As a neophyte in the realm of social media and one who is learning the ropes of fiction writing, I was pleased to discover blogs by authors who willingly offer advice on a wide range of topics related to publishing and using social media. Two authors whose blogs I’ve found helpful and interesting are Scott Southard (http://sdsouthard.com/) and Susanne Lakin (http://www.cslakin.com/) . I will undoubtedly find others and mention them as time goes along. If you are a novice writer or social media-challenged like me, I recommend reading the blogs of these helpful folks.

Sometimes I am embarrassed about being a horror fan. Not because the genre produces writing of any lesser quality than other forms of fiction, although some may argue that is true, but because the content is disturbing.  Does this say something about me? Maybe there is a certain degree of deviance or darkness lurking deep within. I know some of my in-laws think this way. That is, I am bringing something unholy or unhealthy into my life. These very loving and well-meaning people would likely want to pray over me if given the opportunity. Other times, I think people are seeing me as somehow less sophisticated, and I can almost read their minds as they scoff at my reading or viewing habits.  “Why waste your time on this crap when there are so many good things to read or watch?”

Am I wasting my time? God, I hope not. I enjoy the thrills and the ratcheting suspense. Ironically, I am not a believer in the paranormal. I don’t sense any impending danger by being enthralled by the frightening.  As a psychologist, I am all too aware of things that frighten and disturb people (and, quite frankly, the things that disturb and frighten me) and none of them involve the supernatural. There are too many real life events that can send us into a panic. No need to manufacture the impossible.

Yet, there is that sense of embarrassment. But, at 59 years of age, I don’t see the need to change it at this stage of the game. Still…

Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell is probably one of the most unusual collection of short stories I have ever read. The genre of the collection is difficult to pinpoint, but you have ghostly coming of age tales, Gothic Prairie fiction (I borrowed that from the Amazon review - I'm not sure if that's a genre), historical/political humor, and the cover story involving elderly vampires who learn to curb their blood lust by biting into lemons (while residing in an Italian lemon grove, no less). No stupid and sparkling teenage vampires in the bunch. Two stories, "Proving Up" and
"The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis" were my favorites, and contained elements of unrelenting creepiness which haunted me long after I finished reading. Ms. Russell's imagination is boundless, and she takes readers to realms they've never been. Perplexing, chilling and bizarre...highly recommended.

When I was 6 years old, I remember one evening sitting with my older brother in his bedroom playing something and watching TV. He was twelve and actually had his own black and white portable TV - the whole thing was cool beyond belief. At one point, a trailer (they used to call them “coming attractions” back then in 1960) for the movie Village of the Damned came on. Kids with platinum blond hair with strange eyes which would glow and make people kill themselves. My God, it scared the hell out of me. I couldn’t make sense of it. These were kids, actual killer kids, and they had a movie about them. I couldn’t stop talking about it, and hoped in vain to see the trailer again. I don’t remember if I was fortunate to see it, but I sure remembered the images of those searing eyes. I was too young to see the movie, of course, but my brother did. Much to my chagrin, he pronounced it “neat” but wouldn’t go into detail – whether this was out of brotherly concern (which I doubt) about causing me nightmares or he just couldn’t be bothered to talk to his baby brother at the time when he had more pressing things to do. Years later I was finally able to see the movie and also read the novel on which it was based: The Midwich Cuckoos.  Both the film and the novel have justifiably attained “classic” status. The plot is unnerving and freakish. The characters, however, those kids who were monsters, they made a huge impression on my 6-year old mind. I’m not sure if I can point to this as the origin of my interest in the “creepy kid” horror genre, but it is a good account as any. Most of my horror fascination throughout childhood was drawn to giant rampaging dinosaurs in major cities (followed by other big monsters doing nasty things). So, being a fan of scary kid horror didn’t really take hold until high school when I read The Other and The Exorcist, but the origins may have started with that trailer seen in my brother’s bedroom in 1960.

When I started my horror novel, Birth Offering, I knew the major character would be a 14 year old. Now, my entire career has been as a psychologist with the past twenty years specializing in pediatric psychology. I convinced myself that I knew a little bit about how kids acted, felt, and thought. However, I was getting rather, well, old, and I needed to brush up on how other authors were writing about kids. I found four recent novels which were excellent reads and contained great adolescent characters:

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch

The Last Child by John Hart

None of them are horror stories, although the mystery novel, The Last Child, certainly contains elements of horror. Regardless, for anyone interested in well-drawn teenage characters, these novels provide great examples. I recommend them highly.

(Graphic courtesy FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

When I was a senior in high school, I read The Other by Thomas Tryon and The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. Up until that time, I never really knew the thrill of reading horror fiction. As a younger kid, I was a dinosaur nut which morphed into a horror movie fan, and I had seen just about every dinosaur-running-amok-in-the-city movie and every Universal and Hammer horror movie. But reading horror novels? That never really took off until Tryon and Blatty scared the living daylights out of me while keeping me glued to the page. Then it was off to the races. I grabbed Rosemary’s Baby off the book case at home. Stephen King came along and I devoured his work. Between his novels, I supplemented my taste with every available publication. Some were excellent: Burnt Offerings, the Search for Joseph Tully, Dragon Under the Hill…

Somewhere along the line, I remember thinking I’d like to try this. Of course, millions of Americans say “I’d like to write a novel” but rarely attempt it. I fell into that category. I had other interests that took priority. I discovered the field of psychology in college (I entered thinking I would be a lawyer), but then took Intro to Psychology my freshman year. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history. I went to graduate school, obtained by PhD in psychology, did a post doc working with delinquent adolescents, then veered into academia where I’ve spent the past 27 years – and loved every minute of it. Since the mid-nineties, I changed my research focus to pediatric psychology to study issues concerning teens with chronic illnesses. This has been a truly exciting research program for the past 20 years. At the same time, I have had the opportunity to train scores of students – a remarkable experience.

Still, the urge to write horror never really left. I ran plots through my mind – stored some in long term memory, discarded others. In 1995 when my family and I were vacationing in Edisto Island, South Carolina, I came upon a road that was off the beaten path. The road was heavily wooded in live oak trees, complete with Spanish moss. I remember thinking, what would it be like to be chased by something down this road, with no one around? That was the first inkling of a plot that I kicked around for 15 years. Then, when my wife and I became empty nesters, the half-hearted attempts to write became serious. A few years later, Birth Offering was completed. I am very excited to announce that it is being published by Damnation Books and will be released in September.

More on this book and other issues that come to mind will appear in this space. Please come by and check it out.

I think it has been years, literally, since I’ve posted something on this blog. Writing is an integral part of my work, but the style is decidedly scientific writing and feedback to graduate students. This form of communication doesn’t lend itself well to blogging (at least that’s how I see it as a novice). When I do have energy at the end of the day for more writing, I focus on my fiction writing.

After years of writing and querying my manuscript (along with countless rejections), I am excited to announce that Birth Offering has been accepted by Damnation Books. Anticipated release is in September, 2013, in both trade paperback and ebook formats. More on this process as time goes on.