Five minutes with Glen Mehn, 2012 SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment finalist #horror

Today's visitor is none other than Glen Mehn, a finalist from the 2012 SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment short story competition. His story, The Next Big Thing, appears in this year's anthology, The Root Cellar and Other Stories, which you can find all the buy links your little black heart desires here.

So, Glen, what planted the seed for your story?

 I'm fascinated by the changing face(s) of cities - particularly the cool, quirky districts that start out dangerous and then turn into the poshest areas of the city, chasing out what made it cool in the first place. There's a vampiristic or general blood-sucking of the life of what you look for in a city that happens, and it's terrible. I've lived through it in certain areas in New Orleans, San Francisco, and London - there was even a sniff of it in part of Kampala that I lived in, as it was close-ish to the airport and a really old Buganda area that was dirt cheap, but as all the NGOs, international companies, and embassies made rents rise to near London-levels in the traditional expat areas, lots of people started moving in, and the crazy nightclubs started shifting.

What are some of the themes you treated in your tale?

The changing face of cities. Seduction, and what it means. The transience of friendship and what it means to be a friend, mostly. I was also interested in the idea of inevitability - people talk about cities changing and an early draft of the story was set up as a statement of fate and inevitability. I question whether you can't improve an area without killing it. I hope so.

What are the hallmarks of a great horror/dark fantasy author and story?

People. Get me inside their heads and I'll be terrified along with them. Make me feel the knife, touch the scar tissue, and make my heart skip a beat. The strange but just plausible. There's a story by Kaaron Warren in Stories of the Smoke where the ubiquity of the urban pigeon is suggested in terrifying ways. Make me see the corners of my mind that I don't pay attention to.

How do you approach your creative process?

I try to think a lot, and then get down and write, mostly early in the morning or after work, and I try to get words on the page (or screen - I go back and forth between long handed chicken scratch and typing into a computer) before I can stop thinking about them. Some of my best work has been writing longhand first thing in the morning, before having a wee, toothbrush, or anything. And it's come after writing over and over things like "I have nothing in my mind I am super tired I don't know what to say but I have promised to put down at least 1000 words before coffee so there's 25 there".

I also try to think a lot, and shove ideas into my head. I help people create start-ups for my day job and I think that real innovation happens between specific disciplines, in the places where you're not supposed to play.

What are you working on now?

A short which is about the earliest days of Jazz (and this almost-forgotten cornetist who probably invented Jazz music, which means he's the grandfather of hip hop, rock, and most of th emusic of the 20th century), as well as a couple of novels - both of which I don't want to talk too much about except that one is an inside-out love story and the other one is an attack on the chosen one.

If you're one them folks who hang out on Goodreads, be sure to add The Root Cellar and Other Stories on Goodreads. And, if you're looking to be part of the next anthology, go read our submission guidelines here.

Five minutes with Chris Limb, 2012 SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment runner-up

A huge-ass welcome to Chris Limb, who's one of the runners-up in last year's SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment short story competition. You can read his tale in The Root Cellar and Other Stories. Alibi freaked me out for a variety of reasons, the most hectic probably was the sense of how utterly bereft it made me feel by the

So, Chris, what planted the seed for your story?

One of my foibles is that I always sign up with a new social media service as soon as I hear about it just to see if they grab me. I tend to stick with those that work for me, one of which was Instagram. After using it for a while I found myself wondering how it “knew” where photos were originally taken, even if you posted them from elsewhere.

I then discovered EXIF data, which was the information embedded in photos, including the GPS location of where it was taken. After reading up on it, one the most interesting things for me was that it could be edited. You could embed lies in a photograph. I then wondered why someone would want a photograph to lie on his or her behalf, and the story grew from there.

What are some of the themes you treated in your tale? 

From the source of inspiration I suppose the theme of lying is central to the story.  From this comes morality – do the ends justify the means? Should some monsters just be killed or should a truly moral person seek another way? Things are never that simple and the experience of being human is always one of compromise, no matter the set of values to which we claim to adhere. I suppose there is also a theme of consequence – once we have decided upon a drastic course of action there will always be repercussions, even if they’re not the ones we expect. And things will never be the same again.

What are the hallmarks of a great horror/dark fantasy author and story? 

I think a great horror story should disturb. It should stick with you and bother you; particular turns of phrase from it echoing around your head for weeks afterwards.
It should make you afraid. If you wake at 3.45am you should find yourself getting scared because you just remembered the story you read the other day.  Of course you know that there are no ghosts but in the dead of night a good horror story should make you doubt this rational belief. So much so that you turn the light on.
Sometimes it should make you wish you’d never read it in the first place, but deep down you’re glad you did.

How do you approach your creative process? 

Inspiration does come from dreams I have, although often ideas seem to germinate in my mind whilst I’m awake. Something I see or hear will take root and start throwing out tendrils of “what if…”
A lot of the time these ideas will wash around in my head for ages before I write them down. I recently finished a short story the first few pages of which were in a file dated 2000!

However in recent years I have been forcing myself to write on a daily basis come what may. I have found that doing this does exercise the creative nodes and the fact of sitting down to write a story means that I have to come up with something. I started this daily writing in late 2010 in order to finish off a novel, Comeback, which I had been working on for several years – and I did so within a month or so.

During 2012’s NaNoWriMo I wrote half of the next novel in the series so this head-down-and-do-it approach does seem to work. I have to stop myself obsessing over the details and just get the writing done – I tell myself I can always fix them later.

I am an archaeologist rather than an architect when writing in that a lot of the time I don’t know what is going to happen next and so write in order to find out. However this approach doesn’t really work for short stories.

What are you working on now?

I am still submitting Comeback – which has now been through five or six revisions and is in its final form – to agents and publishers and in the meantime am working on finishing the first draft of the sequel, which is nominally called Ghostdance. Both are set in the music industry although have strong fantastical elements. I’ve also written the first couple of chapters of a SF novel dealing with parallel worlds and how we ended up in the wrong one.

I am continuing to write short stories and entering them for competitions and open calls. It is all good exercise unless it gets published and then it counts as work!

Twitter: @catmachine
Web: http://chrislimb.com
Holding page for Comeback: http://comeba.co.uk
Site for 80s pop memoir: http://toyah.org

Five minutes with Lee Mather, 2012 Bloody Parchment finalist

Lee Mather seems to be turning into regular for Bloody Parchment. This year his story, Jamie's Song, met with the judges' approval and I'm happy to have him over today to chat a little more about his contribution, and how he approaches the art of writing.

What planted the seed for your story?

As bizarre as this seems, Jamie's Song was inspired by Kate Bush! The video for her song Experiment IV had a profound effect on me when I was younger. So did Babooshka but for different reasons. With regard to inspiration, the notion of "a sound that could kill" stuck with me and I shaped it into something relevant to a music loving Mancunian.

What are some of the themes you treated in your tale?

Death. Grief. The influence of music.

What are the hallmarks of a great horror/dark fantasy author and story?

I wish I knew. Perhaps a question for Joe Hill.

How do you approach your creative process?

With a blank page and a flashing cursor. I write lots of notes, sometimes an outline. I'll read up on themes relevant to the piece and I try my hardest to evolve ideas into pulling together a world that, as a reader, I would want to be a part of.


What are you working on now?

Right now, these answers. Sometime soon, a debut novel. I've had some success with shorter fiction and I'd love to replicate that with something longer.

www.leemather.org.uk has it all. You can Tweet me, Friend me, and even buy my books from there. It hosts some free stuff too if you'd like to try before you buy.

Simon Dewar, 2012 SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment finalist

Simon Dewar started stalking following me on Twitter a while back. He was one of THOSE guys who doesn't stop asking questions. I also suspect he might be one of THOSE guys who're worth keeping an eye on because he's going to end up doing something really exciting soon. You have been warned. His short story, The Kettle, which appears in this year's Bloody Parchment: The Root Cellar, really creeps me out because it makes me consider how we fall into a routine... and how that routine is a unique brand of hell in itself.

So, Simon, what planted the seed for your story?

The seed for my story was definitely the birth of my daughter a couple of months earlier.  I honestly felt that for about two months I'd lived on no sleep and far too much coffee and that I was just stumbling from day to day, event to event in some kinda of weird haze of caffeine induced insomnia, dirty nappies and work! As joyous a time as it was, it was also a huge and emotional life adjustment to be made. All of a sudden you can't just sleep in because a baby need to a bottle at 2am or you can't take a day off work because of all the new extra baby expenses and there's no time for holidays or date nights with the Mrs.  RESPONSIBILITY --- EEK!  I tried to capture some of these feelings and I applied the obligatory "What's the worst that could happen" or a "How can I make this sound *even* worse/harder than it already is?!"

What are some of the themes you treated in your tale? 

I guess the themes that I touched on were probably male postnatal depression, caffeine addiction/sleep deprivation and that overwhelming feeling of just barely keeping your head above water as you plow through the drudgery of every day life.

What are the hallmarks of a great horror/dark fantasy author and story? 

Hallmarks for a great horror author is someone who can take something that we all deal with or all understand or have all experience and really bring out that which is scary or terrible about it.  Even if its a good experience, they show you it from an angle that freaks you out or they invert the whole thing and what should be good, becomes blasphemous. From a technical perspective they understand the nuts and bolts of what inspires fear and terror and can artfully use it to instill in the reader that emotion.  I read and write horror because basically... I'm shit scared of everything.. When I read a scary book or scary movie, I face those fears and I win, in the process I learn about myself, fellow man and the human condition. The great horror author can provide this experience.

Hallmarks for a great horror story for me are, basically, whether they really made me genuinely fearful.

Did my heart race, or did I get sweaty palms?
Did I sit there and think "I don't like where this is headed..." ?
Did I think "Holy shit... I wonder what is going to happen next" ?
Did I think "Noooo, dont go into the cellar... NEVER GO INTO THE CELLAR!"
or maybe: "Oh. My. God.  I bet that hurt!"  or "What the ACTUAL fuck ?!?"

If you made me think some these kind of things, you've written a good horror tale.  Above all, what I love the most is when a writer builds up tension to a fever pitch and send you out with a bang.  Recent examples of stories I've read that did this for me was Hide and Seek by Jack Ketchum, Hell House by Richard Matheson. The Books of Blood by Clive Barker were pretty decent as well.

How do you approach your creative process? 

I wish I knew a real answer to this question. Some writers put everything they think of down in a notebook they carry with them.  Stephen King once said that this was the best way to immortalise bad ideas and I COMPLETELY agree with him.  I tried doing this and I just end up with scribbles of bullshit ideas.  Every story that I've written that I've finished, seriously enjoyed writing and hasn't totally sucked was something that came on me like a bolt of lightning when I was having a shower or something mundane.  One idea that I have for a novel came to me when I was standing in line at a cafe reading a tweet by John Scalzi.  BOOM! All of a sudden I have an image of the protagonist in my head, his predicament and a fair idea about something terrible that's going to happen to him.

What are you working on now?

I've just finished a horror tale called the House of Waite which I submitted to the Fearful Symmetries anthology being edited by the illustrious Ellen Datlow.

I'm working on a pirate tale which I describe as "part Final Destination, part Pirates of the Caribbean, part Happy Feet".  Hopefully I finish it shortly and submit it to "The Sea" anthology being put out Dark Continents Publishing.  I've also started on the first few chapters of my first novel.

You can catch me on twitter:  @herodfel

Five minutes with Anna Reith, 2012 Bloody Parchment runner-up

I must admit I become a bit of a fangrrrl whenever I see anything with Anna Reith's name on it. She really is that good, and I just about faint when I see her submissions in my inbox. So it came to no surprise when she turned out to be a runner-up in last year's Bloody Parchment short story competition. So, a big welcome to Anna on my blog.

What planted the seed for your story?

Courting Seraphs is loosely inspired by the concepts found in On the Origin of the World, one of the Nag Hammadi scriptures, which presents a very different version of the creation story to that found in the Bible. I wanted to take some of those ideas and explore what happened if, not only were they true, but one person was caught up in them, holding secrets that can never be shared. So… a bit like a spy thriller, but with Gnostic philosophy instead of sensitive government information.

What are some of the themes you treated in your tale? 

There is plenty of material out there in fantasy, horror, and weird fiction in terms of immortality and timelessness. I wanted to touch on those things in Courting Seraphs, but from a slightly different angle. Today, we’re bombarded with a ridiculously huge volume of information, images, and experiences. Through technology, we have access to more information than we could assimilate in a lifetime, and I think that’s something that’s fundamentally overlooked in stories that deal with immortality. As human beings, do we have a finite limit for how much we can experience, and how much we can hold in our heads? And, if we cross that limit, how long will it be until we come apart at the seams?

What are the hallmarks of a great horror/dark fantasy author and story? 

What I love about horror and dark fantasy is the breadth of possibilities. We are very complex creatures and—in the right light—we’re capable of making almost anything macabre, just by the way we think about it. The shadows around the campfire, the knotted, finger-like twigs of trees against the window… these are all creations of the human mind. I think my favourite creepy tales are the ones that explore that potential within us, and let the strange and the unseen leach into the everyday. After all, what’s scarier than suddenly realising the malign in something mundane?

How do you approach your creative process? 

With coffee. No… well, yes. Ideas are a permanent swirl, and I am forever scribbling notes down on the backs of things, but as soon as I have the basic shape of a story—or at least a firm grasp on one scene that the rest of it will grow from—I like to sit down and beat it into shape. As I suffer from CFS/M.E., that can be quite laborious, but I think there’s no substitute for applying proverbial glue to the seat of the pants and getting on with it. I really only use outlines occasionally, preferring to let tales grow organically and, because so much of my work tends to involve strong characterisation, I often find that it’s the way people spark off each other that drives my stories forward.

What are you working on now? 

Right now, I’m working on a handful of very interesting projects, including a dark fantasy novel titled Making the Days, which—a little like Courting Seraphs—deals a lot with what’s real, what’s not real, and the places people fall in between. I’m also working on the first in a sci-fi series set in a large and complex universe; something of a labour of love, as the original unfinished manuscripts were left to me by my late cousin, who had been working on them for several years. I will have a poetry collection out later this year and, though it’s probably a bit early to really announce it, I have just started preliminary work on a sequel to my genre-bending glam-rock-paranormal-murder-mystery, Dead in Time, which is currently available to read for free on Wattpad, where I’ve been a featured author recently.

As ever, further details on what I’m up to can be found on my website, www.annareith.co.uk, where I have some further free reads available. Both Dead in Time and Black Ice: collected stories, a compendium of dark short fiction, are currently available in digital and print formats.

You can also find me on tumblr and Wattpad.

Toby Bennett, Bloody Parchment 2012 winner

Toby wowed the judges with the 2011 SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment competition. It therefore comes as no surprise that he pulled out the stops and went on to win the 2012 competition. His creepy tales bear a creepy kind of whimsy that is inimitably Mr Bennett's, and he's definitely one worth watching out for. He entered two stories into the competition, and both made the final cut. That says something. (Buy links here...)

So, Toby what planted the seed for your tales?

It started with the thought of pale white fingers (white as worms) digging through someone’s wall and snow balled from there. I thought of somewhere dark and musty that might fit the fingers and The Root Cellar was born. So yeah in this case I literally did plant something in the earth – and it grew.

My second story, Wants and Needs really came out of an exercise in trying to make a new type of monster. I was enjoying playing with the different monster tropes but I didn't want to write a story about a ‘standardized’ monster. I also started asking myself ‘what really defines a monster?’ Observant readers may notice this as a kind of running theme through my work. I find it very simplistic to assume that the ugliest protagonist with the most claws is always going to be the real villain of the piece. I like to blur the lines between what’s horrific and what’s human.

What are some of the themes you treated in your tale?

Well I guess there’s the obvious theme of what happens when something sneaks through the wall to try and eat small children – and who hasn’t thought about that at some time? – but the deeper themes are about growing up and the endless cycle of change and corruption that we call daily life. Hopefully it will be apparent to the reader that this is about more than just the bogeyman; it’s about the monsters that shape us all. Oh and it’s about being scared and alone in the dark, which come to think of it, is a pretty good metaphor for life anyway.

In Wants and Needs I think one of the major theme’s I examine is how easily we can confuse our basic drives and also how selfish and cruel the ways we love can be. For an emotion that is supposed to be about others it’s amazing how many times what we call love turns out to be all about ourselves.

What are the hallmarks of a great horror/dark fantasy author and story?

A truly great horror story you say? Why anything that leaves its vict– woops! I mean reader– in a state of barely controlled panic for an hour or two after they’ve read it. If you’ve just read a story that makes you want to check under the bed or make sure the closet door is firmly shut, it’s probably a good one. I won’t define what that story should be about or how it should be written because that can be very subjective; that said, are you happy with your feet sticking out from under the covers like that? The dog’s been very quiet but that rustling in the ceiling keeps getting louder... Or is the sound coming from behind you? Stop reading and get out, get out now before… perhaps that sandwich was poisoned – it could be too late anyway so you might as well keep reading.

How do you approach your creative process? 

With flare and panache I hope (though before I get too full of myself I had to look up how to spell the word ‘panache’ … let’s hope it means what I think it means and isn’t some kind of stylised facial hair). For me the creative process doesn’t bare too much analysis (or to put it another way I don’t want to get too anal about it!) I just do what the voices tell me and they steer me right about seventy percent of the time… though I only have their word for that come to think of it.

What are you working on now? 

I’m quite excited about my current project, without giving too much away I am working on a serialised novel with my fellow author Benjamin Knox… Alright I’ll give it all away, it’s a futuristic dystopian setting where a large part of a mega city has succumbed to a plague that turns its victims into shambling distorted monsters and if early indications are anything to go by it’s going to kick gluteus than a low GI diet… what? Oh it’s gluten? Story’s still going to be cool though… the voices told me.

To date I have written seven novels and a collection of short stories check out the kindle store on Amazon to get your paws on my work.

Benjamin Knox, Bloody Parchment 2012 finalist

Benjamin Knox is another visitor to my blog who needs very little by way of introduction. Plainly put, he writes some of the creepiest stories I've yet had ooze their way into my inbox. The tale that appears in this issue of Bloody Parchment: The Root Cellar and Other Stories taps into two of my greatest fears: relentless aliens who like to snack on humans... and spiders. Trust me, if you don't have an arachnoleptic fit the next time you walk into a spider web, you'll be reminded of this story.

What planted the seed for your story?

The opening scene just popped into my head when I was thinking about fear. What scares me? What would just be an awful situation to find oneself in? It seemed a natural combination of personal experiences fused together to create a nightmarish scenario I'm quite proud of.

What are some of the themes you treated in your tale?

Fear, of course, this is a horror story. Over and above that however there is a little in there about hopelessness and the sense of being overwhelmed by the world around you. Something I think we all suffer from, from time to time. But mostly I just wanted to tell a ripping good yarn.

What are the hallmarks of a great horror/dark fantasy author and story?

Eye of the Beholder and all that. Personally though, I think a story or an idea that lingers with you long after you've turned the last page and put down the book is a good sign. A concept that sits in your mind, nagging and worrying at you. Like evil mimes standing around your bed while you sleep.

How do you approach your creative process?

I divine my ideas from bird signs and animal entrails...

Not quite.

I could write reams about this, as I'm sure could many authors. Basically I behave like Pooh and have a good long ponder, ruminate on multiple concepts, play with ideas and scenes. It's a little like shifting. Eventually I fix on one or two ideas that I not only like but feel I want to write.

As far as the writing itself goes, I have a good idea where it's going before I begin, key scenes in my head. Then I begin chronologically, scene by scene, chapter by chapter, but there is plenty of room to play and let my imagination have a little fun. I know where I've got to get to, just not how I'm going to get there.

That's the fun part.

What are you working on now?

So. Many. Things.

I have the odd habit of pushing multiple project at differing stages at the same time.

I'm just putting the finishing touches on a few mini-collections of short stories, each bound by a theme and collected under the general title of Penny Dreadfuls after the 19th Century forerunner of the pulp magazine.

The first two collections Bizarre Pulp and Creeping Madness should be released soon. If you like my story Strands in the latest Bloody Parchment anthology you'll love these.

Body Horror Triptych will appear a little later as well. With more in the works.

Other than that, Toby Bennet - whose story The Root Cellar is the title story of this year's Bloody Parchment anthology - and I are working together on a super secret Zombie project together. It's my first time collaborating and so far we're off to a raring start. Let's Just say it'll be totally unlike any zombie story you've read before.


If you like being creeped the hell out, badass babes, blood and guts, and some truly grotesque imagery, then stay tuned.

For further strangeness visit Benjamin at his website:
www.benjaminknox.net
Amazon Author Page
or on Facebook: Benjamin Knox, Author

SA Partridge, Bloody Parchment 2012 finalist

SA Partridge needs very little introduction here on my blog. She is one of South Africa's best-known authors of YA fiction, and this is the second time that she's been a South African HorrorFest Bloody Parchment finalist. Her story, Jethro Mackenzie and the Devil is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek look at contemporary conspiracy theorists and blogging.

Over to you, Ms Partridge. What planted the seed for your story?

My story is about a conspiracy theorist blogger, so I guess the idea stemmed from my love of the X-Files, which is my favorite show ever. The story also features a personification of the Devil, which is my little imagining based on classic representations from film, like the forked tail. It's a fun little story that I enjoyed writing and I hope that carries across to the reader.


What are some of the themes you treated in your tale? 

Conspiracy theories, theology, the social media revolution and the changing face of the media itself. I think the three tie together so well. I wanted to write a story that captures the here and now.

Why a park bench?

A park bench seems like the logical place for the Devil to materialise. After all, in film, the park bench is the classic setting for espionage to take place.

What are the hallmarks of a great horror/dark fantasy author and story? 

The ability to create tension and fear without having to resort to body horror or cheap scare tactics. The name Lovecraft screams to mind, doesn't it?

How do you approach your creative process?

I just write. When a story grabs me I start writing and let the words guide me. I don't stop till it's done, and then I go back and rewrite until it shines. I heard an interesting theory that writers are mediums through which stories are born. I like that description a lot.

What are you working on now? 

I am currently working on a novel. I am always working on a novel. I have a new young adult book coming out in August called Sharp Edges, about six friends that go to a music festival but only five come back. I have two more waiting to be published. I'm pretty much a human production line.

LINKS
Find me on Twitter @sapartridge and Facebook
You can link to my blog via my website www.sapartridge.co.za

A Bloody Good Idea... #horror

In anticipation of the upcoming release of the next South African HorrorFest Bloody Parchment anthology, published in association with the uber-cool eKhaya, I'm going to give away three ecopies of last year's Bloody Parchment: Hidden Things, Lost Things and Other Stories to three lucky entrants. All you need to do is answer a simple question based on the blurb of this year's anthology.

This year's Bloody Parchment: The Root Cellar and Other Stories brings a fresh crop of horror and dark literature from the most recent South African HorrorFest Bloody Parchment short story competition. From dreary subterranean chambers and angelic visitations to the many-legged horrors of alien invaders and a meeting with the Devil himself, this collection of tales offers readers the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the likes of Toby Bennett (winner), and runners-up Anna Reith and Chris Limb. Finalists include Diane Awerbuck, Simon Dewar, Zane Marc Gentis, Stephen Hewitt, Benjamin Knox, Lee Mather, Glen Mehn, S.A. Partridge, and Icy Sedgwick.

So, now, for the big question, what is the title story of this year's anthology? (If you're sharp, you'll figure it out. If not, I suggest you ask Toby Bennett.) If you're a bright spark, you've got until midnight on May 24 to leave your answer, your name and an email address as a comment on this page.