|
|
|
|
Hi Gang!
I don't know about anyone else, but I am very glad that April is over. The month was just a continuous parade of small disasters - a car that wouldn't pass its smog check, computers failing, trying to resolve a non-life-threatening but chronic health issue with our oldest cat (Pinky) - and one larger setback, being surgery to remove a humongous kidney stone. Fortunately the surgery went well, the smaller disasters have all been dealt with, and I'm hoping to get some semblance of normality back soon.
It hasn't all been irritation lately, at least. Various projects are coming along nicely, the extremely shy cat (Henrietta) I adopted in January is now obsessed with being petted, and my garden is gorgeous right now, with a profusion of fruits (pumpkins!) and blooms.
I'm also ridiculously proud of the forthcoming release of the Other Terrors anthology (see the gorgeous cover below), edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Rena Mason. This was the last book deal I secured for the Horror Writers Association before I stepped down as its President in 2019, now the book's release is coming up in July, and it just got a starred review in Publishers Weekly.
Here's hoping for a productive, healthy, and happy May!
Lisa
|
|
Still Life
In which I rhapsodize about favorite movie photos from my collection
|
|
|
Uh-oh - I've fallen in love with a new (to me, I mean) auction site.
Heritage Auctions has been around forever, but somehow it wasn't until I was researching my current big project recently that I discovered the joys of bidding there.
They have a lot of stuff, everything from antique coins to original art to movie memorabilia, and some of it goes for amazingly low prices. While I was buying some lobby cards I needed for my project, I stumbled across a lot of original 11"x14" lobby cards from Mario Bava's Black Sunday and Black Sabbath, two movies I've loved since I was a kid. The final bid amount on this lot was about what I spend on a lunch, although I learned that something called a "buyer's premium" doubled the price...but I still got a great deal. That Black Sunday card in the photo is now framed and hanging on the wall in my entertainment room.
|
|
The Halloween Spirit
Tips for keeping it going all year 'round
|
|
|
More auction fun...
Every year, one of the world's great Halloween memorabilia collectors and experts, Mark Ledenbach, auctions off extra pieces from his collection. Every year I bid. Every year the auction closes and I never bid high enough to win anything.
This year I was determined to get something. I bid on three items...and lo and behold, I won two of them! One was a vintage black cat paper decoration which is featured in the third edition of Mark's book Vintage Halloween Collectibles (that one even came with a letter from Mark to serve as a Certificate of Authenticity), and the other was this amazing 1920s noisemaker which is a clanger on one end and a horn on the other.
Success at last!
|
|
Strange Doings
The weirdest thing I've recently uncovered in my research
|
|
|
Is there a Lady in Black who haunts Boston's Fort Warren?
The legend of Mrs. Lanier, the ghostly "Lady in Black" still spotted at the Fort, dates back decades and is one of the most popular ghost stories in the historic city. The short version of the tale goes like this: during the Civil War, Fort Warren served as a prison for Confederate officers and spies. When Mrs. Lanier discovered that her husband was being held at the prison, she staged a rescue attempt that ended in failure - her husband was killed, and she was captured. As a result she was hung at the fort, dressed in black robes.
It's a story rich in history, tragedy...and bunk, unfortunately. It turns out that no women were executed at Fort Warren, and there's no record of Mrs. Lanier. Which is not to say, of course, that she couldn't possibly have existed and, after death, decided to raise a little Hell at the Fort!
|
|
|
"The Gulch"
(published in Professor Charlatan Bardot's Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World)
"The Gulch" is probably the short story that took me the longest to write - as in, decades.
I think I started it at some point in the '90s, not long after I finished working on the movie Meet the Hollowheads, my first go as both screenwriter (with Tom Burman) and associate producer. One of the things I was involved with on that project was finding the right place to shoot it, so Tom and I and a few of the other producers toured a lot of old studios in the Hollywood area (we finally went with Ren-Mar Studios, which had formerly been Desilu).
Some of the places we saw were not just bad, they were downright creepy. On the plus side, they were cheap...but the buildings felt so old and rotted that you wondered if they'd still be standing by the time you finished (or even started) your shoot. Some of the people who showed us those place were nearly as creepy as the structures - oldtimers who'd probably been working in Hollywood for forty or fifty years, always kind of skating along the bottom.
That weird mix of fresh, energetic filmmakers and decaying Hollywood inspired "The Gulch." I always knew just how I wanted to start it - with the enthusiastic young filmmaker pushing a thumb through the decaying wood in an ancient studio - but I never knew quite where to take it after that. I tried some versions of it that went down really strange paths, but none of them ever really worked and the story just sat in my virtual trunk.
Finally, editor Eric Guignard reached out to me about this book, and I decided to take another look at "The Gulch." I realized it might work best as a ghost story, so I attacked it from that angle and was finally happy with it.
I'm also happy with its inclusion in this beautiful, truly one-of-a-kind book, which has garnered some spectacular reviews and a Bram Stoker Award nomination. Well done, Eric, and thank you for giving me the inspiration I needed to complete "The Gulch."
|
|
PANELING 101.
Now that things are finally starting to ease up pandemic-wise and we're starting to attend events in person again, it might be a good time to offer a few simple reminders on how NOT to do panels at writing conferences and media conventions. Oh, and please laugh at the below...just don't do any of it.
If you're a newer writer, the chance to appear on a con panel can be a dream come true; if you're a more established author, a panel can still represent a good chance to interact with your peers in a public setting and have a little fun. I've appeared on way more panels than I can count, and I've seen plenty of bad behavior over the years so here are a few things to avoid (and most of this can also apply to virtual panels).
- Actually show up. This should be a no-brainer, but apparently it's not because I've been on panels where three out of five of those scheduled just didn't bother to make it. The earlier a panel, the likelier it is that someone was out partying late the night before and can't get out of bed now. Srsly...if you're scheduled for a 9 am panel, don't keep drinking with your buds until 8:45 am.
- Don't insult your fellow panelists. Yes, it's happened to me. It took me years to forgive the person who did it. DON'T BE THAT PERSON.
- Don't insult people in the audience. You may be asked questions that you think are silly, but the asker may just be getting started as a writer and is hungry for information, so BE KIND.
- Don't talk over the other panelists. I know of at least one major writer who almost no one will appear on a panel with now because of their terrible habit of monopolizing the discussion and just cutting off anyone else who tries to talk.
- Know what the rules are and follow them. If the panel is strictly limited to 50 minutes, don't keep talking even though you've been given a "cut" signal. And if you've signed a release form, don't be upset when a videocamera is turned on you.
- If you're moderating the panel, know who your panelists are and have topics prepared in advance. I have veteran publishing industry friends who were on a panel with a less-experienced moderator, and when that moderator tried to open with an inane general question those vets went ballistic. R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
- Don't agree to be on panels about subjects you know nothing about. I have one friend who has gotten away with this by becoming the de facto moderator, but said friend is also witty and clever and can get away with stuff that most of us can't.
- RELAX AND HAVE FUN! If you seem friendly and knowledgeable, your audience will be much more involved in what you have to say, and chances are you'll be invited back to appear on more panels.
|
|
WIP It
My current works-in-progress
|
|
|
I'm still working away on my big project of the year, which has multiple deadlines (!). The next one's up in June...gulp.
I'll be claiming the Bard's "Titus Andronicus" for my own devious purposes in the upcoming anthology Shakespeare Unleashed.
I just did a list of five of my favorite classic ghost story collections for Shepherd.com: Best Collections of Classic Ghost Stories
I've been recording a TON of podcasts lately. This one was great fun: chatting with the wonderful author Philip Fracassi for his podcast "The Dark Word."
I contributed a story to this charity anthology that helps Ukranian children: Figli Del Buio.
|
|
|
|
|
Night Terrors & Other Tales
|
|
|
This, my first major non-themed collection, is now available. Includes twenty reprints plus one new story, "Night Terrors", written for the collection.
|
|
|
Haunted Tales: Classic Stories of Ghosts and the Supernatural
|
|
|
My Ghost Stories partner Les Klinger and I have re-teamed for a new anthology of more classic horror tales. Coming in August 2022.
|
|
|
Classic Monsters Unleashed
|
|
|
Coming in 2022...includes my Headless Horseman tale, "Hacking the Horseman's Code".
|
|
|
Includes my (science fiction!) story "Touch Has a Memory".
|
|
|
|
|
Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
Weird Women Volume 2: 1840-1925
|
|
|
Coming September 2021: a new volume of Weird Women, with stories by George Eliot, Edith Wharton, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and more!
|
|
|
Includes my story "The Garden of Dr. Moreau".
|
|
|
Professor Charlatan Bardot's Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World
|
|
|
Includes my short story "The Gulch".
|
|
|
|
|
|
I've still got some extra hardback copies of Weird Women 2, so click the button below to enter for your chance to win one, and good luck!
|
|
At this point, my convention schedule is totally up in the air. All I can tell you for certain is that I'll be attending Midsummer Scream in July, and will have late-summer signings for Haunted Tales.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
