Seton CC's January Visiting Author: Claudia Gabel - "Romeo & Juliet & Vampires"

The "Visiting Writers' Program" at Seton Catholic Central High School (where I teach) recently welcomed our first visiting author of the year.  To recap: this program was brainstormed two years ago when the administration at SCC expressed their desire for a Creative Writing Class (taught by moi). 

At the same time, a student running for Student Council proposed an initiative to bring in professional writers of all kinds to visit our students.  As educators, we're forever stressing careers in medicine, business, management, law, big things like that.  However, for some reason we often forget the Arts; especially the art of writing.

I decided to "marry" the two initiatives, to develop a Visiting Writers' Program that would serve as the core of the Creative Writing Class.   The class would read the works of many different types of writers, then meet with those writers to talk with them about the craft and the business.  Also, students not in my Creative Writing class would still be eligible to meet with the writers.  They had to read the work, respond to it in a reflective essay, then they'd be excused from class to meet with these writers.

Last year, our program embarked on its maiden voyage with resounding success, bringing in the following authors/writers/poets to visit with our students:

Dan Keohane, Bram Stoker Nominated author of Solomon's Grave

Andrei Guruianu,  poet, professor, and former Poet Laurette of Broome County 

Bryan Davis, bestselling YA/Teen fantasy author, creator of Dragons In Our Midst

Tom Monteleone, award winning author/screenwriter and owner of Borderlands Press

Rio Youers, rising author of Mama Fish and End Times

This year's schedule is jam-packed and ambitious.  Thanks to several grants, we're bringing in seven different authors and at the end of February, two authors will visit SCC for three days to conduct an intensive workshop for my Creative Writing students.  

Needless to say, things are going to be very, busy over the next few months and we kicked things off recently with Claudia Gabel, author of the latest genre mash-up, Romeo & Juliet & Vampires (HarperTeen, a division of HarperCollins).

A graduate of Seton, Claudia has visited us several times in the past, speaking to classes and donating her time to judge at poetry contests and work at book fairs.  This was her first formal visit as part of our Visiting Writers' program, and it was a huge success.

Claudia spent roughly two hours talking about her career path as a writer, (graduate school, MA in English, her positions at Random House and HarperTeen), her other works - In and Out, a teen series for Scholastic and other ghost-writing projects - and shared her inspirations and goals.   She answered questions about Romeo & Juliet & Vampires,  detailing her research, how she approached rewriting a classic work of literature, and how the project came to be in the first place.

Along the way, she offered our students invaluable insight into the writing and publishing process, especially when it came to working with editors and accepting their critique and guidance.   Many of the students were surprised (and perhaps a little frightened) that novel writing wasn't the glamorous, stress-free blissful experience so many movies and television shows make it out to be.

Claudia is a hardworking, dedicated professional. A classic example of that kid who doodled stories in her Mead notebooks all through high school, dreaming of being a writer - and then going out and doing exactly that. 
 

Next month's visiting writer is Bram Stoker Award-Winning author Norman Prentiss.

Shroud Magazine Autumn Issue 10: Halloween Special is now available on Amazon. As guest editor, it was quite a pleasure working with all the writers involved, and I dare say they're a very talented bunch.  A little post-Halloween...but perfect for those folks who love to celebrate it year round.  Contributor copies and pre-orders are being shipped this weekend.

Below is the ever wonderful cover art of Stephen Gilberts, and the TOC following.

FICTION

THREE DOORS, Norman Patridge

LEFT-HANDED RADIO, Rio Youers

1925: A FALL RIVER HALLOWEEN, Lisa Mannetti

WAITING FOR G.P., Justin Gustainis

RED LANTERN, Alethea Kontis

CHILDHOOD GHOSTS, Kelli Owen

VACCINATION, Thomas Phillips

GEORGIE, Robert Ford

THE PROPHET ON THE SAND, Val Muller

THE LOVE STORY OF HENRY VAN PENNYSHAW, Chandler Kaiden

ALMOST PARADISE, Jeremy C. Shipp

LAST HALLOWEEN, Daniel G. Keohane

NONFICTION 

HALLOWEENED BE THY NAME, Nicholas Grabowski

TAMPER (SOST), Scott Christian Carr

SAM HANE IT'S NOT, Jodi Lee

TEN QUESTIONS WITH NORMAN PARTRIDGE, Brian J. Hatcher

EXPLODING PUMPKINS AND POISONED CANDY, Elizabeth Tucker

WHERE DID ALL THE MONSTERS GO?, Kelli Owen

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: RIO YOUERS, Kevin Lucia

MORE...

DEMENTIS MORTUUS, Word Games for the Rest of Us, Victorya & Danny Evarts

BOOK REVIEWS

Art from Danny Evarts & Tyler Hoglund

Cover by Steven Gilberts

A Contest, and Pimpin' My Cool Author Friends: Dan Keohane

First, there's a contest over at author Mike Duran's website for a free copy of  The Midnight Diner: Volume Three, which sports my most recently published story, "Lonely Places", a story I feel curiously ambivalent about - because it took me over a year to write and polish, so I lost all objectivity for - but people seem to really, really like.    

The Midnight Diner itself, in the new and VERY capable hands of author and editor Michelle Pendergrass, is an anthology that's young and growing.  It bought my horribly bloated and overwritten "Way Station" for Volume One and Volume Two featured (ironically) Dan Keohane's "Year's Best Horror" Honorable Mention story "The Box", but I really think THIS volume is going to be it's breakout edition.  Some great stories here, and - though I'm prejudiced - I think it's going to develop into a genre anthology with literary pretensions, and that's not a bad thing, in my opinion.

So.  Wherever I am in this "career-thingy", I feel like it's time to start tipping my hat to folks who've made a difference along the way.  The first was author Rio Youers, in the difference he's made as a good friend and through his work.  The next is author and good friend Dan Keohane.  Now, this post rambles - flings around generalities and stereotypes, which may cause certain folks to think: "Hey! What's he implying by that?"  But please take it all at face value, and know I mean no offense.

Anyway. When I first wrote "odd stuff" vaguely classified as "supernatural suspense", I felt some trepidation at assuming the mantle of "horror writer".  First of all, back then - as now - I didn't want to be pigeon-holed into one genre.  I had (and still harbor) the silly idea that I could/can write whatever I want/wanted.  

But, ya gotta start somewhere, and at the time, my reading  had started leaning towards darker horror.  So.  I sorta/kinda/maybe started thinking of myself as a horror writer.  I didn't really believe it, though.  I was a regular guy with a regular job and a house, a wife, two kids, a cat and I wasn't very interesting or flashy or impressive in any way.  I went to bed every night before 9 PM.  My idea of exciting times was mowing the lawn, or hanging out at Barnes & Noble.  Very "vanilla", honestly, and not even tapioca vanilla.  Just vanilla.

See, I was operating under the mistaken assumption that all horror authors were ultra cool, edgy folk who lived strange and wild lives so far removed from my quiet little country one out here in the sticks.  Now, since then I've met a lot of horror writers - even some of the bigger ones - and have realized an essential truth: they're all regular people, like me.

However, it wasn't until I spent some time with Dan Keohane that I realized I TOO could be a horror writer, could honestly think of myself as such.  Almost a year ago, Dan graciously drove down to New York to visit with my Creative Writing class and appear with me at our church's celebration of the arts, "Art Show On Main Street".  Through those two days and dinner with Dan, I got to know him a lot better and realized that in many ways, we were a lot alike, though separated by a few years.

Dan and I are both solid family guys.  Dan's a regular, down-to-earth guy with an easy-going way about him that really vibes with me.  He likes to hang out, likes all sorts of people, and does read outside the horror genre quite a bit.   He's got a nine-to-five, Monday through Friday like me, (though my gig is more like 8-to-3).

Though maybe I've missed some of his "wild years" (he's certainly missed mine) we approach "partying at cons" from similar, fairly relaxed and conservative perspectives.  We also come from similar faith backgrounds, and through our conversations it became apparent we shared the same feelings about how that faith should play out in mixed company and in our fiction.

But Dan is also a fine, fine horror writer.  A true professional.  Respected amongst his peers as both a writer and simply a person.  If Dan lived closer and we could hang out more, I could easily see him as a mentor.  Ironically, his advice after several drafts of "Lonely Places" proved invaluable, and helped make the story what it is.

AND, just his very presence  convinced me that "horror writer" and "regular" guy was NOT an oxymoron (It should be noted that Dan was one of the first folks I really opened up to and who really opened up to me, and I've since realized most other horror writers are regular people also. I also don't want to imply that all these things Dan is, other horror writers are not. See?  This post just rambles....).

I see a lot of what I'd like to be someday in Dan.  And that made a huge difference for me.  Now - I'm not implying that all other horror writers are weirdos, or that I like Dan because he's "boring".  He's anything but, as the following two pictures prove...

 

...just that Dan himself made me feel a lot more comfortable thinking I had what it took to be a horror writer.  Like I said - just take it all at face value. And PLEASE pick up his work.  Solomon's Grave is probably one of the best spiritual horror novels I've ever read, and his newest short in the upcoming Shroud Halloween issue is sure to hit right where it counts.

Thanks, Dan.  For just being you.

Pimpin' My Cool Author Friends: Rio Youers

No change to the booklist yet, because I've been reading some really long books. But, I thought of an alternate blog filler: "Pimpin' My Cool Author Friends".  These will be little snippets about folks I know who have written great stuff, and why you should read them too.  Today's Cool Author Friend is none other than Rio Youers.

First of all, why he's cool: he's probably one of the most vibrant, vivacious people I've ever met.  Rio just wants to "live", bottom line, and live out loud.  But he's smooth.  Very "chill".  Unpretentious when he has every reason to BE pretentious.  

And he's British.  Plus, he rocks a fedora like no else (except maybe Brian Keene):

I love this picture, by the way.  Why?  Because there I am - in the background.  Where I should be, for now.  But there Rio is, front and center...right where he should be, also. 

Now.  Why should you read him?  Well, here's this for starters: 

"Rio Youers is one of the most vital, most exciting young talents to come along in this decade."

—Peter Straub, New York Times Bestselling Author

In a way I'm a little worried that I'm going a bit "fan boy" and gushing over Rio, but I guess I'm just so enthused to meet someone who has so many of the same feelings about fiction as I do, and the thing is: most of the fiction I wrote when I first started out - even the first stories that were published - were NOT ones I felt were really ME. My evolution as a writer has moved me in a certain direction, and Rio's played a big part in that - both him and his work.

His prose flows.  Smooth to read.  Probably one of the best endorsements comes from one of my 10th Grade Honors students after reading Mama Fish, something along the lines of: 

"It's funny...the story is complicated and deep, and it's not like he used small words or anything...but it's (Mama Fish) so easy to read, he made it EASY to get lost in the story.  His words didn't get in the way."

I mean, what better endorsement is there than that?  I think what I appreciate most about Rio's work is it's determination to never rest on horror conventions...and it's always about LIFE.

What should you read?
Mama Fish.  Absolutely.  It's like a spooky "Outsiders".

Old Man Scratch.  This is what I've come to think of as trademark Rio: the center of this story is a human drama we can all relate to...but don't forget about that dark thing flickering from the corner of your eye....

  













I'll be getting his novel, End Times, soon.  I'll let you know what I think, but I'm sure it'll be as fine as everything else he's done... 

Next fine friend to pimp is Bram Stoker Nominated author, Dan Keohane.