The idea that the dead leave echoes behind is almost irresistible. Most of us, even the most rational skeptics, have a secret desire to stay connected with someone we’ve lost. I know that my grandmother isn’t really lurking around the edges of my life, but… There are times when I wish it dearly. I have to be satisfied with memories and with the realization that much of my life now would mystify her. Ghosts are great fiction fodder. Their perspective — as the ultimate outsider — enables them to be the conscience, messenger or trickster in a story. Banquo’s ghost
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Knock, Knock… Psychic Times
Interest in psychic phenomenon rises and falls at different times. Sometimes, it seems to accompany periods of uncertainty and rapid change — which describes pretty much my entire lifetime… LOL… The late 1960s/1970s of my childhood were definitely an extreme woo, woo period for spirituality of all stripes. My best friend, Wendy, and I snuck into a lecture about Edgar Cayce (an American psychic 1877 to 1945) when we were way too young to understand half of what was going on. I remember hearing about reincarnation at that lecture. It was probably the first time I’d heard that word and
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The Genre Shuffle
I keep getting asked about my genre, and I find myself dancing around the question. Is “Bram Stoker’s Summer Sublet” a Vampire Romance, an Urban Fantasy or a Paranormal Mystery? Yes and no — to all of them. I rocket back and forth between calling it a Vampire Dark Comedy or a Vampire Un-Romance. I really don’t know what to say. On the surface “POED” is Psychological Suspense, but the Poe-infused style could also win it a Contemporary Gothic label. And that Poe-connection means horror can’t be far away. At least “The Mary Shelley Game” is a straight out Mystery.
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Horrible Humor
Humor is very useful in a tale of horror. Hitchcock was a master at creating a rollercoaster of humor & fear. Every chuckle lowered his audience’s defenses, softening them up before something scary jumped out and sealed their fate. Horror stories, and movies, that are relentless — with scary chapter after scary chapter — are never as frightening as the stories that mix in some humor. When I was a kid, I fell in love with the classic horror movies on TV. Some of the humor may have been unintentional — or simply the result of dated clichés — but
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A Sense of Time & Place
When I read, I really enjoy a clear sense of time and place. This goes for all genres. If your ghost story is set in a lonely mansion on the coast of Maine during WWII — make sure I believe the setting is truthful and I’ll believe that the ghost is real, too. I’ve recently read fiction by two new authors — new friends from blogging, Twitter & LinkedIn — and I’m pleased to report that these two entirely different writers have both produced settings that were vivid and so real that the characters actions ring true. As I don’t
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Hearing Voices
In a city like New York, people live in close proximity and we develop the ability to “tune out” a lot of extraneous noises. This is not to say that New Yorkers don’t enjoy listening in on other people’s conversations, it’s just that in a noisy city, creating private space is sometimes a psychological game. I live in a quiet apartment. It’s truly quiet. It’s also a bit dark and in mid-winter I refer to it as my cave. Friends walk in and automatically start turning on lights. Oh well… I have quiet! That was not the case this afternoon
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Zombies Love ‘Em or Not
Zombies are hot right now. Slow moving, fast moving, comic, scary, “Dawn of the Dead” style and stylishly dressed to kill — they seem to be everywhere I look. But I just can’t get into zombies. Recently, I’ve read a few zombie books and tried to get myself into the zombie fad but I’ve failed. I can’t wrap my head around the appeal of brain-eating, walking dead. Werewolves? Yea team! Vampires? No question. Ghosts, demons, evil wizards — check, check, check — all good — but Zombies have zero appeal. I remember that when I saw the original “Dawn of
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Villains Villainy & a Villainess
Not all villains are monstrous and not all monsters are villains, but there certainly is a great deal of overlap between these two worlds of evil characters. I’m going to see Alan Cummings’s one-man Macbeth on Broadway (yes, he plays ALL the roles and it’s set in an asylum), so I’m rereading Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is one of the best characters of all time! She is both a tortured soul and the soul of unbridled ambition. Lots of lessons to be learned from her ruthless, single-minded drive. But is she a monster? I’ve seen a few productions of the play,
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The End — & The OTHER End…
When I wrote this draft of “Waltzing in the Snow” I wasn’t sure how to end it. So I wrote two different endings — a short enigmatic ending and an alternative that ties up more of the loose ends. As this is basically a tight first draft, presented in serial form, I hope that readers will let me know which Chapter 17 is more satisfying. Here we go… The End! Chapter 17A: Suitable Words and Actions Money doesn’t buy happiness or love, but it does make hiring an expensive, international private detective firm to track down a former East
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