Deadwired

bookstores?

2009-05-28T12:39:37Z

One of our local bookstores is closing in a few days--a combined victim of the recession, small variety of stock, and cheap bestsellers in a couple of big-box retailers. Another local indie is not doing so hot, and we may even lose our Waldenbooks in the mall. This is a university town--and it could be without a bookstore by the end of the year.

I fully believe the book industry has changed so much that many of the old rules apply. The Internet offers you the books at your fingertips, and though there's nothing like the heady smell of ink and paper in a bookstore (and expensive coffee if you're lucky), I am not sure bookstores are "cool" enough for the modern shopper. They tend to cater to little old ladies and reading clubs, and though I dearly love both, I am not sure they are a solid long-term customer base, because little old ladies tend to turn into older ladies.

My honey and I talked about what kind of stores we'd open if we wanted--I used to own a sports card store in the 1990s, and though that fad faded, I am now organizing and hosting sports cards and comic shows, so I enjoy it. I might even add some books, but a used book store selling 25-cent paperbacks and dollar hardcovers requires a ton of room and a slim profit margin. It's hard to see how any survive in a downtown area. Unless you own the property, I don't see how it would work as a business. We have a "freebie table" at work, where people put out things they don't want and take things they need. There's a stack of paperbacks, some by well-known authors, that have been there about two months. Nobody wants them. And this is a newspaper, where presumably most of the people are literate.

What kinds of things would draw a younger, hipper audience? Stores already say author signings are not big draws anymore. Sure, people will line up for miles to see Stephen King or J.K. Rowling, but the guy down the street with the new memoir is probably not going to bring in the skateboard crowd. Adding video games, DVDs, flashy things seem like a culture clash, but those things are already available on the Internet, cell phones, and other tiny, portable devices. Maybe books will eventually migrate there, too, as soon as today's tweeners become little old ladies. I do know the number of new fiction titles declined by 11 percent last year (decimation in its truest sense) while the number of print-on-demand titles soared and now is more than twice that of traditional, offset titles. Yet I personally know of several author friends of mine doing amazingly well, so there is no blanket statement of "Publishing is dead."

Personally, I have found joy in putting together my "pop cons," and my paranormal conference, and developing comic books. I still write and I'm working on an interesting novel, but it's just one of many passions now. The umbrella is getting larger and they all seem to fit. So this issue is something I've been pondering both for myself and for the effect on our culture. I am not sure of the future of books or publishing but I still believe those messages of the soul will find their way to the world.

digital comics

2009-03-30T01:44:40Z

Digital versions of the Dirt series are now for sale (and sample preview) at Drivethru and Eagle One Media. And you can get it with none of the muss and fuss of paper, if you want pure story. Of course, you can still get print versions, too, through post Mortem Comics. Check out the other Post Mortem titles while you're there: Fever, Dorothy Rising, and Magic Eight Ball. The first batch is "at the printers" and the special upside-down cover will only be released in this first run.

I'm also planning a new release of my first novel The Red Church and I'm looking at Ingram's Lightning Source. The upside is it's linked right into Amazon, B & N, and all other book outlets that carry Ingram titles. The downside is the cost is higher, because it will probably be released through their print-on-demand service, which runs trade paperbacks up to about $18 or so. The alternative is to publish them myself and pay for an offset print run, but then I have the problem of getting them into those many outlets. And of course, simply having a book available doesn't mean bookstores are going to order it--like every author, I will have to create demand. Since the book has already been through the pipeline once, it probably reached the core audience, but all you wonderful people who have discovered me in the last few years haven't had a chance to try it, unless you picked up a used copy somewhere. At any rate, I'd like to have the book back out there, especially since I'm developing it as a comics series.

In other news, it's that time of year to get the garden ready, and while I now save most of my own seeds, I did pick up a few things from Baker Creek Heirlooms. The asparagus really did well last year and I spread the crowns around, and barring a late frost I should finally get some fruit from my trees. It's been satisfying to eat home-canned food this year, and I noticed a difference on my grocery bill. Now I just need to get my chimney installed and I'll edge a little further from the grid. But I'll still need a computer, huh?

Compassionate Self-Reliance

2009-03-02T17:21:27Z

Fresh Dirt--Scott Nicholson's journal
This blog is mirrored at MySpace, Wordpress and LiveJournal if you want to feed back

March 2
Post Mortem Comics is rolling out with a vengeance, and publisher John Parker is also organizing "Fallen Heroes Con," a project to benefit disabled veterans. The two-day music and comics convention in Haywood County, NC, will also feature online auctions, and we've already received commitments from some of the biggest names in the industry, like Laurell K. Hamilton. Proceeds will also go toward printing "Untold Stories," a graphic novel featuring real-life soldiers' tales from Iraq and Afghanistan, headed up by artist Clayton Murwin.

Post Mortem has also secured a distribution deal with Haven, so pester your local comic stores to carry Post Mortem. We're working on digital distribution, as well as bookstore and magazine rack distribution, so beware the avalanche. Oh, and we'll also be expanding into animated digital comics as soon as we get the technical stuff lined up. I will not only be writing my DIRT series (and narrating it as the Digger), but I'm also developing The Gorge with artist Kewber and his wife Schimery, a zombie mini-series, and the ongoing series The Circuit Rider with Nima Sorat (Graveslinger). Look for sketches soon in the "Comics" section of the Web site.

After years of preaching "Go the traditional publishing route," I've decided to take a more entrepreneurial approach. A lot of "traditional" publishing involves waiting around for someone (or multiple someones) to make a decision. In light of the economy and the rampant fear, I have decided to reject fear. After watching my "traditional" investments trickle into the pockets of invisible people, I reject putting my faith in people who could care less about my future. I choose to invest in myself. Sure, this attitude will horrify plenty of people who say "Never self-publish." But some of those people had their book releases pulled out from under them, had contracts canceled, had books dumped out there with no promotion, had books go out of print while the publisher still holds rights for years afterward, or waited years and years and never got responses. I will continue to partner with large publishers, but I will also partner with small publishers, amateurs, lunatics, saints, and gardeners. I call this new model "compassionate self-reliance"--working on creativity, productivity, spirituality, and shared abundance. I hope you'll join me.

rainbows

2009-02-19T03:13:58Z

I was riding along today, beneath one of those beautiful iron-gray, tufty skies that mark the last half of winter here in the Southern Appalachians, and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" came on the radio. During the song, a complete rainbow appeared, with a second echo rainbow behind it. Farther on, another rainbow arced, and Girl and I could see where it fuzzed into the ground on a nearby wooded knoll. I thought, "This is better than any drug I've ever taken." I've been very busy with a number of projects and changes in my life, and I takes signs like these as proof that I am on the right track. It's simple: follow your heart, trust your mind, and be considerate of the world and its creatures.

I know so many people stressed out by the economy, and I do sympathize with anyone who has lost a job, because I've been there before. But it's also a time of great opportunity. Do more with less, enjoy simple things, open up to the wonder around you. If you can't afford to eat, be glad you can breathe. No matter what some subjective bean-counting gizmo says you are "worth," the truth is there is exactly as much beauty, abundance, and joy as there was before the Recession.

Taoist missive complete, I now become self-centered and blab about myself again. I'll be at PSI Con on Feb 28-March 1 in Lake Lure, NC. Post Mortem is taking preorders for The Magic Eight Ball and Dirt #1, limited to 250 copies. I'm also looking for script submissions for Grave Conditions.

haunted chapbook

2009-02-05T03:21:16Z

I was cooking up the last of the stored apples this morning (I love them with oatmeal) when I got down to the last few little ones. I was going to toss them to the goats, because they seemed more trouble to peel than they were worth. Then I started on one and it was saying, "Look, I hung on until February for you, I gave you everything I had, I'm small and sweet and this is the way I was made and I went to a lot of trouble to get into your pot." That apple was healthy, and probably the firmest of the batch. Accept things the way they are, and appreciate the little things.

I've been updating the Post Mortem Comics site and learning more about the comics industry. It's a very exciting time to be a creator, despite all the gloom and doom over money. Corporate ways of doing things are crumbling, and new markets and distribution channels are emerging. I'm not making a rant about shortsighted or any of that, as I've heard some people blog about. It's just a natural cycle, and work is going to get released in lots of different avenues, some of it lousy and barely on the edge of art, some of it slick and soon to be made commercial, some of it honest and lasting, some of it destined to go unnoticed. In a way, that's what I love about the creative challenge--any mook can throw mud patties at a canvas, but actually reaching out and finding an audience is where the real satisfaction lies.

And live from the United Kingdom, it's Haunted...me first chapbook.

more funny book stuff

2009-01-29T16:00:10Z

Here's an interesting tutorial on the making of a comic book, from Dark Horse comics. Dark Horse is a solid company that emerged as sort of a second-tier house in the 1980s and 1990s, when Valiant and Image were also breaking into the independent comics market. Dark Horse has kept a core of success through titles like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Wars while also busting out some innovative titles and doing smart work in collecting some lost classics.

I've learned a lot with these scripts, since I tend to not flesh out so much background detail, instead leaving the artist room to maneuver. However, the writer works in some ways like the director of a movie--he or she is not usually looking through the camera lens but instead is shaping the larger vision. I see where I could put more emotion in my scripts, though they are basically memos to the artist. I will add a few script pages and sketch pages, along with finished pages, to the comics section of the Haunted Computer as we move along. I'm always looking to build comic resources and networking, especially among the independent creators and publishers.

Incidentally, I recommend William Harms's "Impaler" series if you like horror/thriller comics. The series has an interesting history, starting with Image and then moving to Top Cow, and William helped me a lot in getting started. Also, John Parker's first comic "Fever" from Post Mortem is about ready to roll from the presses, so we'll be able to promote them at the same time while we get future issues ready. John's very knowledgeable about art, paper, and the industry and it's been great to work with him to get the comics going. Jeff Mariotte, novelist and creator of a numbe rof comics titles, has also been helpful. The biggest joy I've gotten out of writing is in the friends I've made and the readers that contact me--it really humanizes what is a lonely and often frustrating endeavor.

Speaking of which, hillbilly wunderkind Mark Justice has me back on Pod of Horror #51, a podcast that will be posted by Jan. 30 or so, in which Mark asks, "Where did you disappear to?" Good question, and I will have to listen so I will know what my answer is!

Dirt

2009-01-26T04:00:27Z

Okay, so I had no idea scorpion exposure was a competitive endeavor, but apparently there's this crazy Thai chick (maybe smoking Thai stick?) whose lot in life is to hang out with scorpions, see how long she can hold them in her mouth, and how many times she can get bitten and survive. She lived with 5,000 scorpions for 33 days, except for potty breaks. What was the previous record? Living with 4,999 scorpions for 33 days? "I can top THAT!"

Post Mortem is about to take the first issue of "Dirt" to the printers. We're still setting up subscription links and we'll have direct distribution to a number of regional comics stores. I'll also be selling copies here on Haunted Computer (signed if you want). I'm really pleased with the tone of the series and how it's evolving, and Kewber Alves Arruda is really growing in his talents. These stories are in the tone of "Tales From The Crypt," "Twilight Zone," "Creepie," "House of Secrets" and those other venerable horror, fantasy, and "weird" comics. We'll also have T-shirts available featuring The Digger, with links to those coming soon. Kew just finished the second cover, and I'll post it soon. We plan to publish one issue every three months, with a complete run of six that will be collected in a trade paperback. I'm developing three other graphic series at the moment, so hopefully they will roll out in the next year or two. I really love this style of storytelling and I'm finding new possibilities that don't work as well in either fiction or screenplays.

After getting a little feedback on new types of books, what interests me as a writer, and what the future of publishing holds, I've come to realize I want to be a little more daring and challenging instead of simply hunting for that middle-ground commercial success. Neil Gaiman has a quote along the lines of "Anyone can do that meat-and-potatoes sort of stuff. Aim for spectacular failure." Seems a much more noble goal to me, since so many books seem interchangeable and offer little in the way of ideas. And, no, I would never say bestsellers are crap, because there is some true and meticulous craft in many of them. They just aim low, and they restore order, and they assuage people's sense of justice. I listen to a lot of books on tape, and I saw one in the library and thought I ought to "read" it. Then I realized I already had, and I couldn't remember much of anything about it besides the main concept and that the protagonist was an artist. This was by an author I admire who has been hugely successful and known for stellar characterization. I couldn't remember any of the characters.

Similarly, I watched "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" last week and it sparked a lot of thought about the nature of time and perception, and the beautiful and temporal futility of love, and how we change as we age. I don't know if the movie will be a classic, but for me it got me talking to people close to me about our ephemeral relationships, whether we are together a day or 80 years. That's poignant stuff, not violent stoner dreck like "Pineapple Express" or popular movies that I felt a social obligation to watch because they were popular. Give me thought-provoking art any day, even if it's jagged and terrible, over highly polished and soulless entertainment. Not that challenging stuff can't be popular, either--I'm sure Brad Pitt could have taken a simpler eye-candy role.

multitask

2009-01-09T20:35:16Z

New updates from the Green Park Paranormal Conference: an EVP, two shadow photos, and an incidence of "automatic writing" can be accessed at the ghost register. In a similar vein, Paranormal Scene Investigators is hosting a paracon at the Lake Lure Inn in February 2009.

As you can see from the front page, I've also scheduled the Boone Comicon in Boone NC for Apr. 18, 2009--part of Haunted Computer Production's plans to take over the world one ostrich at a time. (I don't know what ostriches have to do with it, except you rarely see ostrich in plural form and it sounded cool.)

I'm also converting this blog to a Wordpress blog, hopefully offering more categories to discuss screenwriting, comics writing, books, and the paranormal, in addition to general interests. I'd like to make this site more of a destination point and open forum, possibly even an open writing workshop, but it will take some tech tinkering on this end. Drop a line if you have any suggestions.

Still working on two novel projects and developing a couple of movie project ideas ("ideas" is about as specific and solid as these are right now), and we're about to finish up the second issue of "Dirt" as we get the final editorial pieces together. Oh, yeah, I'm working with Australian artist Clayton Barton on a children's book and I just did a sketch for inclusion in Ghostwriter Publication's chapbook of my short story "Haunted," which will be released in the UK in a week or so in conjunction with an audio version of the story. What makes the chapbook extra special (besides being my first, and my first standalone UK publication) is that it also features art from both my daughter and stepson, who are both much more skilled than I am. The chapbook is a prelude to the upcoming release of both my story collection The First (an expanded version of my first story collection Thank You For The Flowers) and my novel The Red Church.

Okay, I'm blabbing solely about me and my projects--and that's why I'd like to move to a more interactive format. I've spent a lot of time the past few years reading "commercial" novels and trying to figure out their appeal. I have heard that some writers pick a formula and type and carve out their niche and build on it, but that seems far too calculated to be interesting. I've been more inspired lately by diverse, even subversive, material like Roman Dirge's "Lenore," Brian Vaughan's "The Pride of Baghdad," Lemony Snicket, and Larry McMurtry (and his unabashed inclusion of carnality). I don't know if I can capture that kind of energy, but it's refreshing to approach my own work as something that can be bold and inventive rather than marketable--though of course the two are not mutually exclusive.

Hemingway's Head

2008-12-22T18:01:52Z

I loathe Hemingway. I used to want to be Hemingway, back when I was 17 and thought it was romantic to be brooding, depressed, and suicidal, all with a flint-eyed, chiseled-cheek manliness that had no room for feelings. Stand in the wind and smoke cigarettes and drink straight rum. Go fishing when it's so cold you lose toes to frostbite. Hunt so you can carry a gun. Since that golden era, I've given him a couple of chances, but I can't get past the first couple of pages. That's sad since "The Old Man And The Sea" has moments of beauty.

I just jammed "To Have And To Have Not" into the auto tape player, figuring I'd learn something about pre-Castro Cuba. Instead, Hemingway's repeated use of the word "nigger" highlighted the narrowminded stupidity of his work. Unless you are a macho, unfeeling character, then you are nothing but a prop in his world. What makes it even worse is that the "niggers" sound far more interesting than the macho, rum-swilling, marlin-reeling, womanizing boat captains that Hemingway likes to pretend he could have been, if he hadn't been impotent. And it's not because I automatically condemn the N-word in any literary setting, because it is a real word and it's part of the language, and if you embrace Chris Rock, then you know the word has it's proper time and place. Twain could use it and not be racist--I never felt Twain was using it as a condemnation and in fact I see the exact opposite: Twain was a compassionate humanitarian with a sardonic wit who acknowledged the injustices of the world.

Screw Hemingway. I'm glad he blew off his head. If he hadn't done it already, I'd probably drive to Illinois and do it for him.

do your thing

2008-12-16T16:24:06Z

coffee shop, I read Tim Burton's "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy," a whimsical and dark and lovely little collection of poems. The overall theme is misplaced kids ("The Boy With Nails In His Eyes," etc.) and it features fairly crude stick drawings that resemble the characters in "A Nightmare Before Christmas." From the collection, I would deduce Burton had a very strange childhood, and I would guess that it's wonderful he was able to create--he does emanate the sense of someone who was picked on in grade school, but that's true of a lot of geniuses. I adore people who do their own thing--not being mavericks because they are mavericks, but doing their thing because it's their thing. That's why Johnny Depp is my favorite actor, too. It's inspiration for would-be geeks and recluses everywhere...do your thing and stick with it and you are guaranteed to get where you're supposed to be.

I used to post a lot of writing articles at the Haunted Computer, but I slowed down when I realized I didn't know all that much. I still offer my advice and a lot of writers ask me for blurbs and that kind of thing, which is funny because some of them are better known than I am. I've been doing a lot of self-examination and retrenching this year, and the approaching solstice feels far more like an "end" than does Dec. 31. It's easy to dwell on what I haven't achieved, but I've also been fortunate to find some great friends and allies and feel more like part of the community or writers while at the same time "doing my thing." I explained to a friend that I had a responsibility to write what I write because no one else can do it. Sure, it's easy to second guess or seek a more "commercial, can't-miss" style or subject matter, but when all is said and done, all has been said and not all that much done. Everything goes out of print but your epitaph.

The reality is that we're in a revolution of communication, with digital content becoming increasingly prominent. If you walk into a coffee shop, you see most people holding cellphones or laptops--few people are reading newspapers or books. People also are quickly become their own entertainment, stars of their own reality shows on places like Twitter. I don't know how many people will notice me doing my own thing, or you doing your own thing, because they're busy doing their own thing. Groove on. Do your thing.

Writer's Block: Small Economies

2008-12-16T16:20:38Z

The news is full of stories about people cutting back on their spending. What thrifty measures have you taken since the end of the economy as we know it?

View 500 Answers

I just steal more books and give more books away.

bail out Scott Nicholson

2008-12-12T19:11:07Z

Here's an amusing article on the benefits of a federal bailout for writers, of whom most of us agree comprise too great a percentage of the population. Thankfully we have agents, editors, and publishers as gatekeepers, but they are mostly just standing around with their thumbs in the crack of a dike (no Gertrude Stein jokes here) as the floodwaters build and everyone either self-publishes a book or decides to distribute their work on the Internet for free. Because New York "isn't ready for their genius" or they "are too cutting edge." The problem is nobody tells them "no" anymore. Or better yet, "Shut up. Stop. Please. For the sake of all that is holy."

In the good old days, editors actually typed and signed letters of regret for being unable to accept work, but then the mimeograph was invented and form letters became socially acceptable, perhaps under the notion that wholesale, generic rejection was somehow more compassionate. Then most editors and publishing houses stopped accepting queries altogether, counting on agents to serve as first line of defense in the trench warfare of literature. As recently as a decade ago, you could still get a form letter for the price of your self-addressed, stamped envelope. Now most agents simply don't respond at all "unless interested." Meaning they don't respond at all.

For years I tried to talk people out of self-publishing. It's bad economics, because the biggest stumbling block to getting an audience is getting your books in front of the readers who can buy them. After all, why else would we need a publishing industry? I've heard people who call themselves writers tell me, "I've already had three rejections, so I may as well print it up." I don't even waste my breath anymore, though I did wonder how they ended up with rejection slips in an age when ignorance is bliss. The same Internet that makes it easy for agents (and, by extension, publishers) to ignore you and still consider their profession to be genteel, courteous, and crusading also makes it easy for anybody to throw up a Web site and dump 100,000 words of Gurglish without insulting any electrons.

Luckily for those who consider themselves real writers (and the article's stated $40,000 a year "average" income would inspire most of the writers in my acquaintance to turn joyous backflips and buy health insurance for spinal surgery), not many fly-by-nights or type-by-12-packs are actually going to stick with it long enough to compete with you.

The article also touches on the plight of Ann Beattie, whose authorial good name has been hijacked by another Ann Beattie. There is another Scott Nicholson (not the real one, I can assure you) who has self-published a book called "Seeds of Achievement." In researching for this blog entry, I discovered one site that erroneously had the author's bio as mine. Hell, maybe the guy writes better than me. That wouldn't be too difficult, since I'm part of that vast subset of writers who aren't verifiable geniuses like Larry McMurtry, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Shirley Jackson, or Richard Brautigan. But the annual thirty-cent royalty checks are not making their way to my address.

It irks me when his books are listed alongside mine or when one of my readers asks me "WTF?" about that book. True, he has a right to use his name (and I'm not even sure this is the same Scott Nicholson who "stole" scottnicholson-dot-com or the one who writes board games, or a new imposter) and I have a right to change my name. Who knows, maybe these other Scott Nicholsons have been submitting badly written query letters that open with, "Dear mean agent, I know you're going to reject me, but...." And these agents, seeing the sullen and mutilated grammar, immediately block "Scott Nicholson" from their email inboxes, then real Scott Nicholsons like me can't even tell when we're getting rejected. Does that "no" mean "no" or does it mean I'm sending spam, or is it that my genius is so far ahead of its time that it's cutting edge?

The U.S. government may find it worth $40,000 a year to keep people from writing. Maybe we can then all turn to some other. more-useful enterprise, like dog-sledding, porcupine husbandry, or natural-gas exploration. I figure with a one-time cash grant of $250,000, we could convince all Scott Nicholsons to rest their weary pens forever.

But, hey, if you are the one in hundred writers who actually finishes a novel and are then one in the hundred novelists who actually gets a response and then become one of the hundred "read" novelists who gets passed to an editor and then...well, you see where this is headed. Your odds are a lot better at being a Scott Nicholson than it is at being a New York-published novelist. In fact, I feel ready to self-publish a book myself. The title is "Scott Nicholson" and I will release it under a pen name. Do you have a successful authorial name I can steal? I would pay you $40,000, except I'm a writer.

Unspeakable Horror

2008-12-08T16:38:30Z

It's here, it's queer, and it's not going to disappear. Actually, it might, so you better snag your copy today. Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet is newly released, with fiction from the best and brightest minds in the business. Except mine. My mind has been fogged by a patina of mint jelly since the Reagan Administration, but I scraped off the sugary coating long enough to contribute the story "The Shaping" to the GLBTQ anthology edited by Vince Liaguno and Chad Helder. It can be ordered through your local store, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Horror Mall. It features stories by Sarah Langan, Kealan Patrick Burke, Lisa Morton, and more.

october

2008-10-20T23:01:17Z

Wow, hard to believe nearly three weeks have passed since the last update--I'll put more here after I send out my quarterly newsletter and figure out just what I've been up to since the summer. While I've pushed some projects forward, it feels like I've done more administering and promoting than anything else. However, I'm happy to report that issue #1 of Grave Conditions is almost in the can and I'm working on the script for #2. The Web site for Post Mortem Comic Studios will be up soon and I'm also adding a Comics page here at the Haunted Computer.

I spent the past weekend as an oversize puppet called Mr. Liberty, dancing at the Lake Eden Arts Festival as part of the Elkland Art Center troupe. You can hear my audio version of "Must See To Appreciate" on Transmissions from Beyond (for free!). Also, my new story collection "Scattered Ashes" will be out probably in December, in both limited hardcover and trade paperback. I will be "bound in leather" for the first time, with 26 lettered editions selling at $89. (Actually, there have been other, less-successful and far-squishier attempts at binding me in leather, but those will be reserved for the tell-all autobiography.)

Blood Lite

2008-10-01T18:11:13Z

Oct. 1
Today marks the official release of Blood Lite, an anthology from the Horror Writers Association billed as"humorous horror." Edited by Kevin J. Anderson and featuring writers like Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Sharyn McCrumb and more, it offers some biting sarcasm, monstrous silliness, and shaky funny bones. Please bug your local bookstores and libraries about the book. As head of the HWA publications committee, I helped ferry (or is it "ferret"?) the book through the publication process, from idea to release.

I am The Digger

2008-09-30T15:20:58Z

Here's a look at "The Digger," the narrator for the forthcoming comic series "Grave Conditions." Any resemblance between the character and me is not coincidental--although I won't be this old and creepy for at least three years and seventeen days. Artist Kewber Alves Arruda has finished half the first issue and we hope to release it early next year. In the meantime, I'm developing a comics section for the Web site to include this and other comics projects, and Post Mortem Comic Studios will soon have links for subscriptions. You can already buy T-shorts, buttons, and other items for the company, so before long you'll get your Digger fix on posters, etc.

Other projects are continuing to unfold and I'll announce them "as soon as things are signed"--the old standby in a business where nothing is done until its done and nothing is ever "set set." Mostly I'm having fun dipping my brush in a thousand different colors, which is why these blog updates are few and far between. My article "The Seven Bad Habits of Highly Unsuccessful Writers" is appearing in a future edition of Writer's Journal.

Registration is still open for both the New River Writing Retreat and Green Park Paranormal Conference, so come one and come all, and come visit me and Post Mortem at Monstercon in Cocord NC on Oct. 4.

reality show

2008-09-15T17:40:14Z

Had a great time at the Morganton Comic Con and got to learn a lot about the industry from writer Christof Gage, Raymond of the indie book "Fierce," David Lyle and Shane Hai. It was interesting to find work of my friends in the dealer's dollar boxes--I guess even in the comics industry, everything eventually ends up in the "cheesy trunk of terror."

Working with John Parker, publisher at Post Mortem Comic Studios, I'll be releasing my first comic series, Grave Conditions. It will be bi-monthly, with black-and-white interior art, collecting adaptations of my short stories. Art will be supplied by Kewber Arruda Alves, who lives in Brazil. He's very talented and I like the look of his work. I'll be posting art here as the project moves along toward its release early next year.

I'll also be developing a special Comics section here at the site. We hope to recruit a roster of newer artists (shorthand for those being able to work fast and cheap) who can revolve on these projects and bring others into line. In the meantime, check out Post Mortem's other titles. The first ones should be coming out in December.

My Thursday-night appearance on Shadows in the Dark blogtalk is archived here. I'll have other appearances coming soon, especially as the Green Park Paranormal Conference draws nearer. In other news, I'm starting a new novel, just in case you thought I was quitting! For those interested in the New River Writing Retreat in October, I've swung a sponsorship deal so I can now drop the price to $195--three days of Blue Ridge serenity, with meals and writing--heck, it's a great deal even if you don't write! Register by Oct. 15 for the special price.

All the political noise has spawned a new theory in which reality has jumped the shark and we are all now stars of our own reality shows. Seriously. It's now a certifiable psychological condition. I'm still trying to pinpoint exactly when we entered our own very special episode of Fantasy island. I think it was maybe around the time Bush donned a flight suit and pronounced "Mission Accomplished," or when Hillary Clinton's bathing-suit cellulite was pictured on National Enquirer, or perhaps when McCain said Palin knew more about energy than anyone else in the country--and no one challenged him. Since I'm a Libertarian, and whichever person sits in the Oval Reality Bubble will prove disappointing, then at least let's hope the ratings will be high. If you need a healthy dose of escapism from our shared delusion of Escapism, then, hey, give books or comics a try...

Funny Papers

2008-09-04T13:37:27Z

If you're in the mood for Scott-babble, there's a new interview up at Macabre Cadaver. I'm also going to be a guest at Morganton (NC) ComicCon on Sept. 13 and MonsterCon in Concord (NC) on Oct. 4. I'm getting much more interested in comics and I'm writing an article for Sketch Magazine on adapting novels to comic scripts. I'll also be contributing a story to Post Mortem Comic Studio's "Shovel" series (a sort of full-length version of the old Tales from the Crypt idea, with revolving stories, artists and writers). There's a special excitement in seeing an artist bring a project to life, and it also inspires a new type of storytelling approach. Since I'm weird enough to shift around between different media, it suits me just fine. I just wish I could draw worth a darn. I am developing a "Comics" section here at the Haunted Computer where I will post art samples and possibly full stories soon.

If you're in the NC Piedmont, there are two upcoming free writing workshops featuring my friend Chris Roerdon: Wed. Sept. 10, 7-8:30 pm, Cary Library, 310 S. Academy St., Cary NC: "Don't Sabotage Your Submission: Create suspense, develop your voice, and discover the key to getting published."

Sat. Oct. 18, 9:30 am-5:30 pm, Greensboro Central Library, 219 N. Church St., Greensboro
NC. Skill Building for Writers" panel.

In home news, I canned 11 pints of tomatoes and six pints of corn, and I now own two goats--sort of big pygmies. Or pig bigmes or something. Helping Girl with her homework, which is incredibly tough for third grade. Signing the world's largest pair of panties (thanks, Robin). Feeding the chickens, which may taste good on Thanksgiving. Gathering wood for winter. Planning the next novel and loathing the last. Looking at the sky. Dreaming.

The Tao of Boo

2008-08-21T16:02:38Z

Some of you know me as a self-described Taoist, but the reality is that's just another label. Tao defies labels and my clinging to the label is proof that I'm separated from Tao. In other words, it's a little like, "If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him." So when I try not to identify too closely with the "horror" label, it's not because I don't love horror. It's just that any brand name is ultimately limiting and unsatisfactory, especially since I'm popping out of as many holes as possible, and repetitive experience is boring. For instance, some people who think I'm dark and violent because of what happens to fictional characters in my books may never see my funny stuff. And in an industry driven by branding and the mind-numbing duplication of protagonists and plots, you shoot yourself in the foot if you switch direction with every book. But artists should be switching, growing, reinventing, spiraling, spitting off the edge. Maybe that's the difference between art and craft--art is the vision and craft is the mechanism. Dream and the flawed communication of that dream. And all we have is words.

Time to present a plethora of product, or a rash of reads--Here's a prelim sketch of the cover for The Skull Ring, from artist Alan Clark. I met Alan at the World Horror Convention in 1998 or '99 and even at the time I was thinking, "Boy, I hope one day I have a book that he does the cover for." Lo and behold a decade later, it happens. Proof that overnight success (of whatever form) takes a few thousand nights. The Full Moon Press has just rolled out its first release, Ricka Hautala's The Wildman, and I expect The Skull Ring to come rumbling down the tracks soon. The "lifetime subscriptions" are running out, and Paul Little has an ambitious roster, so it may be the last chance to jump on board, because he's publishing authors who are fresh on the limited-edition market and with plenty of room for "upward mobility," "return on investment," and "market upside," if you're the kind who stores books for collectible reasons. I hope there will be a paperback edition somewhere down the road, but it would take a year or two at least, and maybe more, before another edition comes out. I spent a month revising this over the summer and I really like the edge of it.

Just released is the limited edition anthology of Brimstone Turnpike, edited by Kealan Patrick Burke, containing novellettes by Tom Monteleone, Harry Shannon, Tim Waggoner, Mike Oliveri and my contribution "Burial To Follow," which is probably one of my five best works ever. It's been a few years of waiting in the wings for this one, and centers around a character Burke created and then allowed the authors to riff freely around. Apparently these are selling quickly and got good reviews from Library Journal and Booklist. Michael Lohr interviewed me for Withersin, in an issue that also contains a story by rising star Charles Colyott, one of my students at the Pen to Press Writing Retreat. The audiofile for my interview on The Odd Mind is archived on Blog Talk Radio. Okay, I'm officially tired of talking about myself at the moment, so go read some free comic books.

Self-publishing and self-control

2008-08-12T12:26:27Z

I'd talked about this project a little earlier, and now it's been released: The WrongWorld DVD book. My story "The Christening" is in the "Healthscares" collection, with work by John Kuhn and Ralph Gamelli. There are some visual/graphic elements, and then you click the pages to read the story on your TV (by remote control button) or in the computer. It's an interesting project and hybrid medium that I suspect will evolve over time and move closer to a graphic novel. The DVD version of the new "I Am Legend" has some graphic-novel segments as bonus material, and the effect is very interesting: less complex and easier to produce than animation but successful in telling a story, using music and audio to enhance the still pictures. I'd say more authors need to pay attention to these new forms, because the book market is really tough right now, and the economy is only partly to blame.

That's part of the reason I'm developing a series of shorter comic projects, seeking ways to make them affordable enough that people are willing to try something new but with enough profit that I can pay the creative collaborators. I'm always looking to add artists, letterers, and inkers to the stable, and maybe eventually more writers. I'm not quite sure how this new medium will play out but it will be exciting to explore new formats and break the traditional chain of writer-to-agent-to-publisher-to-printer-to-distributor-to-store, in which only a tiny fraction makes its way back to the writer (paperback royalties are usually between 4 to 8 percent of the cover price). There are digital outlets like Wowio for direct sales to the public, and Horror Mall and other independent places, so I predict a slight swell in self-managed literature that mirrors what musicians have been able to do by producing and marketing their own CDs.

The reason self-publishing hasn't worked for most authors is they are not only locked out of the distribution process because stores can't return unsold books for credit, but many lack oversight and professional editing. I get review copies all the time that are double-spaced, have horrid grammar mistakes, and basically shoot themselves down in the first couple of paragraphs. One example was a book featuring the first woman president, an important historic character for sure, but the author couldn't be bothered to keep her name right on the first page. I'm not saying all self-published books are bad, and I believe we'll see more good work breaking in from outside the mainstream due to the rigid market conditions, but the best way is still to try and crack through the wall. And don't use "I'm too EXTREME for New York" or "I'm so brilliant they don't understand me" as an excuse for having your sloppy work rejected.

moving to Myspace

2007-02-02T13:07:05Z

For those intrepid few (or the just plain lost) who wander here and think I'm dead, I've moved my journal to Myspace

www.myapsace.com/hauntedcomputer

It's also mirrored at my regular journal site www.hauntedcomputer.com

Join me there!

hauntedcomputer @ 2006-11-15T02:27:00

2006-11-15T02:27:03Z

My story "Dumb Luck" just came out in this anthology called Deathgrip: Exit Laughing. http://www.hellboundbooks.com/dgrip4.html

It's a fat paperback with funny, bizarre, dark, and sometimes jez plain ol' corny stories. Mine is about a talking mailbox. I also wrote a script for it, one of those "Twilight Zone" or "Outer Limits" pieces that are 22 minutes to allow for commercials. I haven't done anything with the script and I think I'd need to change it to make it cheaper (there's a scene involving a Ferrari wreck, not the type of thing indie producers like to see in the budget).

The book also contains a posthumous co-write by the late d.g.k. goldberg and a new story from William F. Nolan. Also received a review book "Gospel of the Living Dead" by Kim Paffenroth, about George Romero's zombies. A good day.

hauntedcomputer @ 2006-11-12T15:50:00

2006-11-12T15:50:19Z

Reading an article today from a writer who talked about fear as the greatest motivator. I try to explain this to people myself: When I tell someone I never know if I will write another sentence, much less finish and publish another book, most don't understand. They figure if you have a few books out, then you have proven you are a writer. In truth, you have proven nothing except that you had once written.

Fear is my friend. It's often been my enemy and driven me to bad choices or irresponsible behavior, but when I it corral and look it in the eye, then the world is mine. Oh, not the regular, boring world with its income taxes and retirement accounts, or even the more compelling world of human relationships. But when I say to myself, "Okay, I'm scared, I know I'm scared, but I'm going to do this anyway," then it's easy to turn on the computer and write a terrible sentence, then string a few sentences together into some sort of plot direction. From there, hopefully some of that fear gets shifted onto the characters. It's only lately that I've been able to write about things that would scare me in real life--despite the genre labels affixed to my books, ghosts, goblins, and vampires are nothing more than symbols to me. The Big Scares are basically ego driven: failure, insignificance, the wasting of God's gifts through lack of action, the wasting of love through selfishness, or the missing of potential love through fear.

Sharp, dripping fangs are laughable next to the fear of rejection. Or fear of yourself.

smarting for Hollywood

2006-11-10T00:05:21Z

I've been doing some screenwriting lately, talking with screenwriters, and reading the work of screenwriters. Scripts are far different than I'd ever thought, though I'd written a number of short video scripts a decade ago when I thought I'd go into video production. Namely, there's a perception (somewhat shared by me) that script-writing is a dumber, leaner form of storytelling that can be churned out by any old hack with an idea and a starlet with big boobs.

Now I've come to believe it's actually a more difficult narrative form because of the limitations on content--you can only "show," you can never tell. The camera can't think or dream. Your character can't reflect, perceive, or intuit. Your character can only say or do. That sounds simple enough, but you have to tell the story with only pictures and sounds. Not words. A good script flows even more naturally than a good novel, because it does "everything all at once" far better than most works of fiction do. You can't delve into backstory (the dreaded and virtually extinct flashback in film) and you can't waste a lot of time on character development, plot development, or any kind of development. "Call me Ishmael" won't work on film.

And while most people think of movie makers as aiming at the lowest common denominator of intelligence, they are actually aiming for the broadest possible connection. The cynic says that's where the money is, but I've come to believe that's where the truth is, that's where the art is, and that's where the challenge lies for that medium.

big cats and cadillacs

2006-11-06T23:43:41Z

Did an article on mountain lions today, amid a spate of recent reports of the big felines in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, though they are believed to have been extinct here since the early 1900's. Popularly known as catamounts, wildcats, cougars, or black panthers, the old-timers tend to believe they are still around (or have migrated back) while biologists hold out for hard evidence. Personally, I take comfort in the notion that things find their balance and their place in the environment--with the deer population exploding, why shouldn't a large predator thrive as well?

Of course, humans have spawned the demise of many species, some that were never catalogued. And I don't know if there's much value in things like a "Save the Wild Cheetah" effort, because maybe God said "Enough" for them. Just as She will no doubt say "Enough" for us, whether through our own pollution, blood thirst, or just the simple evolution and attrition that leads to the end of everything sooner or later. Will we still be around as the sun cools, a shrinking breed fighting to survive as our food sources die off, defending ourselves against whatever predators evolve to take advantage of our new weaknesses? Hmm. One can only imagine, and be amused.

A new Dr. Mann column is up, on the perils of honesty. My co-writer and I will be building a Myspace page for Dr. Mann soon and adding our regular columns, with plenty of room for feedback.