The Whispers of Gaps in My Genre Education, and a night With Tom Monteleone & F. Paul Wilson: P1

Been thinking about a TON of stuff lately.  Most of it regarding my future as a writer.  What I want to accomplish (the crazy, pie in the sky goals), what I'd be happy/content to accomplish (spritzed with a dose of reality), what I want to spend my time doing, where my energies would best be expended.  This is pretty weighty stuff, so I'm splitting it into Part 1 and 2.

I recently stepped down as Shroud's Review Editor.  After over five years of reviewing, I simply came to the end.  Satisfied I'd installed a durable system at Shroud, I realized it was time to leave.  

I'm not done with Shroud, however.  I've pitched at least two more issues to Tim Deal, The Terror at Miskatonic Falls is on its way, and I'll revisit Hiram Grange eventually.   Shroud has become like family, and that'll never change.

Recently, however, I hit a milestone: a phone pitch interview with a senior acquisitions editor at a New York Publishing House. Then, several months later, I met with said editor in person, discussed my pitch, and handed this editor a series synopsis, the synopses for the first two installments plus the first four chapters of each, and a brief overview of the third installment.

I came away changed.   This experience clarified many things.  First of all, since the publication of my first story - for cash - four years ago, I've done okay.  Sold five fiction shorts to decent markets for at least semi-pro pay, six creative non-fiction pieces to very good markets for really good pay.  

Attended Borderlands Press Writers Bootcamp two years consecutively.  Wrote and rewrote and rewrote and rewrote a pretty decent novella that's gotten good reviews, even notched some Stoker Recommendations, though it fell short of the preliminary ballot.  Edited a very unique anthology in The Terror at Miskatonic Falls, as well as Shroud's 2010 Halloween Issue.  

Along the way, I attended a few cons, met some awesome people who have not only been great help, but also great friends.   I started receiving some short story solicitations, so I geared up to write those, another Hiram novella, some Hiram flash, a novel or two, and then...

I stopped.

Looked around.

Realized that I as happy as I was with what I'd accomplished...I wanted to go further.

So, believe it or not, I actually turned down most of those story solicitations.  They just weren't for me.  I also realized that I'd sold myself a lie.  I'll never be a prolific short story writer with hundreds of short stories to my credit.  Just don't have it in me.

When things started "happening" for me, I got really excited.  Couldn't wait until I published enough stories for my first short story collection.   My credits were decent enough.  Had enough good reviews and blurbs, and here's the quirk that POD publishing has brought the small press horror market, for good or ill:  the acceptance of a novel or short story collection through a small or micro horror press no longer hinges on an author's marketability or selling power.  This sounds like a good thing.  More freedom.  More open doors to new voices and fresh writers.  It MUST be a good thing.

I'm becoming ever more uncertain of this.

Especially in the case of short story collections.  What's the logic behind publishing a collection of a writer's short stories?  The motive?  The more I chewed over this, the less appealing the thought became.

You don't publish a collection of your short stories simply because you've racked up enough "readable", "good" stories published in "good" markets.  In fact, it could be argued (let's leave self-publishing ebooks out of this,  for now), that a writer shouldn't publish his own short stories at ALL.

A publisher - of any kind, specialty, small, or micro - should approach  the writer, say to them: "We love your work.  People love your work.  You've done great things.  Won awards.  Have a name and a following.  We'd LOVE to put together a collection of your shorts."

This past week Tom Monteleone and Paul Wilson visited my Creative Writing students, conducted a workshop with them.  I'll just say this now: I love Tom and Paul.  I love Tom's short work, I love Repairman Jack, and both of these guys have left indelible stamps on my writing, thanks to two years at Borderlands' Bootcamp.  So when they asked me to hang out with them and a friend of theirs who lived in Binghamton, I jumped at the chance.

I can't detail that evening here.  That will be Part Two.  Suffice to say...it was better than any Con I've attended yet, (except Borderlands), I kid you not.  It blew my mind.   Overwhelmed me with how little I knew of genre fiction's past.  Most of all?

It humbled me.  Left me in awe. And from my viewpoint, that has crystallized the undeniable negative that POD publishing has brought to the horror genre.

A lack of humility.  Of patience.  Why commit yourself to a dream that will require hard work, patience, and a thick skin?  Why work to be better?  Why suffer rejection from those big, bad, uncaring New York Houses, when we can just self-publish ebooks or publish collections through small presses?

Understand, I'm not slamming small presses.  Cemetery Dance, Apex, Shroud, Thunderstorm and Maelstrom, Belfire, Deadite...all quality publishers.   And places that I'd be happy sending my work, but....

I've been aiming at the bottom of the ladder (and not in quality, just in size and distribution and marketing and name).    Ignoring the top and even the middle.  Convinced myself I wasn't good enough, maybe.  Maybe impatient, also.  Because to hit the top, I need to do two simple things: WRITE.  AND WAIT (and try and try and try....woops.  That's like five things.)  

Maurice Broaddus once wrote a blog entitled "A Fate Worse Than Being Unpublished".  In it, he shared that if he couldn't be published WELL, he'd rather not be published at all until such a time came that he did publish well.

Of course, there's no guarantee of hitting the top or the middle.  Ever.  Maybe - MORE THAN LIKELY - no specialty house will EVER approach me for a collection of my short fiction.  Very possibly, I'll NEVER land a deal with a New York House.

BUT I WANT TO TRY.  

And I'm willing to wait.  For however long it takes to happen.  I'm willing to weather as many rejections as it takes.  As Norman Partridge asked recently in some BRILLIANT blog posts about publishing for the newbie writer: "Have you tried New York? I mean, really tried?"  

No.

No, I haven't.

So I've slowed things down.  I'm still working on my novel, but have no immediate plans to publish it, simply because of THIS awesome piece of advice, also by Norman Partridge: the only magic bullet in publishing success is the writing itself.

I stepped down from Review Editor, and I've accepted a position as a slush reader.  

Slush reader?  

Isn't this a step backward?

No.  It's a HUMBLING step.  One that will teach me SO MUCH about what makes an excellent short story.  I'm also going back to "bone up" on my horror:  Charles Grant. TM Wright.  Ramsey Campbell.  The Whispers anthologies.  So many others I missed because my focus was too narrow.  

And of course, all my current favorites: Gary Braunbeck.  Rio Youers.  Tim Lebbon.  Neil Gaiman.  Norm Partridge.  Norman Prentiss.  Nate Kenyon.  Ronald Malfi and Mary Sangiovanni.  T. L. Hines and Travis Thrasher.  Of course, Tom Monteleone and Paul Wilson. And I need to check out other folks, like Laird Barron and Tom Piccirrilli.

Looks like I'm going back to school.

I've got lots of work to do.

A Review and a Giveaway at "A Tale of Many Reviews"

Not only another review of Hiram Grange & The Chosen One but also a giveaway of a signed copy over at "A Tale of Many Reviews".  All you gotta do is read the review, comment at the end about something the review said about Hiram that appealed to you, and you'll be entered.  As always, one of my favorite little bits:

"The action starts right from the beginning and gets you hooked into the mystery.  It doesn't slow down much from there, only occasionally stopping for the reader to catch their breath before the next event occurs."

Read the rest of the review.

As writers we're not supposed to pay too much attention to reviews, (and unfortunately as a newbie I've been gleefully ignoring that rule), but one consistent comment I've been very gratified to receive is about its pacing, because that's something I struggled with very badly at first.

You see, I'd never attempted a novella before. Had always tinkered around with the longer, novel-length manuscripts.  So, my first several drafts of Hiram were way too long, (I won't say HOW long), and included too many unnecessary scenes and plot tangents. 

I've got to give ultimate credit for the pacing over to two folks: Tim Deal of Shroud and one of my former students.   Tim's advice on how to pace a novella - thinking of it in terms as scene cuts in a screenplay - chopped out tons of chaff.  

Also, one of my former students inadvertently influenced me when he entered my classroom  one day commenting on a book he was reading - I forget the title - that had very short chapters.  He remarked that the substance of the story hadn't been sacrificed for speed, because the chapters were short and getting through them so quickly created a "sense of accomplishment" that kept pulling him through.

And then I thought: "Hmm.  Short chapters, you say?"

Anyway. Nice to see another review.  If I remember right, there are only a few these left out there, (one or two that were supposed to go live months ago), and then it'll be time to let Hiram go and move on to something else.  So then I can work on not reading about myself, put my nose to the grindstone and work on other stuff.

Until then, of course...

Winners of Hiram Grange Giveaway, Blog Tour Reflections

First off, I'd like to congratulate Jeff of California, Kenneth of Virginia, and Dixie of Georgia.  Goodreads has selected you as winners, so you'll soon be getting free copies of Hiram Grange & The Chosen One in the mail. Kudos! 

However, that's not all.  Because I like to give stuff away, (it's a compulsion, actually), I'm also going to throw in copies of The Midnight Diner, Volume Three - featuring my story, "Lonely Places" - and Abominations: 17 Tales of Murderous Monsters, which features my story "Water God of Clarke Street".  So, Christmas has come early for you folks.  Hope you enjoy the goodies.

So, the blog tour is done.  For a list of the all places I toured, go here.  Now...what's next?  What are my thoughts on the tour, about what I might have accomplished?

Mixed feelings.  First of all, my original tour idea - to ping Technorati's "Popular Books" Page (which no longer exists), see if I could drive a small press novella up the ranks was a bust from the beginning.  But with the overwhelming response from bloggers who wanted to throw their collective shoulders behind the idea, I went ahead anyway. 

And, it turned out to be pretty fun.  I enjoyed writing some of those different guest posts and answering a whole bunch of interview questions that somehow - amazingly enough - managed to touch on many different topics without much overlap.  Some nice reviews came back, and I wrote some new short fiction.  I hope things didn't get too "over pimpy", as I tried to maintain my regular blog presence, as well.

Did it impact sales? Not much, I imagine.  Did it help spread the word about Hiram and me?  Maybe. I did get a whole slew of new Twitter and Facebook friends during the tour, far more than I usually get in a month. Will that translate into new fans of my work, new blog followers? Who knows, really?

Probably the nicest thing about the tour, the biggest surprise and best result was this: all the folks who chimed in and basically said with their efforts: "Hey, Kevin - we like your work and we think it's worth supporting. How can we help?"  That was probably the best takeaway, and something that really made my day for a whole month, seeing folks cross-posting, re-tweeting and posting things to Facebook.  

Some folks even did RL (real life) things like ordering Hiram Grange for their libraries, (something I'll detail about later, after I've resumed my regular blogging), set me up with potential speaking and signing gigs in the area, stuff like that.  I'm thankful for that, thankful for all of it, really.

Now, however...

Time to drop off the promotional radar.  There are a few reviews and interviews leftover from the tour that'll show up eventually, a few other reviews that had nothing to do with the tour due anytime, but what I really need to do now is let Hiram Grange go his way, and have me go mine.   I have a huge opportunity with these three chapters and novel synopsis, an opportunity that's basically a Godsend.  

A chance to pitch something to a New York publishing house. That's a whole 'nother level of awesome, so you can imagine I'll be pretty obsessed with that over the coming weeks and months.

Also, I have The Drift (Shroud novel) to return to, and in the Spring - The Terror of Miskatonic Falls.  Also, a few stories requested of me, and when I get final due dates on those, I need to get cranking there, too.

Busy, busy, busy....

Random Stuff: Stoker Dreams, Shroud's Halloween Issue, Friday's Signing of Hiram, The Drift, New Review of Hiram

So, this is a midweek blog with some updates, ramblings, reviews, and...well...

Okay.

I'll fess up.

My blog tank is dry today, and I don't want to pimp another author friend until Friday, so here's some random bits and pieces to mull over if you're all bored enough....

1. Newest review of Hiram Grange & The Chosen One at the Swamp Dweller Dark Fiction Reviews.  Here's my favorite bit:

"This book is Kevin Lucia’s first. With Hiram Grange and the Chosen One, he sets himself firmly in place as an author to watch out for. The Chosen One is a riveting and enthralling read."

2. This Friday is my first local signing for Hiram Grange, over at River Reads Book Store in Binghamton, New York.  I'm especially excited because it wasn't something I set up myself.  A friend mentioned Hiram to the book store's owner, and she offered to hold a signing for me.  Whatever happens, it should be a good time.  Hey, at least my wife will be there.  I think.

3.  I've got multiple fires in the iron.  Not that anyone is really keeping track.  I've started my third draft of The Drift, and what began life as my Creative Writing MA thesis - a very moody, moving literary piece about ABSOLUTELY NOTHING - is finally looking like an ACTUAL story.  And of course, I have another novel idea to start soon as I'm finished with this one.

I've also been solicited for two short stories from separate sources much higher up the food chain than ever before.  Both projects have editors but no publishers yet, so we'll see.  The first is a VERY experimental, nonlinear piece.  Not sure if I  can pull it off.  We'll see.

4. Shroud's Halloween issue, edited by moi, is finally - almost - in the bag.  Can't show the cover or TOC yet, but here's one of Danny Evart's woodcuts to wet your appetite:

Pretty tasty, right?  I think it's going to turn out pretty nicely.  Soon, my friends.  Soon.

5. I'm very shocked - humbled - amazed - that Hiram Grange & The Chosen One has received a smattering of Stoker Recommendations in the "Long Fiction" category. Now - we won't get into a tizzy about this.  The controversy and bickering over whether a Stoker actually means anything and if the HWA is a defunct organization or not is pretty old, at this point.  Bottom line: awards are cool.  If I get one because people dug what I wrote, that's even cooler. I won't do the whole "I'll trade a Stoker Rec for your Stoker  Rec", or beg folks for Recs.  What happens happens, and that's it.

Obviously, if I'm nominated, I WON'T say this:

"Umm, sorry, but on ethical grounds concerning the real value of a Stoker I must decline my nomination."

DUH!  I will squeal - just a little bit - and then strap myself to the belly of jet plane to get to Austin, Texas for World Horror if I have to.  The chances are pretty slim, though (like that's gonna stop me from dreaming) so I'm not worrying about it too much.

6. Oh, and because I'm so very bored and so out of blog topics, here's Danny and I at Context 23:

Obviously, we need therapy.  Badly.

Aside: My Multi-faceted (Bi-polar?) Writing Career

For anyone following this blog or my little writing steps, you may or may not have noticed my divergent publication paths.  On one hand, there are the short stories I've sold to the mainstream horror/speculative fiction market, my Hiram Grange novella, and my two stints as editor; one with Shroud's upcoming Lovecraftian project The Terror at Miskatonic Falls and most recently, Shroud's Halloween Issue.

On the other hand, I've sold six non-fiction "slice of life" stories to the inspirational market, to collections published by Tyndale, Bethany House, and Guideposts. 

Wow.  That's quite a...diverse publication list.

It happened by accident (or maybe not).  About three years ago, when I started out, I had no idea where I wanted to be published.  I was a Christian maturing in my faith, but also an obsessive reader who didn't really read much Christian fiction.  Still, I wanted to test all the waters, see where I really belonged.  

I sold my first story to The Midnight Diner: Volume 1. Now, even though they're a faith-based publication, I don't consider them "Christian".  They're an R-rated anthology that's not affiliated with anyone.  Around the same time, I received a heads-up for a collection looking for stories about how personal decisions - based on faith - had changed the course of people's lives.  

Since the story of how I met my wife totally fit this, I thought: "What the heck? Why not?"  It was short - 2, 000 words max - and paid pretty decently for that length.  That story became "Right Choice"  and was published in Tyndale's Life Savors collection.   I figured that would be it.

I sold some other stories, then got contracted for Hiram Grange.  But what happened was this: the same editor for the Life Savors collection had added me to her select email group.  So, she started sending me more submission calls.  And you know what?  I answered them.  At first, I thought this: "They're short, pay well, and it's writing. How can I say no?"

However, something else began developing, in my head.  I made the personal decision that (and folks are welcome to disagree with this) my beliefs concerning the craft of fiction were pretty particular.  I didn't want to write my fiction primarily in the Christian market, and any themes I displayed connected to my faith would be subtle and applicable to the general market. 

BUT...the nonfiction stories allowed me a way  to share how God's been good to my family and friends...without an agenda-based, evangelical thrust.  These non-fiction stories I've written are about our lives, and how God has impacted us...not about theology, or arguing why folks should believe as I do.  For example, this most recent Guideposts story relates the tale of how I believe prayer saved my best friend's life after he suffered a horrible accident almost ten years ago.

They're also 'thank-yous' to my family: to my wife and in-laws and parents - for supporting me in my pursuit of a writing career.  They help provide balance, and remind me what's most important, in the midst of Cons and impending book deals and meeting people like Brian Keene and Joe Hill.

Of course, I'll never abandon the dark and strange and weird and freaky stories (much to my mother in-law's amused chagrin) because that's where my heart is, quite frankly.  Ever since my dad gave me my first box-set 0f original Star Trek novels (Sci Fi was my first love) I've been obsessed with the fantastic and strange.  

See, if the market for my fiction ever dries up (God forbid) I'd stop writing the memoir stories.  They're connected, and provide balance for each other...if I stopped writing the memoir stories, it'd be much easier for me to lose touch with what really matters; if I stopped writing my weird strange fiction, I'd lose the motivation to write completely.

Ironically, the measure stands at six to six.  Six fiction shorts published in the secular market (not counting Hiram and my editing gigs) and six memoir shorts.  Interesting how that works out, eh?

It's all about balance.