more plotted out), and the ground work finished for two short story collections.  I sit here at 36 and reflect on what brought me here. 

What really started this time stuff was an examination of the few white strands that are peppering my beard more and more each day.  Each one to me is a mark earned through my life.  A mark earned through love, loss, joy, hate, and everything life throws at you.  Time could have devoured me a few times already here on Earth, but time left me for later.  I am here for now, so I must make the most of it and push myself to make this thing happen.

I’ve cut back on the Backwoods cigars, the alcohol, and I tend to shed some pounds this next year because I plan on beating time for just a little longer.  I have many a story to tell and I want to be around to tell them…and now the news.

In the past week two books have gone to press, Under the Stairs from Wicked East Press with my story “Calvary Hill” and the Pill Hill Press’s Daily Flash 2012 also went to press with my tales “The Conversation” and “On the Wings of Darkness: A View From the Dark Frontier”.  I got the galley for Daily Frights 2012 (which should go to press Dec. 5th) with my stories “Dr. Forsythe’s Cure” and “Monster”.  The galley for Father Grim’s Storybook from WEP with “As I Crossed Lincoln Bridge” arrived also.  I will have more info as I get it and ordering links will be put in the Biblio page.

The chimes are tolling again and a story is screaming to be worked on so goodnight…

Finishing Strong- November News

The past few days have been very busy here.  I have received the galley for Pill Hill Press’s Daily Flash 2012: 366 Days of Flash Fiction which includes my stories “The Conversation” and “On the Wings of Darkness: A View From the Dark Frontier”.  The book should be going to the printer next week and I will get the links out there as soon as it becomes available.  I am proud that my friend Wesley Southard also shares space in the book with me.  So click on his name and go check him out…now!

I received word today that I had a second story accepted to Pill Hill Press’s Daily Frights 2012 flash fiction anthology also.  “Dr. Forsythe’s Cure” will join “Monster” in that collection soon.  I cooked up the four flash tales for fun.  I’d been focused on longer works, so I felt I needed to go back and tighten up my prose by writing tales with only 500 words.  I enjoyed myself, but the longer works call and the flash muse is silent for now.

Lastly, Post Mortem Press’s New Dawn Fades zombie anthology has just gone live at Amazon.  Head over to Amazon and pick up a copy here.  My story “Spot Shoot” is included in the book.

Good night…