It's a New Day...Revised
or ... the last year or so has been interesting
“You can make anything by writing.” - C. S. Lewis
“I think the best stories always end up being about the people rather than the event.” - Stephen King
“Don’t talk about it; write.” - Ray Bradbury
I started reading horror (King, Grant, McCammon, etc.) well over 40 years ago, and later when I started writing horror, Charles Grant, Kathryn Ptacek, Lisa W. Cantrell, Craig Shaw Gardner, and Dean Koontz were more than helpful. and while I don’t mean to name drop, they took me seriously from the beginning and offered me some excellent help and advice that has stayed with me over the years. Charlie and Kat even became dear friends. In fact, I was one of the last people to talk to Charlie Grant before he died.
David Morrell once described Charlie Grant’s work this way: “Stephen King and Peter Straub are like the luxury liners of the horror field. They’re always visible on the horizon when you look out over these deep, dark waters. But Charlie Grant—he’s the unseen power, like the great white shark, just below the surface” (Faces of Fear, ed., Douglas Winter. 1985). I wanted to write like that when I grew up (still waiting for the “growing up” part).
I heard their voices in my head as I wrote and marketed my tales. And every time I was successful, they were part of that success. Initially, they took me by the hand and showed me the way.
But my way has changed a bit. The journey has been a good one. But like the inimitable Ronald Kelly and Robert McCammon, I took about a decade off (though in my case I was writing almost entirely non-fiction. But when I came back to the horror genre, after previous years of putting most of my eggs in that particular basket, I ralized it was time for a change of sorts.
Why?
(1) The horror stories I have left in me (still a pretty good number of them) are not edgy by today’s standards. I don’t push boundaries. I don’t do formerly “taboo” subjects. I’m not terribly dark. I don’t fault those who do. It’s just that we are now in a Terrifier world and I still live in The House on Haunted Hill (the 1959 Vincent Price version) and Lisa W. Cntrell’s The Manse.
I just want to write stories that give the reader a chill. Make them sit up and look around when their house creaks. I’m a literary child of the 70s. A writer who cut my teeth on THOSE stories and authors. It was a different era with different sensibilities back then. And my stories are of that era.
(2) Also, I write other things as well. Suspense. Thrillers. Stories about people who discover the best in themselves. A best they didn’t know was there. Characters who face the darkness and bring a special kind of light to bear.
“Evil itself may be relentless. I will grant you that, but love is relentless too. Friendship is a relentless force. Family is a relentless force. Faith is relentless force. The human spirit is relentless, and the human heart outlasts—and can defeat—even the most relentless force of all, which is time.” - Dean Koontz
Heck, I’m even writing children’s books (albeit, they’re about ghost stories/haunted places) now. The first one was adapted from my book, Haunted North Carolina Coast (from the shameless plug department). In fact, I recently spent 7 weeks on cruise ships, trains, and busses traveling through Alaska. And my favorite non-family related event was getting a contract for my next book (Florida’s Haunted Atlantic Coast – yeah, there’s a trend developing here) in the middle of the ocean. Oh yeah…the trip to North Pole, Alaska to visit Santa Claus House was pretty great too.
(3) This biggest reason for doing a rewrite on the previous version of this missive is the fact that, while I’m not “through” with the horror genre, there are other things I want to write. So many other things I have written ... am writing. And while the “conventional wisdom” says to brand myself, to pick a lane and get on with it, I just don’t think that’s the way I need to go. Right now, for example, I am completing the rewrite on a romantic suspense novel at the recommendation of an agent (who was kind enough to give some helpful notes). I am also in the early stages of writing the haunted Florida Atlantic coast book. I have sent a pitch to my children’s book editor, am finishing a new short story, and I am working on a screenplay based on one of my new
short stories (at the producer’s request).
So, if I have to have a brand, it’s probably, “He’s busy writing”. I like that one.
So…hopefully this makes a little more sense than the last try with this topic.
From the Shameless Self-Promotion Department
Just click the cover and magic book elves will pack and ship your copies to you like … well … like magic. Or, order them from your favorite bookstore. Either way, I certainly appreciate it.
My name is Thomas Smith and this is Whistling Past The Graveyard; an occasional newsletter about what I’m working on, any books/writing projects coming out in the future, and anything else that strikes my fancy. I’m honored you decided to take this walk with me.
Florida WritersCon 2025 Keynote Speaker will be Kristen Arnett, The New York Times bestselling author of Mostly Dead Things
If you’re planning to be in the Orlando area the weekend of October 17th, come out and join us!
Also, I will be teaching two workshops at the conference this year:
How Not to be Published
Start Small and Save the Novel for Later
From the Just For The Heck of It Department
I know this anthology is officially dead, but it’s still a cool cover. Now, to sell the story somewhere else…
Well, that’s about it for this trip past the old tombstones. As always, thank you for coming along on our little soiree. You’re good company and it’s always nice to see you.
Whatever else you do today, you find somebody to be nice to. - Ludlow Porch