I was surprised today to read Yahoo News’ headline, “‘American Horror Story’ Goes Too Far’”. The gripe? Tate’s back-story.  For those who missed it, the episode offered every gory detail about his massacring several classmates before committing suicide by cop. What the article’s author found to be going too far, however, I found to be a thoughtful and creepy commentary on the dynamics involved in such heartbreaking and ghastly events. Any murder/suicide—let alone teenage murder/suicide—is a tragedy. It is horrific. That’s precisely why last week’s episode of American Horror Story was so powerful. It’s obvious why viewer response has been so strong. What makes the series so good is its willingness to take chances, to show the ugly along with the artful, and the mesh the fantastic with gritty realism. To me, that’s what makes good horror. What do you think? Is it still “too soon” to cover a Columbine-type storyline? Did AHS go too far? 13 Comments Review: THE DEAN'S LIST by Jimmy Petrosino 11/10/2011
Dean Perrasani excitedly follows in his older brother’s footsteps when he is invited to take over the fraternity Phi Beta Regnum—which we learn early on is an interesting mesh between Mafia and Skull and Bones. As Regnum’s new “Don,” Dean finds himself a “made man” in a world of thugs, greed, double-crossers, and wanna-be gangsters, and he learns quickly that power and danger go hand in hand. The Dean’s List is a fast-paced, contemporary suspense novel that is as thoughtful as it is well-written. The prose is fragmented, but with purpose, creating a striking marriage of style and content. The story is tight, the characters detailed and believable, and the dialogue sharp. Keep an eye out for this author, as he is definitely up and coming! The Class Divide and Class Warfare 11/04/2011
The divide between the rich and the poor spans the length of history. Why both can sometimes treat the other as if enemies from foreign nations is difficult to dissect, but it is evident from current and historical events that humanity continuously seeks out ways to segregate. We’ve seen people divide over race, color, language, religion, gender, and wealth. No matter which side one is on, there exists rhetoric that dehumanizes, de-intellectualizes, and points angry blame at the other. Right now, the prevalent rhetoric is widening the class divide: the wealthy are soulless bastards who pathologically hoard money and material items; the working class is comprised of lazy freeloaders who feel entitled to regular handouts. Is either of these universally correct? Correct to any degree or not, does it justify the level of divide being felt right now between the upper and lower classes? In my new release World-Mart, the class divide among the majority is separated by those who work among the masses, those born to work in manual labor, and the 1% who own them all. The story follows one family’s struggle to hold together when the class boundaries between them suddenly change. Excerpt: There was still no sign of Shelley and Kurt. George wondered if perhaps he had been a little too hard on both of them as of late, and maybe they decided to stay out past dark to teach him a lesson. Maybe their plan was to make him worry just long enough for him to realize he wasn’t being as much of a team player as he could be. If that was the case, they were succeeding beyond their wildest dreams. Deciding that he had the scenario completely figured out, he went to his bedroom and packed an overnight bag. Noting the turning weather, he bundled up, putting on a heavy jacket, his warmest boots, and a protective hat. He found a good picture of Virginia and tucked it into his bag, then left a note in the kitchen, telling Shelley to keep an eye on Kurt for the weekend. He said nothing about Virginia in his note, not wanting to get their hopes up, telling them he would explain everything when he returned. He had no idea where he was going to go, but he felt that initiating a physical search would be a far better use of his time than staying idly where he was. He had the weekend to travel the district, and Shelley was old enough to watch Kurt for a couple of days. He knew that what he was doing was rash, but there was too much at stake for him to do nothing. He locked up the apartment and took off toward the shuttle garage, hoping that he wasn’t too late to get a quick lift closer to the heart of the district. He ran as a shuttle going northeast was getting ready to begin toward its final trip to the Food-Mart. He boarded the shuttle just in time, and it accelerated out of the garage just as Shelley’s shuttle came in. * * * * Shelley hurried to the apartment, positive that she would freeze to death if she didn’t get to a heated space soon. Half of her body felt numb, and everything that wasn’t numb burned from the cold. Her head was so cold she could barely think. She still wasn’t sure what she was going to tell her father about Kurt, as a huge confrontation the moment she stepped through the front door was most likely unavoidable. Still, she had nowhere else left to go but home. Much to her surprise, she opened the door to a cold, dark, empty apartment. She was relieved at first, but when she read George’s note and realized that Kurt was still unaccounted for, she became overtaken with another heavy surge of guilt and worry. She turned the wall heater back on and stood by it for a moment. Unwilling to face the cold again, Shelley decided to regain her bearings and get a good night’s rest before returning to her search for Kurt. She would get up early and start back at the Corp Education System’s garage, giving his picture to all of the security associates in the area. Hopefully, he just went home with a friend and she could track him down before George got back. Trying to convince herself that she had done the right thing by returning home, that there was nothing more she could have done for him, she tried to get comfortable on the hard kitchen chair. Not satisfied with how quickly the coils were heating, Shelley decided to take a quick, hot shower. She hurried to the bathroom and turned on the click-light. She looked at her battered face in the mirror, horrified at the sight of her bloodshot eye. Dark bruises were beginning to form all around it, and the swelling still had not let up. Forcing herself to look away, she turned on the shower as hot as her skin could take it. She turned on the water recycler, planning to stay in as long as it took to warm her body clear through. Standing under the heavy jets of water, relishing in finally being warm, she did not hear the telephone ring. Kurt stood, shaking and chattering, in a phone booth in the Corp Education System’s shuttle garage. He had hidden in the boys‟ bathroom earlier, when Shelley had been looking for him, and clearly he had stayed in there for a little too long. The game had ceased to be fun some time ago, and now he just wanted to go home. Shelley had his shuttle pass, and he had been denied passage even on the promise that he would pay later. Security sent him on another round of hide-and-go-seek, and by the time he emerged from his spot behind the garbage cans, the entire garage had been shut down for the evening. Heavy gates kept him from entering school grounds, and he had no idea as to where any of the pedestrian access halls led. He realized that his hands and fingers were turning shades of red and blue, and he rubbed them together in attempt to warm them. The motion was painful, despite the fact that most of both hands had gone numb. His face and ears had all gone numb too, and his toes felt like frozen rocks in his shoes. As the area became dark and quiet, he began to imagine monsters in the shadows, and as the time passed, he became increasingly certain that those stalking him were the same monsters that had taken away his mother. While he might have sought aid from the random security associate who passed through every hour or so, he dared not move, lest the Boogieman snatch him out of the darkness and send him into some hellish oblivion. He wished he were in his bedroom, near the dim light of the bathroom click-light, safe at home with his family. He knew running and hiding from Shelley had been a mistake, the repercussions having become far worse than a few harsh words or even a spank on the rear. He wondered if Shelley was now in trouble, too, for having lost him, and he genuinely regretted his childish behavior. His fingers and toes began to get worse, and he curled up behind the trashcans in attempt to get warm. To his relief he stopped shaking, although his teeth still chattered. He took quick, heavy breaths, the cold air stinging his lungs. His arms and legs became difficult to move, and he stretched periodically to check that his limbs were all still intact. Finally, he tried to get up, only to find that he could not. He stared ahead, watching his frozen breath as it exited his mouth in tiny puffs. Each breath disappeared nearly as soon as it came, and still he became fixated on the tiny clouds. He began to imagine them in fun and different shapes: a star; a heart; a teddy bear; endless ocean waves; his mother’s beautiful, sad, lonely face. . . . The desire to sleep came on slowly, and then suddenly he had no choice but to close his eyes and rest his heavy head. The chattering stopped and his cold body fell awkwardly limp. His mind slipped to a place where his mother could hold him in a tender, loving embrace, a place where there were no more worries . . . no more monsters, or freezing cold, or crushing despair, just him sitting in his mother’s arms beneath the warm, comforting glow of a slowly fading afternoon sun, lazily picking out the shapes in the drifting clouds.  10. The title sounds like a famous corporate “person.” 9. It’s only $4.99 on Kindle and other electronic formats. 8. You seek to make one Indy author’s day, one book at a time. 7. The story imagines a future in which everything is run by the Corporate Monster. 6. The paperback would look fantastic on your coffee table. I highly recommend it. 5. Ms. Lane’s other science fiction works have proven themselves as highly creative and well received through numerous glowing reviews and reader polls. 4. You would happily read any work that pays homage to speculative greats such as Vonnegut, Orwell, and Bradbury. 3. You like dystopia and feel it’s fitting we have one for our time and place. 2. It may be the only book you’ll ever recommend to your friends and loved ones that you didn’t particularly enjoy reading. As one Amazon Kindle reader wrote in his 4-star review: Note: This is probably the most confused review I have ever tried to write! How can, "I didn't like it," and "well done" be in the same review?? That cannot make sense. But it does! Do I recommend this book after writing the above? Yes. 1. The ending will haunt you, and everyone loves a book that sticks with them like that. Today, as part of his virtual book tour, it is my pleasure to welcome horror author Gordon A. Kessler, who has a great new release, Jezebel. Gordon is giving away a $50 Amazon gift certificate to one lucky blog tour poster--the more blogs you post at, the better your chances of winning--so make sure to leave a comment. Thanks for stopping by The Cerebral Writer, Gordon!   Thanks for hosting me on your blog, Lisa! I’ve been asked to write about meshing horror with romance. Well that’s not only a potent mix but a perfect one! How appropriate that we discuss Jezebel with such an assignment. As many of you know, I wrote Jezebel while going through a divorce—hence horror without romance. But writing is great therapy, and I think Jezebel helped me through the tough times. Romance, humor and horror all need a build-up—suspense—to draw out the most entertainment/emotional value of the target scene. Crafting any of these elements require similar techniques, even though the writer is looking for very different results. Whether looking for a sigh and a warm heart, a chuckle and a smile, or a frightened, wide-eyed start, a seed or plant is needed early on. This is done by simply placing something in the story in an early scene to be built on in later scenes. With the interest of not getting off track, I’ll just give a couple of simple examples: for romance, it might be a glance or a coincidental meeting of the soon-to-be, romantically involved characters; for horror, it might be the door that hasn’t been opened for twenty years or the spooky alley that must be passed every night. So, after seeding the romance, readers begin to identify with the characters and find empathy with them more easily. But they become interested in not only the romantic couple, but also in the romantic subplot that develops. This adds a depth and complexity to the story, as well as the feel of realism. Then, when one or both of these lovebirds find themselves in jeopardy, talented fictionists will be able to convey the tension and suspense quickly and hook the readers.  In Jezebel, Tony Parker loves his wife, that’s obvious. She’s the mother of his children, his high school sweetheart—she keeps him grounded. But Tony’s going through that stage common to us all when we realize we aren’t the young, attractive person we used to be—he’s having a midlife crisis. Ripe and ready for the picking (and very willing) is his beautiful and seductive young assistant. Working closely with Sarah isn’t easy for a man who feels the need to prove to himself that he still has a little coal in furnace, yet who is also a moral family man who loves and appreciates his wife and family. This is especially true since he seems to be coming down with more than just a little cold virus or flu bug. Something inside his head is gnawing away at his thoughts, making him do things he wouldn’t normally do. With the huge black Great Dane loose and terrorizing the city at night, dogs attacking their masters for apparently no reason, and the sexual tension between Tony, his wife Julie, and assistant Sarah, the action clips along at a very fast pace. Then, when Jezebel seems to be stalking Tony, his friends and his family, that rapid pace goes into overdrive. Romance in a horror novel—I can’t think of a better way to really ramp up the tension. But I write mystery and sci-fi thrillers, as well. I feel romance plays a very important role in all of my novels for the same reasons I have explained. I hope you check out my stories and let me know if it works! Please, give me your comments; what makes a good scare for you, my dear bloggers? I have other blogs and websites for writers. You can tweet me at www.Twitter.com/gordonkessler, friend me at www.Facebook.com/gordonkessler1 and link with me at www.LinkedIn.com/in/gordonkessler. And you can always find my books at any online bookstore, including Amazon, B&N, iBooks, Nook, etc. All three of my thrillers are currently on sale in eBook formats for only $.99—trying to get those sales numbers soaring! Of course, you can find them in traditional paperback and hardcover at reasonable prices, as well. Here’s how to find out more about my work: the book trailers on YouTube for Jezebel at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zHD9pmHOzk&feature=related; and Brainstorm at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eDjWJFbRdI. Then there’s my blog at www.WMxBlog.com and my websites at www.GordonKessler.com and www.ReadersMatrix.com. Thanks again for hosting me on your blog! Happy reading!  About Jezebel: Sleep lightly tonight… A madman has come to town seeking a diabolical revenge and large dogs begin attacking their masters for no apparent reason and with heinous results. Animal Control Director Tony Parker must find out why and stop the murderous attacks. Meanwhile, Jezebel, a huge black Great Dane has killed her master and is loose, terrorizing the city and stalking Parker and his family. Parker and Sarah Hill, his beautiful and seductive young assistant, attempt to unravel the mystery and stop the terrible carnage while dealing with their own demons and lusty desires. The attacks must be stopped. Jezebel must be found-and soon, you see--there is one other complication. Parker seems to have come down with an annoying little virus. No, it's not one of those irritating summer colds. It's certain death. She's a murderess, huge and black as a hell-bound night. Beware. Jezebel is on the loose! Excerpt: Hill went to the front door and watched Chin’s van make a U-turn at the corner and head down the street. The headlights flashed in Hill’s face, momentarily blinding her. She winced. The light burned her already blood-shot, weary eyes. A silent moment passed before a sound came from outside. The back yard. Scratching. Something was climbing over the fence. The rifle. It was still next to the back door. Hill moved quickly toward the kitchen. As she made it to the hall, the dog port began to open. Hill stepped to the side, out of sight, before seeing what was coming through. She trembled, backing up to the wall next to the large window that was painted shut. She could run for the door, but by the time she reached it, she’d be seen. No way out. Hide. Where? There was no place. Behind the sheer curtain, maybe. In the dark, she might not be seen if she was quiet and didn’t move. She pulled the curtain around her. She could see through it, but it made the already dim room even dimmer. The blowing fan was the only noise. Nothing moved except the oscillating shadows of the fan blades beating the stale air through the room. The green flash of the clock on the CD player caused an eerie, strobing light. A dark shape slowly emerged from the hallway and moved into the room. Large. Huge. Black. Author bio: Gordon A Kessler is a former US Marine parachutist, recon scout, and Super Squad team leader, with a bachelor's degree in creative writing. He is a Master Instructor for Johnson County Community College, National Academy of Railroad Sciences, and the BNSF Railway. He has taught novel writing for Butler County Community College, English Composition for Hutchinson Junior College and has previously indie-published the thriller novels Brainstorm and Dead Reckoning, and a book about the novel-writing craft, Novel Writing Made Simple. He is a founder and current president of the Kansas Writers Association and tries to stay connected to writers and the writing industry by doing speaking engagements at writers conferences and for writers organizations, and does his own "The Storyteller" seminar in Wichita, Lincoln (Nebraska), Kansas City, and other Midwestern cities based on his Novel Writing Made Simple book. His websites, http://www.WritersMatrix.com and http://www.IndieWritersAlliance are landing pages for writers to help them in their writing endeavors. His author website is http://www.GordonKessler.com. Other links: http://www.ReadersMatrix.com http://www.Twitter.com/GordonKessler http://www.Facebook.com/GordonKessler1 http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/GordonKessler Review: JEZEBEL BY Gordon A. Kessler 10/23/2011
Several dogs start turning on strangers and their owners alike while a Bible-thumping madman is leaving his mark all across town. Called to investigate alongside local police is animal control officer Tony Parker, put on the case after several vicious mauling incidents show evidence of human involvement. He works with his assistant Sarah Hill to help search for the cause before the growing group of roaming, murderous dogs claims even more victims. A rabies outbreak appears to be responsible at first, and yet the dogs are seemingly becoming increasingly organized and timed in their attacks. . . . Jezebel is a fast-paced thriller that calls to mind Dean Koontz’s brainwasher thriller Night Chills and Stephen King’s rabid horror Cujo. I thought the story was well organized, albeit very notably action-packed. The different turns are delightful and the level of gore is a nice compromise between tasteful and horrific. The characters reflect a good level of development and the protagonist is likeable and believable. The short chapter written in Jezebel’s point of view is interesting and well placed, and I thought the final twist at the end was very good, although I found the repetitive language referring to that twist to be a little distracting. With that said, I recommend Jezebel to fans of contemporary horrors and thrillers who enjoy a lot of action in their books. Are we slowly slipping into a real World-Mart . . . and is there anything we can do to stop it? 10/21/2011
Back when I was a child, not that long ago, small businesses were all over the place. There were grocery markets, department stores, and restaurant chains, but “Mom and Pop” were still everywhere. My first job was at a family owned, full-line pet store. My boss taught me the importance of treating the customer right, taking pride in my work, always doing right by the animals, and being educated about what I was selling. The bottom line was important, but not as important as customer loyalty and product quality. Fast-forward twenty years and one would find me working as a manager at a corporate pet store chain. I found the differences between the establishments to be profound—and that bigger does not always mean better. After an especially trying tangle against the corporate red tape on one side of me and low paid young adults slacking under my watch on the other, I remember deciding I was going to write a book that took place in a world where everyone was reduced to a nametag, khakis, and a polo shirt. In this world, no one took pride in what they did, so everything was of mediocre quality at best. The multiple levels of managers and associates made it impossible to accomplish anything efficiently. Everyone did all of their shopping at the Food-Mart, because that was the only place left for people to go. Churches were owned by Faith-Corp. People got all of their news from Info-Corp. And then the terrifying thought struck me that we were already well on our way there.  Excerpt from World-Mart: George glanced through the electronic file of a doctor charged with prescribing and selling antibiotics. The research associates who put the case together had been thorough. The evidence against the doctor was overwhelming, and one particular patient the doctor attempted to treat had strep throat. Of course, when top managers confirmed that the patient was indeed infected with strep, Police-Corp and Medical-Corp worked together to euthanize the man as quickly and humanely as possible. Antibiotics had been outlawed nearly twenty years ago, after scientists had determined that their use was no longer effective against most life-threatening disease-causing bacteria. Even worse, antibiotics affected certain bacteria’s evolutionary development, causing even some of the most benign of infections eventually to become untreatable and deadly. Antibiotic-immune strep, staph, and tuberculosis had became epidemic, and together the three had killed ten percent of the human population before Medical-Corp finally stepped in. Its top managers ordered the construction of quarantine camps, where hundreds of thousands of people eventually were corralled, killed, and cremated. All suspected cases of serious infectious diseases were now referred to a special committee within Medical-Corp. All whom they deemed infectious were removed for the greater good of society. George looked through the different studies that had been attached to the case. Everything looked straightforward, except for the doctor’s personal notes. Page after page, almost all of the doctor’s words were blacked out, all pertaining to an apparent case study he was conducting. The only reason the research associate had left in the scanned files was that every few pages had untouched text in which the doctor mentioned his prescribing illegal antibiotics. George agreed to keep the otherwise useless pages in the file, deciding that the prosecution managers would likely find some use for them. He read the pages of receipts, recorded telephone conversations, and photocopies of the doctor’s appointment logs. Everything appeared to be in order. Police-Corp already had a confession from the man, and therefore a guilty verdict from Law-Corps high management was already imminent. Still, it was George’s job to suggest formally that the doctor be charged and his file be sent to Sentencing. He entered the computer database in front of him, scanning the doctor’s charge sheet and bringing it to the monitor. Two virtual buttons bearing the words “Guilty” and “Not Guilty” appeared on the bottom right corner of the screen under the word “Recommendation.” George tapped the “Guilty” button, and a new screen appeared, asking him a series of questions: Did the Defendant confess to his/her crime(s)? (Research associate #00335-921 said “Yes.”) Click HERE to agree. Click HERE to disagree. Does the file work indicate that the Defendant showed remorse for said crime(s)? (Research associate #01002-486 said “No.”) Click HERE to agree. Click HERE to disagree. Does the file work indicate that the Defendant could have made a profit by committing said crime(s)? (Research associate #00335-921 said “Yes.”) Click HERE to agree. Click HERE to disagree. Has the Defendant ever been convicted of any previous crimes? (Research associate #00257-851 said “Yes.”) Click HERE to agree. Click HERE to disagree. Does the Defendant have anything to say in his/her defense, for having committed said crime(s)? (Research associate #01014-002 said “Yes.”) Click HERE to agree. Click HERE to disagree. George used another application to search for his answers. He went through each relevant section of file work, double-checking himself before punching in the same answers as given by the other research associates. The computer then prompted, “State Defendant’s argument (limit 140 characters),” and George navigated through the file. He found the transcripts from the doctor’s police interview. He frowned as he found the lines in which the doctor said he could explain himself, but the explanation was blacked out. He studied the few words that remained between the thick swatches of black ink, trying to see if even a gist of the man’s argument remained. Knowing that files were blacked out when a suspect’s text referred to illegal or misleading concepts, he knew nothing else could be done but type, “Defendant’s argument invalid.” The computer asked him if he was sure, and George tapped a round button with a “Yes” stretched across it. The printer spat out a few sheets of new paperwork. It was an old, loud, outdated machine, and the paper it used was thick and pulpy, like most paper these days, recycled countless times through hand-powered paper recycling machines, only to be recycled again once another case officially closed. It was an archaic practice, one that few agencies still employed, but the pages gave the final review files a sense of credibility that only tradition could produce. George looked the over pages, and then stapled them together and stamped his personal seal in red ink, in a box printed on the front page. He signed on a line within the seal, added it to the top of the file, and then slid the file into a narrow, locked bin at the side of his cubicle. Bells chimed through a loud speaker. “Your work day is now over,” a soothing, cheerful female voice announced. “Corporate appreciates your productivity. Thank you for working at Law-Corp.” WORLD-MART Trailer 10/20/2011
WORLD-MART is coming.... 10/14/2011
 Government and corporate business have merged in an attempt to keep the country from going bankrupt, the effects of global warming and antibiotic-resistant disease having caused a full collapse in infrastructure. The class divide has become profound, leaving most people trapped in an impoverished, working class world with little room for improvement. Complacency and corporate hierarchy control and confound the masses, run by the elite few, collectively referred to as "Corporate." George Irwin remembers a time before the Big Climate Change, back when the airlines were still in business and people still drove their own cars. Sadly, his children have only known an indoor world of endless reconstruction, public shuttles, recycled water, and limited energy. The world has changed much over his lifetime, but he still believes in the American Dream. When an alleged terrorist act lands his wife in the hospital, however, George stumbles upon a Corporate secret that could mean the end of all civilization. What does your future look like? October 15 -- Kindle and PC October 21 -- Paperback  Heart transplant recipient Arthur Feldman serves as a frame narrator, sharing an otherworldly story he believes was experienced by his organ donor, Rodwell Richards. The story begins with Rodwell’s untimely murder, then shifts to a surreal alternate reality as Rodwell’s consciousness leaves his body. Instead of going to Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell, Rodwell finds himself in a strange world—reborn, as it were, into a new life in a universe enigmatically connected to Earth. His experiences are interrupted by intermittent breaks back into "reality" in the form of nightmares--visions and sensations of being in a hospital room, barely clinging to life, the voice of his wife desperately trying to come to terms with his comatose condition. Over time, Rodwell becomes increasingly involved and connected with this new world, until the new life replaces the old, suggesting that there is no afterlife, but rather jumps from one universe to the next. Another Space in Time is a refreshing and provocative look at our world and the world beyond, speculating existence, purpose, and God in thoughtful and meaningful ways. At times, Bunning’s style seemed similar to that of Olaf Stapledon, one of my favorite speculative fiction authors. I recommend this book to fans of ‘50s pulp sci-fi and readers who enjoy a literary edge to their science fiction. | ArchivesFebruary 2012 CategoriesAll |
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