Interview: D. Alan Dunn

D. Alan Dunn, a native south Texan, retired from the building and plumbing trades after a bout with cancer. A longtime fan of crime mystery and horror fiction, Dunn’s hidden talent for writing exploded into reality in 2007 when he wrote his memoirs for his grandchildren. Since then, his repertoire of author published works consist of “The Moods of My Heart” – a collection of poems, sonnets and quatrains and “5 After Midnight” – a collection of short stories in the psychological and horror genres.

Q: When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
A: I’ve always had stories rolling around in my head since childhood, but it wasn’t until I was recovering from cancer surgery and wrote my memoirs for my grandchildren that I realized that writing came natural to me.

Q: How did you pick the genre/setting/era you (usually) write in?
A: I think it picked me. Horror is my first love, but I also enjoy writing westerns and crime mysteries. I usually try to combine the three genres to create a unique and fresh storyline. For example, a novel I am writing now, Dead Bone Posse, entangles a group of 1930s bank robbers with a posse of long since dead lawmen.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for your story in History and Horror, Oh My?
A: I was researching serial killers online and stumbled upon a story about a real life serial killer in the Old West. I was therefore prompted to write my own rendering.

Q: Did you encounter any obstacles in researching the setting?
A: Researching for historical fiction is always a difficulty. To be believable, a setting has to be a real place rather than a fictional one, and sometimes the setting you choose is not easily researchable online.

Q: Do you have a favorite historical period you enjoy reading or writing about?
A: Any historical period is enjoyable for me. When you think about all of the untold stories of those time periods, an author’s imagination is infinite.

Q: Who is your favorite author, and what really strikes you about their work?
A: Edgar Allen Poe. Poe’s physiological and dark romanticism styles define me as a writer.

Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m currently writing stories for a collection of short stories entitled Tales from the Netherworld. A series of stories that acquaints the reader to the horrors and hopelessness of hell.

Read D. Alan Dunn's story for yourself!
History and Horror, Oh My! is now available in ebook formats on Smashwords and in print and Kindle formats on Amazon.

History and Horror, Oh My: Chantal Boudreau

Chantal Boudreau is an accountant by day and an author/illustrator during evenings and weekends, who lives by the ocean in beautiful Nova Scotia, Canada with her husband and two children. In addition to being a CMA-MBA, she has a BA with a major in English from Dalhousie University. An affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association, she writes and illustrates horror, dark fantasy and fantasy and has had several of her stories published in a variety of horror anthologies, online journals and magazines. She has also published ten novels to date.

When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
I've been wanting to be a writer since I was six and wrote a handful of bad short stories as a child. I wrote my first novel (my trunk novel) when I was fourteen, and got incredibly helpful feedback from the rare person who took the time to read it. I entered a few writing contests and won a couple of prizes in my teens and young adult years but I never really aspired to being a published writer until I met my dear friend Barb MacQueen, who wouldn't stop pushing until I got my work out there. She had faith in me and my writing talent in a way no one else has had.

How did you pick the genre/setting/era you (usually) write in?
I feel more like it picked me. I was drawn to fairy tales and mythology as soon as I started reading, and I always was inclined to tales with a fantasy element, but I found myself most intrigued by the darkest of these stories. It makes sense to write what you like to read, so that's what I do. Whenever I'm inspired it usually carries me back to familiar places.

How did you come up with the idea for your story in History and Horror, Oh My?
I've played around with a variety of mythologies in several of my short stories and novels, and while I had written a short story set in Egypt, "Dry Heat," I had never dabbled in Egyptian mythology before. I figured it was time I tried my hand there.

Did you encounter any obstacles in researching the setting?
Not at all. Research is one of my favourite parts of writing and there is plenty of information available on Egyptian mythology. I had much more difficulty digging up information on obscure mythologies like Sami, Siberian and Thracian mythologies, for other projects.

Do you have a favorite historical period you enjoy reading or writing about?
The older the better. I love any stories centered on ancient civilizations, especially the ones with tribal mythologies involving shamans and having a strong connection with nature. I love the primitive aspect.

Who is your favorite author, and what really strikes you about their work?
That's difficult to answer because I have different favourites in different genres. My favourite in dark fantasy, for example, is Tanith Lee, and my favourite in sci-fi is Robert J. Sawyer. And I'm more of a "well-loved book" kind of reader rather than a "favourite author" type - I don't necessarily love everything written by my preferred authors. For me, the appeal comes from well-developed, flawed, multi-dimensional characters. To earn my favour, the characters in a story have to feel like real people.

What are you working on now?
I'm in the middle of a dystopian novel and I just finished one steampunk and three Lovecraftian horror short stories. Steampunk is a new endeavour for me so I'm going to have to test it out and probably rework it based on feedback. I like to experiment with new things from time to time.

Learn more about Chantal Boudreau's stories!
Check out Chantal's blog at http://chantellyb.wordpress.com. You can also learn about her other writings on her Amazon Author page. To see some of her illustrations, visit her Facebook page.

History and Horror, Oh My! is now available in ebook formats on Smashwords and in print and Kindle formats on Amazon.

History and Horror, Oh My: Kevin Wetmore

Kevin Wetmore is the author of over a dozen short stories and several books, including Post-9/11 Horror in American Cinema and Back from the Dead: Reading Remakes of George Romero's Zombie Films as Markers of Their Times. He lives in Los Angeles where he also acts, directs, teaches and does stunts.

Kevin contributed "Report on an Incident after the Battle of Malvern Hill" to History and Horror, Oh My! The "Report" tells the story of a soldier's grisly discovery during the American Civil War, but we found his description of the 'normal' events in the war equally gruesome. We decided to learn more about what inspired him to write the story and how he researched it.

How did you pick the genre/setting/era you (usually) write in?
I write horror because I like horror and spend a good deal of time reading and watching that genre, so it is also the one I know best. I wrote this short story about the Civil War era because it is a period that really interests me. It really was the first modern war - the first machine gun, the Gatling Gun, was in use by 1962 by the Union army. It was a very violent and horrific conflict that was well documented through photographs and soldiers' journals and letters. (The description of a the aftermath of a battlefield looking like a single entity came from a soldier's letter home, for example). So there was a lot of material with horrific potential even before adding the monster element. I also wanted to explore a story written as a letter, so the Civil War setting also lent itself to that task.
It don't usually write in this period. Most of my fiction is either set in the present or in the immediate future. It is fun, though, to write about the past. I usually end up doing a lot of research to be accurate. I wrote a story set at Halloween 1955 that was really a tribute to my father's childhood and the first thing he did after reading it was tell me all the things I got wrong - the night that particular TV shows were on, how families ate dinner - just details that someone alive then would know but are not necessarily found in books or websites. So I think I like writing about the Civil War or the Renaissance - nobody tells you that you got the details wrong.

How did you come up with the idea for your story in History and Horror, Oh My?
I recently read James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom and found myself horrified by the battle descriptions. I also started thinking about the terrible starvation and famine that followed in the South and how deserters would follow the armies looking for food. I also look at the descriptions of the military hospitals and the conditions under which hundreds of limbs would be amputated in a single day after battle and began wondering what would happen if the desperation drove the deserters to feast on those limbs. I think I was also playing with the metaphor of feeding off of others found in slavery. The whole story was intended to convey increasing unease and disgust after the fact as a wounded soldier reports on the horrific battlefield experience, the even more horrific hospital experience, and then finally the realization that someone had eaten your flesh and now had a taste for it. While there are lots of horrible ways to die, I think knowing that you are being consumed by something else is particularly disturbing.

Did you encounter any obstacles in researching the setting?
No, actually. The Civil War is frighteningly well documented. It was just making sure you get the details right. Knowing that a certain unit disbanded on this date and was absorbed into another unit, or that men from a particular unit only came from one town are things you need to get right, because there is always that reader that knows and gets pulled out of the story when the read something they know isn't right, and I want the reader in the story while he or she is reading it. Plus most of my writing has been non-fiction, so I actually really enjoy the research. I keep a notebook on my desk as I am researching things for my non-fiction work, as I come across something that will make an interesting story I make a note of it and then start working on a story later. That's actually how this one began life.

Who is your favorite author, and what really strikes you about their work?
I am a huge Ray Bradbury fan. Love his stuff. He has a gift for language and for detail that just makes him a pleasure to read. I've read Something Wicked This Way Comes so many times I have whole sections memorized. My fiction is mostly short stories, and he is certainly a master of the form, so he has proven an excellent model. I also really like Joe R. Landale's short stories. His novels are fine and fun, but his short stories bite and don't let go. I think "The Night They Missed The Horror Show" is still the most horrific thing I have ever read. It's like reading an accident - everything slows down and you see the bad things coming and are powerless to change the outcome. That story left a mark.

What are you working on now?
As always, many short stories and several non-fiction projects. I've been interviewing the participants of Zombie Walks, Zombie Runs, Zombie Crawls, etc., really anything where people dress up and pretend to be zombies for a book about why we play dead - not just watch zombie movies, but why folks want to pretend to be a reanimated corpse. I have several stories coming out over the next several months and several I am currently revising. Like all writers, I think about a novel, but the short story form is what really interests and occupies me right now.

Okay, so you're an author. What do you enjoy reading?
As an author, anything and everything. Ideas are everywhere, information too. I start the day with the newspaper, then read novels, history, science books, plays, magazines - everything.

Read Kevin Wetmore's story for Yourself!
History and Horror, Oh My! is now available in ebook formats on Smashwords and in print and Kindle formats on Amazon.

Word Business

The last two years haven't been about ups and downs. Life has been a series of downs and deeper, darker, downs. For months, I could not write. Ideas were there. Plots took shape. I looked at a blank screen and could not put the words on the page. Thankfully, Sarah did not give up on me, even when I was ready to quit. The dark days are less frequent. Words escape my twisted little brain and land on the page most days.

In an ideal world I would spend every day writing. The writing would be effortless and brilliant. Everyone would be envious of how the words flowed onto the page. Publishers would snap up my stories and beg for more. I don't live in that world. Nobody does.

The world I live in is one where life revolves around books. That's pretty good.

These days I spend so much time on the publishing side of the writing industry that my writing takes a back seat. That's not a complaint. Part of each day is set aside for my writing. Besides, I am finding publishing interesting, educational, and sometimes fun. FUN? I haven't used that word in a while. Who would have thought a job so demanding, time consuming, and difficult would put laughter back in my life?

Anyone who has ever thought of starting a press needs to take a hard look at their reasons. It is a business, not a hobby. Running a tiny press means that every decision is going to impact the bottom line. Those of you who saw our first set of royalty statements know that bottom line was pretty small. Every book, every cover, every author, every artist, every story matters. Work doesn't end.

Since one of us has to have a day job, weekends are about getting stuff done that involves Sarah. She spends most of her time at home reading and editing short stories. Longer work lands on my desktop. I spent Saturday night emailing authors. Here it is Sunday morning and I'm happily back at my computer. No one could have convinced me that I would willingly get up at six the morning to see if a new book cover was in my inbox. Now I am trying to let Sarah sleep in instead of running into the bedroom to tell her about the cover. The fact that she would kill me has me blogging instead.

The Future of Short Fiction

When I first talked to small press owners about anthologies they all had the same advice "DON'T."

Why?

The stories they told me varied, but themes emerged. The complaints came down to three basic replies.

1. You will lose your investment because nobody buys anthologies, book stores won't carry them, there are no reviewers, they're impossible to market.
2. It is hard enough to deal with one author's ego you have to be crazy to take on trying to satisfy multiple authors.
3. Small presses don't have a pool of name authors who write consistently solid stories.

Wow! The ways publishers lost money on anthologies gave me pause. I listened to all of them, knowing that these experienced publishers were telling me true stories of what happened when they published anthologies. Somewhere in all those tales of woe another theme cropped up, "we love short stories." Inevitably the statement was followed with the word "but." Another tale of woe began.

I love short stories. I love reading them, plotting them, writing them, and telling them. I have discovered many of my favorite writers because of a gem they had written for an anthology. There used to be tons of venues that carried short stories, magazines, newspapers, and books of short stories. I once wrote one that was printed on cans of coffee. What happened?

Many of the pulp magazines have folded, a lot of those left are struggling. Authors who write short fiction are finding fewer paying markets. Many shorts are going paperless, selling directly to e-venues. Some authors are posting individual stories and collections to Amazon. I don't have sales numbers or a clear picture what, if anything, works. At the moment I don't think any single place can be considered the definitive destiny of short fiction. Publishing in general is uncertain of its future.

On the other hand, librarians tell me that short stories are still checked out of libraries. Readers tell me that they enjoy reading shorts.

If authors like writing short stories and readers like reading them, how do we go about bringing the two together?

I think it is going to take some effort from all sides of the industry. The short story needs to be taken seriously. We need more awards and attention for the form. After having worked as both a coordinater and judge for the Derringer Awards, I am aware of the difficulty in doing awards. I am also aware of the limited place short fiction is given in the writing community.

There is a crying need for short story and anthology reviewers. There also need to be sites and ezines dedicated to short fiction reviews. Readers need a way to find the kind of stories they love. They also need to create book clubs that share those stories with other like minded readers. Amazon is not the answer for book reviews of any kind and certainly not the place for short fiction reviews.

Writers need to be able to make money writing short fiction. Publisher's need to be able to make money publishing short stories. In today's marketplace that's a tall order. I believe it can be done. Mystery and Horror, LLC is experimenting with an advance and royalty system. We are too new at this to know if the experiment will succeed. We would love to hear what other publishers and authors are trying.

The future of the short story may be headed for another golden age, but only if we care enough to make it happen.

Blame it on the Drugs

Writing takes a particular type of mental work. As much as we writers would like to sit down at our keyboards and great books magically flow onto the blank screen, stories aren't written that way. We labor over our words. We choose them with great care. Many of us agonize over the quality of our work. This is how books get written.

For the better part of a year, I didn't agonize over writing. I agonized over the thought of writing.

I'm not talking about writers block. There was no lack of ideas, no silence from my muse. My muse screamed at me to no avail. A flood of ideas built up behind the dam in my head. I could not write. I couldn't edit stories that I'd all ready written. I couldn't submit work to publications, write query letters, or talk about writing.

Instead of improving with time. I got worse. I would burst into tears at the mention of sending my finished novel to the editor who had requested to see it. I had panic attacks at meetings of my writer's group. Attending a conference was a nightmare. Sarah stayed very close to me through meetings and shielded me from the most difficult parts of public events. Unfortunately, she could only watch the agony of not writing.

Thankfully, the dam has burst. I would like to claim that the volume of creative work I've completed in the last two months is the result of some inner drive, great inspiration, a passion for work--anything but the truth. The facts are not comfortable.

The truth is I had a drug problem. The anxiety medication I had been on for several years had stopped working. Since Sarah and I had been living in a state of crisis from the moment we arrived in Florida, changes in mood and temperament were blamed on the situation. I am sure that anyone who has been through the experience of seeing a loved one through the final months of life can appreciate the tunnel vision that process creates. Instead of thinking about my own health, I ignored all the warning signs.

It is uncomfortable to think that panic nearly cost me my life. A simple doctor's visit could have prevented a difficult year from becoming a hellish one. Lesson learned? I hope so. Only time will tell.

Strangely Funny II

Last year we kicked off our adventure into the publishing world with an anthology titled Strangely Funny. Those who follow this blog know our debut book was not a roaring success. Reading through the mixed reviews of Strangely Funny, I discovered that stories that stood out to one reader fell flat with another. The one point everyone who read the book agreed upon was that it contained some stories they loved.

Humor is extremely subjective. Unlike writing horror, mystery, fantasy, or science fiction, funny stories have no unifying criteria. Humor either pulls the reader in and lets them see human foibles through the eyes of the protagonist or it doesn't.

So why are we doing a second volume of strangely funny tales? The answer is quite simply, because we like reading unusual, paranormal, super-natural, and yes FUNNY stories. I still believe there is an audience for the quirky, off-beat, and downright weard humor.

I am committed to finding that audience...but, I'm not telling where they've committed me. They're my readers. MINE, MINE, I tell you!

Update on Our Mystery and Horror's Micropress

Most of our friends know that last year Sarah and I decided to add a micropress to the Limited Liability Company we formed to protect our creative work. Since we already had the business structure, the first job was to draw up a business plan for publishing.

I won't delve into all the details in a blog post, but drawing up a business plan takes as much research as writing a historical novel. The big difference is the type of research, printing costs, postcard, bookmark, book cover, prices, distribution channels, review sites, etc. Once we knew what it would cost us to put out the first book, we had to decide what kind of books we wanted to publish, how many we had time to work on, and divide up the labor.

Notice I did not at any time say anything about making money. Neither of us had any expectation of financial gain in the first few years of the enterprise. Our financial goal was to keep the press from being a money pit. Believe me, small businesses can suck up investment dollars. We had no guarantee that anyone would submit stories to a press that offered such a small return. The big question when we sent out a call for submissions was "would we get anything of the quality we were willing to print?"

Notice I said small return, not no return, to the writers. We are writers. We know how much work goes into writing a book. Most of all, we believe money should flow to the writer. Without the authors, there is no publishing business. If anyone liked our books, money would eventually flow back to the press, but that takes time. This is why we set up a royalty structure with an advance. It gives every author something and promises a share in our success to authors who's stories earn money for us.

Our first book, Strangely Funny, came out in July. Sarah loves this book. I think it has some of the best and funniest short stories I have ever read. Individual stories in the book were well received. There the praise kind of peters out. I don't know if the book will ever earn out the advance. The reviews were few and mixed. Sales were lower than the lowest numbers I had projected. In short, the book and the press were off to a rocky start.

All Hallows' Evil sold better. It also got better reviews. It didn't quite earn out the advance in its first quarter, but will in the next. I may even have to send the writers more money. I am sure that will make them and me smile.

Our last two books, Undead of Winter and Ha-Ha! Horror, were both released near the end of November. A few copies sold before the November 30 cut off time for this reporting period, but it is too soon to know how well either will perform.

Our first checks for sales arrived at the end of December. No, those checks did not cover what we put into the company this year. We didn't expect that. We did expect and get the satisfaction of completing the books we planned to publish. The press was getting a core group of good authors who contributed to more than one anthology. Sarah and I got some much needed help from group of friends who worked to get word out about our press and sent us stories that they could have made more money from elsewhere.

Will Mystery and Horror, LLC survive its rocky start? I think we will not only survive but grow in the coming year. Despite Strangely Funny failing to capture the hearts of the reviewers, there will be a sequel. Sarah loves quirky little stories.  Perhaps Strangely Funny II will be better received. Perhaps not. Either way the odd, quirky, funny, paranormal stories have a place at our strange little press.