Friday, January 30, 2015

IT'S ALIVE: Shadows Over Main Street: An Anthology of Small-Town Lovecraftian Terror

IT'S ALIVE!

Check out my poem "The 21st Century Shadow" in the anthology Shadows Over Main Street: An Anthology of Small-Town Lovecraftian Terror, brought to you by the fine folks of Hazardous Press.

I want to say thank you to Doug Murano and D Alexander Ward for all their hard work and extend a big congratulations to all my fellow contributors! Happy release day!

You can buy the book here.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Liebster Award Blog Meme: Inside the Brothel


LIEBSTER AWARD BLOG MEME

Jason Jack Miller, author of THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK, tagged me in a ten question blog hop known as the LIEBSTER AWARD, so here it goes!

(1) Where did the idea for your current work-in-progress (WIP) come from?

My current WIP is a poetry collection titled, BROTHEL. As a forever student of literature and literary theory, I love psychoanalytic criticism, especially in the vein of Sigmud Freud and his thoughts on psychosexuality. After writing books about madness (HYSTERIA), grief (MOURNING JEWELRY) and love (ANEXORCISIM OF ANGELS,coming soon!), I wanted to write a book that studied sex from the angle of someone whose job was marketing and performing sex for a living, i.e. enter the Madam. The collection is darkly erotic and erotically dark and I’m having a wicked good time writing it.

Also, I just kind of wanted to write a book about sex. 

(2) Quote a favorite line from one of your favorite books.

"No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride...and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well...maybe chalk it off to forced conscious expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten."  Hunter S. Thompson (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)

(3) Now quote your favorite line form your current WIP.

“Living and working in the whore house is a type of intimacy in itself, for you’re always being watched, and someone or something is always inside of you, whether it’s a memory or a person, and that makes it impossible to be alone.”

(4) What unique challenges has your current WIP had that your previous ones did not?

Writing erotica is hard. I never know if I’m being sexy or if I just sound like a jackass.


(5) If you saw our main character at a party, how would you react?

I’d pour myself a double shot of whisky and get ready for one hell of a night.

(6) Who would play your main protagonist/antagonist if your current WIP were made into a movie?

Maria Brink. Duh.


(7) What are your biggest inspirations for writing?

Music. All of my books have been inspired by a single song, and Brothel’s was Sick Like Me by In This Moment. This particular piece struck me because it's masochistic, it's hot, and it's dark--which covers the theme, the tone, and the mood that I'm working with in the collection. Brink is seductive, and she's seductive in a way where she shows no shame for asking/taking what she wants. Her sexual honesty in the video is spot on with my Madam. Check out the video, here.


(8) Summarize your WIP as a haiku.

I shake, I tremble/
There’s a pleasure in the pain/
I beg you, don’t stop.

(9) What role does music play in your writing?

The biggest role of all: I write to it, get inspired by it, and celebrate with it. I also create a playlist for all of my books. Here is the one for Brothel.

(10) What’s one thing you’ve learned about the craft that you wish you had learned earlier?

No matter what the subject, poetry is lyrical pain.

September Madhouse Recap: Mabon, Spooky Reads, and Fall Wellness

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