2012... Deep Breath... Afghanistan

My last post was January 4th.

No excuses.

I wanted it that way.

I needed a break. I wrote a quarter of a million words in the last six months and needed a break. So I sat back and watched great friend Brian Keene go to Sundance for his knock-em-dead movie Ghoul, my daughter prepare for a career in the Navy, and my wife pull our new house together. I let life stroll by for a few weeks. I read some books. I enjoyed my family. I poked away at a few new projects. I bought Skyrim and am two-handing my way through the monsters and mages who try and stand in my way. It's been a nice break. But I'm about to climb back on that super-charged, techni-colored creation machine and get cracking.

After all. I have a deadline this year that's much earlier than the rest of them

July 2012 I've been given an all-expenses paid trip to the grand resort called Afghanistan, where I'll wear the finest in body armor, carry the coolest personal weapons, and try and keep my head down for six months. Although I might be able to pen a few words when I'm there, I'm not going to plan on it.

So I gots to get my stuff done.

This is what I have planned so far--

BLOOD OCEAN hits the streets on Valentines Day. I'm going to begin a push for this, so I hope you all are ready to make a few phone calls.

SEAL TEAM 666 is turned in. I'm awaiting edits. Looks like we have an official cover. This book is going to be HUGE. Too bad it's going to be released when I'm in Afghanistan. Gonna make it a bitch for you to get one personalized.

GHOST HEART - YA Novel co-written with Yvonne Navarro. Cover by Vincent Chong. Published by Dark Regions. Hopefully ready by WHC.

THE LOUP GAROU KID - Third Book in Vampire Outlaw Trilogy. Published by Bad Moon Books. Hopefully ready by WHC.

Comic Books - I have several projects going. We're hoping to have BLIGHT ready for Phoenix ComicCon so we can shop it around. We're still looking for an inker/letterer, so apply within.

Animated Project - I'm contracted with Pulp Gamer to help conceive a special animated adult show. Still working on the scripts and back story for this. NFI.

Blight as drawn by Nick Diaz

Short Stories-

War Cthulhu story due in March.

C. Augest Dupin murder story due in September (which means July). This will be my first co-written story with Yvonne.

Psycho story due in March.

Novella due to Dark Regions in September (which means July)

Novella due to James Roy Daley ASAP.

Appearances -

BLOOD OCEAN book signings are being arranged as we speak. I was going to do them, but Abaddon said that they'd like to arrange them for me, through Simon and Schuster. More later.

Feb 4 Appearance - Sierra Vista Public Library
Mar 10 - 11 Tucson Festival of Books

Mar 29 - 31 World Horror Convention Salt Lake City

May 24 - 27 Phoenix Comiccon

Some of the authors scheduled for Phoenix Comicon

If there are any other requests, I'll consider them. But my Spring is tight. I have a trip planned with Yvonne for she and I to spend time together before I go. I hope to fit that in around her birthday.

That's all for now.

Fan Review of Multiplex Fandango

Larry Meier is a fan of mine. He said he wanted people to know how good Multiplex Fandango is. Since he's just a regular Joe, and doesn't have a blog or anything, I offered to give him voice.  Here is Larry's review:      


Review of MULTIPLEX FANDANGO by Weston Ochse. 

Deluxe Lettered edition

First off, get your computer fired up, and click on the following Link  Good, now give yourself the best belated Christmas and/or New Years gift you will ever get and fork over $45.00 for the Signed, numbered edition, (or-if any remain, by all means splurge on the Deluxe lettered), of said title by the supremely talented, literary samurai that is Mr. Ochse. 


Where to begin.Well, suffice it to say that this is a quality production from the get-go.  From the stunning wraparound dust jacket by Vincent Chong, to the foil-embossed cover (created by Russ Dickerson), THIS book stands out.  What really matters in any book of course, is the writing.  Simply put:  Weston Ochse can REALLY write.  The sixteen stories in this volume run the gamut from rip-roaring, Sci-Fi infused, pulp horror, (see the stunning “Tarzan doesn’t live here anymore”), to the down home, Twainesque melancholy of “Catfish Gods”.  If you manage to get through that particular story without reaching for some tissues, then I highly recommend a trip to the optometrist, as your tear ducts clearly are malfunctioning.  Ochse has mastered the art of the short-story, and has consistently turned out taut, muscular, lean prose that cuts to the bone; leaving no fat or excess to waste.  There are writers who excel at seemingly either characterization or plot, yet few are able to blend the two as successfully as Mr. Ochse.  With his work you get lean, mean, beautifully written stories, all crafted with heart and soul.  The literary equivalent of a magnificent Christmas present, all packaged and wrapped with care, style, and superb craftsmanship. 


I’m not going to ruin the ride that Weston has waiting for you within those pages by detailing individual story synopses.  That’s spoiling half the fun for you.  Open this book up, and dive in.  I found it best to read them in order as presented.  Kind of like catching multiple back-to-back double features at the drive in…Or, more fittingly, at the Multiplex.

Weston Ochse is more than a writer to watch.  He is a writer to be enjoyed, read, and re-read, right now.  So, what are you waiting for? Get cracking on placing that order before the rest of us have to say “I told you so.”  Just be prepared to be hooked firmly by his writing.  You will soon be seeking out the rest of his catalog, and be eagerly waiting for his many upcoming works.  As addictive as a box of Popcorn at said Multiplex, but infinitely more satisfying!!!

Larry Meier

Larry Meier was born and raised in Boston. He graduated from Boston College in 87.  He owns the Little Cannoli Bakery/Pizzeria in Salem, OR. and works at Powells Books in Portland.  He is a self-admitted book junkie with over 500 limited editions and counting.  Reading, fishing, and more reading are his passions along with his wife Tina and daughter Allie.  He hangs out in the Twitterverse under the handle @LarryMeier

Thanks very much to Larry. I found some reviews of the Little Cannoli online. Here's a pretty good one. If you're in the area please stop in, talk books, and have a Cannoli. I intend to. I also want to point out that Powells Books is a pre-eminent bookstore chain. If you are passing through Portland, you have got to stop and spend a few hours in the aisles. I just love them

Butterfly Winter Gets Nod From the English Countryside

Matthew Fryer, of Sheffield, England, gave Butterfly Winter a nod as one of his Favorite Genre reads of 2011. "And although it’s only a short novella download, special mention also goes to “Butterfly Winter” by Weston Ochse, a breathtaking and beautifully written... tale of war and human nature that still haunts me months later.




Mister Fryer reviewed Butterfly Winter back in August where he said:

'“Even in the end the children still dance.” I’m a sucker for a great opening line, and that one certainly delivers. But that’s not all. Despite its bland cover, this novelette from Crossroad Press presents a beautiful, precision story about humanity, war and the dangers of hubris.'

and

'With a breathtaking conclusion, “Butterfly Winter” is superb and I couldn’t find fault. This is a journey we really share with the characters, and well worth the 99c (about 60p) it costs from Smashwords here. Thought-provoking and elegiac, it’s an experience that lingers. Recommended.'

Nice to see an Englishman grok this end-of-the-world tale of a clutch of Americans, lost in the wilds of China.

Thanks Mr. Fryer

ST666 Finished and Gone

Just a random picture of me

SEAL Team 666 is complete at 494 manuscript pages. I just pressed the send button to the editor at Thomas Dunne Books. This is such a satisfying feeling. ST666 is definitely, without a doubt, the best thing I've ever written. Yvonne, whose eyes are still bleeding from her edits, agrees. Now to sit back and breathe for a second.


As  I sit and reflect about the novel Blood Ocean and SEAL Team 666 and all the short stories and comic scripts I've done that are going to be published soon, I realize that I've written 250,000 words of fiction in six months. Clearly this  has been my most prolific period by far. That I was able to do it with trips to Europe, evacuations because of massive forest fires, moving from one house to another, and -- oh yeah -- a day job is just a freaking miracle.


I am exhausted.


But satisfied.


And soon, on to the next project. 

And it goes out with a BANG!

And it goes out with a BANG! 
or
How to Make a Bad Review Good!



I got another Publishers Weekly Review today.

This is my third review from them.

They loved Scarecrow Gods.

They loved Multiplex Fandango.

To say that they love Blood Ocean would be stretching the meaning of the word past any credible elasticity. In fact, I think they hated it. Why do I think they hated it? Using critical thinking and my knowledge of the English language, comments such as 'tolerable prose,' 'shallow world-building,' and 'repellent' have led me to believe that they indeed hate it.

But the clincher was the closing line. The result is a throwback to horror's unpleasant past, from which most readers have long since moved on.


Ahhh.

Feel the hate.

Embrace it

But what does it mean?

Before we can answer that, here's the entire review, lifted from their site.

Blood Ocean

Weston Ochse. Abaddon, $9.99 trade paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-907992-87-2

A plague has left the City on the Waves, a ragtag community of decaying ships in the Pacific, isolated and desperate. Kavika Kamilani sets out to find the killers of young drug-runner Akamu. This quest will cost Kavika his closest friends and family, shatter his world, and cast a terrible light on the secret power structures in command of his tiny community. Stoker winner Ochse writes tolerable prose sabotaged by shallow world-building. The novel begins promisingly enough but soon descends into displays of cliché and violence. A plot predictable to anyone familiar with Norman Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron is married to antiquated social and sexual conventions; the fate of a transsexual character is particularly repellent, as is Ochse's decision to describe the Korean characters as cannibals. The result is a throwback to horror's unpleasant past, from which most readers have long since moved on. (Feb.)

Reviewed on: 01/02/2012

So again, what does this mean?  In my opinion, it means that the reviewer didn't get it. Although this falls under the PW umbrella, everyone who works for them has their own personal tastes. Blood Ocean is a cross-genre book, embracing both horror and science fiction. Clearly the reviewer is a science fiction reader. Blood Ocean was probably handed to him or her and he sat back with a glass of Chianti thinking about what a fun time he'd have with a science fiction book-- after all, he compared the plot to Norman Spinrad instead of Ed Lee, Brian Keene or Jack Ketchum.  By the second chapter he experiences the first of many horrendous physical occurrences that is standard fare in today's horror. And the badness increases. exponentially. A lot of bad shit happens to people in this book. It is, after all, called BLOOD OCEAN. 

I hope I didn't put the poor reviewer into therapy.

Also, and I can't say this for sure, but I think it's true, this is the first Abaddon Book, maybe the first Afterblight book, to be reviewed by Publishers Weekly. In the world of Afterblight, Abaddon created an entire world that was built on the dystopian premise that things we've outgrown and overcome have come back to haunt us as we fall back into our base needs, desires and beliefs. In the world of the Afterblight, we homogenize ourselves out of fear of others. We look at those who are different and are afraid. We are scared of anyone who isn't us... and for good reason, in the world of the Afterblight, what is unfamiliar will kill you.  

The reviewer claims I use cliche. Really?  At the end of the world when everyone is trying to survive, they're going to turn on the others and keep to their own kind. Is this cliche? Or is it how we'd view the reality of it?

So, what should this jamoke do about the review? I'm certainly not going to hide it. Other than what I've done, I don't really feel a need to explain it. So instead, I'm going to use it as a marketing point.

How's this: "BLOOD OCEAN, a book so horrific and real that Publisher's Weekly found it repellent and unpleasant."

Or what about this:  "BLOOD OCEAN, a throwback to everything you love about horror."

Or maybe this:  "BLOOD OCEAN, a book so violent that Publishers Weekly became angry at the deaths of it's many characters."

I really think this was a problem with reviewer expectations. And it's hard, you know? I get it. Dystopian books are normally science fiction fare and not horror. The reviewer probably felt tricked. He or she actually things the horror reading and writing community has moved away from violence. Shhh. Don't tell Clive Barker or Ray Garton that. For god sakes, don't allow Ketchum or Lee to come anywhere close to this spicy tidbit of knowledge. They'd be devestated, as would we all.

It's clear that science fiction reviewers don't like blood, gore and violence. Take zombie novels for instance. Who do you think reviews them? Zombie books, which are almost entirely caused by science, are reviewed by horror reviewers. I mean really? Are these horror books? Or are they science fiction books?

See! This is what happens when you mess with genres.

Oh yeah. I haven't ever read Norman Spinrad, but I think I will now.

Also, there's something I'm going to watch for this coming year. Two of my friends have books coming out from major houses. Both of them are as equally dystopic and violent, if not more so, than Blood Ocean. One is a zombie novel that is sure to be reviewed by a horror reviewer. The other is just a nasty dystopian novel, sure to be reviewed by a science fiction reviewer. I'm curious to see how they fare.

And one last note on the idea that horror has an unpleasant past. Unless they're talking about the crazy cover art of the 1970s and 1980s, I'm not aware of any unpleasant past. In Brian Keene's Keynote Speech for AnthoCon 2011, he talked in depth about the history of horror. He takes us all the way back to 1796 and brings us forward through the first, second, third and fourth waves of horror. The New Weird. Then next generation. he talks about it all, and as a chronicle of the horror genre, there is none better than this speech. 

But he does talk about the 1990s. 

Some say horror died in the 90’s, but this is patently untrue. Horror as a marketing category to be stamped on the spine of a book certainly died, but the stories and books and readers were still there. From 1991 to 1995, the most prominent mass market horror publishers were Zebra Books and the Dell Abyss line. Zebra was your traditional mass-market pulp house, cranking out novels with garish covers. Dell-Abyss was a little different. Started with the mission statement of getting away from the traditional horror of King, Koontz, and Straub, Dell Abyss was to publish more cutting-edge horror, and for a while, they did. Then the whole thing came crashing down, leaving folks like Brian Hodge and Kathe Koja homeless. Meanwhile, over at Zebra, authors weren’t getting paid on time. Zebra collapsed, too, which left authors like Rick Hautala and Ronald Kelly scrambling. (Credit Brian Keene)

If this is the unpleasantness to which the reviewer was speaking, then yes. It was damned unpleasant. But this had nothing to do with violent prose. If that were the case then there would be no Girl Next Door or Night They Missed The Horror Show. This had to do with marketing strategies and production.

I've always been careful about writing violence in my fiction. Nancy Goats, a novella about a
young gay man who gets abducted by a group of mixed martial artists worried me the most. But when friend and fellow author Hal Bodner read it and emailed me how much he loved it, I knew I'd found the balance. I try and find this balance in all my work. I knew BLOOD OCEAN was going to be violent. Just look at the setting. It's Mad Max on water, for heck's sake. Freaking Violent. People die. Some revert to cannibalism. Other people try and do things that no man or woman should ever suffer. 

Badness happens.

But I guess badness only happens in horror fiction.

So if you want violent, character-driven fiction, then BLOOD OCEAN is for you. For as long as horror reviewers like Paul Goat Allen read, review my fiction and put me on the list of 'extraordinary writers,' then I know I'm doing it right.

So here's my favorite blurb of the three:  "BLOOD OCEAN, a throwback to everything you love about horror." Which is yours? Do you have a better one I can use?

Yeah. That should do it.

Have a Happy New Year's people.

Looks like it's going to be a damned good year!

Top Seven of Twenty Eleven

Last year I did a Top 5. Everyone seems to be doing a Top 10. Looks like all I could come up with is a Top 7. It's been a busy year, what can I say. I mean, besides finishing two mass market novels this year, traveling abroad, evacuations from fires, moving homes, and all the other writing and conventions, I feel lucky to have a Top anything.

These aren't in any order. But they represent the best things I've read or seen this year.

The Talented Mr. Ripley. Not the movie, but the book. I have to admit I didn't watch the movie. For one, it had Matthew Modine, who sadly peaked in the movie Vision Quest. Even his role of Joker in Full Metal Jacket wasn't that great. That movie was saved by Vincent D'Onofrio and R. Lee Ermey, who essentially reprised his role from The Boys of Company C. (On a side note, the two best soundtracks from the 1980s are Top Gun and Vision Quest).

 Out of this digression about Matty Modine's filmography comes the admission that I never read the book either. Since it was published in 1954 that's saying something. But I was due to travel to the East Coast one day and had just finished Reamde and wanted to try it. So I stole it of Yvonne's TBR pile and discovered a delightful claustrophobic take of a young psychopath. At times a confidential, at others a travelogue, and at others a love story (often it was self love), I was entranced by Patricia Highsmith's writing and her story. This is my first Ripley book. It won't be my last 

Southern Gods. This first book by John Hornor Jacobs has been getting a lot of attention. And it should. Here's what I wrote on May 5th right after I finished it.

Occasionally you meet someone at a convention that you just hit it off with. I'm not only a new friend of John's, but a considerable fan. He gave me a copy of Southern Gods, which is due to come out from Night Shade in August. Let me say, I get handed lots of books. I try and read most of them. Some I comment on. Sometimes it feels like a chore, but I don't mind because I have an obligation to pay it back.  Reading Southern Gods was no chore. It was a dark and dreamy delight. The plot rises from the mire of established Southern Gothic and Cthluhu fiction and is enlivened by the sort of characters only Elmore Leonard and Shirley Jackson could write. The narrative creeps on alligator feet through the swamps of Post WWII American South, where slavery is still fresh in the memory and Rock and Roll is being born. A detective noir cthulhu southern gothic mystery, Southern Gods held me fast until the end, leaving me wanting more, but satisfied that I had witnessed enough brilliantly rendered brutality and compassion for one sitting.

It's a no shit brilliant book. Looking forward to sitting back and watching Mr. Jacob's star rise. The boys over at Night Shade Books really know their talent, that's for sure.

The Devil's Alphabet. Switchcreek Tennessee. It would be your ordinary redneck backwoods, something I know quite a bit about, except for the fact that Transcription Divergence Syndrome attacked the town and changed the inhabitants. Some were killed, some remained human, the rest were changed into Alphas, Betas and Charlies. This is not a horror book. This is not a science fiction novel. And this is not a literary fiction novel. Except it is... all of them, at the same time. This is my kind of work. Thoughtful, original, human, although this feels like a piece of a much larger work, I was very satisfied with this second novel by Daryl Gregory.

This Wicked World. I was doing a book signing at The Poisoned Pen and talking with the staff. They recommended this book to me. I grabbed it and could not have been happier. Next thing you know, I had it home and had opened it, only to discover that it was present tense. Let me say right now that I very rarely ever read a present tense book, but this sucker snatched me in and wouldn't let go. The tense provided an impetus that propelled me along at a brisk pace, so fast, that I couldn't get off the ride. The plot about self realization and redemption was perfect, a was the gritty, nipple-twisting majesty of the prose. Since then, I've been in contact with Richard. He's doing more work and has some things about to hit. I can't wait. Until then, please check this book out and his short fiction collection Dead Boys.

REAMDE.  Wow!  Just Wow!  Thank you Neal Stephenson. Just a damn excellent book. Reamde is not a genre book. It is not a literary fiction book. Yet it is all of those in one, much like The Devil's Alphabet. While there is no supernatural or science fiction elements in the book, popular culture, technology, politics, the fears of the world, and the underlying sensibilities of its peoples are the superstructure for a narrative that is filled with hope, regret, naivete, hatred, and the all-consuming, electronic force of capitalistic nature called the Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG) . Ef me to hell! This was just awesome.


Earlier comment on Goodreads while reading --"I can't stop reading this book. It's really that good. Reamde is what books are supposed to be. I wanted to play Xbox and work on my novel today, but I'm not doing any of that. Reamde has me so engrossed I want to see what happens next... like now!"



American Horror Story and Game of Thrones. These shows reinvigorated my belief that television can produce shows that are art. There's been so much said in the 'verse about these shows. Just know that I am a fellow fan and will stand side by side with the rest of you against the barbarians who will eventually try and shut them down for a reality television show about a trucker, a hooker and a bible thumper.

Introducting BLIGHT - The Comic Book

This is where I announce I'm working on my own comic book with an artist. Our goal is to have the first issue complete by phoenix comicon. Still looking for a letterer/colorist, but we're just starting out. Without further ado, I'd like to introduct you to BLIGHT.

Here's my pitch:

BLIGHT

Format: Four-Issue Mini-Series

Snapshot of part of page 2

High Concept:  A slipstream, steampunk horror tale of a netherplace along the Mexican Border, combining the best elements of Locke & Key and Preacher.

Plot:  You did't really think I was going to give this away, did you?

Hook:  Both non-superhero comics and horror comics are experiencing resurgence in popularity.  Steampunk is soaring to the top of the genre mountain. Blight combines these aspects, while paying close attention to what readers love. Adopting some of the profane philosophy and violence of Preacher, along with the mystery and soulful searching of Joe Hill’s Locke family, Blight is destined to explode as a perfect comic for fans of horror, dark fantasy, steampunk and slipstream comics. The four-issue arc is ideal for collecting into trade paperback. 

I've partnered with artist Nick Diaz. I met him at TusCon 38 Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Convention in Tucson. We talked, we showed each other our work, and decided to work together. Here's some of his art that convinced me he was right for this project.

Nick Diaz from Incorruptible 2

So here's how we're going to try and pull this off. We're going to create this page by page. We have a website where we are going to unveil this. In fact, once we get some pages in the bank, we'll begin posting them regularly so you can read the fabulous story of BLIGHT.

Here's the webpage -http://blightcomicbook.blogspot.com/.

Please do us a favor. Bookmark this and return weekly. Share this page with someone. If you are into comics, share it with your other comic friends or on message boards. Nick and I are scraping along the side of a Mount Everest-sized piece of hope and need the occasional hand up. 

Enough of be gabbing. Go take a look at BLIGHT and meet Wysteria, the badass peglegged girl.