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Hi Gang!
Well, I've already finished my first big project of 2021, so I feel safe in revealing that...
Weird Women II will be out this fall! My editorial partner Les Klinger and I have gathered 16 more incredible stories from authors including Harriet Beecher Stowe, George Eliot (did you know she wrote a psychic teenager novelette?), Edith Wharton, and (I'm so pleased about this one) Zora Neale Hurston, as well as genre favorites Vernon Lee, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Rhoda Broughton, and more. As with the first volume, the stories are annotated to help modern readers work through some of the obsolete words and names, each chapter includes an author biography, and there's an overall introduction by Les and I. I've also just seen a first pass on the cover (which I hope to share in the next newsletter), and I think it's even better than that gorgeous cover for the first volume!
As for the rest of 2021...I've got a few smaller pieces due first, then I'll be diving into the next big non-fiction book.
In the meantime, I'm just enjoying waking up every morning to the realization that the U.S. has its first female Vice President. That's kind of major for me.
I hope your 2021 is looking good as well.
Lisa
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Still Life
In which I rhapsodize about favorite movie photos from my collection
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I'm hijacking my own column to talk not about a specific still, but a movie I loved.
If you haven't yet seen His House on Netflix, I can't recommend it highly enough. It's terrifying and tragic and beautifully acted and shot.
The plot concerns young refugees escaping the South Sudan who get stuck in Britain's immigration system, which includes assigning them a run-down house in a suburban slum. You might guess that run-down house is haunted, but these are no ordinary ghosts. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll stop there.
Just suffice to say that writer/director Remi Weekes deserves to be on everyone's radar after this. I've watched his remarkable film twice now, and it was even better the second time.
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The Halloween Spirit
Tips for keeping it going all year 'round
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Virtual Halloween conventions.
I think I've said this before: if anything good has come out of this pandemic, it's how many things have gone virtual, including conventions and presentations. What's good about this is that now you can enjoy hearing experts chat on your favorite subjects no matter where you are in the world.
Case in point: The biggest Halloween trade show is HauntCon. I've never been, always wanted to go, just couldn't do it. This year, because it was virtual, I not only got to attend, but I got to appear on a panel. That panel was recorded and can now be watched on YouTube (it's the video posted just above).
I'm hoping that Midsummer Scream - SoCal's biggest Halloween convention - will get to happen this year, but if it doesn't at least we'll undoubtedly have some great virtual programming around it.
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Strange Fruit
The weirdest thing I've recently uncovered in my research
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The Salton Sea.
I recently stumbled across a book on the history of this incredibly strange part of California, and it reminded me of how it's always been part of my history: when I was a kid growing up in SoCal, it was being touted as the next Palm Springs. My folks bought property there, although they never built on it. I remember a few drives out there, as we surveyed the open desert landscape and envisioned a semi-tropical paradise.
If you don't know about the Salton Sea, here's the CliffsNotes version: it was created by a disaster, and ended as a disaster. In 1905, irrigation canals in the Imperial Valley filled with silt from the Colorado River and spilled over, abruptly creating an inland sea. Because the water was saline, boats were more buoyant and moved more quickly in the water; by the 1950s, the Salton Sea was a water-skiing paradise. It was stocked with fish to draw fishermen. Its elegant marina and yacht club became a celebrity hang-out, and the whole place was sometimes called the "Salton Riviera".
The lake took its first big hit in the '60s, when the main developer gave up. In the 1970s, several tropical storms wrought havoc on it. Property values plummeted. The lake receded. Now the whole area has been largely abandoned, another failed California dream. The shores are lined with rotting dead fish and rusting deck chairs. Dust from the area now presents a toxic threat to a considerable chunk of California.
The Salton Sea has become the sort of place that lures photographers who want to capture its eerie, decaying landscape, and authors like Caitlin Kiernan who set a cult there in her remarkable book Agents of Dreamland.
Oh, and by the way: I came into possession of my family's lot at the Salton Sea. I haven't seen it since I was a kid. One of these days I'll make the day trip out to see it, but I'm not expecting to find much beyond memories and a failed dream.
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"Antonia and the Stranger Who Came to Rancho Los Feliz"
(From Speculative Los Angeles)
When I met editor Denise Hamilton at an event to celebrate our mutual friend Les Klinger's book Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s and she told me she was working on an anthology called Speculative Los Angeles, I was not too proud to beg for a shot at a submission. I tend to think of myself as a Los Angeles-based writer of dark fiction, so I really wanted in (plus I've always enjoyed Denise's books and wanted to work with her). Fortunately, she agreed to let me try a story, and she eventually not only bought it, but chose it to start off the book.
In that first conversation with Denise, she told me a few of the things that had been covered in stories she'd already accepted, and I didn't hear "alternate history"; when I mentioned this idea, she immediately said, "Go with it!"
I've always been fascinated by the original Spanish settlers who came up from Mexico and created a pueblo here that eventually became Los Angeles. What if Alta California had not been ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican-American War, but had become an independent country, where the Californios had lived peaceably side-by-side with the indigenous Tongva/Kizh peoples? Would it have remained an agricultural paradise well into the 20th century, looking like one of those beautiful paintings that adorn the sides of California fruit crates?
That, of course, doesn't exactly make for a tense and compelling story, so I chose to add conflict by having a stranger appear from one of L.A.'s less-pleasant alternate histories. That stranger is Jack Parsons, the real-life engineer who also dabbled in the occult; I thought his unique combination of science and magic would make him the most obvious person to open dimensional gateways. The story grew from there.
I really had a great time working with Denise (whose wonderful editorial feedback absolutely improved the story), and Speculative Los Angeles has garnered incredible reviews. I'm so happy to have been a part of it. |
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"Where do you get your ideas?"
Any writer who's been around for more than fifteen minutes has probably been asked that at some point. Harlan Ellison used to tell the inquirers that he bought his ideas from a service in Schenectady. Most writers will tell you that, simply, their ideas come from everywhere.
I don't believe, however, that we have to wait for some mythical muse to infuse us with an idea like a bolt of lightning. Ideas can be sought, found, and then molded to create plots, with a little practice.
Permit me to demonstrate: I was recently invited to create a story about the Headless Horseman (for this project). Okay, so I've already got a head-start (no pun intended) here, knowing what the story has to be about, but now I need the main idea for the story. I start by asking a deeper question:
What is the Headless Horseman really about?
When I think about this iconic character, there are three things that immediately come to mind:
- The seasonal association - even though Washington Irving's original story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" never mentions Halloween, it has an autumn setting and the Horseman has come to be strongly identified with Halloween. That makes it easy for me to decide what the time setting for my story will be.
- The image - when we think of the Horseman, we usually visualize the famous sight of him mounted on his rearing steed, glowing jack-o'-lantern held high, ready to hurl at his hapless rival. Because that image is so crucial, I know I'll want to work that into the story, and emphasize spooky seasonal visuals.
- What he stands for - in the original story, the Horseman is a hoax perpetrated by a clever bully on a superstitious rival for a woman's affections. This gives me a couple of ways to go - I could write a story about a scam, about superstitions, or...about bullying, which is the direction I decide on.
I now have my lead antagonist, the time setting, visual elements, and the theme. From there, the story starts to spin itself.
I apply these same steps to non-themed stories as well. Let's say I'm working in my garden when I'm struck by a particularly strange growth of fungus; perhaps it even reminds me of something. Before long, I'll have a plot, with the fungus possibly serving as a metaphor for something else.
That's one reason I always politely decline when someone approaches me and says, "I've got this great idea but I'm not a writer, so how about if you write it and then we can split the money?"
Sorry, but great ideas are easy. The rest of the gig is what's hard.
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WIP It
My current works-in-progress
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As mentioned above, Speculative Los Angeles has been receiving superb reviews.
I was also thrilled to see the Society for Psychical Research (whose work I've long admired) give a lovely review to Calling the Spirits.
For the 100th episode of Ghost Magnet With Bridget Marquardt, I did a special "Ten Most Haunted Places" Ghost Report that got a cool little video rendering you can see here.
With Weird Women II done, I'll be working on several short stories that I've promised to various projects.
I'm also doing a new interview for the April issue of Nightmare Magazine; this one will be with Adam Hart and Ben Rubin, the two professors who are dedicated to assembling the world's largest archive of horror material at the University of Pittsburgh.
And I'm starting work on the proposal for the next nonfiction book, which my editor at Reaktion Books is already excited about.
Onward!
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Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances
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Now in a second printing: my comprehensive survey of the history of spirit-calling looks at necromancy, Spiritualism, modern ghost-hunting, and more. Illustrated and fully indexed. You can order a signed copy from Iliad Bookshop.
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Best American Mystery Stories 2020
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Includes my story "What Ever Happened to Lorna Winters?"
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My story "Antonia and the Stranger Who Came to Los Feliz" will be in this fabulous new anthology, forthcoming from Akashic Books in February 2021.
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In League With Sherlock Holmes
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My story "A Seance in Liverpool" appears in this forthcoming anthology edited by Leslie S. Klinger and Laurie King.
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Includes my poem "We Live Through This."
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Weird Women: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers 1852-1923
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My Ghost Stories partner Les Klinger and I have re-teamed to dive deep for this anthology of amazing, terrifying stories by early female writers. You can order a copy signed by Lisa from the Iliad Bookshop.
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Night Terrors & Other Tales
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This, my first major collection, will launch at StokerCon 2021 in May, but you can pre-order yours now. Includes twenty reprints plus one new story, "Night Terrors", written for the collection.
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My story "Family" is in this fabulous anthology, coming in June.
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Stephen Jones completes his "Art of Horror" trilogy with this beautiful volume, and I'm honored to have been included in all three books.
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Horror in the Eye of the Beholder
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Marta Oliehoek-Samitowska is a gifted artist who created this amazing book that pairs Marta's art of individual horror authors' eyes with extensive interviews with those authors (including me).
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Are you listening to the free Ghost Magnet with Bridget Marquardt podcast? Each week I provide a "Ghost Report" in which I talk about some cool little bit of history. Plus, there are great guests, and Bridget's a wonderful host!
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This month's giveaway is a copy of the fabulous Loren Rhoads collection Unsafe Words, signed by Loren! Just click the blue button below for your chance to win, and good luck!
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January 25 at 4 p.m. - Beyond the Bride of Frankenstein: Monsters and Other Fearsome Women panel discussion organized by the University of Pittsburgh George A. Romero Archives
February 21, 4 p.m. - Dark Tides Virtual Livestream
May 20-23, 2021: I'll be a Guest of Honor at StokerCon in Denver, Colorado.
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