I’m pleased to introduce horror author, Mathew V. Brockmeyer. Mathew has published a novel and two short fiction collections of his own, and has had a number of short stories featured in various anthologies and horror magazines, both online and in print. His novel, Kind Nepenthe, won the 2018 Maxy award for best suspense thriller. (You can read my review of Kind Nepenthe here.)
About Mathew V. Brockmeyer
Matthew V. Brockmeyer lives in an off-grid cabin, deep in the forest of Northern California, with his wife and two children. He enjoys howling at the moon and drenching his fangs in human blood.
He is the author of the critically-acclaimed novel KIND NEPENTHE: A Savage Tale of Terror Set in the Heart of California’s Marijuana Country.
His short stories have been featured in numerous publications, both in print and online, including, among others, Infernal Ink Magazine, Not One of Us, Timeless Tales Magazine, Body Parts Magazine, Alephi, Pulp Metal Magazine, and the anthologies The Edge: Infinite Darkness, After the Happily Ever After, and One Hundred Voices.
Interview
Kaye: Hello Mathew. I’m pleased to have you as my guest today. Horror is a genre that has always fascinated me. I read horror long before I thought of writing it. Stephen King, Anne Rice, Dean Koontz, John Saul are a few of my favorite horror authors. But its a genre I struggle with writing, so I’m hoping to pick up a few tips from you today.
So, let’s start with the basics. Why horror?
Mathew: Well, first one might ask what even is horror? Like pornography, many say it’s hard to define, but when you see it you know it. I believe there’s elements of horror in all great literature, from Steinbeck to the Grimms Brothers to Dostoevsky. I also tend to classify things as horror that others do not, such as the works of Cormac McCarthy and much of Joyce Carol Oates. I also see many elements of horror in true crime, of which I have a life-long love. In fact much of my time these days is spent working on a true crime podcast called Murder Coaster I put out with Bram Stoker-award-winning author Christa Carmen, an old friend of mine.
But back to your question, why horror? Well, first off there’s the thrill, the roller-coaster-ride rush of adrenaline. It’s highly entertaining. But on a deeper level there’s an existential confrontation with our mortality. Horror forces one to reconcile with death, which is the final destination for all of us. I believe reconciling with death makes us more empathetic and better human beings. Ever notice horror freaks and true crime fans are the nicest people you could ever want to meet?
Finally there is the implied warnings and life lessons. Like fairy tales of old, horror, as well as true crime, teaches us to be aware. Life can be dangerous, can be scary, monsters are out there.
Kaye: Where does inspiration for your stories come from? Is your mind just terribly twisted and dark?
Mathew: Most my inspiration comes from reality, which I find much more terrifying than any vampire or werewolf tale. I’ve led a wild life, seen many crazy things, been in many scary situations, I have a lot of material to pull from there. And true crime has always been an huge inspiration, from the Manson Family to serial killers, cults of all sorts, these are the places I go to seeking inspiration.
I occasionally write about vampires, ghosts and werewolves, but I see them more as metaphors for types of people than actual tropes. Vampires as psychic parasites that feed off of people’s life energy and soul, dead inside and living off of other’s misery, and in doing so creating fellow monsters. Ghosts as elements of the past that haunt us, lurking in our subconscious. And werewolves as folks with an inner beast raging inside them, a monster hiding within waiting for the right moment to show itself.
But, yes, my mind is naturally twisted and dark. I really don’t know why. I find some bizarre comfort in the horrific. Perhaps it makes me feel better about my own situation,
Kaye: Your novel, Kind Nepenthe, won the 2018 Maxy Award for best suspense thriller. Is this something that you sought after or was it a complete surprise?
Mathew: It was entered by my publisher and was a nice little surprise, for sure.
Kaye: Much of your writing career is based on short fiction. You have stories published in numerous anthologies and magazines. It is a good way to get your name out there. Do you have any tips for submitting short fiction that might get an author closer to acceptance?
Mathew: Carefully going over the submission guidelines is probably the most important, making sure it’s the right genre, the right length, whether it should be submitted as a word doc or in the body of the email, whether it’s a blind submission and your name shouldn’t be on the manuscript, all of these simple things are so important and often ignored.
Kaye: What differences do you see in writing short fiction and novel length works? Which do you prefer?
Mathew: Well, they say a novelist is a failed short story writer, take that how you will. The length of a novel obviously leaves a lot of room for character development and world building and a longer narrative arc. The short story has to quickly get to the point. Some say every chapter of a novel should hold the elements of a short story, and many writers have submitted chapters as short stories. When Louise Erdrich was writing her first novel Love Medicine she famously had some chapters published as short stories, which went on to win awards, and helped establish her as a writer. I can’t say I prefer one over the other, though, obviously, it’s much more of a commitment to write a novel than a short story.
Kaye: What advice would you give to an author wanting to break into the horror genre?
Mathew: Read, read, read. Get to know the community. There’s a vibrant horror scene on social media. The extreme horror and splatter punk communities are blowing up right now. It appears to be a great time to be an indie horror writer.
Kaye: Who are your favorite authors? Do you try to emulate them?
Mathew: Off the top of my head my favorite authors are John Steinbeck, Cormac McCarthy, Bret Easton Ellis, Donna Tart, Irvine Welsh, John Irving and Andre Dubus III. Do I try to emulate them? Yes. Absolutely, though I try to always give everything a uniqueness and my own personal style. But when writing a pastoral scene I will stop and think, how would Steinbeck phrase this? Or when trying to be postmodern or meta I’ll think, what would Bret Ellis do to convey how advertising and television has shaped this person’s soul? Of course trying to sound like Cormac McCarthy or Irvine Welsh could be dangerous and absurd, ha ha ha. But in the end, we stand on the shoulders of those before us.
Kaye: What’s the best piece of writing advice you were ever given?
Mathew: Make it harder for your protagonist, make their lives harder, their conflicts more intense. How can the situation be worse? More life and death? Brings us to that point.
Kaye: What’s next for Mathew V. Brockmeyer? Is there another book in the works?
Mathew: I’m trying to sell a finished novel, a prequel to Kind Nepenthe. I’m finishing up a novella. I have a few short stories I’ve recently sold that await publication. But my main focus right now is this podcast Murder Coaster. It’s a fully scripted podcast where we often act out the stories, more like an old-time radio dramatization than a modern podcast, with sound effects and full musical scores. It’s insanely labor intensive. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started it, but I love the process. I really love podcasts, there’s an independent, DIY, almost punk rock element to them. Anyone with a microphone and computer can make one. It’s a very underground thing.
Kaye: Where can readers learn more about you and your works?
Mathew: For my podcast go to murdercoasterpodcast.com and for me go to matthewvbrockmyer.com. As for social media I’m most active on Facebook and have a lot of fun there interacting with people. Thanks so much for having me!
I want to thank Mathew for joining us here today. His tips for submitting short fiction, (or anything, really), are spot on to what I have experienced in both submitting and in receiving submissions. And his take on emulating his favorite authors made a lot of sense.
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This segment of “Chatting with New Blood” is sponsored by The Rock Star & The Outlaw and WordCrafter Press.
A time-traveler oversteps his boundaries in 1887. Things get out of hand quickly, and he is hanged, setting in motion a series of events from which there’s no turning back.
In 1887, LeRoy McAllister is a reluctant outlaw running from a posse with nowhere to go except to the future.
In 2025, Amaryllis Sanchez is a thrill-seeking rock star on the fast track, who killed her dealing boyfriend to save herself. Now, she’s running from the law and his drug stealing flunkies, and nowhere is safe.
LeRoy falls hard for the rock star, thinking he can save her by taking her back with him. But when they arrive in 1887, things turn crazy fast, and soon they’re running from both the outlaws and the posse, in peril once more.
They can’t go back to the future, so it looks like they’re stuck in the past. But either when, they must face forces that would either lock them up or see them dead.
A gothic horror set in 1908 Bahamas She loathes him but the cult beckons. 1908, the height of the British Empire. Clara’s autonomy is shattered when her long-absent husband summons her to join him at his eerie sect’s headquarters, insulated on a sparsely inhabited island in the Bahamas. After a harrowing sea voyage, Clara and her children disembark into an unfamiliar landscape and climate. The children explore the marvels and mysteries of Andros Island and develop friendships with a Bahamian family, while Clara struggles to find her place as a woman within the cult. But what seems at first to be a spiritual haven for Clara reveals itself to be a monster-worshiping cult intent on draining her family of more than their fortune. Must Clara give up her quest for independence to protect her children from the cult’s depravity?
With themes of Spiritualism, motherhood, and female empowerment, The Cultist’s Wife will appeal to fans of The Ghost Woods and The Quickening.
I recieved a digital copy of The Cultist’s Wife, by B.J. Sikes from Sandra’s Book Club review program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated here are my own.
I was attracted to this book by its simple cover design which highlights the title, which caught my eye, so I chose this book from a slew of books Sandra’s Book Club has available for review. It’s a gothic horror novel, which could even fall under the women’s fiction genre. Clara, the female protagonist, is a woman in British society seeking her independence through spiritualism at the beginning of the twentieth century in the absence of her husband, who has been in the Bahamas for the past five years. And later in the story, we meet a second strong female who plays an equally vital role in the story’s plot.
At first, I must admit, I didn’t like Clara very much. I found her to be selfish, worried more about appearances in society than anything else, as she allows a nanny to take responsibility for the care of her children, eight-year-old Elsie and five-year-old Reggie, which was common for the times. When her absent husband summons her to bring the children and join him, she cows to his will as a proper wife should, in spite of her questions as to his motive. Upon their arrival, her choice to seek enlightenment on Andros Island and become a member of the cult her husband is involved, and her almost total disregard for her children and their well-being reinforced my first impression and made me wonder how she could be so blind to what was happening around her. I felt it to be at odds with the self-rightous, independent woman she was struggling to be.
The children are the real heroes in this tale, showing strength and ingenuity in their mother’s absence as she bends to the will of the Order. They are left to their own devices to explore the island, making friends with the indigenous people, and uncovering a murder in the process. Their mother doesn’t believe them and they turn to Aunty Irene, another strong and independent female from the local population, but even she may not be strong enough to stand against the Order.
By the end of the story, we see Clara grow and change into a truly strong and caring woman as her priorities shift and her eyes are opened to the reality of her situation, providing an unsuspected and satisfying ending as every character arc should, but it is little Elsie who I identified with and rooted for. Perhaps it should have been titled, “The Cultist’s Children” instead.
A classic gothic horror story, I give The Cultist’s Wife four quills.
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Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARCs. Have a book you’d like reviewed? You can request a review on the Book Review tab above.
Anaconda: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid is predictable, following all the horror tropes, but it’s done well and I found it quite entertaining, with plenty of action. This movie is a stand alone sequel to the original Anaconda (1997) movie.
Bill Johnson is the boat captain, played by Johnny Messner, leading a group of scientists including Sam Rogers, played by KaDee Strickland, Dr. Jack Byron, played by Matthew Marsden, Dr. Ben Douglas, played by Nicholas Gonzalez, Intern Cole Burris, played by Eugene Byrd, and Gail Stern, played by Salli Richardson-Whitfield into thejungles of Borneo. In search the mythical black orchid, which can supposedly grant eternal life, which can only be accessed every seven years.
This film has all the elements you’d expect to find in a horror flick, including the greedy scientist who will go to any length to retrieve the precious flower, which is worth millions, who bribes the captain to take them into dangerous territory to save time. When their boat goes over a waterfall, the scientists land right in the middle of theterritory where massive anacondas have been feeding on the legendary orchids for years, proving that the mythical powers of the flower are true, and they quickly find themselves fighting for their lives amoung the monstrous snakes.
I thought that surely the teeth in the enormous snakes’ mouths, were just special effects to make our monster snakes look more fierce, but nope. I looked it up and anacondas actually do have rows of razor sharp hook-like teeth, used to help secure their prey while they wrap around them before the squeeze, and also to guide the prey down the snake’s throat pushing it back. Exposing this fact elevates these snakes, in my mind, from slightly fakey special effects to truly scary monsters which our expedition members will have to be strong and cunning to overcome.
Anacondas: Trail of Blood (2009)
Anacondas: Trail of Blood is the forth movie in this franchise and a sequel to the third. There wasn’t as much money thrown at this msde for television movie as there was thrown into the first two cinematic movies and it shows.
In this movie, a genetically created baby anaconda is experimented on, cut in half and injected with a serum made from the blood orchid, cultivated by a scientist, who is killed by the snake he has created in the opeining scene. The serum not only has properties of longetivity, but also those of regeneration, creating a monster snake which is almost impossible to kill. Much of the action is running through the jungle to escape the monstrous beast.
The snake, itself is more fakey looking than the monster snakes seen in previous movies in the franchise, looking to me, as if it were made of cheap plastic.
Also, I felt this movie had too many players to keep track of. We have a member of a science team, Amanda Hayes, played by Crystal Allen, who is out to stop the dastardly plan of their employer, Murdough, played by John Ryes-Davies, to harvest and create the serum for his own selfish purposes, and she aims to keep him from getting his hands on the research. It is her goal to destroy everything to do with the serum, as she sees the evil purposes the serum could be used for. She initially arrives with two cops, and a lone teen hiker joins their ranks.
Then we have a group of archelogists intent on excavating a recently discovered dig in the area and a group of mercenaries hired by Murdough to retrieve the serum and the research and eliminate Amanda. Quite frankly, the snake didn’t seem to care which group its victims were from, as a side effect of the serum is apparently an insatiable appetite and fierce aggressiveness. There are so many characters that I found it difficult to relate to any single one. Without some type of connection to make me care about these characters, I wasn’t as invested in the outcome as I might have been.
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About Kaye Lynne Booth
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The 2012 film The Woman in Black is the second adaption of a 1983 novel of the same title, by Susan Hill. This gothic supernatural horror is the best recent example I have seen of a good, old-fashioned ghost story.
In 1906, Attorney Arthur Kipps, played by Daniel Radcliffe, is called to the village of Crythin Gifford to collect the papers of the deceased owner of a place called Eel Marsh House, located on the other sid eof the marsh from the village. He recieves a strange reception from the villagers, and the village attorney is downright hostile, but Arthur is deteremined to see his task through.
During his stay at Eel Marsh House, strange things happen: unusual noises, a bolted door, toys that wind up on their own, a rocking chair that rocks by itself, and a woman dressed in black out on the marsh, as he uncovers the truth of local legend of a vengeful spirit which plagues the village, preying on their children for many decades. All who see her lose a child. He finds himself on a new mission, to reunite mother and child, in order to save his own son, who is enroute to join him.
The house has a really spooky feel, set in the foggy marsh which is only accessible during certain times of day due to periodical flooding by the tide. And the lady in black gives off a truly menacing feeling, as we learn how she lures the village children to their deaths.
While formulaic, as most horror films are, this was is very well-executed to make the beats fit together seamlessly as the story unfolds. It has a good plot with just enough special effects to make it believable and draw you into the story, and a surprising ending that isn’t what you’d expect. (No spoilers here.) There are still those scenes where you feel that the character is making the stupidest choice possible, because any sane person would turn tail and run, but if the characters didn’t do dumb things, there would be no story. But they managed to tell this story without all the blood and gore, which I found refreshing. Overall, I truly enjoyed this suspenseful gothic horror story. It’s been a while since I watched a movie which kept me on the edge of my seat.
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About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, her the first three books in her kid’s book series, My Backyard Friends, her poetry collection, Small Wonders, and her writer’s resource, The D.I.Y. Author. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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I’m always leary of remakes, especially of first movies which I really enjoyed. Such was the case with 2017 remake of The Mummy, starring Tom Cruise, Russell Crow and Annabelle Wallace. I loved the original 1999 take on this story, with Brandon Frasier and Rachel Weisz. As with any remake, it is impossible for me to judge the newer version without referring back to the original, especially if they are similar. So, let me just say right now that I didn’t find the humor of the first movie, which I enjoyed, in the 2017 remake, and although the stories are somewhat similar in that they both unearth a mummy and unleash a curse on mankind which must be stopped, the two are really nothing alike.
A cross between Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and MissionImpossible, the 2017 movie is pretty much non-stop action. From tomb raiding to underwater adventures, Tom Cruise’s character, Nick Morton, doesn’t get a moments rest and the character of Jenny Hasley, played by Anabelle Wallace, is the classic damsel in distress. There are even parts where you have to question who the good guys really are, and nothing is clear cut.
What is an Egyptian princess doing buried in the middle of the Middle Eastern dessert, entombed for thousands of years? And what happens when her resting place is discovered and her slumber disturbed? The special effects are superb and the mummy, played by Sophia Boutella, is wicked. Imotep has got nothing on Princess Ahmanet as she unleashes her rage on the city of London. Apparently, Egyptian princesses awaken in a really bad mood.
The 2017 version of The Mummy is a great action movie with enough horror blended in to bring a mythological monster to life once more. I really enjoyed watching this film.
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About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Robbie Cheadle started the “Growing Bookworms” blog series back in 2019. It was the first series that she brought to Writing to be Read, and is the longest running blog series to date on Writing to be Read. It has been a wonderful series, which originated with her Sir Chocolate series characters, and all the creative ways in which she encouraged her own sons to read and enjoy the world of literature. It has now grown into a discussion of children’s books and literature as the series progresses. Now, after six years, Robbie’s bookworms are grown and she is ready to move on with a new series, which I’ll tell you a little about below. But first, let’s celebrate the series by spotlighting all the fabulous banners Robbie has created for the “Growing Bookworms” series over the years with her darling fondant art as we bid “Growing Bookworms” farewell.
Growing Bookworms
(The fondant village is the latest banner. Click to the right for a trip back through time to the first banner with Sir Chocolate and Silly Willy back in 2019.)
Welcome “Robbie Reads and Cooks”
In her new blog series, “Read and Cook”, Robbie plans to share posts containing a book review paired with a recipe. I hope you will join us in welcoming this new and creative blog series for Robbie. I think it will be interesting to see what Robbie’s literary tastes cook up.
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October Release: Midnight Garden
17 authors bring you 21 magnificent dark tales. Stories of magic, monsters and mayhem. Tales of murder and madness which will make your skin crawl. These are the tales that explore your darkest fears. Read them in the Midnight Garden… if you dare.
Contributing authors include Paul Kane, Ell Rodman, DL Mullan, Joseph Carrabis, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Denise Aparo, Jon Shannon, Zack Elafy, Paul Martz, Robb T. White, Abe Margel, Julie Jones, Molly Ertel, Peter McKay, Kaye Lynne Booth, Danaeka Scrimshaw, and M.J. Mallon, author of the winning story in the 2024 WordCrafter Dark Fiction Contest.
Scheduled for release on October 8th. Don’t miss the WordCrafter Midnight Garden Book Blog Tour October 7 – 14, with guest posts and audio/video readings by contributing authors, and a great giveaway. So be sure to join us in sending this dark fiction anthology off right.
Tales From the Hanging Tree News
There exists a tree that is timeless, spanning across all dimensions, which absorbs every life as those who are hanged as they die… and it remembers every one. The stories within are a select few of the Tales From the Hanging Tree.
September saw the release of Tales From the Hanging Tree: Imprints of Tragedy. We launched it with a great blog tour featuring guest posts or excerpt readings from contributing authors. If you missed it, you can access each stop through the links in the tour schedule below. You can get your copy at your favorite retailer through Books2Read: https://books2read.com/Hanging-Tree
Tour Schedule
Monday Sept. 9 –Writing to be Read– Reading Excerpt by Joseph Carrabis & Guest Sylva Fae
Friday Sept. 13 – Writing to be Read– Reading Excerpt by DL Mullan & Guest Matt Usher
We also had a cool giveaway during the tour. The winners received a free digital copy of Tales From the Hanging Tree: Imprints of Tragedy.
And the winners are…
T.W. Dittmer
Merril D. Smith
C.E. Robinson
We also had promotional posts appear on the Joseph Carrabis blog site, so if you’d like to learn more about the anthology, click on the links below to see those posts.
They classified this 2015 Craig Zahler film as western horror-two genres you don’t see cross often. Although quite graphic, Bone Tomahawk has a slow, but necessary, build-up, which ends up telling a powerful but horrific story, with Kurt Russell as a strong lead character.
I admit, I grew up knowing Russell as a child actor, portraying roles in Disney films such as The Shaggy Dog and The Computer That Wore Tennis Shoes, and still to this day, I have a hard time buying into his tough guy roles like Snake Pliskin in Escape From New York or Wyatt Earp in Tombstone. But I must say that Russell, by the end of each of those movies, had become the character in my mind, and they were all characters I had come to like. In this film he portrays the tough small town Sheriff with a strong sense of morals, adding to the impact of the story through his portrayal.
The story builds slow, with an abduction serving as the inciting incident, sending the Sheriff and his compatriots into the desolate and wild landscape of the American frontier in pursuit, determined to bring the captives back or avenge them. The Sheriff and his elderly deputy are joined by a bounty hunter and theinjured husband of the abducted woman, and they all seem like unlikely companions, making for a adequate amount of tension and inner turmoil along the way as they strive to find and face an unknown enemy. What they find is worse than their darkest imaginings.
The setting may be the western frontier, but there will be no doubt as to why Bone Tomahawk was given the horror classification. The monsters that must be battled are of the human variety, but they are horrific and brutal, none-the-less. The scenes are graphic and violent, and sure to touch a nerve.
The ending was unexpected, but I’m not providing any spoilers for this powerful movie.
For horror fans who are not squeemish, this movie tells a impactful tale that will touch you at the deepest levels of your own humanity.
About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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This post is sponsored by WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services.
Whether it’s editing, publishing, or promotion that you need, WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services can help at a price you can afford.
When newlywed Rachel Corrigan agrees to accompany her husband, Tom, to his family estate before starting their lives together in the city, it is an opportunity to get to know him and to explore the manor where he grew up. But when Rachel arrives she finds Corrigan House strange, the nearby town empty, and her husband’s sudden cold demeanor increasingly frightening. She soon learns that one year ago, Tom’s first wife, Lavinia, took her own life in the twisted forest behind Corrigan House. The servants claim that her spirit resides there still, calling out from the wood, her voice as clear as the day she died.
In a desolate town where everyone harbors a secret, Rachel finds herself a prisoner in a place which is becoming increasingly treacherous. When the village priest is found savagely stabbed and on the edge of death, it becomes clear that the remaining townsfolk – witnesses to Lavinia’s demise – are being hunted down one by one. But Lavinia Corrigan is dead. Isn’t she?
I purchased a copy of The Hungry Deep, by J.L. Murray in a Freebooksie deal. All opinions stated here are my own.
The author does a good job of maintaining a level of tension and mystery throughout the steady unfolding of this tale. There is something amiss, but like the protagonist, Rachel Corrigan, you can’t quite put your finger on what it is, until little by little, all the pieces fall into place. The spirit of Tom Corrigan’s first wife, Livinia, haunts the memories of those who knew her. The entire town emptied out after her death and those who are left all bare secrets which may be best left buried. With murder, mayhem, and mystery, this tale promises to be one to keep readers on the edge of their seats, with a satisfying pay-off in the ending.
Mysterious and suspenseful, this gothic horror novel, will hold your attention until the last page. I give The Hungry Deep four quills.
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Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARCs. Have a book you’d like reviewed? You can request a review on the Book Review tab above.
Friday Sept. 13 – Writing to be Read – Reading Excerpt by Dl Mullan & Guest Matt Usher
The Giveaway
Follow the tour and leave a comment at each stop you visit to let us know you were there and earn an entry in the giveaway for a free digital copy of Tales From the Hanging Tree.
About Tales From the Hanging Tree
Tales from the Hanging Tree is a wonderfully dark, themed anthology which revolves around an ephemeral and timeless hanging tree that absorbs the memories of all hanging victims. This WordCrafter Press anthology was created by invitation only and includes stories from authors Kaye Lynne Booth, Paul Kane, DL Mullan, C.R. Johansson, Joseph Carrabis, Sylva Fae, and Matt Usher.
Book Trailer
Inspiration for Death for Sale, by Matt Usher
Hanging is harder than it looks. In media, you’re more likely to find your average strangulation hanging. This belies a long history of hanging development. Strangulation is more of an amateur, homespun kind of hanging. Many works in this collection consider this to great effect. Others prefer the cleaner solutions. They both have their appeal.
The history of hanging, dating back to at least Homer, converges in different nations to a common point of development. An odd form of mercy: you see, there’s the short drop, the medium drop, and the long drop of the famed “long drop, short stop”. This is because the merciful version of the art of hanging causes death by cervical fracture long before the patient can enjoy asphyxia. Cleaner that way. No risk of having to watch the hanged make a drama out of the proceedings.
The body’s weight does all the work, leaving the executioner to the simple task of pulling a lever. The English, masters of execution that they were, with a long, long history of hanging innocents, had it down to an exact science. The solution is to make a table that compares the soon to be departed’s height and weight to an array of possible drop distances. This was, of course, to avoid the chances of decapitation with a too-long drop, or a drawn-out death by a too-short one. Jolly humanism at its finest. Wouldn’t want to cause a mess. Unless you happen to fall athwart the long history of botched hangings. But hey, you can’t get it right all the time.
You’ll find plenty to learn about the history and morbid dynamics of hanging in this collection. In my own contribution that takes place in the near future, despite everything I’ve said, I’ve opted for a traditional death by strangulation. It just has that particular frisson. Makes your skin crawl. Others have plumped for the quick and painless style. Why be shy about it when you’re spoiled for choice? So much for the how of hanging; this anthology explores why. Even the Hanging Tree has its reasons.
About Matt Usher
Matt Usher is an agender creature in the big city. Before this, they had no other fiction publications. They write as a critic at Compulsive Reader. They cherish a love of the music of language and a polycule who are the dearest people in their life.
They are the strange sort of being that makes spreadsheets for fun. This is often in service of automatic calculations and data storage for traditional roleplaying games, their most important hobby. Collaborative creativity is one of their most valued things.
They play bass and trumpet, like pro wrestling, and write extremely nerdy poetry. They are immensely neurodivergent and rather queer.
Excerpt from “12 Angry Dead”, by DL Mullan
About DL Mullan
DL Mullan holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning with Technology. Her lecture, Spacescapes: Where Photography Ends; Imagination Begins, debuted at the Phoenix Astronomy Society, which then led to her Sally Ride Festival lecture invitations. Her presentation, Bridging the Gap between Technology and Women, won her accolades at a community college’s Student Success Conference. She has been a panelist at speculative fiction, science fiction, and other regional conventions. Her digital exhibition pieces have won awards at convention art shows, as well as garnered her Second Premium at the Arizona State Fair. Currently, Ms. Mullan’s artistic renditions are seen on book covers, blog sites, and various merchandise. As an independent publisher, she uses her technical background to innovate the way she perceives the creative arts.
As a writer, DL Mullan loves to stretch her imagination and the elasticity of genres. She writes complex multigenre stories in digestible and entertaining forms, be it poetry, short fiction, or novels. Her science, history, mythology, and paranormal research background is woven into her writings, especially in Undawnted’s Legacy Universe. Ms. Mullan’s creative endeavors are available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. She is also an award-winning poet.
Be sure to subscribe to her newsletters and follow her on social media. For further information, visit her at http://www.undawnted.com.
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That wraps up this stop and the WordCrafter Tales From the Hanging Tree Book Blog Tour. Thank you all for hanging around with us, and thanks to the contributors of the anthology for all their promotional efforts for this tour. Be sure to use the schedule above to go back and visit any stops that you missed, and don’t forget to comment so I know you were there and can enter you in the drawing for the giveaway. I’ll leave this open through the weekend and announce the winners in this month’s “WordCrafter News” on Monday, the 30th, so be watching for that. After all, you might be a winner!
