Story Profile: Grief

“Grief” is a story about a young woman named Melissa who is attempting to deal with the various stages of the grief process after the loss of her life partner. I wrote this story in an attempt to highlight the grief process, drawing on and inspired by my own experiences with grief and loss, the experiences of close friends, and my work in the field of human services and grief and loss counseling.

 

I turned and left the coffee shop, went back out into the cold. I headed in the direction of my apartment, but I knew I wasn't going home; the idea was to get away from Susan, to find someplace where she wasn't likely to be, but where? She'd lived in this city her entire life, her ghost floated over every street corner, she was in every window in every building, every brick and inch of mortar, every moment of the sidewalks. She was in the snow, in the rain and sunshine, in the leaves laying dead in the gutters. I'd grown up in Darlington too, but the city had always belonged to her.

I stopped at a convenience store and bought a pack of cigarettes, thought about getting a bottle. Who would know? But I couldn't do it; for me drinking was slow suicide, and if I was going to do something like that, I'd have to do it quickly.

Back out on Olsen Street, getting closer to home. I came up to a bus stop, sat on the bench and lit a cigarette, my mind blank. I tried not to think, tried not to see myself the way other people saw me, or would see me if they knew what was in my heart: just a poor dumb dyke still pining away for her long lost love. It was strange; everyone experiences pain in love, everyone loses somebody, but how many people really make the effort to empathize? I'd lost more than all the lovers in the world. I'd lost the rest of my life. Who could even understand that?

Anatomy of a Pocket Novel Cover

As I've said before, Pocket Novels are not like regular novels. For one, they're quite a bit smaller since they're short stories, not novels. But the length of the story is only part of what separates Pocket Novels from regular books. Much of the difference lies in the colorful wrapper.

In this case, maybe you can judge a book by its cover.

With fifteen years of professional experience in the art of graphic design, specializing in print media, our artist carefully plans, lays out, and renders each Pocket Novel cover, producing a work of art that both promotes the book and represents the overall tone and meaning of the story. When you look at the cover, it should inspire the same feelings that the story within will. This is why we get so many compliments on our covers. That awesome cover art is just a matching intro to the fantastic story behind it.

The back cover of our Pocket Novels is where the real differences show up. At first glance it might look like a tradition novel back, but then you'll start to notice certain features that you might associate with movies, comics or video games. These differences, which we hope will one day be adopted by every major publisher, are currently exclusive to Pocket Novels.

There's the blurb of course, the short description that tells you, the reader, exactly what the story is about without giving away any of the surprising bits that lay in store. What begins with the image on the front is driven home by the careful wording on the back. The story and its unique tone are summed up and presented here so you can decide if this will be a gift for your nephew or if you're keeping this one for yourself.

We said we did things with our covers that other publishing companies don't do, and here's the first. Just beside the Pocket Novel logo, you'll notice the story's genre clearly listed. When flipping through a stack of our stories, you can easily find them listed by genre. Looking for Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Mystery, Suspense, etc.? We proudly list our genres for your convenience. No more wondering. We openly tell you.

But the differences don't end there. Is the book suitable as a gift for your nephew? Will his mom call you up the day after Christmas, furious, because the innocent-looking book contains and explicit love-scene on page 16? Not if you can take the split-second to read what's located in the lower right corner of the back cover. Printed plain as day is the story's rating. All Ages, Teen, Mature. And we don't just rate the stories just like games and movies, we tell you exactly why it has that rating. No unpleasant surprises. No furious mothers. Just one more convenience to make your decisions that much easier.

What's that printed below the genre? What do those four words proclaim? Surely it can't be. I haven't seen that in 20 years! But it's true. Pocket Novels are printed right here in the United States of America, supporting local jobs and local families. Always have been. Always will be. Period. No outsourcing to foreign countries. No sweatshops. No slave labor. Just honest, hard-working individuals that you may bump into on the streets of this great nation. All our books are produced by a small, local printer. And that's how it's going to stay. Yes, that is a promise.

Finally, last but not least, is our logo. Pocket Novels. At the bottom left, proudly proclaiming that The Short Story Is Back!

Author Interview: Henry Moon Fortune

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO BECOME A WRITER? When I was fifteen I had to read Albert Camus’ novel The Plague for a class I was taking, and I was so impressed by it that I decided, “I want to write stories like that.”

DO YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION FROM A PARTICULAR SOURCE? Most of my inspiration comes from my own life experience, the things I’ve learned and the conclusions I’ve drawn from living life.  I do get the occasional idea from something I’ve read in the news, or else a scene or situation in a novel that wasn’t explored to a satisfactory extent.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR FIRST POCKET NOVEL.I started writing “Grief” in 1995, primarily as a personal response to the death of a close friend.  It took me several months to write it, and even though I’ve written four novels, I think this one story was probably the most difficult piece of literature I’ve ever produced.  But it helped in my healing process, and I hope it can help others in theirs.



WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO PUBLISH WITH POCKET NOVELS? When I first learned of Pocket Novels and their mission to revive the dime novel, I thought that was an excellent idea.  I checked out their website, learned more about their operation, and decided that I wanted to contribute to this new direction in publishing.  I believe it will be a great thing for the world of literature.

WHAT'S THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS?  Actually starting a new project; I might have a story outlined from start to finish, but for me the most difficult part is getting those first few sentences and paragraphs out onto the page.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS? When my characters begin to take on a life of their own and start writing the story for me, even if they take it in a direction I hadn’t intended; it’s then that I know I’m onto something good.

DO YOU THINK THAT WRITING SHORT STORIES (POCKET NOVELS) IS HARDER OR EASIER THAN WRITING NOVELS?  Definitely much harder.  Because of their brevity, pocket novels have to be more focused and compact, ideas have to be fully explored with a limited number of words, and so choosing the right words and still managing to tell the complete story is much more challenging than writing novels.



WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE AUTHORS/STORIES/GENRES? I could probably fill an entire page with just a list of my favorite writers.  The top few would include Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Jack Kerouac, Albert Camus, Vladimir Nabokov, Allen Ginsberg, Sarah Schulman, Stephen King, and Gregory Maguire.  My favorite books would  include most of the books these fine writers have produced.



ANY PARTICULAR GENRES YOU LIKE WRITING MORE THAN OTHERS? I write almost exclusively in the mainstream/literary genre, though recently I’ve taken to experimenting with a fantasy novel.

DO YOU HAVE ANY INTERESTING WRITING QUIRKS? I don’t think so.  The only odd thing I can think of is that, with the occasional exception (like the story “Grief”), I tend to write my stories and novels solely from an idea, without any kind of outline, or even plan of how to get from beginning to end.



DO YOU HAVE ANY NON-WRITING PASSIONS?  Not really.  Writing is about the only passion I indulge, though I am addicted to the arcade game Space Invaders.

Story Profile: Bonnie vs. The Zombies

Writers should not read about zombie survival during a major natural disaster, but in 1995 that's exactly what happened. Hurricane Rita tore through my state and knocked out power for weeks. The roads were blocked by downed trees and no one could come in, get out, or make phone calls. Naturally, I was seeing zombies shambling about behind every chunk of debris that littered the roads.

Sometime later, a dear friend of mine asked me to write a story with her as the main character. Thus my post-hurricane zombie story was born. My friend, tough, sassy, fearless, became Bonnie in more ways than one. After completion of the story, I tagged the fictional name on her and there it stuck. It was probably the worst Christmas present ever. Sorry Bonnie, but for better or worse, you've been immortalized.

"Bonnie, get the gun."

She hurried to the back of the room and removed a pistol from its holster. She thumbed back the hammer and looked at Troy. Never could Bonnie have imagined that she would be drawing down on another human being, but now the situation was thrust upon her, and she had to take action. She stared into his lifeless eyes, into his blank expression as he attempted to bite her friends.

No, she was not drawing down on a human being. Whatever it was that had invaded and attacked them only resembled a human, and the longer she watched him, the less human he seemed.

Bonnie shut her left eye, took aim and squeezed off a shot. The bullet passed through his left shoulder, exploding the joint as it exited. They expected a cry of pain, a scream, and for Troy to jerk away. But he failed to even flinch. The pain did not even register.

Bonnie fired a second shot that ruptured his torso and obviously damaged his spine, as his legs went limp. Still he tried to squirm free and bite.

"Shoot him in the face," Joe yelled an instant before Bonnie reacted. Troy's head came apart as the hollow point ripped through his skull, spraying blood and brains across the room. The lifeless, ruined corpse dropped limp and Joe and T.L. released their hold on the thing.

"Someone tell me that didn't just happen," Bonnie said, shaking her head.

"Bonnie," Joe said quietly as he rose to his feet. "You just killed a zombie."

Story Profile: Pyro

"What should I write about?" I had asked one of my younger brothers. For me, younger brothers are like locusts. There are too many to count and they're always eating my food.

"Write about a pyromaniac," he replied without hesitation.

I'd never written about a pyro, but figured it couldn't be that difficult. I imagined someone with a fascination that became an addiction. Then I started researching interesting ways to create fire. Well, I researched a little, and then I started to recall some of the ways that I had created fire when I was a kid. So maybe it wasn't too much of a stretch for me to connect with the character in Pyro, which was probably why it's told as a first person narrative.

The story flowed rather easily, wrapping itself up in just two writing sessions. I polished it up and let some people read it. Though it was one of my earlier short stories, it's still one of my favorites, which probably says some things about me.

Anyway, when I was ten, the new digit birthday (the only time in life when your age gets another digit unless you live to be a hundred) my mom lit the candles on my cake just before she realized the camera was in the other room. She ran off to fetch her aged Canon to snap a shot of me blowing out my candles, and for thirty seconds I was there with my friends, unsupervised.

To this day I'm not sure why I did it, but as soon as she turned around, I slid the cake over, pushing it across the table, allowing it to settle beneath the white drapes. Before she had the camera in her hands, the cloth was flaming and my friends were laughing, most of them at least. The others gasped, then screamed.

Mom rushed in, some of my friends rushed out and I just sat there. She ran to the table, dropping her camera on the floor, then ran over to the sink to grab the fire extinguisher. As soon as her hand touched the red cylinder, she ran back to the table to evacuate us from the area. Jerking me up by the arm, she flung me back. She panicked for another few seconds, then returned to the sink to actually pick up the fire extinguisher this time.

After fumbling with the pin for God only knows how long, she managed to spray down the table, the cake, the wall, the floor and the window. Only the last little bit even hit the drapes that were almost burnt out by that time.

Of course she beat the hell out of me for that stunt, but despite the fact that I couldn't sit down for almost an hour, I didn't regret it. Not after realizing the power I had over order and chaos, creation and destruction. With no more effort than it takes to pass the peas, I managed to unravel two days of planning, an hour and a half of baking cake and cookies and six dollars worth of ice cream. I don't even know how much those curtains were worth, but we had a black spot on the ceiling that wouldn't come off for four years.

When the air conditioner went out and the whole trailer turned into an oven, if you stood beside the window, you could smell that birthday fire, even though it had been painted over.

After that I was hooked.

Author Interview: Jason Foux

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO BECOME A WRITER?

One parent is creative and the other is a great story teller, so I didn't really have a choice in the matter. Stories started happening in my head and I started writing them down. The more I wrote, the more they happened. Now it's sort of an addiction. I can't go too long without getting my fix.

DO YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION FROM A PARTICULAR SOURCE?

Music is a big source of inspiration. It helps me color a scene to give it the desired feel and portray the appropriate emotions. If I'm writing a fast paced scene, I use fast music to inspire me while I write.

As far as where I get my ideas, I'm not certain. Some of them just appear, popping up like a memory of something that never happened. For some, I'll see or hear about something and say 'What if' and that usually gets me into trouble because my imagination takes over and there's no stopping it after that. And sometimes I'll be in a certain mood or a situation and it just feels like a story is waiting to happen. The setting is right, like the opening scene of a movie and the story grows from that.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR POCKET NOVELS?

The first is Pyro. It's a first-person narrative. The narrator is recalling his long and storied relationship with his one true love; fire. he's not a bad guy, he just likes burning things and the power that the ensuing chaos gives him. A girl once told me that when she read the story she could see the character in some bar narrating his life over a beer. That's exactly how I tried to write it.

Bonnie Versus the Zombies is a bit of an odd story. Well, how it came about is. The story itself is probably exactly what you expect it to be. How it came about was like this. Hurricane Rita destroyed my part of the state, and in the post-apocalyptic setting that was once my hometown, my brothers and I ran around and explored the area, talking about how it would be the perfect time for a zombie outbreak. I wasn't that into zombies at the time, but the idea seemed fun. A dozen zombie movies and a few books later, I was ready to write a novel. The novel was introduce by the short story in question that doubled as a birthday present for a friend. Now the story itself is pretty simple and relatively close to actual events. After a major hurricane lays waste to Louisiana, three friends find that a portion of the population that hadn't evacuated had turned into zombies. If they're to survive, they must rely on each other and find a way to escape… if escape is possible. That's pretty much what happened after Hurricane Rita… sort of.

DESCRIBE YOUR NORMAL WRITING PROCESS.

There's not much normal about it. It starts when some stray idea latches onto my brain like a tick and won't let go. It's usually something like this: "Did that singer just say 'what if it was paradise' or 'what if it was parasites'?" And I get way too excited at the possibilities. Then I start brainstorming, letting my overactive imagination run wild with the idea. Basically, I cut the leash and turn it loose. When it's had its fun, it brings the idea back, but only after much gnawing and slobbering. It has then turned into something like this: "So this alien parasite gets inside a person and uses chemicals to alter the host's behavior to ensure its own survival." Then I remember something that I once saw about parasites and snails and birds and I incorporate things that actually happen into the story to make it more realistic. That way, if someone says that my story is too far fetched, I can say "there are actual parasites that take control of a snail's brain and force it up on a high branch so that a bird will eat it, allowing the parasite to infect the bird." Then there's this long process where I'm working on the characters, plot, timeline of events, conflict, resolution, etc. That part is pretty stressful. It's like trying to set up a tent from the inside. The more I try, the more things keep falling down on my head and nothing wants to take shape. Finally, I get it set up, step outside, and that's when I start seeing all the wrinkles. After some more time, I get those ironed out and I can write the blasted thing. by this point I'm so frustrated with the story that I pretty much hate it. So I write it for the sake of defeating it. There's usually some cursing, screaming, throwing of pens, and long walks to prevent me from losing my temper and going postal on a whole coffee shop full of people who don't deserve it because the characters don't do what I tell them to do, but in the end the story gets finished.

Told you it wasn't normal.

WHAT'S THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS?

Those damned characters. I spend days, weeks, or even months carefully and meticulously constructing the perfect plot outline just to have a character go off and deliberately disobey me. People get killed, the plot gets derailed, and the entire outline has to be scrapped and rewritten. We writers have far less control over our characters that one might think. In fact, we have very little control. They do what they will and we writers just type what happens. I guess I'm more like a reporter. I'll put my spin on things, but really I'm just telling you what happened in my own words. And that sucks because I spend a lot of time on my outlines.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS?

It's a tossup between two things. First is the actual act of writing. Creating a story from the careful arrangement of letters on a page is just magical. There's nothing like it. For me, the act of writing is very fulfilling despite the stresses and frustrations. I have to write. The stories inside me have to get out or I'll go crazy, and releasing them makes me happy.

Then there's the feedback. I'll get an email from a reader that says "Reading your novel has become part of my morning routine. I read a chapter before work every day." I write for myself, but hearing things like that is such an added and unexpected bonus that I'm not sure what to do with the compliment. So I just smile and do my best to not disappoint with the next story/chapter/novel.

DO YOU THINK THAT WRITING SHORT STORIES (POCKET NOVELS) IS HARDER OR EASIER THAN WRITING NOVELS?

I think they're about the same. A novel gives the writer more time to develop the characters and story, but the Pocket Novel allows for less complex works. Some stories can only be novels because there's so much that has to go into them. Some have to be shorts because it's not about the complexities but about a central idea and stretching it too far will dampen it.

WHAT AUTHORS DO YOU ADMIRE/READ MOST?

H.P. Lovecraft has been a favorite for over a decade for his use of psychological suspense and being the only author who can instill in me a sense of impending doom even though I know it to be fiction. (At least, I hope Lovecraft wrote fiction) Neil Gaiman is another. His stories are always so rich and unique.

WHAT DO YOU WANT READERS TO KNOW ABOUT YOU AND YOUR WRITING?

They need to know that my work is the greatest ever (don't tell them that it's not true). In all seriousness I want to push boundaries and write things that other people haven't written before. I know that everyone says that, and and serious writer should. I try to blur the lines between good and evil, pull stunts, break the rules. I want to try new things and take the reader along with me and I want it to be convincing. If my character wants to commit suicide, can I convince the reader to go along with it? Can I convince the reader that it's for the best? Can I convince the reader to hope that the character is successful in his attempt? And if he isn't successful, can I make the reader sad that the character wasn't able to accomplish the task? That's my goal. I want the reader to live the story with the characters and for the story to be as rich and unpredictable, yet believable, as real life.

ANY PARTICULAR GENRES YOU LIKE WRITING MORE THAN OTHERS?

Sparkly Vampire Teen Stalker Romance. Or maybe not. Mostly I write modern mostly-realistic stories with elements of humor, crime and dark drama, but I've also done zombies, vampires, fantasy, horror, mystery, sci-fi, pear trees, flaming hurricanes, train rides with the devil and a mutiny on a three-man fishing boat and I've had a blast writing all of them. Currently I'm on an apocalypse kick, but who knows what will be next? I sure don't.

DO YOU HAVE ANY INTERESTING WRITING QUIRKS?

I sometimes type the words of a story while singing the words to whatever song I'm listening to. The weird part is that I don't recall what I typed until I go back and read it… and it always makes sense and doesn't contain Rod Stewart lyrics. Possibly the oddest thing is that one character in particular seems to be a powerful influence on me while I'm writing one of his stories. Whenever I work on a Jericho Mills story (a series about an alcoholic with a remote viewing problem) I tend to start talking like him. It wouldn't be so bad if Jericho Mills wasn't a dyed in the wool bastard. I've found myself saying things that I would have never said before I started writing his stories.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST PIECE YOU EVER WROTE?

The Hunted was about a guy being pursued by a killer who won't die. It was basically Friday 13th, or at least my impression of it based off what I'd seen from the previews. I was 9 when I wrote it… on a camping trip… with pencil colors. It was bad. Very bad. But it was also illustrated.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIECE TO DATE?

That's a tough one. Maybe Flare, my vision of the world after a technology-frying solar flare sends us all back to the dark ages. I had a lot of fun with that one, but it was difficult to write. Not from the effort or length or detail, but because of what happens in the story. A lot of bad things had to happen to turn the main character from the everyman at the beginning of the story to the person he is at the end and to be convincing, I had to be… thorough. I have been told that some parts of that story were difficult to read. Well, they were difficult to write. But the characters and the story and the setting and the details all fell into place and I enjoyed writing that novel something fierce. I think it's my favorite… but I could name a dozen other pieces that could be favorites for equally good but completely different reasons.

Story Profile: Infestation

Infestation came from a real experience I had. I woke up one morning to the realization there was a rat chewing the baseboard a few inches from my head. After nearly two weeks of freaking out about the rat that was clearly in the roof crawl space, I was thoroughly exhausted from lack of sleep. One sleepless midnight, I sat down and wrote the story. During a two hour writing session, every dark fear I didn't realize I had inside of me over a little rat came pouring out. When I had written the last word, I was actually more afraid of the rat than before!

     Right next to her head, but on the opposite side of the wall, Gia could hear the rat gnawing. She gave a quiet bang. The noise stopped, then started again with more urgency.
     Gia banged on the wall several more times, waking Wes up.
     "What's going on?" he asked, clearly on edge about the noise.
     "The rat," Gia said without apology. "It's right on the other side of the wall!"
     Wes listened, but to Gia's dismay the rat didn't make a sound.
     "Go to sleep." Wes rolled over, turning away from Gia. "You're probably imagining it. I swear you're so paranoid by this rat that you're probably just hearing things."
     "I am hearing things," Gia agreed. "I'm hearing a rat in the wall gnawing to get at my head."

Author Interview: Tasha Gray

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO BECOME A WRITER?
     My father used to come home from work each night and let me pick a book. I kept bringing him the same book so he decided to make up stories to alleviate his boredom. He figured it would make me creative or confuse me. I think it did both but it instilled in me a love of reading that I still have. One day I realized OMG REAL PEOPLE WROTE THOSE STORIES. From then on I decided I was going to be one of those people. After all, I had stories in my head no one had gotten around to writing yet.
     At this point, I'm not sure I could stop being a writer. I've tried a few times but after a month or so I decide I really need to sleep so I write to shut the voices up. (I'm only writer-crazy, so I'm fairly safe.)

DO YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION FROM A PARTICULAR SOURCE?
Not really. I'm blessed/cursed with the 'what if' gene and I never know when or where it's going to strike. Sometimes I write what I dream, fictionalized versions of real life events, things I overhear or mishear, things from television/news articles or random thoughts that buzz in my head. I once had an idea for a piece when I was in the middle of a sci-fi convention. I think I screamed out before I went frantically digging for one the many notebooks and pens I keep on my person for such emergencies.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR FIRST POCKET NOVEL.

That is one that came from a real life scenario. Unfortunately I have a great imagination and tend to over-dramatize things. A rat gets into the house and I freak out and write a story.

EVER ARGUE WITH YOUR CHARACTERS?
Of course! They rarely do what I want them to. I've argued out loud while typing to try to convince the characters NOT to do what they were doing. I was staying with relatives at the time and I think that made them worry more about me.

WHAT'S THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS?
Going from the starting idea to the end of the piece. I don't always get 'the beginning' first. I also don't always know how it's going to end until I get there. I mostly hate when the voices in my head don't want to talk to me.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS?
Getting to 'the end'. Well, that and I do love the rush I get whenever I get an idea I'm excited about. When I'm in the middle of those writing times when it doesn't feel like I'm even involved. The words flow through me with such ease that I have to go back just to see what the story was about. I wish those writing times happened more often than they do.

IS WRITING POCKET NOVEL LENGTH STORIES EASIER THAN WRITING SHORTER OR LONGER FICTION?
Umm...for me that's two questions. I find short stories easier than novels for the simple fact that novels tend to give me more time to go into a writerly meltdown and get stuck. When I was first approached to write a story long enough for Pocket Novels, I had to completely rework the way I wrote short stories. My short stories tend to fall under the Pocket Novel length requirements, so to write one, I have to look at the piece and see what I can elaborate on without just adding words.

ANY PARTICULAR GENRES YOU LIKE WRITING MORE THAN OTHERS?

Mostly horror and detective/murder fiction since that's what I read. Give me ANY idea and I'll probably kill someone in it. That sounds morbid, doesn't it? It's still true. I was told to write a dragon story...guess what? People die in the story and it can't even be considered a fantasy. Yep, that's right. I got a dragon into a story and somehow it's not a fantasy at all.

DO YOU HAVE ANY INTERESTING WRITING QUIRKS?
     Ooooh, there are so many of those. Of course, I am a strange person to begin with.
     First off, I'm a horizontal writer. Most writers sit in desks or at coffee shop tables. I need to be cozy on a couch or at least be able to lean back to get the words out. You can say I do it so I can take a nap when I get stuck and you'd be half right. The second half of that is so when I stay up until three am writing a story, I can put the notebook or computer down and fall asleep where I am.
     Speaking of three am, I tend to be a night writer. Despite numerous admonitions that I should get my brain used to writing early in the morning, I find the words flow better later in the evening.
     I do have a computer and that's where I do the majority of my writing, but I have notebooks, folders, and notes jotted on scraps on paper EVERYWHERE. I can't think on a computer so when I brainstorm I need a pencil and paper to do my odd flowcharts.

     Last I'll mention is that I'm also a temperamental artist, much to the horror of my loved ones. I get into moods where I feel I'll never write again and never had talent to begin with. I wail to the heavens and whimper under blankets until I eventually get over myself for a while and write again.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PIECE THAT YOU'VE WRITTEN?

That's hard for me. I tend to be my own worst critic, but I've gotten good feedback on an unpublished novel Daré.

HOW DID IT COME ABOUT?

Honesty, I have no clue. I know I like vampire novels and probably just had a 'what if' moment. To be honest, I can't pinpoint the mental birth of the majority of my finished pieces.

ANYTHING YOU WANT TO ADD? ADVICE? WARNINGS? ANYTHING?
Be careful what you wish for. When I was younger, I wanted to be a writer. No one warned me it comes with all sorts of strange quirks, internal and external dialogue with voices in your head and being woken up at odd hours b/c something just popped into your head and you MUST get it down. Even though I try to produce new pieces as often as I can, I keep getting new ideas. Being a writer may never lead to publication for most people, but it is a lifelong...Habit? Struggle? Disorder?

Writers read. It's that simple. I don't believe you can be a real writer without a love of reading. You also need to read to see what the competition is up to. I find reading relights my writing fire and, since I bring a writer's view into my reading, I can see what works or doesn't work for me in someone's story and that sometimes helps me in my own writing. I read just about anything I can get my hands on these days and am even delving into genres I had previously shied away from.

Story Profile "The Visitor"

All novels, plays, film scripts and short stories usually start with something popping into the author’s mind on the lines of, “What if?” And after the first what-if, can come other what-ifs, as the story spins off, limited only by one’s imagination. By that process was “The Visitor” born. 

I sat one hot, muggy afternoon working laboriously on a film script. I felt old, tired, run down, a kind of shabby, sweaty failure with a love life on hold. I tried to lift myself out of the gloom by imagining: What if the door bell rang and some fabulously beautiful woman stood there who would somehow be mysteriously attracted to me? Her adoration would transform me into the person I’d always wanted to be - dashing, glamorous, witty and dazzlingly successful. 

But my first what-if thoughts quickly turned darker – writers rarely exist in Disney-Bambi fairy-tale land – and I started to plunge off the beaten track into a different and altogether darker scenario. Perhaps the visitor had a more sinister and significant mission. The story began to form in my brain, and I immediately saved the script I’d been working on in Final Draft, opened Word and began - ‘The Visitor’.

“He padded downstairs and became acutely aware that his armpits were wet. Damn it! What the hell was under-arm deodorant for if not to prevent that? Scraggy old shirt, jogging pants, scuffed and dirty sneakers. Let’s hope it wasn’t someone important, he thought, and then instantly: what important? Who important? Important what? Who? Who was important that he knew, and who important did he know who would call on him? There was – he realized with a stab of bitter self-knowledge – nothing remotely important in his life. Except the novel. 

He opened the door without checking through the spy-hole. A woman stood there. Enormous understatement; he was a writer after all, let that be rephrased. A goddess stood there. A drop-dead gorgeous, stunning, more-than-beautiful-exquisite woman standing there on his doorstep……for a second he couldn’t catch his breath.”

Author Interview: Stuart White

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO BECOME A WRITER?
Entranced as a child by reading books which conjured up other worlds and characters, I always wanted to create such characters and worlds myself in stories that would be very real to those who read them.

DO YOU GET INSPIRATION FROM ANY PARTICULAR SOURCE?
From life and the world around me and the people who inhabit it, and from what I’ve experienced of this beautiful, immensely varied and frequently bizarre planet we inhabit. Everyday events, snippets of news, historical incidents, overheard conversations and ideas that pop into one’s head, can all inspire a story.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR FIRST POCKET NOVEL.
To say too much about The Visitor would give away its eventual plot denouement, but the essential idea is that of our lives being suddenly and drastically changed by the arrival of a glamorous and expected stranger.

WHAT IS THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS?
I believe it’s taking the idea, developing the plot, fleshing it out with real characters, then working out how to pace it.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS?
The writing itself; taking the developed idea and plot and characters and turning them – hopefully – into a gripping, entertaining and hopefully satisfying and credible story.

DO YOU THINK WRITING SHORT STORIES (POCKET NOVELS) IS HARDER OR EASIER THAN NOVELS?
At one level it’s easier than the physical task of putting 85,000 words or sometimes more into a novel. But on another it’s actually more difficult. With a Pocket Novel of fewer than 8,000 words you’ve less time to establish story, plot and credible characters than you have in a novel. So you have to be both brief – but clever – in packing a great deal into a short space.

DO YOU THINK THERE ARE SPECIAL CHALLENGES FOR A UK AUTHOR TRYING TO CONNECT TO AN AMERICAN AUDIENCE?
Indeed. And that challenge is authenticity. Although in the UK we are exposed to American culture and history at an early age that’s not enough. I think you really have to have lived in America. I’m fortunate to have visited America extensively for the last forty years, and to have lived there for two periods totalling almost eleven years. Without that invaluable experience I don’t think I would dare try to write about Americans or America.

WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE AUTHORS AND GENRES?
I adore Graham Greene, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Andre Malraux, Camus, Sartre and Victor Hugo and frequently re-read their books. And you can’t beat Shakespeare for plot and language. I like the international event genre, something set in another place and another historical time.

ANY PARTICULAR GENRE YOU LIKE WRITING MORE THAN OTHERS?
I like the history genre, where one goes back in time to re-imagine the lives of individuals in great world events – World War Two or the Vietnam war(s) for example.

DO YOU HAVE ANY INTERESTING WRITING QUIRKS?
Not really. I’m dull in that respect. All I need is a quiet room (or seat on a plane, or train), a computer or notebook. But I insist on reading my work out aloud (to myself), especially the dialogue, to make sure the whole is easy on the ear, and the latter can be read without awkwardness.

DO YOU HAVE ANY NON-WRITING PASSIONS?
Travel and history: I love far-flung places. I’ve lived in the US, in Hong Kong and the Persian gulf, and spent a great deal of time in France. In total I’ve visited about 68 countries either for work or pleasure. I read history voraciously, especially French military and political history, US history, and that of the 20th century including both world wars.

ANY WRITING ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU WISH TO SHARE?
I’m fortunate that my sixth novel The Valhalla Secret is to be published in the fall. I also have two non-fiction books and two ghosted novels to my credit. I’ve also had two screenplays optioned in Hollywood and – fingers crossed – one script, Crossmaglen, will go into production also in the fall.

Story Profile "Consequences"

I present to you Michelle Birbeck and "Consequences", her premier Pocket Novel.
Enjoy.



I’ve always loved horror, be it films or books, and most of my reading collection consists of horror novels, but until now I’d never written one. Then, three days before my busiest month of the year, I found Pocket Novels. The opportunity to start writing in the genre I loved most was just too tempting to resist.

So I sat at my computer and hammered away at the keys, writing Consequences. Three days later, and I raced down to the library so I could print it and give it to my husband to read. This is my first short story, having only written full length novels before, and it has certainly been an experience writing it.

Celia was looking forward to eating with Nick before he had to leave for work, and had expected the smell of freshly cooked pancakes to greet her when she stepped out of the bathroom. But by the time she reached the bottom of the stairs, she was disappointed, having not even caught a whiff.

“Nick?” she called out, thinking that he might have been distracted. But she heard no reply, and no whispering of his voice to indicate he was on the phone.

Silently padding towards the kitchen, she listened hard for any signs of where Nick was, growing more concerned with each step. The kitchen was as empty as it sounded, with nothing seeming out of place. The island in the middle was clean, all the pancake ingredients sitting orderly on the top, waiting.

Rounding the island, Celia almost slipped, catching herself on the worktop. Splattered across the floor was an egg, its shell in a dozen pieces, its insides smeared across the gleaming tile. It looked to be the only one left, and you can’t have pancakes without eggs.

Believing that Nick must have left to pick up some more, Celia grabbed a couple of paper towels and began mopping up the mess. Could have cleaned it up, she thought. But the more she cleaned, wiping away at the gluey mass, the more she began to worry over the silent house. Surely Nick would have called to her to tell her that he was leaving? Or was that the bang that she had heard? Had Nick called to her before leaving, and all she had heard was the door closing?

Except, she couldn’t remember the door to their new home ever making that noise before. It was a heavy oak thing, but the hinges were sound and moved easily. There shouldn’t have been any reason for it to make the noise that Celia had heard.

Worry wormed its way into Celia, pausing her hand as she cleaned, filling her and eating away at her until her mind began to churn over every sound that she had heard. Had she heard the door? Had she just missed Nick’s call? Thoughts tumbled around in her mind, piling up on top of each other. So when she heard light footsteps crossing the kitchen floor, she let out a sigh of relief.

Standing, she said, “There you are! I was wondering where you’d…” she stopped abruptly as a heavy pan came down on her head, knocking her to the floor.

Author Interview: Michelle Birbeck

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO BECOME A WRITER?
I’ve been writing since I was in school, daft things about the wonderful things my friends and I could get up to in some other world. Then I got married, and life became about working and cooking and cleaning, and all the other things people have to do when they grow up. Four years ago, however, I had to leave work when my husband was diagnosed with a blood disorder. Suddenly I had a lot of time on my hands and not a lot to do with it. It was then that I took up writing again, met some wonderful friends, and started creating my own little worlds to have some fun with.

DO YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION FROM A PARTICULAR SOURCE?
Just about everything inspires me, but especially walking and music. Walking, not because of the things I see and hear, but the time it gives me on my own to just think and let my mind wander. Music, because of the emotions it brings to certain scenes and pieces I’m writing.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR FIRST POCKET NOVEL.
As much as I love every character I’ve ever created, I also love to torment and torture them. Celia is no exception. After the best night of her life, she’s looking forward to a nice, ordinary day. Her first day as an engaged woman. Life, however, has other plans. She soon finds herself entangled in a deadly game, where the consequences for her every action could mean the end of her life.



WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO PUBLISH WITH POCKET NOVELS?
I blame everything on my wonderful friend Bec. She’s a fellow writer, and somehow persuaded me to join the madness that is NaNoWriMo. Next thing I know, I’m preparing for my second year of the challenge, and I stumble upon Pocket Novels. What was one more challenge? I’d already committed to writing 50,000 words in the month, and though adding an extra 5,000 or so before I started was a good way to pass the days before NaNo officially started. So I sat down, wrote Consequences, and sent it off. Now I’m getting all excited and showing Consequences’ cover to anyone and everyone who is willing to look. Even if I don’t know them.

WHAT'S THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS?
The end and the beginning. Whether it’s a short story or a full length novel, there is something about coming to the end of it that makes me want to keep going. It always makes me just a little bit sad to see a project finished.

At the same time, I find the start of whatever I’m working on just as hard. If I don’t like the opening, then I will go back over it again and again to get it write. I just can’t continue on if the opening doesn’t feel right to me.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS?
Reading back through what I’ve written. Though there are many bits of writing that I like, this is one of my favourite. I love sitting down with the printed pages, reading them through, and laughing my behind off at what I’ve written. Those little lines that say one thing when I know the exact opposite is coming, and the little bits of foreshadowing I know are there. It makes me smile to see them in the writing and know that something completely different is coming.

DO YOU THINK THAT WRITING SHORT STORIES (POCKET NOVELS) IS HARDER OR EASIER THAN WRITING NOVELS?
Harder. For me, sticking to a word limit is the hardest part of writing short stories. Whether it’s a minimum or maximum limit, I’m not good with them. I’d rather be able to write for as long as needed to tell the story. That’s not to say I’m not enjoying writing short stories, I am, immensely. It is a wonderful challenge for me to complete a story, tie up all the loose ends, and not miss anything out within the limits.



DO YOU THINK THERE ARE ANY SPECIAL CHALLENGES FOR A UK AUTHOR TRYING TO CONNECT WITH AN AMERICAN AUDIENCE?

Two nations divided by a common language isn’t just a phrase. There are an unbelievable number of spelling and word differences between here and the US. If I want to write about someone going shopping, then I have to remember that trollies are what we call trams, and what I really want to carry the shopping around in is a cart. And that’s just an easy example! There’s a whole different culture between the two, as well, so it takes a lot of sifting through things to find out exactly what differences there are and get it right.

WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE AUTHORS/STORIES/GENRES?
Where do I start? There’s a whole room in my house dedicated to books. Shelves and shelves of the things, from dictionaries dating back to 1940, to every full length novel Richard Laymon ever wrote. He’s my favourite horror writer, and I have happily read every novel he wrote, several times. Of course, I do have a particular soft spot for J.R Ward, as well as far too many other authors to mention.



ANY PARTICULAR GENRES YOU LIKE WRITING MORE THAN OTHERS?
Horror and anything supernatural. If it goes bump in the night or isn’t your average human, then I’m there.

DO YOU HAVE ANY INTERESTING WRITING QUIRKS?
I like to write with my eyes closed. I will happily sit in front of my computer, fingers on the keyboard, and close my eyes before I start writing. It helps me keep the pictures in my head a bit clearer, though it can freak people out when I’m out in public. The other advantage of being able to touch type is that I can carry on a conversation, whilst looking at the person I’m talking to, and continuing with writing. It also freaks people out, but honestly, it’s sort of fun. 

DO YOU HAVE ANY

NONWRITING PASSIONS?
Corsets, my bunny, and faeries. I’m a bit of an amateur dressmaker, and out of everything I ever made, corsets are the most fun. They might leave me unable to take a deep breath for the day whilst wearing one, but they are just so pretty!

My faerie collection is spread throughout the entire house. There isn’t a single room in my house that doesn’t have at least one faerie in it. Be that paintings and cross stitches, or ornaments and books, they are everywhere.

Lastly, my bunny. She’s a beautiful little thing called Poppy, who I inherited from a friend. I was given the choice between her or two brothers, Jimmy and Hendrix, but as soon as I heard she was called Poppy, I had to have her. She’s my distraction from the computer, and I sit on the living room floor for hours watching her hop around and play.



ANY WRITING ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU WANT TO SHARE?
As well as signing the contracts for Consequences to be published (which will be my very first writing publication) I also signed the contracts for my first full length novel earlier this year. Very proud moments for both of those.

ANYTHING YOU WANT TO ADD? ADVICE? WARNINGS? ANYTHING?
Thank you for reading, and enjoy!

Preview of "Ghost Story"

Ever wondered how an author writes a story? Would you like to read a few paragraphs from one of the books in the initial launch? Here it is.
Enjoy.

I blame Ghost Story on National Novel Writing Month.

Stick with me, my story gets better.

I met a lot of good friends through NaNoWriMo. We would have our local write-ins during November, where little writing actually got done. We would actually sit outside the coffee shop long after the place had closed down and the staff was gone, still talking about anything and everything that came to mind.

I was driving home after one such write-in, and the hour was far too late to begin with. It had rained earlier, and even in November it gets warm in Louisiana so the weather was perfect for fog. The shapes in the mist were shifting and then I almost had a heart attack -- Driving through a residential area, I thought one of the shapes climbing out of the drain was a person.

By the next write-in, I had three pages of Ghost Story written and the rest of the story plotted out by the time the others showed up. I asked the others if they wanted to read it when I was done....

The rest is, well, a ghost story.
~Gracie Musica


Sometimes people see things in the fog, in the dark, shifting shadows momentarily taking on the appearance of a person, of an animal. There's that moment of fright, that heart-out-of-your-chest jolt of pure terror that you're not alone, that you're up against something unknown and foreign and genuinely creepy. It's the moment that the best horror movies live for, the one that the truly frightening ones are able to repeat.

Then the shadows move, or someone pulls out a flashlight and the serial killer with a knife is a tree with a broken branch, the human-eating wolf is just a shrub that has grown in an odd way. The things that can't be explained away are forgotten, hidden, never spoken of again except when someone gets really drunk and blabs.

But sometimes that figure of a bear really is a bear. And appropriate actions against must be taken to defend yourself against them.

So the figures in the fog that looked suspiciously like people I ignored. It was almost midnight, and if anyone was out walking in the middle of the interstate fifty miles to the next little hole in the ground, they were probably drunk and deserved to be taken out of the gene pool.

To be honest, nothing tells a ghost to screw off like a hood ornament through their midsection.

So there I was, plowing down figures in the mist, goose bumps occasionally rising up on my arms. It was far too late – or too early, depending on how you looked at it – to be dealing with this. There was a good chance this was all the fevered dream of a tired, overactive imagination. Next place there was to stop, no matter how run-down, I'd stop for the night.

Author Interview: Gracelyn Musica

WHERE ARE YOU FROM AND DO YOU LIKE IT THERE?
I'm from Lake Charles, Louisiana. It's an interesting place to live -- too small-time to be big city, too big city to consider itself adequate.

DOES THE BAYOU STATE INSPIRE YOU AS AN AUTHOR?
Of course it does! The people and places here have long memories, for both the good and the bad. Everywhere you turn, someone has a story. And if they don't, it's rather easy to make one up.

FAVORITE AUTHOR? AND DO YOU DRAW INSPIRATION FROM HIM/HER?
I have quite a few favorite authors, and honestly it depends on what I'm into at the moment: Neil Gaiman, Roald Dahl, Diana Wynne Jones, Gerald Morris, Douglas Adams, Rick Riordan, Kate Chopin. I like a lot of children's lit, so I'm really inspired by stories with strong main characters, or characters that don't start out all that strong but come into their own (Matilda, Coraline, Chrestomanci and Squire's Tales series, Ella Enchanted, Percy Jackson). I also love funny characters -- if a book makes me consistently laugh out loud as I read it (Dirk Gently, Good Omens, The Squire's Tales again), I'll usually pick up another book the author's written.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR FIRST POCKET NOVEL, "GHOST STORY"
I hate writing summaries, I generally suck at them, but here it goes. It's pretty much the main character, a psychic named Mia Richard, getting disgruntled at a spirit she takes on and being snarky at him. I know it doesn't sound completely thrilling, but if I tell you any more I'll have to charge you.

WHAT'S THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS?
Finding the discipline to take the time to write! Between work and the rest of life, it keeps getting harder and harder to find the time.

DO YOU THINK THAT WRITING SHORT STORIES IS HARDER OR EASIER THAN WRITING NOVELS?
Short stories and novels both have their pros and cons: for short stories, it's harder to confine myself to the word count while novels let me ramble on and on. However, it's easier to write short stories because I get the feeling of accomplishment when I finish a story.

ANY PARTICULAR GENRES YOU LIKE WRITING MORE THAN OTHERS?
I love fantasy and sci-fi, I always have. I find myself lately writing -- and enjoying reading -- romance stories.

DO YOU HAVE ANY INTERESTING WRITING QUIRKS?
I do like to say dialogue out loud as I write it. I read a lot of my stuff out loud when I write, actually, to make sure the words flow naturally. One quirk I do have is that when I write by hand, I can't use fancy writing journals. I love them, but they're always so beautiful and I hate messing that up! I like to write on yellow legal pads when I do hand write first drafts. And I never erase if I'm using a pencil. Slows me down.

FOR YOU, WHERE DO YOUR STORIES COME FROM?
The truly terrifying recesses of my mind, and from things my friends say in conversation. That is meant to be as ominous as it sounds.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT WRITING "GHOST STORY"?
Honestly, it wasn't the writing part, although I did have a blast writing Mia and Bill's interactions. My absolute favorite thing about going through the experience of getting Ghost Story published was doing the photo shoot for the front cover with fellow writers Jason Foux and Tasha Gray. You know you have amazing friends when you can look at one and say, "I'd like to take a picture of your legs sticking out from under the trunk of my car for the cover of my Pocket Novel" and he replies with, "As long as you both stay away from the jack while I'm underneath it."

I am also rather proud of the back cover blurb. Like I said, I hate writing summaries.

ANYTHING YOU WANT TO ADD? ADVICE? WARNINGS? ANYTHING?
I want to thank all of you for reading, writing, and supporting Pocket Novels! We couldn't do this without you.