Brian K. Ladd - Their Dark Masters

If you're into intelligent horror, if you like to be scared, if you want a different take on the vampire mythos,  head over to Amazon and check out the new horror anthology, Their Dark Masters, from Red Skies Press.  This one features Durham, North Carolina (formerly Greenville, South Carolina author) and a previous contributor to Fissure magazine, Brian K. Ladd, wit his short story, "Leandros and the Raki.".
In addition, editor Mark Crittendon, has nominated one of Brian's short stories to Ellen Datlow for Year's Best Horror 2010.  Brian has had short stories published in previous anthologies edited my Mark as well.
Brian's story is intelligent, terrifying, highly unusual and well researched. On this story which takes place in a monastery in Constantinople, during the 1821 Greek Revolution, Brian utilizes his amazing ability to create complex, unpredictable characters, miss, them up in his cache of plot twists while touching upon his fascination with philosophy, ethics, history and philoogy. Take it from me - this is a most unusual story. I had the luck to read it during one of our writers meetings and found it most delightfully disturbing.

Description of the contents from Red skies Press: When vampires have outlasted eternity, their dark masters will rise from their ancient slumber. What evil games will they play? Find out in these fourteen tales of dread by Lee Hughes, Brian K. Ladd, Lily Childs, Erik Boman, Paul Anderson, Erin Cole, Gregory Miller, Marissa Farrar, Henry Brasater, Tyree Campbell, Rebecca L. Brown, Barry J. Northern, and Mark Anthony Crittenden, and featuring the art of Marie-Claire Graham. Warning: horror content is extreme.

Steampunk Fissure at Upstate Steampunk Extravaganza

As Shadow Archer Press made its first foray into the world of  con's (and my first time ever attending one)  I'm  so thrilled with the results and the response to Steampunk Fissure magazine. The first run of Steampunk Fissure sold out shortly after noon on Saturday. We're printing another run now.  Steampunk Fissure boasted six authors scattered across four writer's panels: Gypsey Teague (The Victoria X) and Matt Delman (Determining The Roots of Steampunk) were both featured in their own panels on Steampunk, K.G. McAbee co-chaired a panel with her writing partner, Cynthia D. Witherspoon (Airships, Submersibles, Difference Engines and Steam Men: Reading, Researching and Writing Steampunk.)  

In addition, Brian K. Ladd, Matt Delman, Shane McElveen and Maxwell Cyn, who all traveled at least two hours to appear: (Matthew from Boston, Mass., Brian from Durham, NC, Maxwell from Matthews, NC and Shane form Florence, SC) presented on the Authors and Publishers panel. What a feat for an indie magazine.  And I am so grateful they all agreed to participate.

We had a decent turnout at the Authors and Publishers panel and feedback has been coming in from the attendees.
Curtis Hart of Florence, SC said of authors panel, "It was the best writers' panel I've ever been to, and that includes those at Dragon Con."  
My dream for this panel was to offer writers a glimpse into how to write and how to get their steampunk works published.  I've been to writers' panels before and so often the authors on the panels only advertise their books.  While, it would have been more fair to our writers on the Authors and Publishers panel,to allow them to talk only about their works, my focus was to be provide information to writers so they could be proactive, leave the con and feel inspired to write and submit their works. This will not only offer individual writers the opportunity to share their steampunk concepts but also to support and grow steampunk literature as its own genre, one thing Gypsey has worked tirelessly within the library system to facilitate. 

My vision was answered from these panelists in ways I could not imagine.  They all had such different experiences, such wide ranging interests in both the literary world and steampunk in particular, different approaches to their writing styles, critique groups, submission approaches, working with editors and the world of publishing.
I could not have been more thrilled, except that we needed a lot more time (at least 90 minutes) to cover such far-reaching territory, but also I wish I'd thought of trying to get an indie film maker to video tape it and photograph it.  I don't think there are any photos of the panelists all together.  What a shame.
I was also able to meet Jim Cross, who did our amazing cover and some interior art and Brandon Cassidy who did the back page art and some of the interior art.
Matthew Delman was wise enough to pick up a indie film maker to videotape his "Determining Roots of Steampunk Panel" and they are now posted on You Tube. I recommend you read his blog and check out the videos.  They over a wealth of info on steampunk and the literary genre.  Author and panelist, Maxwell Cyn and attendee and screenwriter, Curtis Hart also wrote about the Authors and Publishers panel on their blogs.

on Transparency & Ripping the Veil

While on one hand I am entering a period which requires me to be social, on the other, the subconscious calls again.  I will have to maintain balance.  I agree with John Fowles observation that "Time is not a road, it is a room," and as my time fills up with social activities, I am pulled away from the visions, concepts, poems, writing which is bubbling up form the subconscious. Some of it valuable information, it may have taken years to process. some of it which needs to be thought out, recorded in poems, the novels, art. I'm tempted to shut myself away again, become hermit like and create, but it's also a time of reaching out and sharing, meeting and learning from others. What will happen when these new influences converge with the steam of observations, with those little awareness moments?  Will I rebuild, transform, rebirth? As I read the journals of Anais Nin, go back to Fowles and The Magus, and feel pulled to rewatch movies like "Stay" and "The Libertine" (movies where the plot involves an individual who must live outside society, both in their personal extremes. And as society and some of its systems summon, I feel pulled to do just the opposite, retreat into the worlds I know, the second reality, the world behind the world, which so many other authors, poets and artists have seen, Salman Rushdie, Carl Jung, Thomas Moore,  Fowles, Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Keith Flynn, Anais Nin, Neil Gaiman, Umberto Eco, Brian K.Ladd.  More and more I see the mentions, the hints, the nods, in films, in contemporary novels.  I am just now noticing or are they trying to tell us something beneath the story lines and song lyrics?   
As I embark on my lunar moth series in the novel, poetry and art (the lunar moth as a sign of the veil's transparency,) I go deeper and deeper and like Jung discover even more layers, even after I thought I had gone as far as I could.

Lunar Moth Lessons

In emergence

from hermitage,

I hide behind costumes, hats,

names - run away to

sideways cultures

sub-societies,

only to learn

I’ve taken that first

hard-to-reverse step. Summoned

by yet another system.

I seek the awake moments, 

(as fragile as mist on an Atlantic breeze,

as it dissolves when I look away),

to reteach

me to avoid

such betrayal -

stay handbound

with the subconscious.

Remain aware

by looking in:

deeper than ether.

Reminder:

side step reality’s hypnosis,

indoctrination,

loss of self.

Become transparent

luminous

more illusive

than a lunar moth on a cloudy day.

Only then can one walk through

the glass doors of reality,

                       find the numinous self -

                                                    take wing.

Magic Formulas -the rituals of writing

Coffee, peaches and writing, writing, writing - too much coffee and a handful of peaches in honor of my writing buddy, B. Miller who goes to Killercon this week to pitch her novel,  Blood in the Orchard, set in South Carolina. 
Writing is a lonely job, we need the alone time to get it done, but it's also daunting, when hours, days pass by and you haven't spoken to any human beings except your characters.
But maybe that's what needs to happen, so the characters speak to you, grab your typing fingers and lead you on to adventures you'd never imagine on your own.
This just happened to me this weekend.  I've been writing on The Foxglove Broadsides, at a steady pace, in between lots of learning about steampunk, reading Conan Doyle, reading submissions for Steampunk Fissure, laying out the mag, taking care of my granddaughter and working.  But this weekend the characters (including The Orchid Collector, who features in a short story of mine)  grabbed me, just like Jacob LaGuerre did in Shaman Circus and off we ran.  Besides putting in more than 13 hours on Steampunk Fissure, I've written over 5,000 words this weekend.  I'm up to 18,800 words, twelve chapters and the whole story is so alive, I can't sleep. 
I've even managed to read about a fifth of the way through Foucault's Pendulum and watch Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes again, for about the 25th time. Foucault's Pendulum is part of the reason why I'm writing so fast.  It's a fast-paced novel and goes all over the place, just the way I like them.  I owe a huge favor to  another pivotal writing buddy, Brian K. Ladd, not only for getting me into steampunk, but also because he couldn't stop praising Foucault's Pendulum.  It's a bit Fowlesian and a bit not.

The Steampunk Travels, part 1

As a newcomer to the steampunk world, I was led on a quite diverse course to discover everything about the genre.  For those of you planning on writing something for steampunk issue of Fissure, or for those of you new to the genre, I invite you on the first stage of my travels to this exciting, terrifying, amazing, offbeat, colorful road. 
First I was introduced through the music of Vernian Process by fellow writes group member Brian K. Ladd. But then as synchronicity does, I was exposed to various angles of the steampunk world all at once, photos of Gypsey and Marla in steampunk costumes and also what they had been working on as steampunk influenced decorating at their home, I met Nick Valentino, author of Thomas Riley, a steampunk novel, at a writer's conference and read his book and then, as a long time fan of all things Victorian checked out photos of the garb and costumes and I was smitten!

Three weeks ago I walked into a thrift store and found a designer skirt and jacket for under $20.00.  It's over the top Victorian influences, could only be worn as evening wear by contemporary folks and it fit!  So I snapped it up having no idea Gypsey Teague was planning to host the Upstate Steampunk Con in my town, Greenville, SC.  Wow.  What luck.
Then I read Matthew Delman's brilliant, well-researched and highly informative four-part series on The Roots of Steampunk on his blog, Free the Princess and whew, things really took off.
I have now written two steampunk stories, Marquette de Fleur, a rather steamy steampunk story (in the romantic way) which involves an odd take on horticulture in the steampunk world - a twisted kind of horticulture.  It is now in the submission circulation mill.  And this weekend I finished a second story, The Foxglove Broadsheets. This is a story about steam-driven printing, poison and political intrigue.

Without music I would never have explored this genre or written these stories. The music inspires me to delve into my love of Victorian cultures, interiors, history and now the inventions and how we can torque them with steampunk ingenuity. 

Here are some recommendations so you can be inspired too:

Vernian Process - British band - wow - the ultimate in steampunk atmosphere - you will be flying over London in an airship over the head of the likes of Jack the Ripper just listening to this.

Abney Park  - I heard about this band from author, Gypsey Teague. From Seattle, male and female members produce everything from dance music, to stunning melodic ballads complete with cello, violin and more, female singer- very very steampunk, lots of cool sound effects, some middle eastern influences.

Life's Decay - steampunk pair from France, awesome goth edge, bittersweet, obviously classically trained, amazing instrumentation often with acoustic and strange instruments.The dark edge of steampunk, the boudoir side of steampunk, awesome staccato military drums, cello steam train sounds blended with incredible melodies on piano, cello and more. The female high soprano voice sings and whispers in French - delectable, from romantic to poignant to haunting. 

The Reedy River Rats - 2010 a year of abrubt change

This month has marked an end of an era for a number of  reasons.  Some I will elaborate on later.  But this week, it;s in regards to a rough jolt to the Reedy River Rats Guerilla Writing Group A key and founding member,

  Brian K. Ladd  will be moving to Durham North Carolina. 
Brian has been in the group since its inception and there were long periods when he and I were the only ones in the group. Yet we kept meeting on a mostly regular schedule at various coffee shops, homes, pubs and parks, but most often at Coffee Underground in downtown Greenville.  We both state that our novels, Trimalchio's Couch for Brian and Shaman Circus for me, would not have been written without the constant meetings. And I can say that about a lot of my short stories and poems. Brian is now embarking on another chapter to his life. At least he's still close enough for a meeting a few times a year and we hope to set up some kind of Skype type of online face to face conference writers meetings.

I'm sad for me and happy for him because he's going back to school to earn his degree in ancient languages.  He'll have to tell you the exact degree - I can never how to say the real names.
It's been sad over the years as our members move away. Shaggy Randall and Wendy Swearingin are in Florida, Chris Patrick is in Kings Mtn, NC, Donna Nyzio is in Beaufort, NC, and tragically, Jason Scott of NC passed away last week (I'm working on a future post about Jason).
 So that will leave B. Miller and I here in Greenville. I hope we all will vow to continue as we struggle along in this wayward addictive  lifestyle of weaving stories and creating artwork.  For B. Miller and I, at this point, we couldn't stop writing if we wanted to, and we won't stop meeting and improving.
So it will be another transition to have Brian in  another state, and a new interplay for the Rats. A Good writers group or magazine staff becomes a family, as B. Miller so beautifully wrote in her post about Jason. We all  worked hand in hand in this crazy publishing world.
And Brian has always been so generous with his knowledge of language and history, philosophy and character. He will be missed a great deal, but we'll be looking for him on the world stage where his craft will continue to be appreciated on an international level.  Sure, we'd like to keep him all to ourselves, keep him here running the streets of  Greenville with the Rats, but that would be unfair.

Brian K. Ladd author of The Devouring Rime, reviews Shaman Circus

"Shaman Circus is a powerful story of love and loss, of the calling of the Gods and what price we pay for denial of our true path. Set in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Gail Gray takes us on a sweeping journey: one part documentary of the travesty, one part magical romp where lively characters take the action and move toward a painful, but revitalizing end game.
Jacob La Guerre brings his Rock Star Style to the streets of Katrina, one part verve, one part voodoo. Set opposite is stolid and nervous sociology professor Alex, who has left his family in South Carolina to study the effects of the Hurricane on the Voodoo community. Shaman Circus is a gripping tale of misery and triumph. It is the story of New Orleans."
 - Brian K. Ladd, Pushcart Prize nominee, author of The Devouring Rime, The Atavist Puzzle Pieces and numerous other short stories.

The Value of Writers' Groups

I urge every writer out there to seek out a group you can work with. Over the years, I've been in several groups, and went to the first meetings of many more. Only two have worked out, My Hatchet writing group in the late 80's which eventually becamse the South Carolina Writer's Workshop, (SCWW) the most established statewide writers organization, where I learned to develop a thick skin, and the Reedy River Rats. All the other groups were not good fits due to their approach, level of dedication or style of writing. You have to fit, you have to all have the same values, even though you don't have to write in the same genres or styles or write poetry, prose or nonfiction.

Over the years, the Rats has worked with all three including some odd offshoots such as comics and gaming.

And we all agree how the melding has been something intangible, alchemical, and transformative, both in our writing and in our daily lives. We've become friends, cxonfidants, cheerleaders and editors for each other, but most importantly we all agree on what a writer's life understands. Something, many other people in our lives don't relaly comprehend.

The Rats has met now, in various incarnations since 2003. That's a long time. Many years we met every week and while some years it was off and on, we were always able to pick right back up and get to work. Each time a members has moved away, there were tough adjustments, as each member brought their own style of fascinating writing to the table, as well as their unique perspectives on writing, whether it be on the concepts, storylines, plots, characters, grammar or technical issues. I've learned so much from each person who has been a member and was sad when each person left, some of them moving away. I've especially missed: Wendy Swearingen, Chris Patrick, Shaggy Randal, Avery Moore. Throughout this life-changing meeting of the minds with these talented people, I became a better writer, editor and publisher. Mostly because we all learned to be honest and frank with our critiques, forthcoming with suggestions to back up the critiques, support when we couldn't write, enthusiasm when things went well and an open minded genuine interest in each other's work, progress and success.

Now we're down to Brian K. Ladd and B. Miller, both published authors in the horror, steampunk and literary fields.  We meet at Coffee Underground in the Red Room weekly and hash out novels, short stories, poetry.  We compare notes, share markets, go on literary field trips to readings, book fairs, workshops, and are now planning what conferences and cons we'll attend over the next couple of years.  B Miller is a specilaist in grammar, continuity,  action, crime and police stuff.  Brian handles history, philosophy, continuity, languages, research and character. Both of them are great with character development.  I guess my forte is plot, psychological aspects and motivations of character, some grammar and the publishing industry, markets, trends, agents small presses. 
The feedback we get can operate in many ways, encouragement as we're in the process, editing as we near the end of a chapter or short story, market suggestions and acknowledgement of when a piece is ready to submit.  Sometimes, the meetings take odd turns, the feedback is a surprise and sends our work reeling off into other directions, into novels or into realms we would never have attemped on out own.  From our most recent meeting I was confused as to what direction my story, "The Orchid Collector" was taking and the feedback was unanimous to take it out of the high fantasy realm and to put it back in the realm of steampunk erotica/dark fantasy since I'd already written another story Marquette de Fleur, which features one of the characters. So I played some steam wave music by Vernian Process and I'm on my way.
Don't underestimate the power of writers' groups.  If you're not in one now, try and locate one.  If it's a good match you will be amazed at how much your work improves.