My first book

My first book is entitled 'Praise the Shadows'. It is roughly 84 pages long and contains 4 short stories and 4 short morals. The names of the stories are :
1. The Chalice
2. The Demon and the Heretic
3. To the Gallows
4. The Sabbat
This book was definitely a laborious piece of work but not so much in the creative process. Getting it published took a long time because of the shady publisher I have mentioned about before. Also everything else included was a challenge as well because I was not at all familiar with the publication process (ISBN#, Library of Congress#, Bar-code, etc) being it was my first time with such an endeavor. After waiting, and wasting, three years with the would-be con artist, I almost decided to give up on the whole thing.
I was pleasantly surprised that when I decided to keep pressing forward how everything I was doing started to suddenly fall into place, mainly because of a mysterious and beautiful woman I had met while working in a mental institution. Someone I would know from then on as 'Ms.Anthropy'. The second she started to help me, it was literally effortless. She even chose the picture on the front cover (A masterpiece if I must say so). One lesson I learned from the whole ordeal, among many others, is even though the universe may seem like it's closing doors, in reality, it is opening ones you never would expect.

Using emotion

Being a writer in a genre such as Horror, I have to be able to work with many different emotions. The ones I usually work with are the ones that are considered 'negative'. Fear, rage, hatred, hostility, and depression among others. Emotion helps me set the tone, if you will, for the direction of the story. And, with the help of the subject matter, it adds to the content. I have to be especially careful with it because most of my stories are seen through the eyes of the villain.
Experiencing such emotions in my personal life helps me relate to what the characters in my stories must be feeling, and thereby, helps with the creative process.
I have heard that many famous horror writers from the past lived such emotions. Writing horror was the ultimate outlet for what they considered a 'cursed' existence.
Many of them were alcoholics or drug addicts and the vast majority of them died penniless. But, I give a great gratitude to them and the tradition they carried. I, myself, strive to continue on their tradition with the standards they so daringly set. As I find myself on the cusps of obscurity, it makes me wonder if their is indeed a curse associated with those who write horror. If, in fact, there is one it would not surprise me one bit but it would take more than that to make me stop!

Freak by nature

When I take a look at myself, I see someone who isn't necessarily hideous, but a freak none the less. Yeah, I was that one kid who everyone stared at and, unlike some, I never wanted such attention. I didn't dress the way I did or like the music or movies or subjects that I did because I wanted to be different or a trendsetter or follow a certain crowd, I just was the way I was. Being such a way definitely has it's difficulties. For instance, when I went to school most of the girls there didn't want much to do with you if you were not socially 'acceptable' (even today I have trouble figuring out what that means). I can't tell you how many painful rejections I had. None of that stuff really bothers me today though. And that, I think, is one of my strong points. I refuse to feel ashamed about being the way I am.
It's not bad being a freak. You are what you are. But, a lot of us pay too much attention to how other people think or feel. To me, it's almost a blessing being a freak. Your point of view, though somewhat cynical at times, is completely your own.
And you learn one of the ultimate truths: That you learn more about people when they hate you than when they actually care about you. You learn how cruel they can be, how fake they can be, and so on. I hope one day I can be sort of a spokes-person for all of the unsung freaks because I'm pretty sure that there are quite a few of us. To all of you out there that weep the tears only a freak could weep, I salute you!

Writing to 'shock'

A marketing friend once told me that the majority of books are found out through word of mouth, meaning people read them and then talk about them with their friends who then talk about them with their friends and so on. Getting people to pay attention I guess is the tricky part. I have learned in my life that the majority of people have about a 15 second attention span and with that in mind, I am trying to discover new and intriguing methods to make them interested.
But it always amazes me when I really take notice and see what they are usually paying attention to, literature wise. For women, it is usually Romance novels and there are literally hundreds of them and they all have the same storyline. For men, it is political or courtroom thrillers which are about as interesting to me as going to the dentist. Both of these genre's are so overplayed that it boggles the mind!
And lets not forget the plethora of 'feelgood' self-help books that people read because they think just by reading them that their little lives are going to miraculously change overnight, you'd be surprised how many people actually believe that.
I, myself, am looking for an audience that still enjoys to be shocked. Isn't always easy in such a jaded world, but I do try. In that sense I can equate myself with the classic and controversial writer, The Marquis De Sade. The time at which he wrote was delicate to say the least, and the material he created was considered so vile that it almost cost him his life. But still his passion was there. Mine is as well.

Have fun with the 'grunt' work

Both the publishing and marketing processes require a lot of what is called 'grunt' work. Finding people to review your book (people who have a name worth paying attention to), Submitting your works to libraries, Bookstores, online stores, etc,
and generating an interest about you, the author. Because people can be extremely fickle in what they are interested in, these can all be considered a daunting task at times.
I guess it gets easier when you consider such work 'fun' (something I have to work on). You also have to realize that you may have to give out a certain amount of copies for free simply so people will know about you. I remember giving a friend a copy of my first book because I wanted feedback about how he felt about it and his mother burned it because she thought it was evil. Sad as I was about that, it made me remember that there is no such thing as bad publicity. I feel that it does not matter how people feel about you, whether they like you or not, just as long as they pay attention to what your trying to do. I'm pretty sure that when people start reading my books, more than a few of them are going to be quite upset. At the very least my works will be called 'sacrilegious' and frankly, I don't care. So long as people read them!

Future plans

In roughly six months from now(or a little longer) I plan to publish my third book, 'First in Hell'. Of course it's going to be written in the style similar to my first two books with 4-6 short stories, a moral prose at the beginning of each story, a fantastic cover, an about the author page, author photo, and so on.
With all that is going on right now for my first and second books, I still try to plan ahead and make sure that all my goals are being met. I'm planning a trip this Halloween to New Orleans to visit the grave of Marie Laveau, voodoo queen of the 1830's. I'm sure that I will leave no stone uncovered as far as all details are concerned.
That is another thing I plan to do more of. Travel to strange and haunting sites and write about them. Too bad that most of the 'really' haunted places are probably far from my home and probably my country as well. Doesn't really matter.
In my honest opinion, the most haunted places are places that are not really given a lot of media attention. I've been to several places that the media referred to as 'haunted' and it was nothing but a marketing ploy, something I am not in the least bit interested in. Hopefully, there are a few places that are genuinely 'Disturbed' if you will, so that way I can visit them and actually experience 'Something' worth experiencing.

To redefine a genre

As you know, I published my second book 'Blessings of Death' a couple of weeks ago. It includes within it six short stories. The names of these stories are as follows:
1). The Old Sinner
2). Vampyro
3). The Tale of the Torturer
4). The Knight of the Dragon
5). Of Death and Plagues
6). The Call of E'ferries
It's a tad longer than my first book and, possibly, a little more extreme but there's nothing wrong with that! Hopefully, that will come to be my signature trait as a writer. And in truth I have a lot of material still that I plan on publishing. It makes me feel good to know that I've already proven many naysayers wrong about me, and the more I press forward with my passion makes me feel even better.
To redefine a genre is my ultimate goal. A genre that has been poisoned by commercialism, lack of conviction, and, most of all, apathy. I don't feel that people honestly care about Horror anymore for the most part.I plan to change that!