An Interview with Jim Phoenix, Founder Czykmate Productions & Haunted MTL

By Angelique Fawns 

There is a dark and creepy place lurking on the internet for those that LOVE all things that go bump in the night. Hauntedmtl.com publishes horror news, criticism, and original fiction.  Looking to learn about the hottest new survival-horror video game? Need some direction finding the best in scary television and movies? How about some original dark fiction? Jim Phoenix and his team keep the daily horror feed current and prolific.

Haunted MTL is also announcing a new project called The Undead and Uncut -Live! It’s a podcast running just for the month of October, where everyday is a new episode building to an exciting climax Halloween. Any and all “listens” equal donations to the Ottawa food bank for Canadian Thanksgiving. Also anyone who donates to a food bank this month can show the receipt to @HauntedMTL, and get a free PDF copy of their new anthology 101 Proof Horror, which is for sale right now on Amazon.

Czykmate Productions is the publishing branch and produce anthologies and novels/novellas. They look for work that is “strong, punk, dark, humorous, and just strange enough to be true.” 

 I discovered this gem when I found a call on Submittable from Czykmate Productions, “How HORROR-able”.  I uploaded one of my very first short stories “Death Metal Fan” in February of 2019 and it was accepted. It was the first money I ever received from my fiction, and I was thrilled to make the $2.00 US. 

Jim Phoenix is also a very interesting and mysterious character. When asked about his day job, he said, “I used to write scripts and book adaptations but put that away once Czykmate started up. I do have ‘another life’ outside of horror, but I can’t say what it is here. Let’s just say my current day job isn’t exactly ‘open’ about things.”

Well, now I’m intrigued! Let’s learn more about the man and his mission…

AF: How has your company evolved since you opened your figurative doors?

JP: We started out ‘way back when’ as a punk ‘zine. It was something I wanted to start for people who normally wouldn’t have a voice in publishing. Our first venture was Ricky’s Back Yard named after my friend’s brother who died way too young. He was a new punk that wrote his own songs – something damn rare – and the name was a tribute to him. Our ‘zine was anthology based and we would have certain themes where all the money (not profit–all of it) went to the charity that was tied to the theme.

Back then it was Lizzie Nicodemus doing all the cover art and Jenni Hill reading the subs. I made sure that the people who we accepted got paid and did me best for internal design. We experimented a lot back then (still do, really) and hit major conventions like the AWP (The Association of Writer’s and Writing Programs) to help us grow. I remember ‘inventing’ a Trello board slush pile scheme because we didn’t have enough money to use Submittable. That’s how raw things were.

That moved slowly to Czykmate with an experiment of ‘ebook only’ authors where I likened it to ‘not ready for prime time’ but they had ‘something’. The result was offering an ‘ebook’ only contract where if the ebooks sold enough, we’d offer a print  book contract to the author. We were getting bigger then and, unfortunately, Lizzie and Jenni had other obligations so they parted ways.  I did most of the ebook covers and interiors (again, learning form conventions like AWP on how to do it) and went to out source the print books. With Lizzie and Jenni gone, I had to move into the freelance market to round off the staff (readers, editors, cover, interiors). 

From Czykmate came HauntedMTL. I’ve had this ‘real life hauntings’ idea for some time now. Originally, the website showcased some ghost hunting material that I was part of in Montreal with Taylor G and Stephanie R. We even had a pilot filmed where the concept was not so much ‘we believe everything’ but ‘we doubt’. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll dig that old pilot off…

After the ghost hunting died down (no pun), I turned the focus to covering horror. We’ve kept the charity grass roots and are huge supporters of LGBTQ and BLM issues, as well as food banks, retired veterans, and other projects of the more political nature. In the early days of that the site was just me–then Dave Davis came around. I gave him a shot as a writer and he expanded into designer and creative push for the site. I started recruiting from Submittable and put people in. Now we have reviewers, original content (short stories and art), a line of podcasts, and even a bit of swag available on Red Bubble. The future has a few tricks in store (video and radio dramas and choose your own adventures with RPGs and oh my! I’ve said too much!) but it’s always family first. I don’t have staff–I have a horror family with Brannyk, EV, Payne (yes, ‘that’ Doctor Payne), LJ, Parz, Shane, two Nicoles, Court, Dave, Vicki, Jenn, Jake, Brianna, Sarah, Rachel, Wade, Scream, Ruby, 3C3, Kayla, and Kota. And, of course, all of our listeners (special shout outs to Eric Gengle, a Missouri friendo of Brannyk’s, and someone who beat the dog act, and everyone lurking daily on the site and on our feeds–come say hi!).

AF: What kind of writing do you do yourself?

JP: I had a career as a script and novel writer (read as ghost writer). I got tired of ghost writing. It felt weird getting money for something I could never put on my CV. I still like to write, though. I have a novel in short stories that is coming out in 2021 where every chapter is a stand alone short story (yet they are all linked together like a traditional novel). After that, there is the Choose Your Own Adventure along with a YA novel. Believe it or not, I’ve got a card game coming out with an old friend (hi, Mike!) in 2021, too. 

AF: You certainly have a lot of irons in the fire! Is there any profit margin in your website/publishing?

JP: I’ve never done it for the profit. It’s always been about creating a safe space for horror fans. To be fair, we still give most of our money to various charities. Heck, there are people like Payne and Cleaves on my staff who have donated all of their pay to charity. I think giving people a voice, especially underrepresented people, is far more important that money. We used to use Google ads, but I got sick of banning so many crap political ads (and that damn earwax ad gave me the willies–if you use Google Ads, you KNOW the one I’m talking about). I’m a bit weird about money. It’s just funny little numbers to me. I’m definitely not a ‘money beats soul’ person (as Morrison would say). 

AF: There is an alternative, avant garde feel to your website. What sort of stories and/or writing are you typically looking for?

JP: Authentic. Make it real–from you. Don’t retell the same ol’. Grab me. Make me shiver. Make me go HOLY FUCK DID YOU SEE THAT?! It all comes down to being real with your art. Hone your craft and send in the best version of that story you can. 

AF: Thank you for picking up one of my very first stories. Why did you like Death Metal Fan?

JP: Remember when I said ‘grab me’? Check this hook: ‘The weather was unbearably hot. Smoking, steaming, bra-dripping hot. Mia lay on top of her bed with a fan blowing air on her body. Moderate relief.’ 

Let’s break that down. It’s hot out. How hot? Smoking. Steaming. Bra-Dripping. Hot. Some writers ignore rhythm in their work, which is a shame–BUT–when someone does have a great sense of rhythm it shows up that much brighter. I loved the beats here. This play goes throughout your writing–‘yada yada yada. Ya right.’ That plays out as Bum-pa Bum-pa Bum-pa. BUM BUM! Alex Van Halen would be jealous of that rhythm. 

https://hauntedmtl.com/originals/death-metal-fan-angelique-fawns/

AF: Your contract has a clause where the contributor has to pay $1000 if the work turns out to have been previously published. Why do you have that clause?

JP: Previously published can mean two things:

1) The author ripped someone off directly (boo!) or were using lyrics because they’ve seen their favorite authors do it (I think most people who haven’t studied writing need a big lesson…ready for it…here we go: If you didn’t write the song–then please don’t include the lyrics in your writing. Lyrics are expensive for rights and we don’t have Random House’s money.)

2) They published it before somewhere — maybe with another publisher or even a blog — and don’t own the rights for a republish. Not owning rights to republish puts us in a shitty spot. Don’t be that guy. Also, if you put something in a blog–and gave it away for free–why would I pay you for it? Why would a customer pay you for reading something they just read for free?  Writing is a business. 

AF: What are your plans for your website in the future?

JP: The immediate future includes an audio version of an exquisite corps for October. We are recording 30 one-minute story extensions October first ‘live’ and then releasing them one per day until Halloween as a special episodic podcast feature. Also–very exciting–short film and radio story originals are coming your way! COVID 19 makes some filming a bit tricky, but there are always possibilities…

AF: Any advice for others who want to start up a horror destination on the web like yourself?

JP: Family first. Don’t chase followers. Build a product people want to see and they will come to you. Be real with people. Don’t be a dick (Jim Breuer rule #1). Have fun. Learn from people (shout outs to SexyFandom, BlueBlood, Molly, Amelia G, Forrest Black, Sandy King-Carpenter, S.R., Darcy n Joe Bob, the Shudder crew, Kevin Smith, Sharknado crew, Tony Todd, Norm MacDonald, and everyone else that pushed, taught, gamed, and help us along the way–luv on ya). 

Most of all–do it with a purpose. There are so many amazing horror voices that need amplifying–if you are one of them, drop me a line. If you are in a position of power–help others. Be kind–I guess it all boils down to that. Just be kind. 

Interview with Wesley Southard and Somer Canon (authors of Slaves to Gravity)

by Alyson Faye.

Q1) How did your writing collaboration come about? Is this your first joint project? And after the success of Slaves to Gravity, will there be more? (Reading Slaves to Gravity, I felt it could be the first of a trilogy with Charlie as the heroine.) 

SC: Wesley had the idea for the story and asked me if I was interested in co-writing with him. I still feel so green, especially compared to so many, and I always thought that I would feel intimidated by working with another author, but Wesley and I are such good friends and I’m really comfortable with him, and I decided to go for it. Wesley is a really imaginative writer and I think that his strong suits tend to be places where maybe I could use a boost, especially when writing with such talent, but he never made me feel like I wasn’t carrying my own weight in this work. It’s a first collaboration for me, and I’m happy to say that I’d totally be down for writing with Wesley again.

WS: After I moved to Pennsylvania from Indiana, Somer and I became good friends through our mutual author friends. We hit it off pretty quickly, and after reading her work, I knew I wanted to work with her someday. When I felt the time was right to start my first long-form co-writing project, there was no other person I wanted to work with. This wasn’t my first collaboration. I wrote a novelette about ten years ago (with a friend) called “Home Invasion”, which appears in my short story collection Resisting Mad

ness. As far as the success of Slaves to Gravity, we’re both incredibly thrilled about it. We weren’t sure what people would think, but the reception so far has been overwhelmingly positive. I’ve seen a lot of people ask about a possible sequel in their reviews. Never say never, but I personally feel like the story has a very definitive ending, but you never know. I would absolutely work with Somer again if she wanted to.

Q2) As a writer myself, I’m really interested in the logistics of co-authoring a novel. How did you structure it? Did you say – write alternate chapters? Or did one of you write particular characters? Did you brainstorm and put ideas down on a virtual whiteboard? 

SC: Wesley had a lot of the framing of the story already locked in his head and we worked around that. We wrote alternating chapters and sort of started having fun leaving complicated cliff hangers for the other to deal with. I always looked forward to getting Wesley’s chapter and would always laugh at the situation he left for me. We would do light brainstorming sometimes, but really, a lot of this was us just winging it.

WS: We decided early on to simply flip-flop chapters. Even though I had worked on a collaboration before and Somer had not, we were both pretty nervous and needed to take it slow to feel one another out. We also decided before we started that we did not want to try to ‘one-up’ one another with our chapters. We wanted one cohesive narrative and didn’t want the readers distracted by the battle of “gotcha’s” between the authors. For me personally I find that distracting when reading a collaboration. I shouldn’t be able to tell who’s writing which chapter. I should only be invested in the here and now with the characters and their journey.

The characters themselves were created by both of us. I originally wanted the protagonist, Charlie, to be the main focus. Somer introduced the rest of the cast, and we developed their personalities and back stories as we went. The only character that was truly mine was Tanya, who, while writing the book, I realized I could fit in seamlessly. She’s a minor character in a short story of mine called “Arrearages” and she, too, experienced extreme trauma, which I realized would work perfectly in the context of the current story. I loved that we were able to fit her in as an Easter egg of sorts.

Q3) As writers, are you ‘Planners or Pantsers’? (Generally; not just when writing Slaves)

SC: In general I am a proud Pantser. Wesley is more of a planner and that happened a bit in Slaves, but there was quite a bit of pantsing that went into the creation of the story as well.

WS: Me personally—I’m a planner. I outline every single writing project I do, from flash fiction up to novels. I like to have the story completely ready to go before I start to type the opening line.

Q4 ) How long did the planning and writing of Slaves to Gravity take? And where did the idea for this rather unusual tale come from? 

SC: From the idea being laid out to us submitting the manuscript to Ken McKinley at Silver Shamrock, it was less than a year. The actual writing took four or five months and we spent maybe a month and a half tightening up the story.

WS: The idea was something I had in my head for several years. When I come up with story ideas, my brain conjures specific, cinematic scenes, and the very last scene of Slaves to Gravity had been playing over and over in my head with zero context attached. Whatever that scene was, I had to know the rest of this story. Before I approached Somer about the project, I came up with a general idea of what we could do. We talked on the phone about it and then a few weeks later we met up at a diner halfway between both of our homes and spent several hours with notebooks, hashing out the story and what we could do with it. It was a really fun process.

Q5) Do you write with pen/paper or pc? Drink coffee or tea? Have music on or off? Work in a study or the garden shed or somewhere else?

SC: I use both pencil/paper and PC. I don’t drink much caffeine because I lose my mind a little, so I drink lots of water. I sometimes have music on, but it depends on if my children are marauding about. I need to be able to hear what they’re getting up to. I have a really neat writing room that I do most of my work in, but I do change the scenery on occasion by going outside or sitting on the couch.

WS: I don’t like to write longhand. I do my outline on paper, but everything I commit to goes down into my laptop. I usually have a soda or water with me in my home office, and my ear buds are smushed into my head with music going at a low volume. It took me until earlier this year to be able to write with music playing and not be completely distracted.

Q6) Have you both always written dark/supernatural/horror fiction? 

SC: For the most part, but my first published story was a piece about pancakes!  After that, it was all dark and gruesome.  

WS: I’ve always preferred to write horror, but after seeing that I can write some form of sci-fi, as we did with Slaves to Gravity, I would be more willing to see what can come from that experience.

Q7) Do you both read that genre? If so, which authors and books stand out for you, or have influenced you?

SC: I absolutely read the horror genre. I am a fan first, always and forever.  I grew up reading paperback horror novels that my grandma kept stacks of in her house, but the first one that really blew me over was The Haunting by Ruby Jean Jensen.  That book made me afraid to put my feet on the floor for fear of the thing under the bed, the thing from the book, getting me.  As I got older, I graduated to Stephen King and some Dean Koontz, but the foundation of my fandom will always be Ruby Jean Jensen.  As for some more contemporary authors that really do it for me, I love Wesley’s work as well as Mary SanGiovanni, The Sisters of Slaughter, Tim Meyer, James Newman, Kenzie Jennings, and Jonathan Janz.  Look, if I named everybody, I’d be here all day, but those names are names I always love to see being published.

WS: I’ve always been a huge horror fiction nut. My biggest inspirations for becoming a writer were Brian Keene, J.F. Gonzalez, and Tim Lebbon, but I feel my personal writing style was and continues to be heavily influenced by Graham Masterton, and Ray Garton. I adore Masterton’s storytelling ability, and I’ve tried to adapt the way Garton writes action scenes and tension. As far as newer, more current authors, I think writers like Kristopher Triana, Aaron Dries, and Somer Canon are leading the way for the new generation. Each has such a unique voice and are highly readable and enjoyable.

Q8) What are you currently reading?

SC: I’ve just started Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. I’ve seen the movies and shows and it’s about time I got to the books.

WS: I’m actually beta-reading a new horror western for Kristopher Triana, which will be out soon from Death’s Head Press.

Q9) Do you gain inspiration from films and/or music? Can you name a fave film or album or artist whose work has inspired or influenced you as a writer?

SC: I get very light inspiration from music. My music tastes are all over the place. This is going to sound so weird, but I think the movies that I get the most inspiration from for my writing are those horrible, cheap, sequel movies that we got a lot of in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Like Children of the Corn III and The Howling V. These movies didn’t take themselves too seriously, and if they did it came off as hilarious as opposed to terrifying, and I really like highlighting the absurdity of a horror story. I tend to add humor to my work, or course, but I think that it offsets the heavier parts wonderfully. 

WS: My favorite film ever is From Dusk Till Dawn, and I feel that movie has influenced me more than any other. I adore the characters, the atmosphere, the tension, the dialogue, and the action and gore. I’m forever searching for my perfect vampire novel idea because of that movie.

Q10) What was the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given as writers?

SC: Take all advice with a grain of salt. There is no one-size-fits-all writing career.

WS: Have patience. This can be a painful, slow moving business.

Q11) Do you belong to a writers’ group or bounce ideas off each other, or other writing friends?

SC: I’m a member of the Mid-Atlantic Dark Fiction Society. I, personally, am not terribly comfortable talking openly about my works in progress with many people, but I like talking shop with other writers.

WS: I don’t belong to an official writing group, but I live around enough creative people who I’m constantly bouncing ideas off of. They’re a massive help.

Q12) How involved are you with social media? Where can fans and followers find you online?

SC: I’m present on social media, but I prefer to be a more light presence, a distraction. You can find me on Twitter (that’s where I’m usually hanging out), Facebook and Instagram.  (And here somercanon.com)

WS: I’m always hanging out online. I’m pretty easy to find on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and I try to keep my website (www.wesleysouthard.com) as updated as possible.

Thank you, Wes and Somer, for the interview. It’s been great and really interesting. 

SC:  Thank you!

WS: Thank you!

Ruschelle: Hello, hello C.S. Alleyne. It’s wonderful to have you here with us in our little literary corner of hell and mayhem we call the Horror Tree. We are excited by your soon to be released novel Belle Vue. It’s based on a creepy asylum that is right in your own backyard. So awesome. Could you give us a bit of the asylums back story?

C.S.:  Thank you Ruschelle, I’m also excited by Belle Vue being released as it’s my debut novel and my feet haven’t touched the ground yet lol!    

To answer your first question, the Metropolitan Asylums Board opened the, ahem, ‘Leavesden Asylum for Idiots and Imbeciles’ (not a name to be reckoned with these days!) in 1870 in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire which is local to me.  Set in 93 acres (although this figure varies considerably according to your source), the original designs for the asylum allowed for the accommodation of 1,560 inmates. Soon that figure was far exceeded and in 1948 the number was over 3,000 patients. Eventually the hospital (as it had become) closed and after a few years was developed into the luxury apartments. 

Although the regime there was strict it was nothing like the Belle Vue Asylum in my novel – that is my imagination and fictionalising from the wider sources of my research. It is quite ironic that these many asylums – both in the UK and US – which in Victorian times only housed the poor and insane (often passed on from the workhouses) should become highly desirable residences with – in some cases – million pound price tags!

That change in usage and perception of desirability fascinated me and when I found a book called ‘Murders in Hertfordshire’ which told the story of a murder taking place there at the end of the nineteenth century, I was hooked and started jotting down plot ideas  and researching more about its history. Not sure where the satanic orgies came in though lol!

Ruschelle: Your novel is a beautiful tapestry. Weaving rich beautiful colors of fiction into the solid strands of facts. How difficult or seamless was it to get the perfect balance of each?

C.S. Thank you. I did make a big effort at this since I strongly dislike those parts in often excellent novels which have research dumps! Those chunks or even pages of text which rattle off everything you wanted – or more likely didn’t want – to know about usually a highly technical or obscure subject. Often it’s safe to skip over these sections if not of interest but I think that is a wasted opportunity. I tried to focus on the actions of the characters and reveal small aspects each time.  I accept I may fall flat on my face here and every review will now identify Belle Vue is full of the very thing I didn’t want to do. But if so my heartfelt apologies and I will not make same mistake twice lol!     

Ruschelle: Are your main characters, Alex and Claire based on people you may know? Are they fragments of you or are they plucked from your imagination?

C.S.: When I first started writing Belle Vue and created Alex and Claire (who also went through a few name changes) I thought I would use bits of myself, friends, film and tv examples but in the main it didn’t turn out that way (or not consciously anyway beyond one character from Oz where I grew up) . Rather it was their role in the story and how they would react to the unfolding circumstances. I also wanted Alex and Claire to be an everyman (and woman) to enable a connection to the reader (if they had these paranormal experiences lol!) whereas the other main characters are very distinct and, as with the ‘baddies’ not necessarily likeable but hopefully compelling.

Ruschelle: Let’s get to the juicy part in your research of the asylum, the satanic orgies. Did you include that ‘dirty little secret’ in Belle Vue? Have you wiped your browsing history clean since then?  LOL

C.S.: I did most of the research just before ‘incognito mode’ existed but luckily the search sites also weren’t as sharp with bombarding you with associated adverts back then. Whereas I did visit a number of converted asylums as part of my research, the closest I got to a satanic orgy was a day trip to the Hellfire Caves in West Wycombe. Very interesting for me but just as I didn’t murder anyone or hadn’t been tried in court, I had to read around the subjects and use my imagination. 

Ruschelle: You discovered a cemetery on the grounds of the asylum. What did your research come up with on the ground’s residents?  

C.S.: When I first found the cemetery which is a surprisingly long way from the main old asylum buildings, it was over grown. There was a lychgate at the entrance but although you could see some graves, others were hidden in the undergrowth. What you could see in some places were where the graves had sunk. This I found in my reading was because they buried the pauper lunatics in hessian sacks and so as the body decomposed the ground above caved in.

Aaron Kosminski, who was one of the people suspected to be Jack the Ripper and was an inmate of the asylum (from 19 April 1894 until his death in May of 1919), is supposedly buried there. Recently the cemetery has been thoroughly cleared and more gravestones discovered.

Ruschelle:  Since the asylum has been converted into apartments, do you believe there are spirits haunting the halls?

C.S.: As a prime candidate for possible hauntings, stories appear every so often in the local press about legends and ghosts associated with the asylum. A recent one identified a past goalkeeper of Arsenal, who lives in one of those luxury apartments, supposedly haunted by the ghost of a monk holding a candle. Since I have a great imagination and, bizarrely given what I write, am a bit of a coward when it comes to the supernatural (always clutching a magazine to hide behind when watching a horror movie), I probably would not live in a place with such a history. 

Ruschelle: How long from conception to research to writing and editing did it take you write Belle Vue?

C.S.: When I started writing Belle Vue at first I focused on the research side as I knew very little about Victorian lunatic asylums or the murder case so that took quite a bit of time as I loved doing that and my research parameters got wider and wider! I also didn’t really think I’d be able to write much and wondered if it might be a short story as it was unlikely I could find enough to write for a novel. But once I got into creating the story and characters it was no problem at all! This process took a couple of years off and on. By the time I’d finished my first complete draft it was twice the length of the soon-to-be-publsihed Belle Vue!

I joined a writers’ circle and many there who had had books published said they had written lots of novels before getting published (now in bottom drawers) so each was a form of practice and developing their writing skills. I did it the other way round and used the same book to do this!  I pruned it and rewrote it numerous times instead (using advice from a lot of rejection letters!) I put it aside for a few years before someone who had read it before said I ought to try again. So I did and my wonderful agent, Italia Gandolfo saw its potential (or I caught her at a weak moment lol) and took me on as a client. After more pruning and editing, it was accepted by Crystal Lake Publishing.

Ruschelle: You have vacationed in many exotic locales; the Catacombs in Paris, the Pope’s crypts in Italy, the tombs of Egypt. These are definitely, The Horror Tree vacations. So where would you love to visit next? And on a side note, did any of them serve drinks with little umbrellas?

C.S.: One of the places, I would love to visit next is the Palermo Catacombs in Sicily which is creepier and more shocking than most horror movies. But I somehow think, just like the rest, no drinks with little umbrellas lol!

Ruschelle: Have you had any supernatural experiences in any of the places you’ve visited? 

C.S.: Nothing I could class as supernatural and don’t ever expect to see me on Ghost Hunters or any such show due to my cowardice even when I know it’s fake lol. My first visit to the old Leavesden Asylum Cemetery was quite unnerving – I was alone in the silence, the cemetery is surrounded by fields and trees. To walk around and discover each gravestone in the high grass and knowing that person’s previous abode and likely history was unsettling.

In all the places I’ve been there was – probably due to my fascination with all things death-related (not to mention my over-active imagination) – an underlying atmosphere of what might happen next. What if the lights went out in the catacombs? What if the blocks of stone in this narrow pyramid tunnel suddenly drop down and block any exit? I’m scaring myself now lol as perception can be as frightening as the reality (if there is any for supernatural occurrences).

Ruschelle: Your book Power is spelled with a mirror image letter R. Color me intrigued. 

C.S.:  It reflects the way the story develops. At the beginning Maude Caulkin – poor and female in Victorian London – is completely powerless. By the end, in a very gory way that surprised even me lol, that power has completely turned – hence the reversed letter.  

Ruschelle: What was the process you used for penning your novelette, Power comparatively to your novel Belle Vue?

C.S.: Power was written at lightning speed compared to Belle Vue. One very small part of it is actually deleted from the much longer version of Belle Vue when I was pruning like Edwards Scissorhands. As I hadn’t had anything published before and didn’t really know how everything worked such as getting an Amazon or Goodreads author page, this was a way of sorting these things out and me learning a bit more as to how the publishing process works.  But the reality of getting a proper novel to market has shocked me with the amount of work required not just by myself but by Crystal Lake Publishing and my agent, Italia Ganfolfo. I am profoundly grateful for their unstinting support. 

Ruschelle: In December of 2019, Power was NUMBER ONE on Amazon’s Hot New Releases for Historical Fiction short stories! WHOO HOO!!  How did that effect you as an author and how did that boost your book?

C.S.: I was on cloud nine for days, nay, weeks lol. Just as with very good reviews, it inspires you and the memories keep you going when you’re having a difficult day – writing or marketing-wise.

Ruschelle: With the upcoming release of Belle Vue in August, 2020, barring a rabid Sasquatch uprising or mole people collapsing the entire infrastructure of the planet, what exciting plans do you have for marketing your book? 

C.S.: Given the current circumstances (and bizarrely, a rabid Sasquatch uprising or mole people collapsing the entire infrastructure of the planet doesn’t sound that outlandish lol) I am currently organising for a virtual launch. This includes interviews such as we’re doing, podcasts and radio appearances, guest posts and a blog tour. I shall put these up on my website as well as my social media pages once I have finalised dates (and to be safe, I shall invite any Sasquatches or mole people who might be interested since sales for debut authors are hard to come by!) 

Ruschelle: What was the best and worst piece of writing advice you ever received?

C.S.:  For the ‘worst’, this was not told to me personally but generally writers are advised to ‘write what you know’ which I find incredibly limiting and given Belle Vue is about murder, satanic orgies and mistreatment in Victorian lunatic asylums I am not putting my hand up to any of these! Just imagine all the classics which would never have been written if the authors had stuck to this ‘rule’ – especially in the horror, sci fi and fantasy arenas such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Fiction is about letting your imagination soar! 

Then to the ‘best’, if you love to write or have a story you want to tell, then – as long as you are enjoying yourself – keep at it. Passion for the process as well as the subject is very important – especially if you want a long writing career. 

Ruschelle: As well as a writer, you’re also a reader. How do you prefer to sink into a good book? Traditional print, e-books or audio?

C.S.: It used to be traditional print and I still love the feel of a book in my hands. Increasingly I am moving over to e-books and find reading fiction on my phone, most preferable. I have a lot of friends who love audio books often to the exception of all else but I haven’t really got into these in the same way. I think it has to do with the way I read – if I am not keen on how the book is written or where the storyline is going then I’ll skip forward and see if it’s worth staying – or not. But I can’t really do that with audio.

Ruschelle: What new works do you have simmering in your cooking pot next? Can you give us a little taste?

C.S.: Belle Vue is now planned to be the first of a trilogy. I am in the middle of writing the sequel – Secret Nemesis is the working title – and in it, the main characters from both the Victorian and present day move to the United States and face a cross-fire of evil and danger. So more research on murder and general skulduggery, asylums in the US and satanic societies that side of the pond.

Ruschelle: How can your newfound fans find you on the www.

C.S.: My website address is – www.csalleyne.com – all the links are there too to my social media pages.

And for those who would like a taster – here is the link to the Prologue and the first 2 chapters –

http://csalleyne.com/excerpt-belle-vue/

England author Christopher Stanley is a masterful writer of horror flash fiction. His latest book, The Lamppost Huggers and Other Wretched Tales, is an exceptional collection of stories exploring the darkness of humanity. Released on June 1 by The Arcanist Press, The Lamppost Huggers received rave reviews from other talented authors in the genre.

“Despite the whimsical title, The Lamppost Huggers is a skin-crawling exercise in creeping dread, with a pitch-perfect denouement you won’t see coming,” wrote Kealan Patrick Burke, the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Kin and Sour Candy.”

Stephanie Ellis, author of Bottled, agreed.

“Christopher Stanley captures the darkness of the soul and refuses to let it go,” Ellis wrote. “Atmospheric and chilling, this is a true master class in the art of flash.”

The Lamppost Huggers and Other Wretched Tales features 26 bite-size tales of dread and horror. I had to ask: Why did “The Lamppost Huggers” receive top billing?

“I can’t remember when I first started thinking about putting out a collection, but I do remember that ‘The Lamppost Huggers’ wasn’t going to be the title story,” Stanley said in an exclusive interview with The Horror Tree. “Originally, I favoured ‘And the World Roared Back,’ and I still think that would be a good representation of the table of contents. ‘The Lamppost Huggers’ took the top billing purely because of the response the story received when it was first published. Something about it really seemed to capture readers’ imaginations. It’s also quite an unusual title. Kealan Patrick Burke described it as ‘whimsical’ and I think he’s right – it doesn’t seem dangerous, just unsettling. And I like that.”

Stanley cites American author Don DeLillo as a likely influence on his work.

“Some of my favourite stories in the collection present two different perspectives — a wide-angle view of the world and a close-up of the central characters. I find this works well because it conveys the enormity of the threat and the vulnerability of those trying to survive. It’s not something I’ve done consciously, but I suspect it’s the result of having read many of Don DeLillo’s novels, including White Noise, Underworld, and Mao II. DeLillo’s ability to step back from his characters and show us the world they live in is frequently breath-taking.”

Stanley embraced flash fiction for practical reasons.

“Flash fiction has been good to me in many, many ways,” Stanley said. “After the twins were born, my window of opportunity to write shrunk down to maybe half an hour a day – not enough for longer form stories but perfect for flash. I can write a rough draft in half an hour and have it edited by the end of the week. Flash fiction was a way for me to keep writing amidst the chaos. I’ve made lots of friends through flash fiction, and we’re spoiled for flash fiction events in Bristol, which has been home to the UK National Flash Fiction Day celebrations and the amazing UK Flash Fiction Festival. My hope is there’s a growing appreciation for the power and potential of flash fiction, and that it will continue to grow in popularity.”

Stanley said the horror genre fits his style.

“I’ve been a fan of the horror genre for more years than I’d care to admit, but I’ve never found it easy to write and I’m in awe of people who do it well,” Stanley said. “I have a preference for stories set in a familiar world with recognisable characters, and I like writing stories where anything might happen — where there’s a real sense of urgency and danger. For these reasons, horror is the perfect genre for me.”

The opener in The Lamppost Huggers and Other Wretched Tales is titled “Norfolk.” It’s a particularly dark yet brutally honest tale from the father’s perspective. The father blames the birth of his son for an aborted writing career. These two sentences stuck with me: “In my dreams, the spirits of the dead crawl from the water to steal Eddie away, their fleshless fingers prising him from my grasp. I’m glad they’re taking him but I’m compelled to ask why.”

I asked Stanley, who’s a father of three boys, if it’s difficult to write such dark confessions of the soul, even though it’s a fictional character’s soul?

“After my eldest was born, I found it impossible to write stories that didn’t feature children,” Stanley said. “That’s how much my life changed. And it was definitely for the better.  The funny thing about ‘Norfolk’ is that so much of that story is true. Not the ending (thankfully), and obviously not the unsavoury relationship between the father and the son. But after the twins were born, my eldest and I used to drive up to Norfolk the night before to get the bungalow ready for the rest of the family, and I used to love it. He was just about old enough to sit in the front with me and he was really great company. Maybe not so much when he clawed my face in the middle of the night, but it was really dark and he couldn’t see what he was doing.”

In April 2019, Demain Publishing released Stanley’s debut standalone novelette The Forest is Hungry for its series Short Sharp Shocks! It’s another creepy tale, this time about a father trying to save his sick daughter.

“I was so happy when Demain Publishing agreed to publish my horror novelette, The Forest is Hungry,” Stanley said. “It was my first standalone publication and also the longest story I’d published. As someone whose success has been almost exclusively in the world of flash fiction, the response to Forest has been enormously encouraging. I’d recommend Short Sharp Shocks! to anyone looking for chills and thrills that can be consumed in one sitting. They’re a lot of fun, and I’m proud to be a part of the series.”

In addition to flash fiction, Stanley also writes music.

“I’d just started work on my third album when we entered lockdown,” Stanley said. “It’s a thrilling hobby – so much collaboration and energy. I recorded my first album, Americana, almost by accident after I was made redundant around eight years ago. I’d only planned to record one song, but I was blown away by all the wonderful local musicians who were happy to join me in the studio and we just kept going. My second album, Canyonlands, was more polished, mostly because I used the same band and studio throughout. It’s too soon to say how my new album, The Gathering Days, will turn out, but I’m very excited about the songs we’ve already recorded and can’t wait to get back in the studio.”

Speaking of the lockdown, Stanley said he misses his commute to work.

“I do believe I’ve been one of the lucky ones throughout the lockdown,” Stanley said. “My wife and I still have our jobs (for now), and our three kids are (mostly) terrific. Not that it’s been easy. Juggling my job with home-schooling, while my wife works at the hospital, has been exhausting. My study — where I write — has become my office and, sometimes, my bolt hole. It doesn’t feel the same anymore and I haven’t figured out how to fix it yet. I think the thing that’s surprised me the most is how much I’ve missed my daily commute – an hour, twice a day, when I’m alone with my thoughts, was something I’d taken for granted.”

The Horror Tree is a resource for authors, so I asked Stanley if he had a writing tip.

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What’s next for Stanley? We could see the flash fiction master write a full-fledged novel … maybe.

“I feel clichéd saying it, but I’ve just started writing a novel,” Stanley said. “I really have. And I’m going to do my best to finish it before the Doomsday clock ticks around to midnight and we all succumb to whichever of the four horsemen arrives first. But I’m not promising anything. Recently, I’ve also had a mini-collection accepted by Demain Publishing. That’s all I can say about this one at the moment, except that there’ll be announcement in due course and I’m very excited about it.”

LINK:

https://christopherstanleyauthor.com/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08747237B/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forest-Hungry-Short-Sharp-Shocks/dp/B084WKLT9X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1590087070&sr=1-1

Interview with Diane Turnshek, Co-Editor of  Triangulation: Extinction

Published by Parsec Ink.

By Angelique Fawns

Triangulation: Extinction is a speculative fiction anthology due to be released at the end of July. How does our world changes every time we lose a species? Fantasy, science-fiction and horror authors craft tales of imposing threats, remarkable creatures, and the heroes who fight for them.

Parsec Ink produces an annual anthology that wrestles with some profound themes. Last year’s issue Triangulation: Dark Skies explored light pollution. 

Diane Turnshek is no stranger to the world of writing and science fiction and is co-editing this year’s edition with Isaac N. Payne.  She credits him with the idea of exploiting extinction in this year’s anthology. We talked a bit about Diane’s background in science and the challenges of publishing in today’s environment. 

Angelique: Tell us about your background and day job. 

Diane: I wanted to be an astronomer ever since I was seven. It’s amazing that I actually achieved that goal. I’m a faculty member in the Physics Department at Carnegie Mellon University. I have a couple dozen research papers published, mostly about cool temperature stars. But observational astronomy is not something one can easily do with four children, so I stayed home raising them for decades  — and wrote science fiction. 

Angelique: What kind of writing do you do yourself?

Diane: My first penned story sold to Analog Magazine of Science Fiction and Fact in 1999. The next stories that sold to that market showed me what kind of writer I am. I’ve tried many things, but at the core, I write scientifically accurate short stories. 

Angelique: Do you believe in alien life?

Diane: Almost all astronomers believe in alien life, but out there, not here on Earth. Space is vast. Hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy and hundreds of billions of galaxies? It’s presumptuous to think we’re the only life that’s ever arisen in billions of years. It’s also, simultaneously, ego-centric to think that Earth is a tourist attraction for aliens. If a flying saucer landed in Times Square tomorrow and alien-looking creatures stepped out, it is overwhelmingly more likely to be a hoax, perpetrated by humans, than any cosmic voyagers. Intelligent species have probably evolved millions of years offset in time from our eager-to-communicate species. We may someday find them, waiting patiently to be discovered in the gravitational fields of black holes where time runs slower. 

Angelique: What was the inspiration behind Parsec Ink?

Diane: I founded Parsec Ink’s Triangulation anthology series in 2003. At the time, I was a new writer with a few pro sales and a swelled head. Barely on the first rung of the ladder to success, I thought I could help other local writers by giving them turns at playing editor. Once you read hundreds of submissions, you see quite clearly what not to do in your own writing. The anthology also provided another paying market for new talent. This summer, we’ll publish our 17th anthology in the series, which includes ten different editors along the way.  

Angelique: How has your publishing business evolved?

Diane: I took the anthology editing position back last year. I changed the format to be about world-scale issues that needed to have more light shed on them — stories as creative visions to entertain and educate the public. Triangulation: Dark Skies, in 2019, was about light pollution, the unnecessary, unwanted artificial light at night that robs our view of the stars and adversely affects plants and animals, including humans. Triangulation: Extinction, for 2020, is about anthropogenic species extinction. Studies now show that if we continue on this course, climate disruption will send 7.9% of all species on Earth into extinction in the near future. Think up twelve animal types. Now pick one to willingly throw into the dustbin! We receive hundreds of submissions a year, but thousands of writers read our guidelines. That in itself educates a lot of people to a specific problem in the world. Hopefully, book sales will make even more people think. 

Angelique: How does your publishing company turn a profit, if it does?

Diane: Parsec Ink is a branch of Parsec, Inc, a non-profit, charitable, literary, 501c3 organization. Parsec has been around for over 35 years and is well-established as the premier speculative fiction organization in Western Pennsylvania. The other branches are the monthly meeting group, summer conference (http://parsec-sff.org/confluence/), an author lecture series I started at CMU (http://parsec-sff.org/blog/category/lectures/) and a workshop I started in 2002 (Alpha, the SF/F/H Workshop for Young Writers https://alphawritersworkshop.org/). Each branch has their own funding structure and supports the others, for instance, the current editorial staff of Triangulation (20 people) is mostly made up of my former Alpha students. Because of this educational component of the Triangulation anthology, we have received a grant from SFWA. Last year, we also received a grant from Metro21 at CMU whose mission statement is making life better for people who live in cities using technology. Metro21 funders felt the educational value of an anthology that deals with light pollution was worthy of their contribution. We also sell the books at a price that’s set to cover other costs. The editorial staff is all volunteer, but we pay the authors and artists. What helps is our large fan base, going back many years. 

Angelique: What sort of stories and/or writing are you typically looking for?

Diane: It was interesting to see each person’s individual likes and dislikes fall out of the comments section on the Submittable site. Some swoon over prose that borders on purple. Some go for action-packed stories. I like stories that are scientifically accurate and closely tied to the theme. A couple of us are partial to stories with cute animals and babies. I won’t include stories with rape or suicide. Isaac insists on consistent, logical plotting. Everyone loves stories with proactive characters, a strong voice and hard choices. I like subtlety in stories where the reader is dragged in because they have little idea of what’s happening at first — an absorbing mystery to be solved. Most of the editorial staff members hold creativity above all else. I hope readers will see that we listened to everyone on staff and have all sorts of stories in the mix. 

Angelique: What is really exciting you in the publishing field currently?

Diane: Young voices. Their idealized worlds carry none of the societal baggage the rest of us may unwittingly bring to the page. I wish somewhere there was a list of stories and books in the speculative fiction field written by young people. (I’m not talking about YA, not books written for young adults but by young adults.) Magazine editors know some authors are too young to sign contracts on their own and have to get their parents to sign. Example: Osahon Ize-lyamu https://africanstreetliterature.wordpress.com/2019/03/07/interview-with-nigerian-speculative-fiction-writer-osahon-ize-iyamu/

Angelique: How is the current pandemic affecting you and your company?

Diane: I’ve heard of pizza and beer parties where submissions are read on paper, then thrown into the fire if someone doesn’t like them, but that’s never been us. We had an in-person editorial staff meeting on March 14th. That was the last time many of us met with anyone outside our own families. That meeting was just to boost our connectivity, since everything is done online anyway. Our group members are mostly spread around the world in different time zones.

Angelique: What are your plans for your press in the future?

Diane: I’ve been so focused on getting this edition out the door in July that I haven’t really thought about it. We’ll probably be needing a new editor to step forward and pick a theme. The team is waiting for someone with extra time in their schedule, dedication and inspiration . . . know anyone?