Ancient Shadows Anthology

As this anthology appeared in distribution catalogs yesterday, I figured I might post a bit about it. True, Amazon seemed to have a listing for a while, but that was do to another distributor's mistake. In either case, here is a sneak peek.

The cover is by Steven Gilberts - and it has been done for quite a while. (not quite sure were this copy text came from, although I suspect it will be replaced). And a list of authors will soon follow. This is a late 2009 release, available in all fine bookstores.

Ancient Shadowws: Dark Tales of Eldritch Fantasy

This anthology of dark tales touches upon a dark mythos unseen beneath the surface of the real world. Conducting a journey into a timeless universe of what might have been, this collection of stories contains narratives composed by today’s most popular authors of eldritch fiction. Ideal for sword and sorcery aficionados and written in the authentic style of traditional dark fantasy, this compilation is a must-have for fans of Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and H. P. Lovecraft.

Out of the Blue and into the Unreal

How much of society today has become a "simulated society"? Was society always simulated? Where has the "real"gone? (Still awake? Have a headache yet? :-> ) These questions surround us: we hear them when we listen to music; we see them when we look out the window, when we watch the television... (starting to quote a film there). Instead of that, let me quote a few others on the same questions:

"To dissimulate is to pretend not to have what ones has. To simulate is to feign to have what ones doesn't have. One implies a presences, the other an absence. But it is more complicated than that because simulating is not pretending: "Whoever fakes an illness can simply stay in bed and make everyone believe he is ill. Whoever simulates an illness produces in himself some of the symptoms" (Littre). Therefore, pretending, or dissimulating, leaves the principle of reality intact: the difference is always clear, it is simply masked, whereas simulation threatens the difference between the "true" and the "false," the "real" and the "imaginary." --(Baudrillard)


All simple monkeys with alien babies
Amphetamines for boys
Crucifixes for ladies
Sampled and soulless
Worldwide and real webbed
You sell all the living
For more safer dead

Anything to belong

Rock is deader than dead
Shock is all in your head
Your sex and your dope is all that were fed
So ****all your protests and
Put them to bed

God is in the TV

1,000 mothers are praying for it
Were so full of hope
And so full of ****
Build a new god
To medicate and to ape
Sell us ersatz
Dressed up and real fake
Anything to belong
Rock is deader than dead
Shock is all in your head
Your sex and your dope is all that were fed
So ****all your protests and
Put them to bed
(Rock is Dead - Marilyn Manson)

I confess, those quotes make for an unusual juxtaposition. But, to me, they seem to be dealing with the same topic. In the first, we have an explanation of how "the real" vanishes. In the second, we have an example of "the real" VANISHING.

Maybe simulation has become a part of Western culture, thereby encompassing society and all that falls under the culture. We tend to build simulations within simulations (games that mimic reality with ever increasing realism). Part of Baudrillard's point in his book Simulacra and Simulation is that the "real" is eventually replaced with the simulated (often claimed to be the new and improved "real"). This act destroys the original, leaving only a simulation - which is eventually accepted as the original.

So what does this have to do with anything? Ha - maybe it's too late to ask that question. I'll jump to another person who seems to be dealing with the simulated structure of life:

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all

A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so ****ing crazy you cant follow their rules

A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you cant really function you're so full of fear

A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and tv
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still ****ing peasants as far as I can see

A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill

A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
(Working Class Hero - John Lennon)

And while I'm quoting songs to find an angle at this point, let me through one that is still connected to the topic, and joined to the prior song (maybe we can read "dreams" as "simulation"):

My generation is zero.
I never made it as a working class hero.
21st century breakdown.
I once was lost but never was found.
I think I'm losing what's left of my mind
To the 20th century deadline.
I was made of poison and blood.
Condemnation is what I understood.
From Mexico to the Berlin wall.
Homeland security could kill us all.

My name is Samuel, the long lost son.
Born on the 4th of July.
Raising the bygones of heroes and cons.
Left me for dead or alive.
There is the war that's inside my head
That questions the results and lies.
While breaking my back til I'm damn near well dead.
When enough ain't enough to survive.
I am a nation, a worker, a pawn.
My debt to the status quo.
The scars on my hands are a means to an end.
It's all that I have to show.
I'm taking a loan on my sanity.
For the redemption of my soul.
Well I am exempt from this tragedy and the 21st century fall.

Praise, Liberty The freedom to obey
It's a song that strangles me
Well, don't cross the line
Oh dream, American dream.
I can't leave and see from rainstorms 'til dawn.
Oh bleed, America bleed.
Believe what you read from heroes and cons.
(21st Century Breakdown - Green Day)

In the end, with all of this protesting about simulation, it seems unlikely that it could remain invisible to us. That is, unless, the protests are simulated protests, devoid of their message. If so, then "rock," once a protest music, is certainly dead.

Tales Out of Miskatonic University

This anthology is ready to be handed to the publisher, Mythos Books, LLC. I don't have a publication date yet, but when I do, I'll be certain to announce it.

Many thanks to all of the authors, the artist, and everyone involved in the project. It was a great pleasure, and I'm looking forward to it being published.

For those curious, the book will be divided into university departments: Science, Arts, Philosophy, etc. (Those are not the actually departments). And stories related to the departments will be included in the appropriate sections. The tales range from the past to the present, and include some student blogs, and a few "Tweets."

Here's a list of stories and authors included in the book -the contest winners don't appear yet for covert reasons. The names are in no particular order, although from some of the titles you can probably guess the department the story will appear in:


Richard A. Lupoff - "Admissions Committee"
Lois H. Gresh - "There's No Place Like Void"
Robert M. Price - "The Third Oath of Dagon"
Lee Clark Zumpe - "If Skin were Parchment"
MR Keaton -"Strings"
Charles A. Gramlich - "The Vivarium"
Jeff W. Edwards -"Admission and Expulsion"
Lon Prater - "Symphony for the Aligning Stars"
Ferrel D. Moore - "A Horrified Mind"
John Goodrich - "Dreams of Raw Flesh"
Tim Curran - "He Who Calls the Pets"
Cody Goodfellow - "The Anatomy Lesson"
Stewart Sternberg - "The Idols of Canaan"
Stephen Mark Rainey -"To Be As They"
Sarah Newton - "The Apprentice"
C. J. Henderson - "Cruelty"
William Jones - Editor/Introduction

www.williamjoneswriter.com
www.williamsramblings.blogspot.com

Quarantine - The Film

I confess, when Quarantine was released to the theaters, I did not rush out to see it. I didn't speed to the rental store to grab it when it was released on DVD. I didn't rent it on "Pay-per-View," or iTunes, or NetFlix when it arrived in these locations. I skipped it at the Red Box video vending machine in the local grocery story. In fact, when I finally rented it, I didn't watch it, and had to return it to avoid late fees. In general, there was little that inspired me to watch the film in the promotional material, the cover, or the copy.

At long last I've seen it, and it was quite different from what I had expected. Not that it was better than I had anticipated, but it certainly wasn't as "bad" as I had thought. While the film didn't inspire me much, it was compact, mostly well organized, and focused. It is a 1st person film (Blair Witch, Cloverfield, etc). This allows for a lower budget as filmic perfection isn't always expected, and in theory creates a different mood for the viewer - although it clearly reminds the viewer that he or she is a viewer, something many films attempt remove.

Still, I'd not say the film was bad. If you like suspense/thriller/horror/action films, it is worth your time. The camera isn't overly shaky, which is good. The premise is common to film, but a favorite (being a group of people trapped in a single location with no means of escape).

Fans of the Showtime series Dexter will recognize Jennifer Carpenter in the lead role (Dexter's sister). I believe she does a good job in the role - even if a bit of her character from Dexter bleeds through.

Gore? Yes. Not as much as a typical zombie film. But this isn't a zombie film. Toward the end it works very hard to pull the premise together, which is almost another film in itself. My guess is most viewers will figure out some of the surprises early on. This isn't a problem because it adds to the suspense, as it should. This is akin to everyone knowing a character shouldn't open a particularly door. Regardless of our shouts, and cries of tropes, the door gets opened. While there is such a door in the film, there are other elements that work for the film if the viewer is aware of them in advance, and likely surprise those viewers who do not expect them. Overall, this keeps the film working, and worth watching.

I suppose I have no fabulous words for Quarantine because it didn't work with anything original. Nonetheless, it took established conventions and maintained suspense and thrill throughout most of the film. And it does a good job of pulling it all together at the end. It is a great study in suspense - for film makers and writers. And from what I understand, it is somewhat based on a popular Spanish film [REC] (which I've not seen).

With all of the above, I'd still suggest watching this film - if you fall into any of the aforementioned categories. And keep an eye on the background elements of the story. What might be the most frightening aspect of the film is the Civil response (related to the title of the film). Always good to know there is someone out there to help. :)

Some fun with Writing and Editing

Here are a few comics from Comics.com on the topics of writing and editing. I was sent one by writer and editor Charles P. Zaglanis, and it inspired me to post a few:

Dialog - Those other Voices

I won't be writing a treatise on short story writing. Rather, I'm simply doing a few posts on common questions or things I've encountered. This post is about dialog. One of the things that often appears in fiction is "realistic dialog." This is a tricky phrase. To be honest, if dialog is too realistic then it becomes a series of grunts, grumbles, repeated words and phrases. "Real" dialog doesn't always work in fiction. Yet, sometimes new writers will defend perfectly reproduced dialog as "being real."

There is the catch. In fiction, "real" isn't as important as moving the story and keeping the reader's attention. So "based on a true story" doesn't mean that the dialog is verbatim. Rather, in short fiction, dialog needs to move the story forward, develop the character, and maintain tension. This usually means the characters speaking are at odds, having opposing ideas, or have some conflict that is being discussed.

"Is that a UFO?"
"Yes."
"Oh. Okay. Wow, that's really cool."
"Yes, it is. I see them all of the time."
"Really?"
"Yes. Not that big of a deal."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
"Oh."

----
Other than the obvious and mundane voice traits I've added to the above two characters ("Yes" and "Oh"), there is nothing thrilling in the above dialog. Well, maybe if it were REAL then it would be quite exciting to the reader. Although with the lackluster exchange, it seems to under-deliver. And in part, this is due to lack of hard conflict. If you're a fan of The X-Files, then you can probably re-imagine the above exchange between Scully and Mulder. Most likely it would involve disagreement (conflict).

Also, the above dialogue does little to move the story forward. Clearly the characters have spotted a UFO - or so one says. And one character is new to the experience while the other finds it rather commonplace. That work is mainly done in the first 4 lines. The remainder of the dialogue is pretty much useless, short of using for comedic affect by expounding upon its mundane nature.

Once again, every writer has his or her own approach to this, and I'd be interested in learning some of those. I wonder how the above dialogue could be made more interesting and move a story along within 9-10 lines. That would be a 10 line flash fiction work. :)

Narrators - Voices in Your Head

A common misconception about narrators is that the are always the protagonists in a story. Sometimes they are, but most of the time the narrator is someone else.

Obviously, 1st person tales typically use the character as the narrator. Many folks find this the easiest form of narrator. Perhaps it's because writers often let their own voice become the narrator. This means the writer knows the narrator very well and so the narration becomes easier.

This leads to a point I'd like to make. After the protagonist, the narrator is the most commonly overlooked aspect of a story. And yet, these two elements are perhaps the most important.

Of course, there are various ways of developing a narrative voice. It is easy to rely on your own voice, but this can be repetitive in short stories, and make all of your characters feel the same. So give some thought to narrative voice. Find one that fits the story.

For me, I must have a narrator before I can put down much text. Yes, I have written stories and changed the narrative voice after disliking the original. In the Pearson tales, I use a 1st person, Edwardian-lite narrator, who is fond of alliteration and hyperbole. This is not my own voice, honest. ;p Yet, readers often email me and write: when you were casting that spell...

They know I'm not Rudolph Pearson, yet the 1st person narrative links the author with the character. My point being that I did much work on that narrator, and now to find his voice I must sit down and re-read a bit of Pearson. Certainly, there is a bit of me in the narrator, character, and other characters.

No matter how hard we try, "we," the writer appear in our narrators and characters. But that doesn't mean we should throw ourselves into them. The challenge and fun is developing new creations.

Again, the approaches to this are multitudinous. I wonder what methods others use.

Short Fiction on the Fly

Here's something I'm asked about often: Writing short stories.

The most common question put to me is "Where do I start?"

Of course, the flippant answer is "at the beginning." This response helps no one, and provides nothing useful. Yet, it is perhaps the most cited answer to the question.

Instead of that response, I tend to say you start with character and a narrator. This confuses some people. Some feel that the protagonist is the narrator, while others feel the narrator is the writer.

For me, fiction is about the protagonist. And how we learn about the protagonist is through the narrator - at least that is one means.

So, of you start to tell someone about your short story and you start with: There's this guy who...

Stop there.

"This guy" is not a character; he is a place holder for the missing protagonist. First, find the protagonist. Do this by creating a life around him - a past, family, likes, dislikes, parents, siblings, habits, traits, everything you can think of to make this character interesting in the adventure he's about to undertake. You may even find that he starts to write his own story.

Next, you need a strong narrator. But that will be another post.

I wonder what other ways writers stumble into stories? Regardless of what books on writing state, there I'd no one method to writing. Everyone develops an approach with practice. The one I cited works for me, and has helped many others.

Anyone have a different approach?