Better late, than never

I know it's been a while since my last post, and I apologize for that. Since that last post, I released my latest novel, Lathem's Lament. It seems that a new release would be an exciting occasion for any author. So, you might be wondering why there wasn't more fanfare. Well, that's because I've been very busy--er, distracted--lately. You see, I've been concentrating my efforts in areas unrelated to writing. Namely, I recently gained custody of my youngest son, which is a huge relief and something I've been working toward for some time. However, there are still some legalities I must contend with, which are causing distractions.


But, of course, you didn't come here for any of that extraneous stuff. No, hopefully, you're here to learn more about my latest book. Well, thanks for your interest! Let me indulge you. Lathem's Lament is a Southern Gothic that I released April 4th. It's the story of few residents of a Georgia farming community in the summer of 1952. The main family, the Whitfields, are worrying about their oldest son, Lathem, as he fights in Korea. In addition, they also must contend with failing crops, mounting bills, some nefarious neighbors, and racial clashes.

The plot of the book came to me after reading several authors, namely, Faulkner, Caldwell, Steinbeck, and, probably more importantly, John Grisham. It may strike some people as odd to see Grisham's name among those who influenced a work of southern literature. First, I want to point out that I was largely inspired by William Faulkner's presentation in his book, As I Lay Dying. I thought it was brilliant how he told the story from each character's point-of-view. Of course, Faulkner is probably best known for his stream of consciousness, which is something I don't necessarily enjoy, but did execute. In my book, each chapter is from a different character's perspective, even their thoughts. What better way to get to know the people in the story than to get inside each one of their heads? Second, I have to give John Grisham a large part of inspirational credit, because it was his book, A Painted House, that really fueled my desire to write a southern novel. After reading his book, Lathem's Lament had taken root and began to grow quickly in my mind.

If you're a fan of southern literature, I highly recommend you read Lathem's Lament (of course, you saw that plug coming, didn't you?) Also, if you're not really a fan of southern literature, I'd still recommend it. Despite the rural southern setting, this book is an engaging character study, chock full of diverse characters with varying situations. And, what Southern Gothic doesn't have a supernatural element? As an added bonus, I've included the first chapter of my next story, Rabbit on the Run, at the end of the book. (You can find a lineup of my next couple of books here.)

So, if you haven't gotten a copy yet, see the book's page on my website for links where you can get your copy today. I think you'll enjoy it. And, if you do, please, leave a review. I'd certainly appreciate it. Thanks for stopping by.

Sneak Peek!

I may or may not have said in the past that I will no longer give any sneak peeks of any works in progress because the design can dramatically change before I actually release a book. Well, screw that! I'm feeling saucy. Maybe it's this beautiful weather. Maybe it's because my math studies are going so well. Who knows? Better yet, who cares?

I know I enjoy getting glimpses into other writers' minds when they share where they are with a story, especially when some of those stories are still near the edges of their radar in terms of being released. I figured I would share some of the things I am working on and give you a bit of information about their status in the process. A word of warning before we proceed, however. Keep in mind that some of these books are still in the creation process, so they are still very much apt to change. In addition, the synopses on the covers you will see are most likely going to change. Currently, these are placeholders, but they do reflect my intentions (more or less). Side note: you might think I'm a bit odd for creating the book covers before I've written the story. "That's not how (insert famous author's name here) does it!" Well, f***k (insert famous author's name here)! is what I say. I'm not that person and this is how I do it and find inspiration to keep plugging away. We cool with that? Okay then, so, here we go...


First, I present to you, Lathem's Lament. This is a Southern Gothic novel I have been kicking around since 2010. I wrote it after reading several classical southern writers such as Faulkner, Steinbeck, and Caldwell, to name but a few. I enjoyed many of their stories so much that I decided to try my hand at a story that was brewing during my reading. This is the end result. This story is already in print, but won't be available to the public until later this month or (very) early April. I've received a lot of positive feedback from my beta readers and have a couple of other beta readers going through it now. Anyone familiar with Faulkner's As I Lay Dying will see a similarity in the book's format. I really loved how he wrote each chapter as a different character's POV and wanted to do that with one of my own.


Next, we have Rabbit on the Run, another Southern Gothic, this time from the Depression-era. Currently, this is a novella. I just finished the first draft of this story this past week. For some reason, I'm finding that writing southern literature is loads of fun. I questioned whether southern literature still had a sizable audience and then remembered that Joe R. Lansdale is doing pretty well, so I guess the answer is Yes. Anyway, I show some of the hideous mentalities of society in this story, about a black man wrongfully accused of killing a white girl and flees a lynch mob. Hopefully, it will meet with a warm reception. I'll have to see what my beta readers say first.


Youthanasia is my first foray into real science fiction. It deals with the pros and cons of curing aging, something that really piqued my interest when I listened to a presentation given by a scientist named Aubrey de Grey. He's very passionate about this field of study and claims that we will eventually cure aging, and probably sooner than anyone thinks. If that doesn't grab your attention and give it a good shaking, then you need to check for your pulse. Needless to say, the gears of my imagination began to spin and I came up with this story, which follows a geneticist who has secretly taken a serum he and some other researchers developed, which stops the aging process. The reader gets to see the pros and cons of this polemic subject first-hand from the character's POV and decide for themselves whether they would want to live forever, or not. While researching this story, I corresponded with a biologist in the field to pick his brain on some of the finer points. Hopefully, I will do his feedback justice. Regardless, I will dedicate this book to him and probably send him a free copy for all of his help.


This is a book I'm sure I've mentioned in the past. Carniville is a locked-room mystery I created using an apartment complex of sideshow workers when they were not touring the freak show circuit. First, I wanted to try my hand at writing a locked-room mystery, something which seems very difficult for me not only to solve when reading one, but also to develop using my feeble brain. Secondly, I decided, failing to achieve that first point, I'd at least have an interesting cast of characters for a good crime story. During the writing of this story, the words flowed nicely. Eventually, however, I hit a brick wall with the plot, so I put it aside (yes, these other stories are what happen when I fall into a rut during my writing). I will let this one mellow until I can return to it with a solution for traversing that wall I mentioned. The cover's too damn good to let go to waste!


Last, but certainly not least, is Consuming Darkness. This is the first novel I ever wrote. This is what started it all. Yes, you can blame this abomination for the madness I unleash upon the world from my twisted, depraved mind. Originally, this was titled The Shadow People. I've rewritten it three times (so far). There's another rewrite waiting, I just haven't begun yet, but I have a good idea of what I want to do with it. I hope that this book will eventually be a fresh new horror story (in case you don't know my feelings for the horror genre to-date, here it is) with an admiring nod to Lovecraft's Call of Cthulu.

So, there you have it. Several of the books I have lined up for your future reading pleasure. I can assure you, that's certainly not all of them. There are a couple of other stories in the works, at various stages, I just don't have covers for them, so there isn't really anything to show.

UPDATE: Seems I forgot to link to my feelings on the current state of the horror genre. Consider it fixed. Like I said, I have a feeble mind.

2012: The Lineup

I've been busy as hell trying to get some projects closer to completion. While I've been heads down working, I haven't really given the blog much attention. When I happen to think of it, I flush with embarrassment because it seems like I'm neglecting a loved one. I don't want to neglect any loved ones, especially my readers. So, I thought I'd give you guys (er, and gal(s)) a glimpse into the things I have lined up for this year.

First, I'm trying to right a wrong by publishing The Old Royal. I said in a previous post that I hoped to release this by the end of January. I had to eat crow in the previous post. I'm happy to say that my wife returned the manuscript to me and assured me it didn't require a rewrite as I had initially suspected when I jumped the gun. I am more pleased to say that I managed to edit nearly a third of the manuscript this past weekend, which, for me, is an astonishingly immense amount of editing to accomplish. I think I've said before how much I hate editing. I'd rather have my fingers pounded with a ball peen hammer. So, I hope to have this completed and handed over to my beta readers soon.

Second, I am still in the early editing phases of a Southern Gothic called Lathem's Lament. I mentioned a little bit of what it's about in this post. This is a story set in the 50s in rural Georgia. It's mainly about a family dealing with life at home while their son is fighting over in Korea. The story follows the family as well as some of the neighbors and each chapter is told from a different character's point of view. I know it's a deviation from my usual crime and horror fiction, but it's a story that I had in me and begged to be written. I obliged and hope I do it justice and that my readers will enjoy it. There is a crime that takes place in it as well as a supernatural event. Anyway, I'm working on getting it ready to hand off to the wife, too. When I release it, I hope to hear some positive reviews for it. After all, the readers are the final judges.

In addition to this vintage story, I have a Southern Gothic/crime caper in mind that I've been itching to write. I've already started it, but haven't gotten very far with everything else in line ahead of it. This is a story set in the early 30s (also in Georgia—can you see the theme here?) about a black man on the run from a lynch mob for murdering a white girl. I'm still a little sketchy on the ending because I haven't nailed it down, but I've got some ideas about how it might end. You'll have to stay tuned to find out more about it. The tentative title is Rabbit on the Run. If I can execute it the way I see it in my head, I think it'll be a fantastic read.

I mentioned a ball peen hammer earlier, which brings me to this last project. Another book set in rural Georgia, this time in the 70s. The protagonist is a Vietnam vet who witnesses a meeting between some members of the Dixie Mafia and a politician. He's running for his life as the Dixie Mafia pursues him (mainly a thug who enjoys using a ball peen hammer on his victims) and, at the same time, trying to expose the corruption he has recently discovered. I'm excited about this one, but I'll be lucky if I can release it this year. The title I have in mind is Greasing the Squeaky Wheel.

There you have it! Four big projects, all in various stages of the writing/editing process. I hope some of these sound as exciting to you as they do to me. Check back to learn how I'm progressing and watch for the stories that interest you most. They're coming. I don't know when, but I can assure you, they ARE coming. As I get closer to the publishing date for each, I'll provide some sneak peeks at the covers. Thanks for reading!

Wallowing in Southern Gothic

Broadening my reading spectrum has turned me into a monster! I've come to the realization that I am really enjoying dystopian literature as well as southern gothic tales. Since venturing outside the boundaries of horror, I've found myself perusing the stories of Margaret Atwood, William Faulkner, Ray Bradbury, John Steinbeck, and the list goes on. Certainly these writers are not popular within the horror genre and if you had asked me what I thought of their work only a year and a half ago, I probably would have scoffed and said that I'm not much interested in their type of writing. Ah, how naive we are in the beginning.

Dystopian stories, I can understand liking, but never did I think I would embrace southern gothic. I actually hated Faulkner's As I Lay Dying upon completing it (which I believe I've mentioned in a previous blog). Now look at me, still can't pull my nose out of the southern gothic novels! Next on my reading list is Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road. While I am really enjoying the stories of these southern characters, people whom I'm actually a part of, I find that I'm also doing research.

I've recently begun writing a new novel. A southern gothic tale called Lathem's Legacy, which I also mentioned in a previous blog, so I won't rehash that here. My point is, I never thought I would find myself writing anything remotely close to the genre I'm writing now. Also, I should mention that so far (15,000 words into the story--roughly 65 pages) I haven't experienced any dread at approaching the blank page. This is something of a treat for a writer. With my first book, The Shadow People, there were many days when I sat down to write and found that the words were difficult to muster. It was a real chore to get my thousand words out of my head and onto the page. I'm grateful to say that I haven't experienced this yet with the new novel. Of course, I probably just jinxed myself and now will suffer an extreme case of writer's block.

Yes, fifteen thousand words is still very early in a novel, but I am using a new technique of outlining as I go that seems to be helping me navigate my storyline and giving my fuel for each future writing session. It feels great to be writing a novel again, one that I am eager to stick with above and beyond any other writing projects that happen to pop into my head. And before this becomes something of a nonsensical rant (I feel like I am beginning to babble), I just want to point out again how wonderful it is to read outside of one specific genre and come out with a book idea you never thought you would entertain in a million years. Who knows? This could be my big breakout novel and to think I never would have considered writing it in the not-too-distant past.

Spring is in the air, and so is writing fever!

It's been a while since I've blogged anything. Some of this has to do with my new job, which keeps me very busy. Some of it is because I'm lazy when it comes to blogging as I tend to focus much of my writing on my short stories and novels.

I mentioned last that one of my stories, Hush, Hush, My Love, would be in a forthcoming issue of Shroud Magazine. I am anxiously awaiting that issue, which is the 9th issue by the way. I expect it will probably come out sometime in the Summer. Please, be sure to pick up a copy. If you like it, send me some feedback via my website.

I've begun work on a new novel. Something much different than my normal work. As anyone who knows me or my writing know, I usually write only horror or dark fiction with an occasional science fiction story thrown in for fun. Well, since I've been reading outside of my genre, I've discovered a huge goldmine of fantastic stories and authors. Namely, the Southern Gothic writers. I recently read Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, the first Faulkner story I've ever read. At first, I hated it. I got hung up on Vardaman's POV stream-of-consciousness. The story stuck with me though, like a popcorn kernel caught between your teeth. I worked at it, mulling the story over in my mind until I finally developed an admiration for it (I still don't like Vardaman's POV though). I read Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, and now I'm reading The Grapes of Wrath. The first Southern Gothic books that started my love of this sub genre were Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and John Grisham's A Painted House. I look back on each of these novels with a fondness and took something away from each one. The novel I'm currently working on is in this same vein. It's called Lathem's Legacy and I'm using many of the different techniques from the aforementioned authors to create this piece. From Steinbeck's use of dialect, to Faulkner's use of character POV to tell each story, to Lee's and Harper's way of introducing grotesque characters who are realistic, believable, and at the same time, slightly pitiful.

This is a story about Georgia farmers during the early 1950s dealing with one of their family members fighting overseas in the Korean conflict. I am trying to write in such a way that doesn't show southern people in a bad light. I wanted to tell the story of a family that was respectable, such as the family in To Kill a Mockingbird. Through a changing POV for each chapter, I want to give the reader a sense of the characters: the way they think and act, and how they view their family and peers. The overall story arc is centered around how the family deals with the absence of Lathem, the oldest boy of the Whitfield family. There are several subplots, including an illegitimate pregnancy, one person's struggle with living in the shadow of an abusive alcoholic father and town scoundrel, the bond of friendship between a boy and a mentally handicapped man, and the defense of a friend in the face of danger.

When I first set out to write, I never thought I would pen anything outside of horror. If you'd have told me that I would try writing a Southern Gothic novel, I would have scoffed at the idea. Since reading the previously mentioned books, I've grown a deep appreciation for these writers and their stories. I never liked the idea of setting any of my previous stories in the south. I don't know why since I am a southern native. I guess I just felt that the south wasn't an exotic locale for a story. But, since reading several stories about the south, I've learned a lot. Especially, that writing about a place you know makes the work of adding verisimilitude that much easier than making up a location from scratch. Also, combining traits of people you know to create new and varying characters opens up a whole new world of exciting characters to live in my stories.

In addition to the Southern Gothic novels, I've also been reading more dystopias. Aside from Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World, I've read Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and begun reading Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, which is simply brilliant. This caused me to begin a short story (maybe it will turn into a novella, time will tell) called Jurisprudence. This is the story of a man who receives a summons from The State to appear in court. He has no idea why he is summoned as he can think of no circumstance when he has broken the law--this sounds much like the premise of Kafka's The Trial, which is in my reading queue, but is not a ripoff, I assure you. Throughout the story, I want to paint the picture of a dystopia where corporations rule the country and people are merely grist for the mill, keeping the cogs of the business machine turning. Through the actions and dialogue, I want the reader to get a sense of what this future world is like. Not until the main character's trial does the real drama unfold. This story, as well as the novel mentioned above, are both still works in progress, but they were born out of ideas that came to me as a result of exposing myself to new worlds through reading various books outside of my usual genre.

I guess this post is just a case in point of my original advice to throw caution to the wind and pick up some books you normally would never have read. You never know how a book will impact you and change your outlook on things. If it weren't for me adhering to this philosophy, I would probably still be churning out bland horror tales.