Dark Wisdom

The Anthology of Dark Wisdom: the best of dark fiction

Featuring horrifying and fantastical tales from the eponymous magazine, previously unpublished works, and award-winning short stories, this anthology of macabre fiction explores the unseen folds of urban life. From the monstrous to the psychological, these tales fearlessly venture into the hidden world of the supernatural, where strange creatures stalk the night and eldritch investigators search for the unknown.

After a few probing emails, I thought it best to come clear about this anthology. :) Here is the cover of the upcoming Dark Wisdom: Best of Dark Fiction anthology. It's one of the projects I'm finishing up - along with two other anthologies (umm, and two novels, and two RPG books).

For me what happens is when contracts start arriving on author's doorsteps, emails arrive on mine asked about information on the book. While I'm not quite ready to release the table of contents, it's probably easy to find quite a few of them by searching the Internet (and yes, more contracts are either en route or have yet to be discovered). Still, I can offer some information such as it is releasing the Fall, and it is delightfully dark and adventurous.

The cover is by Malcolm McClinton, and I think it captures the theme of the anthology quite well.

Of course, the above has led to many questions about the magazine. Mostly, where is it?

The magazine did quite well, but with my aforementioned list of activities, and the extra work required by the magazine, it seemed best to alter the format (did I mention I'm an editor, staff writer, and assistant RPG line developer for Chaosium, Inc.?) So, now magazine is a print anthology, and it will be an online magazine (featuring different tales than the book). No need to rush to the website yet. I understand alterations are in progress, and it will be up soon.

American Exports

Although my mentioning of Les Secrets de Marrakech has nothing to do with my post, I thought it would be a good segue. So let me explain it first. This is the French translation, hardcover edition of my book Secrets of Morocco (published by Chaosium).

Also, for those interested, the back story to the "tablets of Ur-Nansha," which is referenced in Morocco, can be found in the soon to be released anthology Blood and Devotion anthology (edited by William H. Horner).

Now onward! The topic of what is American art has been endlessly debated, so I thought I'd add to that debate. Well, at least I'll bring it up again. Is there any original American art? (read "American" as United Station, and "art" being literature, sculpture, painting, music, etc.). And, assuming there is, what has been exported outside of the United States and how has it influenced what is a long established tradition in Western or even Eastern art(s)?

Or, is there no such thing as "original" American art?

If you haven't been following this debate since 1776, then you'll need to know that most of what exists in the U.S. has been transplanted here - like its original residents. Many folks speculate that American art is not original; rather, it is based upon and a variation of European or Western traditions in art. This has lead the U.S., particularly after the mid-1800s, to produce art that is truly American made. Yet, there are many who still say it hasn't been accomplished.

On the other hand, quite a few people believe that American culture is its greatest export - which seemingly includes "art," although it isn't clearly defined. At the same time, there are many countries attempting to prevent the infiltration of American culture (and language). In turn, this fear of culture has been the foundation for a few arguments that there is original American art and the fear of the transmission of culture is proof (as art is often viewed as "dangerous").

I confess, I've conflated quite a bit in the above paragraphs. But honestly, it isn't possible to thoroughly explain the topic in a few words. But hopefully there is enough to provide some food for thought.

Writing and Editing Several Projects

I often get emails asking about what book I'm working on, whether it be writing or editing. One would think answer these emails to be easy. However, I often have a few pans in the fire, so I'm shifting about from one thing to another. This means there is no short answer (unless you ask about a specific project). Okay, even in that case, because my time is interlaced with other projects, it is still tough to answer.

In an attempt to clarify and probably confuse, I've added a word counter meter to the sidebar of my blog (I'll put one on my website sometime in the near future). Now the meter is following a "project," which is unnamed. :) But it will keep with the project as I go along. And in the near future it will be named. (Many will be able to guess the project).




Alas, that is the most I can do for now, except reply in complicated emails. Well, maybe not all. I've found another word count meter that indicates my state and writing status. I'll try to make a post including it now and then.

So, for the moment: Yes, I am working on all of those projects I've been emailed about. There are a few, so movement varies from day to day. And, for those who have sent me manuscripts to read, I appreciate your patience. Oh, and if you send one via post, please include your email address or return postage...please.

Video Games as Literature

I suspect most of you have encountered a video game in one form or another in your lifetime - whether it be on an Odyssey (remember those?) or on the latest game station, cell phone, or computer. Oh, and they even had them in arcades for a while.

To my chagrin, I must confess that back in the ----'s I authored two video games that were distributed. No, they were not very popular, and I've only encountered a handful of people in my lifetime who'd seen them or played them. I've no idea what happened to the publishers, and because they were quite primitive adventure games, I'll not mention titles. To give you a feel for the period, however, I'll list the platforms: Commodore 64, Apple IIe, IBM XT, Sinclair 2000. Yeah, it was some time ago. :-\

I bring this up because the above is really my only qualification for posting about video games. And as you can see, it isn't much to mention. Yes, I've played a few over the years. I'm always behind on the latest platform, and yes, I still use the word "platform." But what I've noticed with the latest generation of video games is how cinematic they've become. True, they have arcade moments. There's still some jumping and falling and swinging to be done. Still, from my early day, they have come a very long way.

Today camera angels with the ability to change the POV is possible - creating a strong cinematic feel. Original soundtracks, amazing graphics, and tactical responses make present games far more engaging and perhaps give them a medium of their own.

After having watched a friend play a game recently, I was impressed by the storyline. I prowled through a few of the games available, asking about them and trying them out. Each one was novel material (or film as we've seen in the last decade or so). Yes, these games have been translated to books and films for a while, but usually they required a little extra help from authors outside the game industry. This isn't to slight the original game. Repeat play, difficulty/ease, originality, portability, and lifetime are elements that game designers have to deal with. So it isn't easy to sit down and create a seamless, flowing plot for a video game that must challenge and interact with the user.

Nonetheless, they are doing this now. Admittedly, if you lack the skills (such as I do) there is quite a bit of repetition. But, I imagine for those with the talent, many recent games flow like interactive films. What I've noticed is character development (something gold old Mario never had), sub-plots, and twists. Two of the games I'll briefly touch upon are Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Dead Space. One is modern adventure set in remote Pacific Islands (looking for a giant statue in a sunken city - never a good idea), and the other is set in the far future, with a mining ship that has suffered some serious problems.

So what makes these literature? Well, really, I'm asking everyone else that. I'd propose they have characters, plots, and themes. They are acted, accompanied by music. Those reasons seem good enough to get them into the category. And judging from recent surveys and sales data, they are not giving both movie theaters and DVD sales a run for their money. Of course, it goes without saying that they've beaten out the printed word quite some time ago. All of this adds up to commercial as well, proves reception (by an audience).

What I wonder about is how far can video games go? Will they become the new direction of film? I don't mean game-to-film adaptations, but games as film. For instances, the recent Resident Evil game has its own film prequel. The game follows a different path from the filmic versions, as does the CG film: Resident Evil: Degeneration. It also has a whopping 3 disc sound track available.

We already know that video games are a booming industry. And I know that many people in the arts look at them as "pulp" or simply mindless entertainment - things that keep us locked in the house. Okay, for the most part they do. With that said, they do have portable video games now - just like portable books. In short, it seems that we are running out of arguments against video games. Now, I can't resist pointing out that they are simulations and if you've read my blog, you'll know where that can take me. So I won't go there. :) Besides, I have certainly read written works, both historical and modern that were nothing but commercial opportunities - true pulp, and embarrassingly concocted versions of complicated realities.

For me at least, it seems this form of entertainment is becoming a form of literature. Like film, we are watching the industry grow, changes, expand, and mature - in all aspects (technology, audience, story-telling). It's certainly worth keeping a close eye on.

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: