Is it too soon for Halloween/scary prank videos?

No writing news for today. (Unless you count a rejection from Clarkesworld as news).  And being that it is October and I have just now gotten into the Halloween spirit, I thought I’d start posting the occasional Halloween and/or scary prank related videos.

In all honesty, I was going to post some all-time classic horror movie moments but as I was pasting up the code for the morbid weird-baby-thing scene from Eraserhead, I got a bit too crepped out to do it.  So instead of giving everyone the creeps, how about some laughs?

Being a UFO buff, this is without a doubt the funniest (cruelest?) prank I have ever seen.  Of course, laughing at other people’s terror could be just as bad as watching the weird-baby-thing scene from Eraserhead…

Anyway, enjoy.

Scatterbrained

I hate going an entire week without posting.  It means that there is either nothing going on or that when I do post again, there is much to report.  This post is somewhere in the middle.

First of all, the BIG NEWS that I was raving about on the last post is still in the works.  It’s a looooong process and, when it’s all said and done, may come down to nothing.  So while I’m still a bit weary of talking at length about it, I’ll give the bare(subtle) bones:  I can’t write scripts; screenplay format frightens me.  Yet I threw a pitch for a television series towards Certain People and we have been in talks for a little over a week regarding the sloppy script for the pilot I wrote, the synopsis and various character sketches and ideas.  As of right now, due to money concerns, things are idling.  From the little I know about this whole process, this could take a month to start going, or it could take 3 years.  And even then, as I said, it could boil down to nada.  But I’ll keep you guys posted.

Also, I’m still awaiting final word on The Bleeding Room, which, if you recall was passed ahead to a final reading stage a little over a month ago.  I went back and reread it and now almost hope that they ask for a rewrite.  I like the way it ended, but I came up with a whole new, twisted way to end it.  Of course, this is a moot point as of right now.

In other news, the ToC for Northern Haunts has been released.  I would post it here, but it’s on a gazillion other blogs as it is.  You can read it at Shroud’s blog.

Now, the thing that I’m really excited about (for the last day or so).  Typically, when I get an idea for a short story, I start writing in immediately.  If it sucks, I go back and alter it however I see fit.  But the other day as I was driving into town, I passed two guys jogging/running.  They looked bored, lifeless, and as if they did this thing every day…so much that they really didn’t even know why they were doing it anymore.  And from that, a story was born.  But it has not been written yet.  This has the potential to be a very harrowing story and I want to make sure I give it the care and treatment that I would a novel.  With a working title of “The Mannerisms of Runners”, I’m aiming for a 3,500-4,000 word story.  I plan on starting it this afternoon.

And that’s about it.  I added about 2,000 words to Blood Routes over the last week and roughly 5,500 to Broken Skies (which looks to have about 20 pages left and then a big fat THE END).

‘Til next time guys…

…and September ends with a BANG

Everyone else does this sort of thing for their end of the month round up and I always enjoy reading such posts.  So I thought I’d give it a go.  Keep in mind that the month of September was spent in a mad frenzy to try to find work, so writing took a bit of a back seat.  So anyway, September’s writing tally looks like this:

“Accidental Deaths of the Dying and the Dead” was picked up by Arkham Tales.

Wrote the short story “The Drums Will Take You There” and subbed it to Dia de los Meurtos

Wrote a very surreal flash peice that’s a curious mix of a prose poem and train of thought fiction called “The Waiting” and subbed it to Every Day Fiction.

Got a hold request for my story “Jinx”

Wrote a measly 3,700 words on Broken Skies.

Did extensive editing on Hell on Earth, Book 2 and realized that I may never finish it.

And then there’s the news that I’m BURSTING to talk about but I refuse to do so in the fear of ruining it by over-exciting myself.  I will simply say this…the final day of September seems like a very jumbled blur to me.  It involves 2 lengthy phone conversations regarding something I have been tinkering with and writing on for about 2 years.  I have another such conversation scheduled for today with the same people about the same project and it has the potential to be HUGE.  But I’m not giving my hopes up yet.  Rest assured, if things go well, I will post it here.  This is big…so big that part of me is thinking that there has been a mistake…that this is too good to be true.  I am so nervous that I only had 2 cups of coffee this morning despite the fact that thoughts of the scheduled phone conversation (which I will be having in about 4 hours) kept me up most of the night.

Curious yet?  Sorry…but all will be revealed soon enough.  In the meantime, wish me luck!

Triumphs and Defeats

I got two rejections over the course of the weekend.  One of these was from Weird Tales and marks the 4th story I’ve had rejected from them.  While it is quite frustrating, I do think it’s sort of admirable that beginning horror writers have such a high bar to aim for.  Behind these rejections, I received a hold request from an e-zine which I will not name in the risk of jinxing it.

Also, take note that tomorrow, October 1st, the It Came From Planet Mars anthology will be available from SpecFic World.  This anthology features my story “Tricks of Shadow and Light.”  A preview of it can be seen below and I hope it’s intriguing enough to cause you to purchase a copy tomorrow.  This was probably one of the most enjoyable stories I’ve ever written, mainly because I am a geek for all things having to do with Mars.

I am also salivating over the idea I am formulating for the novel I plan on writing during National Writing Month (otherwiswe known as NanoWriMo to all you hipsters).  I’m not sure that I can get out very accurately in just one single month, but I’m certainly willing to try.

Anyway, as promised, here’s a preview of “Tricks of Shadow and Light.”  Feel free to share your thoughts and comments.

The two of them stood around the large plasma screen in disbelief.  The color image that filled the screen was being transmitted to Earth from the surface of Mars, but the picture was so normal that it could have easily been a photograph taken in the Nevada desert.

            Gary wished that it was a picture from Nevada.  At least then it would make some sort of sense.

            Behind Gary, his partner spoke up.   His name was Lyle Baggard and he had always joked that something like this was sure to happen one day. Other than the two of them, there were only six other people that knew about this secretive division of NASA, so the joke wasn’t very well known.  But this had never kept Lyle from his speculations. 

            “Just to make sure I’m not dreaming this,” Lyle said, “that is what I think it is, right?”

            “Looks like it,” Gary said.  He didn’t want it to be so, but it was.  It was undeniable. 

            On the screen, the flat and featureless Martian landscape rolled away into the distance like bloodstained canvas.  Sitting about fifteen feet away from the rover camera’s position, a shining object protruded from the ground at a peculiar angle.  It caught the weak glare of sun, and sparkled in a muted rust-like color.

            The object was rectangular and from what they could tell, about a quarter of it was still in the ground.  Over time, however, the sandblasted landscape had stirred enough dirt away where most of the object was visible.  It was silver in color, bright yet dull around the edges.  In its center, it appeared to be darker and somewhat concave….

             Even if there were any doubts to be had at first glance, it was the detail that sat in the darkened center of the rectangle that caused their guts to deflate, for their arms to prickle in goose bumps, and for their minds to start rationalizing what this might mean and how the world would accept it.

            In the center of the rectangle, there were four individual, smaller objects.  It wasn’t until they zoomed the camera in and adjusted the angles that they realized what these shapes were.

            Positioned in the middle of the silver and black rectangle, there were four letters.  They were the same silver color as the edges of the rectangle.

The letters read: FORD.

 

 

 

 

Holy crap, where did THAT come from? *and* an antho update

So things are looking SLOWLY up in the work scope of things.  The freelance thing is beginning to sort of pay off and I have some interviews lined up for more secure jobs next week.  However, the title of this post refers to something that happened to me this morning.

While working on a freelance job, I somehow thought about a short story I wrote YEARS ago and was wondering how I could make it better. I started thinking about it and before I knew it, I had connected some very peculiar dots.  This old story idea had me thinking about new story ideas.  Mainly, the idea that has been escaping me for the Dia de los Meurtos anthology.   So I opened up the measly 852 words I had already written for that story, incorporated the main idea to the old story and wrote non-stopped for about an hour and a half.  I went back, re-read it and now need to edit it.  But I think it works.  It may be a bit darker than they are looking for, but I’m very pleased with it.

After edits, I estimate the story “The Drums Will Take You There” to be in the 3200 word range…2700 words of which were written in a blind frenzy within a 90-100 minute span.  So whew,…sorta wiped out for now.

Of course, I hear that the editors are pretty quick in their response time.  So if I can get this out by the end of the day, maybe I’ll have an update pretty soon.

Oh, also, I have it on pretty good authority (namely the editor) that the much talked about anthology Ghosts In the Machine is very close to its final stages.  According to e-mails (yes, I’ve been pestering him…usually a bad thing, but he seems very cool with it), responses should be going out any day now.  If you recall, my short story “After Passing”, written for this antho, scared the pants off of me while being written, so I have my fingers crossed HARD for this one.

Just thought I’d let you guys know.

Inspirations and Motivations

As has been the case for the last two weeks, there ins’t much happening in Barry’s Writing World.  I added about 1,500 words to Blood Routes this morning and am now trying to figure out a way to end this odd story I plan on subbing to Dead Science.

So, as a filler post of sorts, I thought I’d try out something I’ve often thought about doing on this blog.  And that is posting commentary on music, movies, TV and whatever else I find worthy that has inspired and moved me over the years, particulary in regards to my writing.  (This may become a regular thing, so be prepared).

For this go round, I give to you the third album in the Deftones’ catalogue, White Pony.  I think it’s important to point out to those of you that may not know much about the Deftones, that they are not the simply defined alt-metal band they have somehow been pigeon-holed as.  As a matter of fact, I challenge you to find a band that has shown as much growth and innovation in the psat 5 or 6 years as the Deftones have.  White Pony was their subtle drift away from the alt-metal movement, a way for them to head into the more experimental zones that most members of the band loved.  This album showcases their ties to music like Mogwai, The Cure and even Depeche Mode.

Songs like “Korea” and “Elite” are included in White Pony for diehard fans of the Deftones’ heavier stuff, but the highlights of the album are the more experimtnal, softer (and at times, darker) songs such as “Teenager”, “Digital Bath”, “Change (In the House of Flies)” and the haunting “Passenger”.  I recall once trying to write a short story to go along with the song “Digital Bath” and while it was a pretty disturbing story, it wasn’t very good in quality.  This album was playing when I put the final paragraph down to the first novel I ever wrote (it, too, was horrible and rest with shame in a drawer).  This album is the perfect mixture of angst, beauty and darkness and I often find myself listening to it when Writer’s Block is attacking.

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the album, here’s “Digital Bath”.  The video is sort of lame, but the song still gives me chills in a haunting and pleasing way. And besides, if you pay attention to the lyrics, it’s a pretty creepy song.

Some ideas are just stubborn

Is there anything worse than being excited about a themed anthology and then not being able to write a single suitable page for the story you’d like to send to it? (I’m sure there is much worse than this, but for the sake of my complaining, just agree, would ya)?

I’m currently experiencing this with the Dia de los Muertos Anthology. I’ve had two different story idea for this one but every time I try to start writing, I get flustered by the start of the second page. I’ve started it seven different ways and still nothing. I really think I’ll leave this one be and try to get my head around the ending to Broken Skies instead.  (And no, I didn’t get around to starting the end of it last weekend like I said I would…)

This is just terribly frustrating.  I mean, the pictures from the Wiki article for Day of the Dead alone should be enough inspiration.  How cool is this?:

Any of you guys out there sub to this?  And, if so, did it give you this much trouble?

“Accidents…” will happen

I got the great news over the weekend: my short story “Accidental Deaths of the Dying and the Dead” will be published in Arkham Tales.

I had a blast with this story.  It was initially written in the hopes of getting into Dark Jesters but it wasn’t nearly comical enough.  So when I got that rejection, I took the supposed-to-be-funny stuff out and made it a bit more morbid.  That is the incarnation of the story that you will soon find in Arkham Tales.

This was a pleasant way to temporarily make me forget about the whole unemployment thing…

The closest I have come to writing in two weeks

I edited a short story of 6,000 words and sent it off.  I thought it would sort of appease the urge I’m having to write, but it only made it worse.  As a result, I have decided to try to begin the ending to Broken Skies tonight.  And maybe, if I can stay up really late, begin that short story that has been poking my frazzled mind with a stick lately.

Anyway, a bit about the story I subbed to Black Velvet Shadows this morning.  A while back I sent it off to Shroud’s ill-fated The Bleeding Desert anthology.  Once that was killed off, I tried a few other markets and got two different responses: 1) It’s a bit long and 2)Not quite what we’re looking for.  So I edited it once again this morning and sent it into the void once more.

I’m close to this story because it was supposed to be the prologue to Blood Routes.  But the conenction I was trying to make between this story, “The Way Down”, and Blood Routes was far too vague and wouldn’t even be realized until the very end of the novel.  So I have given it one final edit in an attempt to make it more of a story capable of a gut-punch without the added weight of Blood Routes.  I’ve never really amputated a story like this before, but we shall see.  The basic gist of “The Way Down” is L’amour meets Lovecraft in a very clasutrophobic space.

Oh,…and NOW because I’m sure no one expects me to participate in this:

I’ve been TAGGED:

What are your nicknames? For some reason, my college room mate stuck one on me that I have never been able live down.  Call it cheating if you want, but I will not reveal it here.  Just know that I DO have one and I hate it.

What game show and/or reality show would you like to be on? Wheel of Fortune.  I’m awesome at WOF and literally get angry when the idiot contestants only have 4 blanks left and can’t figure it out.

What was the first movie you bought in VHS or DVD? I’m not exactly sure.  I do know that it was either E.T. or The Goonies.  On VHS.

What is your favorite scent? Call me a sell-out of you want…but Starbucks.  Oh, and to be cheesy (and truthful), the smell of my daughter’s hair when she just gets out of the bath.

If you had a million dollars that you could only spend on yourself, what would you do with it? Purchase everything Brian Eno has ever released, buy a new, much larger house, spend about a week in Barnes and Noble.

What one place have you visited that you can’t forget and want to go back to? Jamaica.  It’s amazing…especially in Montego Bay around dusk.

Do you trust easily?  It varies.  Usually not.

Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think? Again, it varies.  Depends on the mood I’m in.

Is there anything that has made you unhappy lately?  Having no job.  Oh, and this endless void of time between new seasons of Lost.

Do you have a good body image?  I’m scrawny and my body is incapable of building muscle.  And I don’t care.

What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries.

What websites do you visit daily? Graveside Tales Forum, First Showing, CNN, various blogs

What have you been seriously addicted to lately?  Down-tempo chill music, Fruity Pebbles and Craigslist.

What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?  Quirky, talented and possesses a unique sense of humor.

What’s the last song that got stuck in your head?  “Mascara” - Deftones (“there’s still blood in your hair; got the bruise of the year…”)

What’s your favorite item of clothing?  Baggy hooded sweatshirts.

Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy? No.  I would go so far as to say that they suck.

What would you do if you saw $100 lying on the ground? Very clearly announce, “Woah, man, I can’t believe I just dropped that $100 bill.  Whew…that was a close one.”  Then I would quickly insert it into my pocket.  (What?…I’m unemployed…)

What items could you not go without during the day?  Is music an item?  If not, then I would say coffee.  But really, music first.

What should you be doing right now?  Continuing to abuse Monster, Craigslist and Career Builder.  Or writing.  Yet, see the title of this post.

“F**k It!” (or “Aww, I love you guys, too.”)

It has not escaped me that there is quite the spreading of love going around the blogs of us writers of the dark within the last day or so.  Time (and maybe effort..I’ll admit it) have kept me from participating, but I’ve explained to most of the important parties why this is so.

But…JC, Catherine, Natalie, Aaron and anyone else I missed, thanks for the plugs and the love and the readership.  I wish I had time to read everyone’s blog on a daily basis…sadly enough, I was able to do so when I had a job…now that I’m unemployed it seems that I’m far too busy for such luxuries.  Odd, huh?

Anyway, now for the f**k it portion of the blog.  (Note: I actually do curse in my writing.  But when speaking, not so much.  And to me, a blog is more like a converstion that no one really pays much attention to).

Those that have been reading faithfully know of a little project called Broken Skies I have been working on.  I have not touched it in about 2 weeks.  I left it standing at just over 68,000 words.  There may be about 10-12,000 remaining.  And it’s going to be HARD.  I’m talking a total rhetorical analysis on life, God, evil, death, the universe and everything else man has ever questioned.  I keep thinking about it and thinking about it and it scares me a bit.

Part of me just wants to bow out in defeat.  But the other half of me is saying “You know what?…you’re only 28.  Write it.  Send it out.  If it gets butchered, so be it.  If it get’s rejected at every turn, who cares?  You’re young…you’ll survive…you’ll write something else.”  (And I’m sure there are plenty of blog friends that wouldn’t mind reading a few sections…cough,cough, nudge, nudge).

So I decided last night, after watching The Shield and trying to get to sleep that I’m going to finish it.  And I’m not going to peck away at it.  I’m going to find two or three days where I know I can write for good chunks of time, and I’m going to knock it out.

Wish me luck.

P.S.  I wish someone would have told me how nerve-wracking it is to know that your novel is undergoing a final read for publication.  I’m seriously sweating bullets…and who knows how long I’ll sweat them for…phew!