Yearly Archives: 2018

My Chessiecon 2018 Schedule

Chessiecon is a science fiction convention taking place near Baltimore, Maryland over the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. It’s also a great opportunity for you to meet Poseidon’s Scribe (me) in person.

Here’s my con schedule:

Date Time Topic Location
Friday, Nov 23 4:15 – 5:30 PM How Not to Get Published Greenspring 1
Saturday, Nov 24 10:00 – 11:15 AM Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 200th Anniversary Greenspring 3-5
Saturday, Nov 24 1:00 – 1:45 PM Book Reading Chesapeake 1-2
Saturday, Nov 24 1:45 – 3:00 PM Good Art, Problematic Artist Greenspring 3-5
Saturday, Nov 24 5:30 – 6:45 PM It’s OK to Not Like Things Greenspring 1
Saturday, Nov 24 6:45 – 8:00 PM Group Signing Atrium
Sunday, Nov 25 12:30 – 1:45 PM When Did Sci Fi Become So Political? Greenspring 1

Those panels promise to be both fun and informative. This schedule is subject to change, and I’ll post updates here as I find out about them.

The con will take place at the Red Lion Hotel Baltimore North (formerly Radisson North Baltimore), in Timonium, Maryland.

There will be a lot of interesting panels, books and art for sale, games, music, costumes, etc. And you can meet—

Poseidon’s Scribe

November 18, 2018Permalink

Veterans Day and WW I Centennial

Happy Veterans Day! This day also marks 100 years since the end of World War I. On this centennial, it’s appropriate to reflect on that pivotal war, its improbable beginning, its gigantic scope, its horrible casualty numbers, and its historical impact.

As it happens, I’ve written two stories that fictionalize aspects of that war.

In “Rallying Cry” (packaged with the story “Last Vessel of Atlantis”), two surviving veterans of World War I, residing in a nursing home, relate their experiences of that war to a young man and their stories change his life. The veterans, both Frenchmen who later moved to America, had served in a secret outfit called the Jules Verne Regiment, which employed futuristic weapons from Jules Verne’s novels.

My story “After the Martians” describes an alternate World War I that takes place following the attempted Martian invasion of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. The combatants fight this war with the technology the Martians left behind: tripod fighting machines, heat rays, and propeller-less flying vehicles.

After you honor Veterans Day and reflect on the WW I Centennial, consider purchasing and reading these stories by—

Poseidon’s Scribe

November 11, 2018Permalink

Interview with a Moon Voyager

Today I’m interviewing the first man to land on the moon. I’m speaking, of course, about Hans Pfaall, who appears in my story “The Unparalleled Attempt to Rescue One Hans Pfaall,” in the anthology Quoth the Raven. It’s my sequel to the Edgar Allan Poe story, “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall.”

Poseidon’s Scribe: Greetings, Mr. Pfaall. And welcome to my blog. Thank you for consenting to this interview.

Hans Pfaall: Thank you, Mr. Southard. However, I confess I do not know what a ‘blog’ is, nor do I understand how you are able to conduct an interview under these circumstances.

P.S.: Never mind all that. Let’s focus on you. First, am I pronouncing your name correctly? Does Pfaall rhyme with ‘pail’ or ‘ball?’

H.P.: You’re pronouncing it correctly.

P.S.: Um….okay. Let’s move on. Up until five years ago, in 1830, where did you live and work?

H.P.: I was a citizen of Rotterdam. I repaired fireplace bellows.

P.S.: But then you went on a remarkable voyage. Please tell us about that.

Illustration by Yan Dargent

H.P.: I constructed a balloon of my own design and used it to travel to the Moon.

P.S.: I can’t believe that. All on your own, with meager resources, you built a balloon?

H.P.: Not on my own. That would be ridiculous. My wife and three men assisted me.

P.S.: How were you able to travel, let alone breathe, in the vacuum of space?

H.P.: You suffer from a widely held misconception. The space between the Earth and its satellite is not a vacuum. Although the air is thin, one can use a compressor apparatus to render it breathable, which I did.

P.S.: I see. Once you reached the Moon, what did you find there?

H.P.: The most significant things were the numerous hamlets and the single sizable city, in which I landed. Also of interest were the natives, who are similar to us in many ways, except for their diminutive stature and their lack of ears. I wrote about all of this in a letter; I gave it to one of the Lunarians and sent him back to Earth in a balloon for delivery to the officials of Rotterdam. Did they not receive it?

P.S.: They did. But your letter ended with some tantalizing mysteries. Please describe those.

H.P.: I presume you’re speaking of the strange connection between every human on Earth and a particular Lunarian. Not only does such twinning exist, unbeknown to us, but the lives and destinies of the linked individuals are interwoven with each other. Moreover, I believe I mentioned in the letter something about the dark and hideous mysteries that lie on the far side of the Moon, the side forever turned away from Earth.

P.S.: Right. Don’t you think those things deserved more than one paragraph?

H.P.: That letter had rambled on too long already. I will write more letters soon.

P.S.: Did you think about the effect such a letter might have on the residents of Rotterdam? I’ve heard they may send a rescue mission.

H.P.: What? I didn’t ask to be rescued. I don’t want to be rescued.

P.S.: You’re happy, staying on the Moon?

H.P.: Quite happy, sir.

P.S.: Well, this is a bit awkward. The rescuers are…um…

H.P.: What do you mean? Are you saying they’re on their way already? Tell them to turn back!

Poseidon’s Scribe: I’m just an author. I don’t have complete control over these things. But, thank you for this fascinating interview.

Hans Pfaall: No, this isn’t over. Promise me you’ll get the rescuers to return home. I don’t want to be rescued! Tell them!

 

Sheesh. That interview didn’t go exactly as I’d planned. In the anthology Quoth the Raven, you can read the story, “The Unparalleled Attempt to Rescue One Hans Pfaall” written by—

Poseidon’s Scribe

November 4, 2018Permalink

Distraction-Free Writing

As a fiction writer, you know distractions happen. You’re living a life, after all. But so what? Distractions are frustrating, but they don’t actually hurt the quality of your writing, do they?

Yes. According to a George Mason University research team led by Cyrus K. Foroughi, even short interruptions to creative work can worsen the output. As reported in the newsletter Fast Company, the GMU team conducted experiments involving subjects writing essays. Researchers didn’t interrupt Group 1, the control group, but did interrupt Group 2’s planning and outlining time, and interrupted Group 3’s writing time.

Independent graders judged the resulting essays. Graders rated Group 1’s essays best, Group 2’s essays second best, and Group 3’s essays worst.

This study considered only nonfiction essays. I’m unaware of any similar studies of the effects of distraction on fiction writers, but I suspect the effects would be similar.

For our purposes here, let’s assume the more you’re distracted during the writing of your first and subsequent drafts, the worse your story will be. If that’s the case, what can you do about it?

First, let’s divide distractions into two types: external and internal. External distractions are initiated by outside entities—other people, pets, or things. Internal distractions are initiated by you.

External Distractions

By definition, these are largely out of your control. But you can do some things to lessen the chances, frequency, and duration of them:

  • Write in a quiet place.
  • Tell others this is your writing time and ask them to leave you alone.
  • Either abandon your phone, or put it in “airplane mode” thus stopping it from ringing or vibrating.

Internal Distractions

These are completely within your span of control, but paradoxically may be more difficult to reduce. Here are some ideas to consider:

  • Buy a smart typewriter, such as FreeWrite or HemingWrite. These devices only let you write and save your work, not access the internet.
  • Buy and use uninterrupted writing software (such as Writer, Draft, or Calmly Writer). These include features to help you focus on writing.
  • Write longhand.
  • Write in a clutter-free place, with no windows, clocks, phones, TV, etc. Perhaps you have access to a bare room, or large closet, (or even the bathroom).
  • If working on a computer, resist the impulse to open new tabs, do research, check email or social media, etc.

Your Attitude Toward Distractions

Perhaps just the knowledge that distractions are killing your stories will make you more aware of them and less tolerant of them. Distractions are the enemy of good writing. Recognize what harm they’re doing; detect the onset of a distraction and refocus on your writing, if that’s possible.

And when he’s writing, never, never distract—

Poseidon’ Scribe

 

October 28, 2018Permalink

Author Interview — Tonia Kalouria

It’s not every week that I interview a poet, especially one with Hollywood connections. Let me introduce Tonia Kalouria, who has a poem in the anthology Quoth the Raven.

Tonia Kalouria is a former actress, recently returned from L.A. to “The North Coast” (i.e., Toledo), and considers herself a Midwest Gal at heart. Writing poetry helps her maintain her sanity in this topsy-turvy world, and she is a strong advocate for rhyming poetry. Her poetry has appeared in numerous publications, including The 5/2 Crime Poetry Weekly, Common Threads, The Senior Years, The Litchfield Review, Planet Green, and her own book, Aerobic Poetry.

Onward, to the interview:

Poseidon’s Scribe: When and why did you begin writing poetry?

Tonia Kalouria: I began writing about 2005 …  It all started with an  idea to do an “update” to favorite childhood nursery rhymes like “Jack and Jill”; “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” etc. as a children’s book. It culminated in my book, Aerobic Poetry, which actually has a “purpose” beyond the rhyming and emotional reactions to the words per se.

 

P.S.: Who are some of your poetic influences?

T.K.: I love the humor of Twain, light verse of Dorothy Parker, and Ogden Nash. I admire endings with a twist, a la O’Henry. Great titles are a must, replete with double meanings when possible. I relish the challenge of writing very poignant pieces in addition to my fondness for humor. Three such examples were published on “The 5/2 Crime Poetry Weekly Blog” (now in yearly ebooks.)

 

P.S.: You’re a former actress, with credits including the drama film Out of the Shadows and the TV series Passions. Please tell us about the Passions experience.

T.K.: I was in awe of James Reilly, Creator and Head Writer of NBC’s soap opera Passions, among his many other credits. He was able to produce material to fill five one-hour episodes per week in which he consistently shocked and amused, while concomitantly hooking us in with standard soap fare like great romances and dramatic strife. The show was replete with witches and a “live” doll/boy, aka Little Timmy, as well as great beautiful/handsome couples and evil villains. “Harmony” was anything but and clearly needed a psychiatrist.

Enter Dr. Wilson, played by me. And thus, you see how I get to defend my position in certain “discussions” by paraphrasing the old commercial: “Well, I’m not a doctor, but I play(ed) one on TV.”

 

P.S.: Is there a common attribute that ties your poetry together?

T.K.: Every poem I have written is unabashedly rhythmic and rhyming.

Except for one. And I am truly loathe to admit: It has been my biggest success, having not only been accepted by a “literary” magazine, but it was the winner of a Valentine’s Day Contest for radio listeners of the classic music station WCLV in Cleveland, OH: A “Romantic Weekend for Two” at the Ritz Carleton, as it were. Now, of course, I am equally excited to be included in our Poe anthology.

 

P.S.: What is it about rhyming poetry that attracts you, and causes you to oppose the more modern free verse style?

T.K.: Notwithstanding the contest poem, my goal is to write rhyming works that are understandable! Unlike, for example, the meandering Free Verse offerings in the New Yorker! But let me be clear: Most T. Kalouria poems can be enjoyed on many levels, with some folks “getting” all of my word plays, ironies, satirical aspects or other allusions, and other people, not so much. But everyone can at least follow along and enjoy the flow of the language and the story line, along with an appreciation of the “moral” or theme presented.

 

P.S.: Your poem in Quoth the Raven, “Advice is for the Birds,” is a funny twist on Poe’s Raven poem while commenting on the modern trend toward long, free verse poems. What prompted you to write it?

T.K.: My poem is a metaphor for– actually against–the Master of Fine Arts educational edict of “No Rhymers Need Apply!”

The Black Bird’s declaring that nothing mattered save Word Count is tantamount to said Ed’s Submission Admonishment that “If It Rhymes, Don’t Waste Your Time!”

Since Poe also wrote Satire and humor, I thought this might be a way to get my point across, and concomitantly, to be an homage to Poe’s “Raven” masterpiece.

(Two birds, one stone, so to speak.)

 

P.S.: What are the easiest for you, and the most difficult, aspects of writing poetry?

T.K.: The best – and worst – aspect of writing for me is the tweaking. I never, ever stop. Many times when I think, “Now, I got it; finally, I’m done!” I will then revisit it, perhaps days, weeks months or years later, and see it in a whole new way. I see things I had written subconsciously and decide to expand on those ideas, for example.

 

P.S.: Your book, Aerobic Poetry, is getting excellent reviews on Amazon. Please tell us about this book.

T.K.: The book is meant to be read aloud to help build-up breathing, especially after surgeries, or for those with chronic compromised lung or heart conditions. Even the fit person walking the treadmill can read it aloud as an extra challenge. And the guffaws provided by Kim Kalouria’s irreverent illustrations are a workout in themselves!

 

P.S.: What is your current work in progress?

T.K.: I just finished (?) my first Short Story called “Blind Justice.” Almost daily, I add to a running mixed prose and rhyme list of Epigram-type pronouncements which I call: “Dry Quips from Chapped Lips.” One example in keeping with my “Advice” theme is: “Advice, like Neuroses, is best in small doses.” (AKA: “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”)

 

Poseidon’s Scribe: What advice can you offer aspiring poets?

Tonia Kalouria: “To thine own self be true.” Write to please yourself above all so that you can get lost in that effort and feel clever and productive and creative when it seems “just right.” Confidence begets Confidence; Writing maintains Sanity.

 

Thank you, Tonia.

Interested readers can find out more about Tonia Kalouria on Facebook.

Poseidon’s Scribe

October 22, 2018Permalink

Author Interview — Ken Goldman

Just when you thought I’d interviewed all the fascinating authors out there, I found more! Meet Ken Goldman, another writer with a short story in Quoth the Raven.

Ken Goldman, former Philadelphia teacher of English and Film Studies, is an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association. He has homes on the Main Line in Pennsylvania and at the Jersey shore. His stories have appeared in over 885 independent press publications in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Australia with over thirty due for publication in 2018. Since 1993, Ken’s tales have received seven honorable mentions in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror. He has written five books: three anthologies of short stories, You Had Me at Arrgh!! (Sam’s Dot Publishers), Donny Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (A/A Productions) and Star-Crossed (Vampires 2); and a novella, Desiree, (Damnation Books). His first novel Of a Feather (Horrific Tales Publishing) was released in January 2014. Sinkhole, his second novel, was published by Bloodshot Books August 2017.

And here’s the interview:

Poseidon’s Scribe: When and why did you begin writing fiction?

Ken Goldman: I began writing before I learned to write. Prior to entering kindergarten, I was already drawing pictures to tell stories. I had a cartoon strip from elementary school through Freshman year of college – Sharky the Blimp. The strip turned risque as I got older because someone told me Sharky resembled a flying phallus. But my serious writing began in 1992 when I came in second place in the Second Annual Rod Serling Memorial Foundation’s Writing Contest with a story I’d written as a homework assignment. I figured, hey, someone may pay me money for this stuff. And the rest, as they say, is history. Fiction, but history.

 

P.S.: Who are some of your influences? What are a few of your favorite books?

K.G.: I always loved Ray Bradbury’s stories, and as a teacher, I always included him in my curriculum. As mentioned above, I was a huge Rod Serling/Twilight Zone fan; I was awed by the sheer imagination of the guy. As a film buff (and also a Film Studies teacher) I used to study every frame of Alfred Hitchcock’s films, and Psycho sealed the deal for me as a horror writer. I wanted to have that same effect on readers, and I try to add some sort of Hitchcock-type twist to every story I write. I also loved the old EC Horror comics (Tales from the Crypt stuff) for the macabre humor. For humor, I loved to read Woody Allen’s books, and I still read Dave Barry. Bios too, of anyone I find interesting. I incorporate occasional absurd humor even in my horror tales. (A rabbi and a werewolf walk into a bar…)

 

P.S.: How did you come to love the horror genre and why do you write horror?

K.G.: Why do people pay good money to ride the roller coaster only to get the hell scared out of them? It’s fun! As a kid at the amusement piers, I used to stand outside the haunted house ride just to hear the screams and laughter of the people inside. And as a teacher I taught film courses on Horror, never failing to get asses filling those seats every day — and sometimes jumping out of those seats too! Writing horror just comes easy to me. I’m sure a therapist would score several Bermuda vacations with me as a patient.

 

P.S.: Your story “Get the Door for Me, Will You, Edgar?” appears in Quoth the Raven. Please describe the real-life incident that prompted this scary story.

K.G.: I thought you’d never ask. I always taught a unit of Poe’s tales practically every year of my career, so Poe and I have a pretty good history. During one class (and during a heavy thunder storm, as in my story) I mentioned to my class how cool it would be if, by our discussing Poe’s works so thoroughly, we could somehow channel him — that is, make him appear in my classroom. I directed everyone to look at the door and picture Poe opening it and coming through. Of course, nothing happened. Not right at that moment, that is. Because when I returned to the lesson, maybe five minutes later, the door swung open — on its own! The windows were closed, so it wasn’t the wind. What was it? Or who was it? You got me.

 

P.S.: Aside from the “Edgar” story about an inner-city school English teacher, how has your background as an English and Film Studies teacher in Philadelphia influenced your writing?

K.G.: How much time have you got? Literature from the ‘greats’ has taught me some incredible writing tricks, and it’s amazing how much you learn about writing from teaching literature. I loved authors’ use of thematic symbolism (think Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 — and so many others.) Short stories? Poe, of course, Shirley Jackson, O. Henry. Characterization? Don’t hate me for this, but Shakespeare is up there. Also Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men), J.D. Salinger (Catcher in the Rye), and William Golding (Lord of the Flies). And, yes, I’ve even brought Stephen King’s work into the classroom just for the sheer fun of his brand of horror. I’ll shut up before this comes off as an English lesson.

 

P.S.: What are the easiest, and the most difficult, aspects of writing for you?

K.G.: Getting the idea for a new story is tricky because it seems practically any idea a writer may have has already been taken. So I observe just about everything for material that may inspire me to take an idea in a slightly different direction. The easiest aspect of writing? The first draft! I just let the words spill out, and I do damage control later. Once I’m on a roll most stories almost write themselves.

 

P.S.: Reading the comments on your second novel Sinkhole, I was struck by the words “gripping” and “intense.” Why do you think readers use those adjectives with this novel?

K.G.: I like to think that Sinkhole really is gripping and intense. I take a lot of time to merit those descriptions. Writing to me is rewriting, and I do a lot of that, sometimes tossing out great chunks of the first draft to tighten the plot—or sometimes even to change the direction of the story itself if I get better ideas. I’m my own worst critic. (Three stars *** for this answer)

 

P.S.: After noting your book makes several pop culture references, one reviewer said your book “feels like a genre that hasn’t been invented yet. Until now.” Do you think that’s true? Why or why not?

K.G.: I think that’s because I tend to genre-blend, if there is such a word. Sinkhole has horror, but there’s also some sci-fi elements, as well as: a Western sub-plot, slug-like monsters as well as murder-driven soul deprived humans, time travel, back stories, sex and love and cheating spouses, some porn (gasp!), good characters who do bad things/bad characters who do good things, macabre humor and dark horror with several twists at the end that I hope you won’t see coming. So, yeah, I guess that’s maybe like a genre that hasn’t been invented yet.  But I’ve got the copyright now!

 

P.S.: You’ve made no secret about admiring Stephen King’s works. In what ways are your stories similar to his, and in what ways different?

K.G.: I don’t purposely set out to copy Stephen King because there already is a Stephen King. But I read most of his novels so the influences are there, especially his characterizations. I like the way he creates tight camaraderies among his characters in life or death situations, even when they’re complete strangers. On the other hand, I try to select plots that in no way resemble his, although sometimes a King-like plot will sneak in. (Note to King: Feel free to admire my work.)

 

P.S.: Your first novel, Of a Feather, has garnered some excellent reviews on Amazon. Please help us understand the book’s protagonist, Socrates Singer.

K.G.: Socrates Singer is your basic teenage outcast. His few close relationships mean everything to him, so when one goes bad and death claims another, he has difficulty coping. As a result, his ability to control hundreds of birds gets out of his control. He doesn’t set out to create mayhem, but his emotions do get the best of him.

 

P.S.: What is your current work in progress? Would you mind telling us about it?

K.G.: This is a little sad, but okay. I recently lost my pet parrot that I’d had for over 35 years. ‘Baby’ was like a muse, always at my side when I wrote, and I do miss that. I just completed a short story called (get your handkerchiefs handy)  “Baby, Come Back”:  A young woman loses her pet parrot and discovers a place that will clone the bird for her. That’s all I’m going to tell you!

 

Poseidon’s Scribe: Sorry to hear about your parrot, but even in death, it serves as your muse. What advice can you offer aspiring writers?

Ken Goldman: Read. Write. Then read some more. Then write some more. Reread, and rewrite. Lather, rinse, repeat. The end.

 

Thanks, Ken. My readers can find out more about Ken Goldman on Facebook, on Linkedin, on his Amazon Author Page, on Goodreads, and on Google+.

Poseidon’s Scribe

October 20, 2018Permalink

Do You Semicolon?

Among punctuation marks, the semicolon is the nerdy kid who gets picked on and is chosen last for sports teams. The semicolon goes on to college, of course, and finds steady employment, but never moves up or achieves greatness, and yet falls asleep each night dreaming of a life that might have been.

As a refresher, the semicolon links major sentence elements together. It can keep two related independent clauses loosely joined; it also separates items in a list, especially when some listed items contain commas.

Search on your keyboard and you’ll find the semicolon, perhaps sharing a rarely used button with the colon. Yes, it’s that half-comma and half-period thingy—(;). Take a good look, because it may not appear on future keyboards.

That’s right. The semicolon is falling into disuse. With limited keyboard territory available, that’s a kiss of death. Future generations might well ponder about the meaning of that strange mark, unless nearer term translators simply delete it from all texts, substituting commas or periods (or emojis) as they see fit.

Semicolons have hit on hard times, or Times. Ben Macintyre, a columnist in The Times of London wrote, “Hemingway and Chandler and Stephen King wouldn’t be seen dead in a ditch with a semi-colon…Real men, goes the unwritten rule of American punctuation, don’t use semi-colons.”

The semicolon’s chief detractor, however, had to be Kurt Vonnegut, who said semicolons are “transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.”

Sheesh. It’s a semicolon, guys. Do you have to drag sex into everything?

Most people don’t hate the semicolon; they either don’t understand it or don’t see the point of it. Scorn from Vonnegut is one thing; at least he paid the semicolon some attention. But to be ignored and forgotten is far worse.

Despite being the shunned wallflower at parties where the comma and period are the hits, the semicolon boasts of a noble history. In The Tempest, Shakespeare has Prospero use one: “We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” The Bible is smitten with semicolons, starting in the second phrase of Genesis: “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”

Eight semicolons lend their gravitas to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and the U.S. Constitution teems with forty-eight of them.

That’s all fine and good, you’re thinking, but tell me what semicolons have done for us lately. And none of that poetry stuff, either. Cite some recent examples of great prose featuring a semicolon.

Sorry, I can’t. It seems that profound prose demands either the finality of a period or the casual linking of a comma. I’ve had anthology editors (bless their persnickety blue pencils) strike some of my semicolons out of existence with their sweeping editorial delete marks. Even so, I use the mark sparingly, varying between two and thirteen times in my last five published stories, for an average of one semicolon in every 54 sentences.

The semicolon enjoys the support of a few writers out there, including Ben Dolnick and Mary Norris, but such praise is rare and scattered. There is no organized ‘Save the Semicolon’ movement, or even a Kickstarter or GoFundMe page.

So, Caring Readers, it’s up to you. Preserving this punctuation mark will depend on how often we all use it. Do your part; my part will be done by—

Poseidon’s Scribe

October 14, 2018Permalink

Who the Heck is Mynheer Superbus Von Underduk?

Edgar Allan Poe could be just as creative with character names as Charles Dickens, or Dr. Seuss, for that matter. I’ll tell you about Poe’s story first, and then introduce Von Underduk.

Among Poe’s least remembered short stories is “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall.” Hmm…Pfaall. Would that be pronounced ‘fail’ or ‘fall?’ Both would be apt, and Poe probably intended the ambiguity.

Illustration by Yan Dargent

In Poe’s story, the citizens of Rotterdam were alarmed when a peculiar balloon appeared above the city. How peculiar? Its gasbag was made from newspapers, and its lone occupant was an earless dwarf. This odd aeronaut remained silent,  but dropped a sealed letter before his balloon drifted from sight.

The anxious citizens read the letter, written by Hans Pfaall, a repairer of fireplace bellows and former resident of Rotterdam, who hadn’t been seen for five years. Pfaall’s letter described how he’d constructed a balloon and voyaged to the Moon.

Near the end of his letter, Pfaall mentioned he had much to say about the strange inhabitants of the Moon, about an odd connection between Lunarians and Earthlings, and some “dark and hideous mysteries” which lay on the Moon’s far side. There his letter, and Poe’s story, ended.

Poe intended to write further installments of this story, but never did, since another author upstaged him with an outlandish Moon hoax story. Still, the questions posed by Hans Pfaall’s letter have gone unanswered since 1835…

Until now.

My sequel to Poe’s story is “The Unparalleled Attempt to Rescue One Hans Pfaall” and it appears in the anthology Quoth the Raven, which just launched today, exactly 169 years after the day of Poe’s death.

The good people of Rotterdam wouldn’t let Hans Pfaall remain trapped on the Moon. They’d organize a rescue, of course. They have everything they need. They have determination and grit. They have Pfaall’s letter with its detailed description of his balloon.

But most of all, they have Mynheer Superbus Von Underduk, the Burgomaster (mayor) of Rotterdam. Though a politician, Von Underduk is a man of many fine qualities:

  • He’s decisive and bold. Von Underduk takes little more than a month to consider the matter and authorize the rescue expedition.
  • He’s trusting and empowering. “Herr Pfaall, do not touch anything else unless I agree first. Understand?”
  • He humbly shares the spotlight. That miserable bellows repairman is not the only one capable of magnificent acts of lasting greatness…This time I alone will get the credit and the glory.
  • Most of all, he’s loving and tender. It should be understood that I, however, loathe him with hatred beyond all cosmic boundaries.

Now you can follow the journey of Burgomaster Mynheer Superbus Von Underduk and his fellow 19th Century astronauts as they pursue their desperate mission of rescue. Discover answers to the dark and hideous mysteries mentioned by Poe.

Buy Quoth the Raven and read “The Unparalleled Attempt to Rescue One Hans Pfaall” written by—

Poseidon’s Scribe

October 7, 2018Permalink

Author Interview — Susan McCauley

How do I manage to finagle interviews with the world’s most interesting writers? That may remain among the universe’s most puzzling mysteries. In any case, I’ve done it again. I have the privilege of interviewing another author with a story in the new anthology Quoth the Raven. Let me introduce Susan McCauley.

Susan McCauley is a writer / director / producer / actress who fell in love with writing, theater, and film when she was eight-years-old. That passion inspired her to receive a B.A. in Radio-Television with a minor in Theater from the University of Houston, a M.F.A. in Professional Writing from the University of Southern California, and a M.A. in Text & Performance from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and King’s College in London. Susan also studied acting at Playhouse West with Robert Carnegie and Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Park, Independence Day) in Los Angeles.

While living in Los Angeles, Susan wrote the story for and produced a short film, which later won awards at the Houston International Film Festival and the Seabrook Film Festival. In 2002, Susan moved to London to further explore professional theater. While in London, her stage adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s “The Nose” was performed at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art’s George Bernard Shaw Theatre; and, scenes from her play The Prisoner: Princess Elizabeth were performed at HMS Tower of London. She returned home to the U.S. in 2005. In 2007, she was the line producer of the Emmy Award nominated Civil War short film Now & Forever Yours: Letters to an Old Soldier.

Susan has three short stories published, one of which, “The Cask,” was made into an award winning short film. Susan is currently working on her fifth novel and has two feature length screenplays and one short film in development.

Here’s the interview:

Poseidon’s Scribe: When and why did you begin writing fiction?

Susan McCauley: I dabbled a bit with fiction in graduate school. (I received an MFA in writing from the University of Southern California, but my thesis was in screenwriting.) It wasn’t until I was living in London and began re-reading middle grade and young adult fiction as part of a teaching program I was in that I decided to start really writing fiction. I was inspired to write a short story, “The Lost Children of York,” based on a Yorkshire legend I’d heard on a ghost tour. Then, when I saw The Woman in Black on stage in London, I thought, I need to flesh out my story and do something more with it. I evolved “The Lost Children of York” into a play, which was my thesis at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and King’s College (I received an MA there in Text & Performance). Fast forward many years, I adapted the play into a screenplay that is now in development.

After writing that first short story, “The Lost Children of York,” which was never published, I decided I liked the freedom of writing fiction. Screenwriting is a very visual medium, which I love, but I think you have more control over your creation as a fiction writer. I like that aspect of it. It’s taken years and a lot of work to feel like I’m beginning to get my fiction where I want it to be. . . and, obviously, I hope I’ll continue to grow as a fiction writer and screenwriter for the rest of my life.

 

P.S.: Who are some of your influences? What are a few of your favorite books?

S.M.: This question is always hard for me to answer. I think there are many books from my childhood that shaped me. However, I’ll tell you who I think inspired me as a young reader. . . and as a reader today. As a child, I was totally inspired by Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time and C.S. Lewis’s The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe series. Laura Ingles Wilder’s accounts of life on the prairie also fascinated me. As an adult, some of my major influences have been William Shakespeare, Shirley Jackson, Johnathan Stroud, and Mary Downing Hahn. Some recent favorite books have been Took by Mary Downing Hanh and the Lockwood & Co. series by Johnathan Stroud.

 

P.S.: Did your training in acting help prepare you to write fiction?

S.M.: Absolutely. There is no doubt that acting training has been extremely helpful informing character creation and dialogue.

 

P.S.: On your Facebook page, you post “Forgotten Friday” photographs of abandoned sites. Do these inspire settings for your stories?

S.M.: None of these specific photographs have inspired any stories yet. . . but I find something sad and haunting about abandoned places. Some are beautiful. Some are devastating. They all have their own forgotten pasts. So, those images make me wonder: what stories have been lost in the past of those places?

 

P.S.: Your contribution to the anthology Quoth the Raven is “The Cask,” inspired by Poe’s Amontillado story. I love that your story was made into a film, now available on YouTube. This is a dream held by many writers. How did the story-to-film transition happen for “The Cask?”

S.M.: I was teaching an online course for Margie Lawson’s Writer’s Academy about adapting fiction for film, and as I was pulling together material for the course, I adapted my short story, “The Cask,” into a short screenplay to use as an example. When I finished the script, I thought, “this would make a good short film.” So, with my background in film, I started reaching out to some friends in L.A. to help me make it happen. At the time, nothing came out of Los Angeles, but I was led to some filmmakers in Houston, where I live, who really loved the script and wanted to help me make it. In hindsight, I wish I would have directed “The Cask” since Hollywood really wants to see more women directors and it’s something I’m getting more interested in – but at the time, I was solely focused on getting the script produced. Long story short, I was the executive producer on the project. There isn’t money in short films so it wasn’t something I could go and seek out investors for. So, about half of the budget was my money, and the rest came from an Indiegogo campaign. I wish we’d had a bit more money since a couple pages were cut from my script. . . but we did the best we could with what we had (which is typical of filmmaking – especially indie filmmaking.)

For those who are interested, here is “The Cask” on YouTube. (It did win an award for best film adaptation and played at several festivals around the United States.)

 

P.S.: Congratulations on that film award! Next question: suppose you’ve traveled through time and met yourself at a point when you were first thinking of being a writer. What one thing do you tell this younger version of you?

S.M.: I’d tell myself to start focusing on writing earlier. The acting training was great, but I wish I would have gone into college as an undergrad knowing I wanted to be a writer. I knew I liked writing back then – I’ve known it since I was about eight years old – I just wish I would have been a lot more focused on it sooner.

 

P.S.: Is there a common attribute that ties your fiction together (genre, character types, settings, themes) or are you a more eclectic author?

S.M.: I find myself writing dark things. Supernatural. Horror. Dark fantasy. (The only exception with my fiction is my 9/11 story, “The Butcher’s Boy,” which is a psychological horror and thriller.) I’m beginning to see some common themes emerging in my writing: overcoming loss, revenge, redemption, fighting for something (or someone) you love/believe in. My screenplays and short stories to date have been for adults and young adults, but my novels (all of which are still works-in-progress) are strictly middle grade and young adult books – so far.

 

P.S.: What are the easiest, and the most difficult, aspects of writing for you?

S.M.: Sometimes I don’t feel like any of it is easy. LOL. I suppose the actual sentence construction and play with word choice are two of the easier things for me. The most difficult aspect for me in fiction is finding the voice of my book. Voice is such an elusive thing. James Scott Bell’s book Voice: The Secret Power of Great Writing is probably the best thing I’ve read that describes what it is and how to capture it.

 

P.S.: Your story “The Snow Woman” appears in the anthology Snowpocalypse: Tales of the End of the World. Please tell us about that story, its protagonist, and what inspired the tale.

S.M.: With an interest in history and myths, I often try to blend those into the fantasy and supernatural that I most often write. For “The Snow Woman,” I landed on the Japanese myth of Yuki-onna and my interest was immediately piqued. As for the mummification aspect of the story, I combined two practices from different regions – self-mummification of the Sokushinbutsu, a sect of Japanese Buddhist monks, and the shrunken head practices of the Jivaroan tribes of South America. I remember seeing the shrunken heads of a dark-haired woman and a mustached man in the natural history museum when I was a child. They terrified me. The Jivaroan tribes believed they could trap the spirit of an enemy by removing their head, shrinking it, and sewing the lips closed. This story was the perfect opportunity for me to use something that scared me for years.

 

P.S.: It’s been just over seventeen years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. You wrote “The Butcher’s Boy,” available here, a short and gripping tale about a young man and his father experiencing the disaster near the Twin Towers. What would you like readers to know about this story?

S.M.: The terrorist attacks made me look at the world differently. They were horrific, but they also made me realize I was willing to fight for my country. I have a gap in my writing career – a time when I didn’t write creatively – and worked for a bit for the United States government. I was trying to make a difference. As for the story, I don’t want younger generations to forget what happened on 9/11. I want them to remember the people who died, the rescuers who sacrificed their safety (and lives), and the people who survived. I want younger generations to remain vigilant. And I want them to know that they can make a difference.

 

P.S.: What is your current work in progress? Would you mind telling us a little about it?

S.M.: I have a novel I recently “finished,” which is on submission. It’s a young adult story called The Devil’s Tree, which is actually an expanded version of my short story of the same name on WattPad. It’s a ghost story about a teenager overcoming her life-situation and learning to accept herself.

I also have two feature films in development. One is a psychological horror, The Murdering Kind, which is being directed by my amazing friend Academy Award winner Barney Burman. The other is The Lost Children of York, which is an adaptation of the play I wrote when I lived in London. The lovely and talented Edmund Kingsley is working with me on The Lost Children of York as a co-producer and actor.

 

Poseidon’s Scribe: What advice can you offer aspiring writers?

Susan McCauley: Read as much as you can. Write as often as you can. Revise. Revise. Revise. And, no matter what, keep working. Find other writers – good writers – to inspire and encourage you. The whole process can be an emotional roller coaster, and in such an isolated profession we all need people who can give us guidance and encouragement through the ups and downs of the process.

 

Thanks, Susan.

Readers, I know you’ll want to find out more about Susan McCauley. You can keep up with her at her website, on Instagram, on Facebook, on Twitter, and on her Amazon author page.

                                                Poseidon’s Scribe

October 7, 2018Permalink

Author Interview — Sonora Taylor

You never know who will show up here at the sprawling complex of Poseidon’s Scribe Enterprises. I had the honor of interviewing another author whose story appears in the new anthology Quoth the Raven, a book that just launched today. Let me introduce Sonora Taylor.

Sonora Taylor has been writing for many years. She is the author of The Crow’s Gift and Other Tales, Wither and Other Stories, and Please Give. She is also the co-author of Wretched Heroes, a graphic novel co-written and illustrated by Doug Puller. Her next novel, Without Condition, will be released in February of 2019. She lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband.

Now, on to the interview:

Poseidon’s Scribe: When and why did you begin writing fiction?

Sonora Taylor: I’ve been writing fiction since I was a little girl. While I had many interests that didn’t last — ballet, soccer, drawing — writing was one I stuck with, and one that seemed to be a good one to stick with. My teachers always liked my stories, as did my family.

I went through gaps in my writing, especially when I graduated from college and started my career. I went a few years without writing much, but still played out stories in my head. A few ideas settled down and wouldn’t leave, even when all I wrote for them were a few notes.

In 2016, I decided to try writing stories again as a way to relax after work, and also to keep my creative juices going. I was just going to write and see what happened. I ended up finishing one story, “All the Pieces Coming Together.” I started and finished another one, “The Crow’s Gift.” Then another, and another. Then I started what became my first novel, and I’ve been writing daily ever since.

 

P.S: What other authors influenced your writing?

S.T.: I’m a voracious reader and draw influences from a lot of different writers and styles. My favorite book growing up was Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech. I still try to read it once a year. The dry humor, use of dialogue, and unique voice of the protagonist had an influence on my writing for sure, one I recognized more after I started writing and then reread the book again.

The same goes for Bill Amend, who writes and illustrates Foxtrot. I read lots of comics growing up, though not many superhero comics — I mostly read newspaper dailies, slice-of-life indie comics, and Archie. I adored Foxtrot, and the way the humor builds in each line of dialogue from panel to panel is so good. I think my comics fandom helped me develop my skill for writing dialogue.

I’d be remiss to not include Stephen King. I started reading his work when I was 14. One specific story of his really influenced my writing: “The Man Who Loved Flowers.” It’s a story that starts rather innocent, then takes a hard left turn into sinister. I love that style of horror, and such turns are ones I like to incorporate in my writing, both for the chill factor and to challenge myself as a writer to not take the well-beaten path.

 

P.S: Suppose you just met an interested reader in an elevator. The reader asks, “What sort of stories do you write?” The doors will open soon, so what short answer do you give this reader?

S.T.: I write stories that will unsettle you more than they’ll scare you.

 

P.S: Although you’ve self-published a novel and two collections of short stories, your inclusion in Quoth the Raven is your first acceptance by an editor. Please describe your feelings and actions upon learning of that acceptance, and convey something of the effort to achieve it.

S.T.: It was a great feeling for sure. While I self-published my short story collections and novel, I’ve also been submitting short stories to journals, anthologies, and contests over the past two years. I did so with the desire to get my work out there, and also so I could grow comfortable with sending my work to strangers to review. I also did so to grow comfortable with rejection. I keep all my rejection letters in a binder.

When I started the rejection binder, I did so with the hope that I’d eventually have an acceptance binder. It felt really good to start one last month, and to christen it with my acceptance letter for Quoth the Raven.

I heard about the anthology through Facebook, and heard about it three weeks before the deadline. As I read the prompt, the wheels started turning and I worked on my story, “Hearts are Just ‘Likes’” (I’ll talk more about the story below). My friend proofread it for me and gave me feedback, which I incorporated; and then I submitted it. All I can do when I submit is wait, and I’m used to a longer waiting period with most of my submissions (though I figured this would be faster given the projected publication date).

When I first got my reply, I thought it was a rejection, since the preview text was “Thank you for your interest …” I’ve read that many times, in both the literary context and when I’ve been job-hunting; so I expected to see the usual reply of how my story wasn’t selected, it was difficult to choose, etc. So, I was quite thrilled when I read, “It gives me great pleasure to accept your story.” I grinned to myself and read it a few times over again. It finally happened — I got an acceptance!

 

P.S: In Quoth the Raven, your story is “Hearts are Just ‘Likes’,” a social media spin on Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.” What was your inspiration for writing this story?

S.T.: When I first read the call for submission, I started thinking of my favorite Poe stories and how those stories could be updated. As I brainstormed, I thought of “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and initially connected the title to the visual hearts on platforms like Instagram and Twitter. The title, “Hearts are Just ‘Likes,’” came next; and I thought of how I could update that story to take place on social media.

The core of the terror in “The Tell-Tale Heart” is the narrator’s fear of being seen, which manifests into him being certain that his guilt is clear to the police in the form of a beating heart and the watchful eye of his victim. Social media thrives on people being seen, but for every good feeling of connection, it also creates a form of paranoia, in that many feel they need to always perform as if they’re always being watched online. I wondered what it would be like for someone whose identity is very much based on being seen online, if they committed an atrocious act offline and had to account for it on social media.

 

P.S: What are the easiest, and the most difficult, aspects of writing for you?

S.T.: The easiest aspect of writing for me is dialogue. I love to write conversations, especially between two people. It helps me sort out their thoughts and what they’re thinking, and it’s easier for me to work through what I want them to say by having them speak it out as opposed to writing narration. A lot of my first drafts are heavy with dialogue, so much that they resemble a script; and excess lines of dialogue are the first to go when I start revising.

The most difficult aspect is writing past a line or description I’m stuck on or am not getting just right, before moving on to where I want to go next. I’ll stare at my cursor, write, delete, write, delete, and find myself wishing I could just get this one part right because I know what I want to write after it. I’ve had to learn to force myself to write something, or even just a note to add something better later on. It’s gotten better, but it’s still something I get stuck on in every draft.

 

P.S: Suppose you’ve traveled through time and met yourself at a point when you were first thinking of being a writer. What one thing do you tell this younger version of you?

S.T.: Hi younger me. Wow, you’re sixteen — half my age! I see you’re working on what you think will be your first novel. Keep writing it. You’re taking time away from the Internet and TV to write a book for one or two hours every night. This is excellent discipline, and even if you don’t finish the book — which you won’t, and honestly, that’s for the best — you’re learning how to set aside time to write amidst the hubbub of your chores and your hobbies. This is especially important as you’ll only be on the Internet more in sixteen years.

 

P.S: One of your short story collections is Wither and Other Stories. Please talk about the common thread connecting these stories. Also, did you write the stories with the collection in mind, or decide to collect them later?

S.T.: The common thread connecting Wither and Other Stories is the choice to partake. In some stories, this is temptation, while in other stories, it’s a choice rooted in survival. Which decision will give the best outcome — and does that decision even matter when it comes to the outcome?

I did not write the stories with the collection in mind (I almost never do). I wrote the four stories — “Wither,” “Nesting,” “Smoke Circles,” and “We Really Shouldn’t” — while I was waiting to receive Please Give (my first novel) back from my editor. I wrote a few other stories as well, but those were the stories I felt were most ready to be in my next collection. I saw a few themes between them — nature, relationships, one’s mental state — but it was my cover artist, Doug Puller, who inspired me to see the common thread. As he suggested artwork for the cover, he mentioned drawing a hand reaching for a wild strawberry, and having it be reminiscent of reaching for forbidden fruit. His words struck a chord with me, and while I don’t consider the stories to contain forbidden fruit, I do think all of them have some element of trying to decide whether or not one should do something that seems forbidden.

 

P.S: Your other short story collection is The Crow’s Gift and Other Tales, and these stories, too, have a common element: gifts and the connections they form. Please tell us a bit about the protagonist of the tale involving crows.

S.T.: Tabitha is nine years old and the only child of a single mother. She doesn’t have any close friends, and while only one of her classmates is an active bully, she’s mostly ignored. She’s very lonely, and to break the loneliness, she’ll sometimes say hello to the animals she sees on her walk to school. One day, a crow squawks back at her when she says hi. She begins to see the bird, who she names Timothy, as her friend. She brings him food, and in return, he brings her stones as gifts. A startling event, though, makes Tabitha question whether or not she should accept Timothy’s friendship.

 

P.S: What is your current work in progress? Would you mind telling us a little about it?

S.T.: My current work-in-progress is my next novel: Without Condition. It’s about a woman named Cara who lives a quiet life in rural North Carolina. She works for an emerging brewery, drives her truck late at night, and lives with her mother on a former pumpkin farm. Her mother is proud of her, as shown on a wall with all of Cara’s accomplishments.

Cara isn’t so much proud as she is bored. She’s revitalized when she meets a man named Jackson. Every day they spend together, she falls for him a little more — which in turn, makes her life more complicated. For when Cara goes for a late-night drive, she often picks up hitchhikers. When she does, those hitchhikers tend to die. And when Cara comes back to the farm, she brings a memento for her mother to add to her accomplishments. Her mother is proud of her and loves her no matter what. But Cara isn’t sure that Jackson would feel the same — and she’s not sure she wants to find out.

Without Condition is what my twisted mind would love to see in terms of a romance. Doug Puller (who’s working on the cover art now) described it as “macabre romance.” It’s dark, bemused, and tender — my favorite kind of story. I just got it back from my editor, the amazing Evelyn Duffy, and am getting ready to go through her edits and make the next round of revisions. I expect to release it on February 12, 2019 — just in time for Valentine’s Day.

 

Poseidon’s Scribe: What advice can you offer aspiring writers?

Sonora Taylor: It’s almost become a cliché for writers to say, “Keep writing.” But, it’s really the best advice out there. Keep writing — on scraps of paper, in the Notes app on your phone, in an email you send to yourself, anywhere. Writing consistently is the best way to see yourself through as a writer.

My own addition to this advice would be to expand your definition of what it means to have written every day. While I encourage working on a story or novel a little each day, some days, the words just won’t come. On those days, consider if you’ve written notes for the story, or corrected a passage that was bugging you too much for you to move past it. That counts as writing every day — it’s engagement with your work, and that’s more important than a word count.

 

Thanks, Sonora.

Fascinated readers have many options for learning more about Sonora Taylor, namely on Twitter, on Instagram, on Facebook, on Goodreads, on Amazon, on her website, and at her blog.

Poseidon’s Scribe

October 7, 2018Permalink