My Christmas Book

Passing Strange, the third novel of my Generation Dead series, features as its protagonist an undead teen lesbian who lost her battle with depression. She returns from death and must face not only her illness, but a myriad of other forces trying to destroy her. In retrospect, writing such a book with such a character was a bit of a career risk....

I think it is probably the least read of all my published novels, but it may also be the most deeply felt.  The reader correspondence regarding Passing Strange related many stories about how the novel had been helpful to the reader in facing and getting help with depression, in dealing with the loss of a loved one, and in one case, encouraging a reader in a decision to come out to her parents and friends. 

I've been carrying one of those letters folded up in my wallet for a number of years now, a letter that never fails to bring me to the verge of happy tears whenever I read it, which I  do in my own darkest moments. 

The idea held by Wallace and others that the purpose of fiction is to make readers feel less lonely in the world has always appealed to me. I believe the act of writing often produces the same result for the writer. I'm blessed to have had moments of real connection with readers which truly made that circle feel complete.

I made a number of mistakes writing Passing Strange, but I'm also very proud of it and grateful for the positive effect it seems to have had on some of the people who read it. Passing Strange is also a Christmas story in the same way that films like Die Hard and Gremlins are Christmas stories--part of the narrative occurs during the holiday season. My protagonist--Karen--even lands a seasonal job at the mall when she is mistaken for a living girl. Full disclosure, we aren't exactly talking The Christmas Shoes, but I argue that it counts! So if you are looking for a strange story set during the holidays to read or give as a gift, Passing Strange might fit the bill.

I STILL SEE YOU Bonus Features

Look how happy I am!

The home theater editions of I Still See You, the film based on my novel Break My Heart 1,000 Times will be arriving just in time to help Santa stuff some stockings. Above you can see a very exclusive production still from one of the stellar bonus features, Break My Heart 1,000 Times: From Novel to Screen. Can you spot the grim, cadaverous specter lurking in the photo? If that little peek behind the curtain doesn't convince you that I Still See You is a horror movie, nothing will.

Break My Heart 1,000 Times

Speaking of horror, one of the most terrifying scenes that I had the pleasure of watching being shot did not make the final cut of the film; I'm not exaggerating when I say that the scene left me gasping in fright. I'm hoping that it is included in the Deleted Scenes reel that accompanies the home releases. HORRORNEWS.NET gives an excellent idea of what's to come HERE

Every Day Is Black Friday When You're Dead

Make holiday gifts of my books HERE

Or, message/email me if you would like to purchase signed first editions. Remember, it is always okay to be kind to yourself, especially during the holidays.

Too Soon?

I'm not sure why this special, one-of-a-kind Christmas edition of Generation Dead makes me so happy every year when I post it, but whatever. If you want to give the gift of zombie this holiday season to that special someone, HERE is a great place to start.

I do have a few copies of the first editions of the Generation Dead series, both paperback and hardcover, for anyone who would like to gift (or greedily keep) a signed copy. I may even have some of the Spanish editions, I'd have to check. Also some of Break My Heart 1,000 Times, I think. Cover price plus shipping but if you want a bunch I'll cut you a sweet deal. 

Terrible/Beautiful Synchronicity

I posted about Hawkwind yesterday, and my post title a few days ago was taken from an album title of theirs. My obsessions, especially the obsessions that run over the course of my lifetime, can grip me intensely for days if not weeks, so of course I was listening to Hawkwind again today (Space Ritual, what a classic). This led to clicking around the Internet to research various minutia about the band, albums, and songs. One jaunt through Wikipedia brought me to Barney Bubbles, who designed the distinctive cover of Space Ritual and a run of Hawkwind's psych/proggy album art. Barney, or Colin Fulcher, was a graphic designer responsible for a great deal of iconic album art in the seventies--he was art director for Stiff Records in 1977, among other things. An interesting and creative guy who unfortunately took his own life in 1983 at the age of forty-one.

All of which I learned about fifteen minutes ago. The terrible synchronicity part comes in because today, November 14th, is the 35th anniversary of his suicide.

Why did the universe conspire to send me surfing through the Internet to find and learn about Barney on the anniversary of his death? I've no idea. Coincidences, serendipities, and synchronicities like this seem to happen  regularly to me. Of course, the tendency to attach weight and import to events and occurrences that most likely are just random happenstance in likely a common affliction of writers, or these intersections loom large simply because one is attuned to them, or they have a greater likelihood of happening to someone who is constantly absorbing and sifting through vast amounts of information, trivial and otherwise, like most writers do.

I'm thankful for these strange moments. I find them both comforting and unsettling, which, I now realize, is probably my favorite state of being, especially when I'm trying to write. Space is deep.

So thank you, Barney, on the anniversary of your tragic end, for the art that you left behind. 

Learn about Mr. Bubbles HERE

I Live My Life by Hawkwind's Teachings

Went right for the treadmill after work today--hmm I never noticed how irony-laden that statement is--and put on Hawkwind's Coded Languages: Live at the Hammersmith Odeon November 1982.  I love Hawkwind, but especially live Hawkwind. The band's roster has changed dozens of times over the 49 years of their existence and, more so than just about any other heavy band I can think of, each permutation utterly transforms the live sound. I was listening to the album above, Glastonbury 1990, in my car, and although both it and Coded Languages have a few of the same tracks like "Brainstorm" and "Angels of Death", they sound almost nothing alike. Only two of the musicians--mainstay Dave Brock and Harvey Bainbridge play on both of the sets, one  a furious headlong aural assault (with barking dog), the other more an introspective, atmospheric journey through time and space. 

By mile two I think I was in another dimension. 

The Periphery

Prior to my current careers (yes, I have several), I spent most of my twenties in various occupations I'd refer to as "peripheral". I briefly managed a CD store named after a fruit. I also managed several chain bookstores while concurrently working my way up from usher to head popcorn guy to assistant manager at a local theater. These jobs were peripheral jobs as I felt I was always on the periphery of a creative field that I really wanted to be in, circling like a buzzard around my hungry dreams and diminishing prospects. I was of the worlds of music, writing, and film, but not truly in them.

My goal was to write and publish books and in my most unguarded moments would admit to desperately wanting to have a story of mine adapted for film--Achievement unlocked!--and it often felt  that each shift spent at the mall or the megaplex took me further from my goals.

But...it wasn't all bad, because during those years I read hundreds of books, watched dozens of movies, and wrote thousands of words in my notebooks while on breaks in the food court. Living for your dreams in the moments you can't live your dreams isn't a bad life strategy, and I never had a shortage of creative fuel for the fire while in those peripheral gigs. 

And now my home is filled with some of that fuel--the books I'd read and loved sit on my shelves, posters from some of the movies hang on my office walls, and I even kept the standee for the movie Cool World so cartoon Kim Basinger could watch over me when I write.

Because of my previous work experiences, I had a complex reaction on seeing the above photo of the gorgeous 3D standee for I Still See You (I haven't seen it in person; In Rome they had electronic billboards and a nice big 2D standee; in Danvers they didn't even have a poster). My second reaction was that I'd love to drag it into my office. My third reaction is that I'm no longer on the periphery.

But to be honest, my first reaction was that I should probably go get my dustpan and whisk broom and go clean up all the popcorn in cinema seven.

Amazing Sounds, Amazing Music--the I Still See You Soundtrack

I never dared dream there would one day be a soundtrack to a movie based on a book I had written, but if I'd been so daring Bear McCreary's soundtrack to I Still See You would have been my dream. In one of those strange moments of serendipity, I learned  Bear would be doing the soundtrack when I was watching season four of Black Sails, a show Bear scored. The I Still See You soundtrack is haunting, beautiful, and inspiring. I like to write with music playing, and so to write and be inspired by music that in some way was inspired by something I'd written is a special thrill. 

Tracks eleven and twelve are "Break My Heart" and "A Thousand Times".

Listen to Bear discuss his work and process with I Still See You 's brilliant and tall director, Scott Speer: 

The I Still See You Soundtrack is available for download at iTunes and Amazon.