Coming November 24, 2020
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Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts
Monday, August 17, 2020
Sunday, March 13, 2016
New Thriller Novella Dark Hours Now Available
It should soon be available for most readers, so check the links below or do a search wherever you buy ebooks.
This book began as a short story years ago called "The Exclusive." It was published in Cemetery Dance, and it appears in Scars and Candy.
A couple of years ago, a producer optioned my book New Year's Evil with an eye toward turning it into a cable movie and pilot. That didn't happen. Money didn't come through etc. So it goes.
In the wake of that process, however, I did wind up talking to a Hollywood agent. Not the first time, but it looked more promising for a while.
"The Exclusive" bubbled to the top of discussions about properties in my backlist that might generate interest the way New Year's Evil had. Strong heroine, tight, dark, crisp situation. Could be shot economically.
As we talked, and the agent temporarily became obsessed with calling it Cemetery Dance, an idea for expanding the story came to me.
I'd read accounts of campus violence and sexual assaults at a number of universities where no action was taken or where victims were blamed and sometimes expelled. It made me angry, and I decided to explore it.
This was before the unfortunate Rolling Stone matter that clouded the issue, but clearly problems continue and are far from resolved across America today.
I couldn't quit thinking of Allison Rose, my obsessive student journalist, and how an attempt to address similar matters at her small college might lead her into danger as she worked to hold authoritarian administrators to their responsibilities.
Dark Hours developed, taking the story beyond the original ending and deeper into darkness with the villain more fully realized.
It's a thriller, an adventure with some mystery elements, and hopefully it's an interesting ride as Allison deals with the twisted little mastermind at the heart of her labyrinth.
Dark Hours is published by Crossroad Press and available from these sellers:
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Holiday Blog Tour: Credible Threat - A Christmas Story
I love the holiday season and all its trappings, so I was happy to receive the invitation to participate from Icess Fernandez of Writing to Insanity.
As soon as she contacted me, I knew I wanted to offer up a story as a holiday gift.
It's a little grim, though not horror. It's also slightly longer than flash I sometimes post here, so I thought I'd provide it in a format ready for easy digital reading.
Jump to the story on ScribID now.
Or read on to get an idea of what it's about and how it came to be, then jump over to the tale via the button below.
The Back Story
What if it fell into the wrong hands and was read out of context? How would it be interpreted in this paranoid age?
The tale that developed is representative of a kind of dark-humored short fiction I'm writing and beginning to submit in these days of my post-MFA writing life. It has reverberations of my early horror writing while going in a slightly new direction.
It's where the muse is pushing me at the moment, and perhaps there'll be a collection of these twisted tales including the one that's in, shameless plug, Soul's Road. A few of the pieces in the collection of my early stories, Scars and Candy, hint at the style, though they're more visceral.
Click below to read "Credible Threat: A Christmas Story," and see if you like it.
And be sure to continue the blog tour tomorrow with a visit to Toni Margarita Plummer, author of The Bolero of Andi Rowe. See all the stops on the tour here.
Credible Threat by Sidney Williams is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at sidneywilliams.blogspot.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://sidisalive.com.
Thursday, August 04, 2011
On the Soul's Road - Short Story Collection For Kindle
My buddy Cody Luff, who was in my graduating class at Goddard College, recently decided to put together a collection of short stories authored by those in the Goddard ranks.
The result, Soul's Road, went on sale this week exclusively for Kindle. It includes a story by me called "Telephone," and 12 other stories by writers I fully believe you will be hearing more about.
When you crack open Soul's Road you'll find a collection of journeys leading in many interesting directions - sensitive and surprising family dramas, humor, literary science fiction, a slice of life from an office in a slightly different world, a tale of loss set in Poland, a criminal's journey, a tale that will remind you of Marquez and much more.
Sadly you won't find a tale by Cody, who is a truly brilliant and gifted writer. As editor he decided it didn't set quite right, but his words will find other homes and you will read them and be amazed and moved.
Here are the stories and authors included:
Chimera: John Schimmel
Tax Code: Natasha Oliver
Emperical Facts: Isla McKetta
Heap: Karen Hugg
Confluence: Phil Paddock
That Girl: Deb Staley
Singing of the Sun: Ann Keeling
Sanctum: Peter McMinn
Funny Think Happened When My Mom Died: Paula Altschuler
Some Kind of Apocalpse: Joey Pierce
Of Love Death and Marriage: The Rumored Reputation of Don Armando Mejia: Isis Fernandez
Campaign Trail: Nathan Chang
Soul's Road is a collection of truth, and I'm happy to march on the path in their company.
Buy it here
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Kersh Without Covers
Besides a couple of 19th century horror novels, one of the first books I nabbed for my iPod's e-reader was Men Without Bones by Gerald Kersh, Harlan Ellison's favorite writer.
My Kersh is a little lacking.
Bones is proving to be an excellent way to catch up. The collection came out in the fifties and many of the stories appeared in The Saturday Evening Post and Esquire. They have the feel of other short stories of that era.
They remind me a little of the slightly skewed weirdness of Shirley Jackson, meaning they're chilling in very subtle ways.
The title story is science fiction horror with a twist, recounted by a narrator who has just encountered a man from a lost expedition. The man details encounters with the men without bones, leading up to startling and eerie revelations.
My favorite story so far is one called "The Shady Life of Annibal," another as-told-to-story in which a scandal sheet journalist interviews a famous actress. She reveals secrets of her parents and her slightly askew early life.
It's a really nice find for the new year, and I'm looking forward to turning a few more of the e-pages.
Further reading
Get more details on the featured stories here.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Twisted Tales: The Lime Works
My current MFA advisor has a reading list that was given to him by a professor of his, though he's refined it a bit. It's a wonderfully eclectic collection of titles, and I'm happy to have learned of a book called The Lime Works from that list.
It's a book that may not be to all tastes. It's a rather eccentric work, and I had to get it via interlibrary loan because it's momentarily out of print, thus used-copy costs have sky-rocketed, but I believe it's scheduled for re-publishing next year as a mass market paperback.
Originally published in German, it is the tale of Konrad, an eccentric scholar denied formal education by his parents but determined in later years to craft a masterwork on the science of hearing.
Toward that end, he thwarts a cousin's efforts to prohibit his purchase of a vast, abandoned lime works and moves his invalid wife to the dark, cold plant to conduct hearing experiments to contribute to the perfect book he's convinced resides inside his head.
Author Thomas Bernhard tells Konrad's story in a manner that virtually puts the reader inside the character's twisted mind, though it's not a point of view story exactly. Instead the virtually stream-of-consciousness narrative is the amalgamation of several accounts compiled by an insurance man after Konrad's murder of his wife, which occurs on the opening page.
It's a twisted, dark tale of obsession, madness and one of the worst cases of writer's block ever. If you see a copy for under $40 grab it, and immerse yourself for a little while in the chilly, shadowy world of the lime works.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Check in at the Joy Motel
I've added Joy Motel to my blog roll. It's an interesting little spot for online fiction, a tale unfolding in short bursts. Just check in and experience it for yourself.
You can also follow the tale in sort of a "real time" experience on Twitter, as the Tweets come forth periodically in the alloted 140 characters. Is it a game, an experiment? I could tell you more, but that would spoil the fun.
Just go to the front desk and ask for Bobby or Horatio to carry the luggage. They'll make sure you're comfortable.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Horrortober 2 - Halloween Horror Fiction
Here's another piece of flash fiction in keeping with the Halloween-month celebration started by Charles and now including: Avery, Stewart , Miladysa, L.A. Mitchel and Laughingwolf.
This one might not be for the squeamish. If any of these tales are.
Jack-O-Lanterns
This one might not be for the squeamish. If any of these tales are.
Jack-O-Lanterns
You need sharp tools for carving. It helps with the detail. I won't carry on any pretense that I'm talking about a pumpkin. You're too smart for that.
You've seen Tales from the Crypt, or you've even heard of EC Comics and William M. Gaines and those tales of revenge. In those stories you'd have to watch or read until almost the end for the twist, in which it's revealed that the carving involves not a pumpkin but the head of my wife's lover.
"The Revenge of the Cuckold" it might be called, and the build up would be all about the pumpkin carving and all of the careful, precise cuts.
Only in the last frame might it be revealed that the lover's head was the stand-in for the more traditional choice for Jack-O-Lantern.
The wife might return home to see the lover's ruined face, staring at her from the front window, eyes hollowed out, a permanent grin carved into the lips, a candle shoved up through the throat.
Quite a story, but not the one on the agenda. I've already done that carving. It's the head of my wife's ex-lover, the one before you. I wanted a little practice.
If I put it in the window, she might not come in, and we wouldn't want that. We'll want her here--stop struggling, it will do you no good.
We'll want her here, so that she can watch when the carving begins on you, so that she can see the detail work even as you scream.
And she'll know that after that work is finished...she'll be next.
Now included in my collection Scars and Candy or here for Amazon UK
You've seen Tales from the Crypt, or you've even heard of EC Comics and William M. Gaines and those tales of revenge. In those stories you'd have to watch or read until almost the end for the twist, in which it's revealed that the carving involves not a pumpkin but the head of my wife's lover.
"The Revenge of the Cuckold" it might be called, and the build up would be all about the pumpkin carving and all of the careful, precise cuts.
Only in the last frame might it be revealed that the lover's head was the stand-in for the more traditional choice for Jack-O-Lantern.
The wife might return home to see the lover's ruined face, staring at her from the front window, eyes hollowed out, a permanent grin carved into the lips, a candle shoved up through the throat.
Quite a story, but not the one on the agenda. I've already done that carving. It's the head of my wife's ex-lover, the one before you. I wanted a little practice.
If I put it in the window, she might not come in, and we wouldn't want that. We'll want her here--stop struggling, it will do you no good.
We'll want her here, so that she can watch when the carving begins on you, so that she can see the detail work even as you scream.
And she'll know that after that work is finished...she'll be next.
Now included in my collection Scars and Candy or here for Amazon UK
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Horrortober - Halloween Horror Fiction
Since Charles has been posting some cool Flash horror stories in celebration of October, and Avery, Stewart , Miladysa, L.A. Mitchel and Laughingwolf are joining in, I feel inspired and compelled to join the fun. Halloween's my favorite holiday, too.
All right, Gramlich. I'll play your little October game. This is inspired by Charles's "Spot."
Shuck is my only friend. The old man dragged him in by the scruff of the neck one day when he was just a little squirt and tossed him in the corner beside me.
He’s not the first dog I’ve had. That was Blue. I loved Blue, but he messed the floor until he had to be punished.
The old man didn’t do the punishing. He made me do it. He said Blue and I both had to learn.
Shuck has been a little better. I knew what the cost would be if he didn’t learn, so I made sure he was paper trained quickly. He knows now he should only make when we go into the back yard—we’re only allowed to go in the back yard. The fence is electric there. The old man knows we can’t get past it.
But, yeah, Shuck is a fast learner, especially now that he’s not a puppy anymore. He’s grown big. He’s getting bigger, and I think he understands real words.
He’ll fetch the ball I throw, and he’ll heel.
Pretty soon we’re going to test a new word he’s learned.
“Shuck, THROAT,” I’ll say.
Then we’ll go out the front door, and the old man won’t have any say any more.
He literally won’t have any say.
All right, Gramlich. I'll play your little October game. This is inspired by Charles's "Spot."
Having His Say
Shuck is my only friend. The old man dragged him in by the scruff of the neck one day when he was just a little squirt and tossed him in the corner beside me.
He’s not the first dog I’ve had. That was Blue. I loved Blue, but he messed the floor until he had to be punished.
The old man didn’t do the punishing. He made me do it. He said Blue and I both had to learn.
Shuck has been a little better. I knew what the cost would be if he didn’t learn, so I made sure he was paper trained quickly. He knows now he should only make when we go into the back yard—we’re only allowed to go in the back yard. The fence is electric there. The old man knows we can’t get past it.
But, yeah, Shuck is a fast learner, especially now that he’s not a puppy anymore. He’s grown big. He’s getting bigger, and I think he understands real words.
He’ll fetch the ball I throw, and he’ll heel.
Pretty soon we’re going to test a new word he’s learned.
“Shuck, THROAT,” I’ll say.
Then we’ll go out the front door, and the old man won’t have any say any more.
He literally won’t have any say.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Total Immersion
I've spent some long stretches working on a chapter to back up that first line I posted a few days ago another nice part of being off from my day job a few days and generaly off my feet.
It's a first line I've modified a bit based on suggestions here, by the way.
Referring to Dean Koontz on writing again, in one of his writing texts he's adamant about devoting uninterrupted hours to writing. Find time on a weekend if not during the week, he urges, to spend uninterrupted stretches with your fiction.
Other than having cats jump on my laptop I've done that the last few days, and it kind of reminded me how effective immersion in the world of your fiction can be.
The four walls of the setting become real, the characters literally start to breathe and truly you're in a different place within yourself or your thoughts.
As a reporter I covered someone discussing painting from the left side of the brain or the right, I forget which one's which in the creative vs. pragmatic scenario. She talked about getting to that place.
I know scientifically the left-right brain notion isn't proven, but I do find something does happen in the creative process where everything really kicks in.
I may have mentioned in this blog before how much I came to live in the small town that is the setting of my novel When Darkness Falls. I knew the streets, the shadows, the shops and what it was like to drive through town on a foggy evening.
When the book was finished I hated to leave.
It's to reach that point in a new piece of writing. It's not magic, but it feels that way.
It's a first line I've modified a bit based on suggestions here, by the way.
Referring to Dean Koontz on writing again, in one of his writing texts he's adamant about devoting uninterrupted hours to writing. Find time on a weekend if not during the week, he urges, to spend uninterrupted stretches with your fiction.
Other than having cats jump on my laptop I've done that the last few days, and it kind of reminded me how effective immersion in the world of your fiction can be.
The four walls of the setting become real, the characters literally start to breathe and truly you're in a different place within yourself or your thoughts.
As a reporter I covered someone discussing painting from the left side of the brain or the right, I forget which one's which in the creative vs. pragmatic scenario. She talked about getting to that place.
I know scientifically the left-right brain notion isn't proven, but I do find something does happen in the creative process where everything really kicks in.
I may have mentioned in this blog before how much I came to live in the small town that is the setting of my novel When Darkness Falls. I knew the streets, the shadows, the shops and what it was like to drive through town on a foggy evening.
When the book was finished I hated to leave.
It's to reach that point in a new piece of writing. It's not magic, but it feels that way.
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