On March 21st the horror community lost a special literary talent, Rick Hautala. Many fans were simply in shock while others shared their happy memories and experiences with the author via social networking sites and online forums. Although Rick will be dearly missed by his fans and friends, no one suffers more greatly than the family. They not only have to learn to cope with their emotional loss, but figure out how to survive the financial burden that comes with death. I can’t speak personally about the the struggle the Hautala family is dealing with, in particular Rick’s wife Holly, but when I came across Brian Keene’s call for help (originally posted March 24, 2013) to the fans and authors inspired by Hautala I had to share. In his post, he pulls from Christopher Golden’s website which expands on Ms. Hautala’s situation.
Unfortunately, Rick’s sudden death could not have been more untimely. The life of a freelance writer is often one lived on the fringes of financial ruin, and Rick struggled mightily to stay afloat in recent years. Just within the last couple of months, that struggle became difficult enough that he could not afford to continue paying his life insurance bill, and allowed it to lapse. Though he could never have foreseen it, the timing, of course, could not have been worse. Then, just this morning, Holly discovered that the social security benefits she might hope to receive as Rick’s widow are not available to her until she turns sixty, three years from now. Efforts are under way on projects that we hope will earn some money for Rick’s estate, but meanwhile there are costs involved with his death to consider, and then, for Holly, the struggle will continue.
If you can help the family cover these costs you can donate via PayPal to holly_newstein@hotmail.com.
“On December 21, 2012, Baloga fulfilled his lifelong dream of writing, designing, and publishing his first book, “Wake the Wicked: Thirteen Twisted Tales,” edited by Michael Garrett, editor for the most successful writers of our time: Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Richard Matheson…” from http://www.cbaloga.com/
While hunting for great book trailers, this one really caught my eye. The title alone sparked instant adoration. Thirteen is my favorite number. I love twisted things, and tales even more so. Perhaps it is a no-brainier title for a single author collection, but the hammer ‘Wake the Wicked’ I liked even more. So, of course I checked out the trailer and was impressed.
I made it through of course, then watched it again. That is a litmus test to me right there. Too many trailers I turn off at fifteen seconds. If I liked the title I might scan through a terrible trailer to the last frames for the newsy information.
Wanting to share a bit of the process with horror fans, I contacted author Christian Baloga who was happy to discuss why he made it, and how it came about. Shot by Baloga himself at nearby locations, the trailer speaks to his passions and diverse résumé .
“I filmed, edited the video, did the special effects makeup, and wrote the script/storyboard,” he said when asked about the nuts and bolts of the project.
A man walks alone in the forest, and encounters a strange looking vagrant. Confusion ensues: is he being threatened? Is this imagination? Are they one in the same? The music swells with a swirling cut to a darkened room where the vagrant now leers toward the camera. Filthy, menacing… yet curiously familiar. See why I like it? Simple. Odd. Lovely.
“From concept to publication it took about two months to complete… I began writing a script for the trailer while my editor corrected my manuscript. Wake the Wickedincludes thirteen stories, but I decided against trying to capture each of them. Instead, I took one of my favorite characters from one story and went crazy with ideas.”
Filming took place in rural Harveys Lake, Pennsylvania—in the backyard of the house he grew up in—and on-set in an ordinary bedroom.”
He used tools available to many, filming on a Nikon D3100 and edited using Adobe products. It seems this is a popular combination for feature filmmakers and bloggers alike.
Talent and skill are needed but then there is talent… “There was one actor, Harley Kupstas, who played both roles in the film: the creepy bald guy we call the vagrant, and the running man,” he said, though I had no clue the actors were one in the same.
Why a trailer? He wanted to reach a broader audience. “I think most people who are interested in books are also interested in film and music, and Wake the Wicked was influenced by a compilation of these very things. It was also the perfect opportunity to give the viewer a taste of the freakish nature portrayed within the thirteen stories without use of the written word, which, in this case, would only rob the intended mood—not enhance it.”
Though, like many horror readers and writers, he has watched many book trailers he was mainly influenced “by the dark and decadent imagery of Marilyn Manson’s music videos.”
“As for the current state of fiction trailers,” Baloga said, “if the trailer is true to the book, it’s golden! Just like not every book is for every reader, neither is every book trailer. Stay true to your book. Gut it, play around with its insides, and create something that speaks to your intended audience.”
One bit of advice he imparts to others planning to make a trailer of their own (or for someone else) may be that he, “experimented with various concepts and shot much more than I needed to, on purpose. It gave me a lot to work with and during the editing phase things fell into place much better than I’d expected.”
I asked if the trailer was available anywhere else, and at this time it remains exclusive to YouTube. Authors, filmmakers and publishers note that well done book trailers are spreading and popping up as horror trailers and at film festivals.
Will I buy the book? Yes. I had not heard of this title before viewing the trailer and it piqued my interest enough to research the author. Wake the Wicked: Thirteen Twisted Tales is available on Kindle. Baloga said we can expect a paperback of Wake the Wicked: Thirteen Twisted Tales sometime near Halloween 2013.
This trailer works for me because it is short, has fine sound quality and production. It gives nothing away yet is eye catching without being absurdly abstract. While not scary, it has unsettling moments so I look forward to being unsettled when I read the book ~
I’m almost 32 years old (turning the big three-two April 3rd if you want to flood my Facebook with birthday wishes) and I’ve been a horror fan for as long as I can remember yet I’ve never been to a horror con until now. This past Friday I rectified that blaring omission from my horror fan resume and made the trek from Bowling Green, OH to the beautiful city of Cincinnati, home of my beloved Bengals, the Cincinnati Reds, Samhain Publications (apparently, I had no idea), and the great people of Night of the Living Podcast.
Drive time: 3 hours. Time spent waiting in line: 3-1/2 hours. Cost of a Friday day pass: $25. So, for a six hour round trip and a line stretching back to Dayton you may wonder what all the fuss is about. For thousands of women with hearts in their eyes there was Norman Reedus, a.k.a. Daryl Dixon from The Walking Dead, signing autographs and taking pictures. There was also some dude named John Carpenter. For horror lit fans like us there was Samhain Horror up front and center with a few authors on hand to chat with readers and sell great horror fiction.
At the Samhain booth were Jonathan Jaz - the Samhain author I am most familiar with having read both The Sorrows (review here) and House of Skin (review coming soon) - Brian Moreland and Kristopher Rufty, both authors whose work I am anxious to get better acquainted with. Besides Elizabeth Massie at the premier of Abed - the short film by Ryan Lieske based on Massie’s short story by the same name - I have never met an author in real life! Still, all the interactions I have with horror writers online are exceptionally pleasant. They’re always passionate about their craft, willing to share that excitement for the genre with fans, and characterized by a humble and friendly disposition that strongly contrasts with the baddies in their stories.
I didn’t get a photo with just Janz and I, but I got a photo with the Daryl lookalike. Check out me cheesing!
Meeting these three Samhain authors face-to-face was just as thrilling as corresponding with them virtually and left me feeling completely reinvigorated with a passion for this small but growing community. In this horror microcosm you can boil it down even further to the very specific part of the genre you love most. For many it is film, for others it may be art, fashion, sculptures, toys, or music and for me (as well as my new friends Erin from Oh, for the HOOK of a BOOK! and Tim) it’s horror fiction. The opportunity to be a freak among like-minded freaks was overwhelming. I had no idea what I was missing. Not only did I make a bunch of new friends, I was struck by how hard these authors work. Their love for the genre and the fans of their work is unparalleled. While they may not have the glitz and glamour of a crossbow bearing zombie killer, these are my rockstars.
As I mentioned, I am most familiar with Jonathan Janz’ work and was excited to meet him in person after corresponding via the internet for more than a year now. His debut novel from Samhain, The Sorrows, offers an impressive introduction to his work and the man couldn’t be any more grateful to his fans. Standing at 6’4” Jon is a gentle giant that chatted excitedly with fans about horror and worked diligently to spread the good word for his fellow authors as well. He is a fanboy just like you and me – hell, they all are! – even trying to suppress the urge to chase down a Daryl Dixon lookalike for a photo op.
The Darkest Lullaby out April 2013!
I remember when I wrote the review for Janz’ The Sorrows I boldly stated that “You shall know thy name Jonathan Janz!” With a growing fanbase and a number of projects lined up for twenty-thirteen, I can stand confidently by that statement. There is a 5 part serialized novel Savage Species, the first installment will be released 6/4/2013 with the subsequent 4 entries coming out in bi-weekly increments. The Darkest Lullaby will be out 4/2/2013, but you can pre-order the eBook for only $3.85 here. I picked up a tpb copy at the con and I can’t wait to check it out. We can also expect Dust Devils (western meets vampires!), no release date that I know of yet, and possible sequels to earlier work. If you haven’t read his stuff yet, you gotta gotta gotta! You can look him up on the Samhain website or check him out at http://jonathanjanz.com/, follow him on Facebook, and Twitter.
Me, Brian Moreland, and my signed copy of Dead of Winter. Success!
I also met Brian Moreland, author of Shadows in the Midst and Dead of Winter. While I haven’t read his work yet, I picked up a copy of Dead of Winter per Moreland’s recommendation. We talked a bit about written horror versus horror film and it turns out he studied screenwriting but shifted his attention to novels to avoid the obvious constraints of making movies – budget requirements for effects, etc. Moreland traveled the furthest to HorrorHound Cincy making his way from the state where everything is bigger and better, Texas! Like Janz, Moreland too will be having a busy year at Samhain with a short called “The Girl from the Blood Coven” coming out the first week in July 2013, a novella called The Witch House to be released in early August 2013, and the novel The Devil’s Woods coming out in December so be on the lookout for those. As I mentioned, I haven’t read his work yet, but based on our discussion I would expect cinematic writing with historical underpinnings. Find Brian Moreland via Samhain, or his website http://www.brianmoreland.com/ and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Rufty, me, and his better half Angie. Below that are my signed copies of PillowFace and his movie Psycho Holocaust.
Last but certainly not least, I met Kristopher Rufty who was there with his lovely wife Angie. With the second longest commute after Moreland from Texas, Kristopher and Angie made the trek from North Carolina, about an 8 hour drive. Still, they came fresh faced and wide eyed ready to meet fans and at other times be fans. Rufty has written a number of titles available. His short “The Night Everything Changed” is available for free at Samhain here, and you can pick up Angel Board, The Lurkers, and A Dark Autumn from Samhain as well. His next novel Oak Hollow will be out August 2013. Rufty had advance copies of Oak Hollow for sale at HorrorHound, but I opted for a copy of PillowFace (Lazarus Press) along with his film Psycho Holocaust instead. The killer in PillowFace is drawn from a psycho of the same name in Rufty’s movie so I had to have them both. Something about the Texas Chainsaw Massacre inspired pulp fiction that I was drawn to. When I got home from HorrorHound Friday night at about 2am I immediately popped my copy of Psycho Holocaust into my DVD player, cracked open a beer and braced myself for the mayhem. As Rufty put it before we parted ways, “It’s super violent and super low budget.” That’s an apt description, but I think the movie deserves more credit, so I will save my thoughts for the Dreadful Tales review. I will tell you that after all the excitement of my day I fully expected to pass out 5 minutes in, but I just couldn’t stop watching. Based on the depravity I witnesssed in Psycho Holocaust, I have high expectations for his horror fiction where he has an unlimited budget for practical effects that depend on the reader’s own imagination. To follow Rufty in his book writing / filmmaking adventures you can find him on the Samhain website, his blog Last Krist on the Left (pretty clever, huh), Twitter and Facebook.
While the time spent at HorrorHound was short, it was certainly sweet. It was great to meet everyone in person and make new friends in the process. Thanks to Samhain and their authors for not only making great horror fiction but going out of their way to connect with fans.
Meli
Don Henley has The Boys of Summer, but I got The Boys of Samhain.
With the untimely death of its author, the British master of horror James Herbert, I thought it seemly to unearth his first novel The Rats. It is a book that, in 1974, revitalized British horror literature, selling 100,000 copies in its first two weeks and becoming an instant classic of the genre.
Back in 1974 I was a typical schoolboy, already an avid reader and always on the lookout for the latest literary thrill. From nowhere there was a buzz around the classrooms and schoolyard, there was a novel that promised forbidden delights and gruesome bloody terror the likes of which had never been experienced. Reading this book was a right of passage and copies of it were quickly going around school like wildfire. The book itself wasn’t easy to get hold of as the leading British bookstore at the time refused to stock it and it was only through a friend who had borrowed his brother’s copy that I finally got this illicit treasure in my hands.
Before I even began to read the novel I was entranced by its lurid cover which features a leering giant rodent with mesmerizing blood red eyes that seemingly dared the reader to crack open the already well thumbed paperback. I read it furtively and twice in one weekend, at first feverishly and then again to savour the pure unbridled horror, sex and violence it contained. The book opened up a world of terror and spoke so directly about subjects that were taboo in 70s Britain that I became an addict, forever more hooked on Herbert and horror fiction.
The Rats tells a deceptively simple story, a new strain of giant black rats the size of dogs which possess high intelligence and a voracious appetite for human flesh are at large in the city of London, unbeknownst to her teeming population and complacent government. To make matters worse their bite alone is lethal and kills in 24 hours assuming you have survived the attack. Initially cautious and attacking London’s homeless and weakest citizens the rats go largely unnoticed by the authorities until the frequency and scale of the attacks escalates. One scene in particular, an assault on a packed underground train, is such a vivid description of pure, visceral and claustrophobic terror that it haunts me still and made me dread using the transport system when I later became a resident of the metropolis in which the novel is set. The story barrels along hardly giving you pause to catch your breath and reflect before assaulting your senses with more scenes of brutal horror. Even after reaching its spine tingling end you will find yourself seeing movement in the corner of your eye as you recall this wonderful and gleefully grisly story.
Herbert drew on his childhood experiences of London during and after the war and a personal terror of the rodents that teem in the city. It is this grounding in gritty reality that is part of the novels success, it deals unflinching with social deprivation and violent horror in a way that had not been done before. His lead protagonist, Harris, a young art teacher is a believable everyman unwittingly thrown into the centre of the floundering attempts to control and exterminate the plague of slavering creatures. The novel was like nothing an unsuspecting British public had read before and it quite simply blew me away as a young reader. I’ve read The Rats several times since first discovering it nearly forty years ago, it still holds up as a raw and tersely told tale. It is a nonstop rollercoaster ride that delivers thrilling bloody terror by the bucket load.
Since then James Herbert has been much imitated but to my mind never bettered. He went on to write a further 22 novels, two of which Lair and Domain were worthy sequels to this one and influenced a generation of horror writers and readers. With The Rats and his second novel The Fog he created the splatterpunk genre and his early works were antiestablishment and filled with biting social commentary as well as being masterpieces of modern horror and true classics of the genre.
It was with great sadness that I learned of James Herbert’s passing this week. He was as his editor said “one of the giants of popular fiction in the 20th Century”. I would like to offer my deepest sympathy to his family, friends and the legion of grateful fans of which I am but one. If you haven’t read him yet you owe it to yourself to do so. You may not be able to recreate the experience of a small schoolboy reading terrified under the covers into the wee hours, but you do owe it to yourself to savour this seminal work of one of the all time finest and most influential writers of the horror genre.
If you would behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life. For life and death are one, even as the river and sea are one.
- Kahlil Gibran
I have a soft spot in my heart for the words of Kahlil Gibran for some reason, and it’s times like this where I find he speaks volumes. Within the last few weeks, the horror community has lost some fine talent, and gained legacies we will not forget any time soon.
On March 13th, 2013, noted horror author and editor, David B. Silva, passed away at the age of 62. While probably known best for the trail he blazed with The Horror Show and Hellnotes, Silva was also the accomplished author of 7 novels, an untold amount of short stories, and a laundry list of edited works. He was a mentor, friend, and guru to many of the authors you call your favourite, and played a huge role in shaping the genre into what it is today. On a more personal level, he played a huge role in my yearn to start reviewing, the advent of my first review site, Paperback Horror (pre-personal “blog” format) and, by default, Dreadful Tales itself. He was a powerhouse in this community and he will be sorely missed.
7 days later, on March 20th, 2013, we were levelled with yet another loss. News of James Herbert’s death, at age 67, cycled through the media like a tornado bent on tearing the genre apart. Herbert authored 24 novels from 1974 to 2012, 2 non-fiction works, a handful of short stories, and a graphic novel. His works were adapted into 5 films and, in 2010, he was not only made the Grand Master of Horror at the World Horror Convention, but he was also appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours. His presence in the genre was one he, reportedly, never understood, as he stated in his book Faces of Fear: “I don’t understand why I am so successful. And the longer I stay that way, the better it’s going to be, because that’s what keeps me on the edge, striving if you like.” His contribution to horror in literature will never be forgotten, and most likely never equaled.
And then today. Today the news of Rick Hautala’s death swept the genre off its feet, rocking our scary little boat to a full on capsizing. At 64, Hautala leaves behind 27 novels – a whole whack of which were written under the pseudonym A.J. Matthews, and 5 co-authored with Christopher Golden – 6 novellas, 4 screenplays, countless short stories, 4 collections, and god knows how many other major contributions to the genre. To say his passing was untimely and shocking would be an understatement, and I can confidently speak for Dreadful Tales and the whole horror community when I say he will be missed. Our hearts are heavy tonight for Holly Newstein Hautala and family. Rick, who was recently given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the HWA last year, has left behind a legacy most of us could only dream to equal, and one that we, as fans and authors, should always strive to keep alive.
One of my favorite quotes to ever come out of our community belongs to Rick, spoken during his Lifetime Achievement speech (video included below) – and one that I just had to watch and hear again tonight:
“We all know the difference between a pizza and a writer, right? A pizza can feed a family of four.”
It’s with much sadness that I say one final goodnight to David, James, and Rick.
Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.
- Khalil Gibran
View Rick Hautala’s HWA Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech below:
Horror isn’t always about monsters. Some of the best horror – quiet horror, if you will – deals with loss, life, and love.
No one seems to know this better than Tim Lebbon, and he’s willing to share with readers in the most effective manner in his novella, The Thief of Broken Toys (Chizine Publications). Beautifully crafted and elegantly delivering blow after blow to readers’ hearts and souls, this 2010 publication is a relentless study of the destruction death delivers to loved ones, and especially to parents. Continue reading →
Like most new authors, Aaron Dries has held many jobs. My own list is almost as interesting as his; pizza boy, retail clerk, kitchen hand, aged care worker… stuff like that. He is also a video director and illustrator which sold me on his talents before, during, and after reading his second novel, The Fallen Boys.
Unlike most new authors, he was picked up by genre-fan-favorite Samhain Horror with no more than one published short story under his belt. After entering what would become his first novel in the Leisure Books / Rue Morgue/ Chizine Publications ”Fresh Blood” contest, and winning the competition, House of Sighs was released by Samhain Horror in 2011.
Those in the know, know why the swap from Leisure to Samhain went down, so we don’t need to have a recent-history lesson here. Suffice it to say, this new Australian author was basically shot out of a cannon and survived to write another book. Continue reading →
On March 21st the horror community lost a special literary talent, Rick Hautala. Many fans were simply in shock while others shared their happy memories and experiences with the author via social networking sites and online forums. Although Rick will be dearly missed by his fans and friends, no one suffers more greatly than the family. They not only have to learn to cope with their emotional loss, but figure out how to survive the financial burden that comes with death. I can’t speak personally about the the struggle the Hautala family is dealing with, in particular Rick’s wife Holly, but when I came across Brian Keene’s call for help (originally posted March 24, 2013) to the fans and authors inspired by Hautala I had to share. In his post, he pulls from Christopher Golden’s website which expands on Ms. Hautala’s situation.
