Griffin Publishers revealed the cover art for the special edition release of my novel, Consequence. The artist is Adam Miconi who was amazing to work with. Included in the special edition will be a preview of my next novel, Canyon Shadows that explore more events surrounding the Dark Tyrant. Consequence will be available in June.
What is horror? Ask a group of people that question and you’ll get a plethora of answers. According to our good friends at Merriam-Webster, the official definition is:
Horror—a very strong feeling of fear, dread, and shock. So the burning question on everyone’s mind is, how the hell do you create something that instills a very strong feeling of fear, dread, and shock? It’s a slippery slope of information rationing; give too much, and it’s no longer scary, withhold too much, and you’ll just frustrate readers with the endless questions with no answers. Let’s look at the following passage from Stephen King’s “Mile 81”: Doug reached for the door handle, then thought better of it and stooped to peer through the opening. What he saw was dismaying. The bench seat was covered with mud; so were the dashboard and the steering wheel. Dark goo dripped from the old-fashioned knobs of the radio, and on the wheel were prints that didn’t look exactly as if hands had made them. The palm prints were awfully big, for one thing, but the finger marks were as narrow as pencils. (“Mile 81”—by Stephen King) What worked with this piece? Let me break it down. Doug reached for the door handle, then thought better of it and stooped to peer through the opening. (King builds tension here with the character hesitant to open the door. There’s something screaming in his protagonist’s reptile brain, and both as a character and a reader, we want to know what’s going on. We want to know what Doug saw in the car that made him hesitate. King has given us some info, but left things unanswered. It’s that fear of the unknown that has created the first hook.) What he saw was dismaying. (More information, but more questions. What did he see? I want to know. Why was it dismaying?) The bench seat was covered with mud; so were the dashboard and the steering wheel. Dark goo dripped from the old-fashioned knobs of the radio, and on the wheel were prints that didn’t look exactly as if hands had made them. (Holy crap! Why is the car in such a state, and even more concerning, what made the prints on the wheel? I need to know more!) The palm prints were awfully big, for one thing, but the finger marks were as narrow as pencils.(This is a great example of slowly building up that feeling of dread.) (“Mile 81”—by Stephen King) The above passage from King’s short story strikes a good balance between the give and take relationships of creating horror. The scene could have been ruined easily if he answered too many of the questions, or if he didn’t give enough description at all. A person’s mind will fill in the blanks with details more horrifying than you could ever come up with, but you have to seed that person’s mind with the necessary foundation to foster the horror. This ideal is constantly destroyed in horror movies. Think about it. How many movies featuring a monster or a killer have you seen where they keep the killer in the shadows? That technique keeps the viewer on edge far more than when they show the creature/killer, bringing it/them into the light. Once they drag the critter from the shadows, the illusion of horror is destroyed with cheesy effects. A similar thing happens with writing. If you reveal your creature too soon, it loses some of its hold on the reader. There is a time and place for the reveal, but too soon isn’t that time or place. Now that you have this tip, go write a scene utilizing the balance between giving and withholding information. Post it in the comments, I'd love to see what kind of nightmares you dream up. World Horror Con 2016 came and went in a flash! I have to say this, it was great being around a bunch of folks who share my passion for horror and writing. I was able to meet and reconnect with a lot of great, talented people in the industry such as Jack Ketchum, Brian Keene, Joe McKinney, and Michael Arnzen. I even got to sit on a panel with most of them which was amazing. I was on a panel talking about Utah Horror and how it’s growing; I was also on a panel about short fiction vs novels; and I moderated a panel about graduate degrees and writing. If you missed it and have any questions about any of them, I’d be more than happy to take any questions. If you’ve never been to a convention, I can’t recommend it enough. Nothing gets the creative fires going faster than three to four days of nothing but horror and writing. Not to mention the networking opportunities alone are worth their weight in gold. There are plenty of conferences and conventions out there, all you need to do is find one that interests you and go to it. Worst thing that could happen is you walk away the same as when you walked in (okay, sure there are plenty of “worst things” especially when dealing with the horror genre, but we’ll assume we’re living in a semi-safe environment…just don’t read that old musty tome out loud, and whatever you do, don’t play with that fun looking puzzle box). Best case, you walk away with some more friends and some education.
Some highlights of the convention for me were the panels, the gross out competition (can’t mention what happened in this venue, you’re just going to have to attend one, that is if you have the stomach for it), and the crazy noises coming from the film festival. I was manning the Utah Horror Writers Association booth a lot of the time and the film festival was going on right behind us. It’s almost as fun trying to figure out what was happening based off the sounds coming from the films as it was watching them. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for next year and where the next World Horror Con is going to take place. If you follow my Facebook, then you already know the news: Dark Fantasy Press, the publisher that picked up my Dark Tyrant Series, of which Consequence was the first book, has gone out of business. That means they gave me back my rights to the series. For a short time, I didn't know what to do, but I reached out, and was able to strike a deal with Griffin Publishers, the publishing company behind the Utah Horror Writers anthologies, Old Scratch and Owl Hoots, and It Came From the Great Salt Lake.
Consequence will be re-released through Griffin in a few months. If you've already bought the book, don't worry, the only thing that will have changed is some minor typographical errors, and it will have some kick ass new cover art (to be revealed soon). Shortly after that, the second book, Canyon Shadows will be released. I'm already working on the third in the series, Alpha Protocol, and I hope to have it finished by the end of the year. I'd love to have it done sooner, but life gets in the way. If you don't know about the Dark Tyrant Series let me tell you a bit about it. The series is dark urban fantasy/horror that takes place in Utah. Each book follows a different set of protagonists as they cross paths with the Dark Tyrant and his minions. The Dark Tyrant crashed into the Earth as it was first created, and was locked away deep underground in a prison by the combined forces of the Infernal Legion and the Celestial Armies. As the years passed, the Dark Tyrant regained his strength, slowly corrupting everything around it until it could find a proper host and free itself from its prison. The books themselves can stand alone and you can read the first three in any order. Some of the characters and locations will hop through each book, but it's not necessary to read them in any particular order. The fourth and final book will bring all the main characters together for a final showdown. Consequence is about a man who is hunting elk in the Utah wilderness with his friends when the demonic apocalypse kicks off. A supernatural storm tears across landscape awakening all sorts of nightmares, as well as latent magical powers in the protagonist. He races to get home to his family, willing to sacrifice everything to make it there on time. The second book, Canyon Shadows is about a Sheriff in a small Utah town and an antiques collector who find more than they were looking for in some ancient Anasazi cliff dwellings. The events in Canyon Shadows lead up to the supernatural storm featured in Consequence. Alpha Protocol, the third book, is about a specialized team of soldiers, called an Alpha Team who's sole purpose in life is to respond to supernatural, cataclysmic events. They are dispatched to Salt Lake City to investigate the damage which occurred in Consequence and neutralize the threat before an Omega Team is dispatched to clean up. The Omega Team believes in nothing more than a scorched earth policy to fix problems of that magnitude. The Alpha Team races against the clock and the awakened, nightmarish creatures to get the job done in time. As I mentioned before, the series is a dark urban fantasy because there is magic of all kinds, monsters, and the main characters can hold their own; however, it's also horror because of the mood, tension and sense of dread throughout the books. I like to think of the series as a really dark Jim Butcher or Simon R. Green mixed with Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft and a smidgen of Dungeons and Dragons. Shake them all up and add my own special ingredient and you get the Dark Tyrant Series. I grew up reading a lot of Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance. As I got older I transitioned to horror and urban fantasy, so it's no surprise that my own books would have all those elements. Keep an eye on this blog and my Facebook page for more information. I know I just posted about this...but the new graphic they just built was too cool not to share. I also caught wind of a new guest that might be showing up. You're not going to want to miss this convention. Do what you gotta do to make it!
http://www.whc2016.org/home.html World Horror Con is coming back to Utah, April 28th - May 1st this year! It will be in Provo, Utah at the Provo Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. This is a great opportunity to meet some famous folks in the horror industry, to include:
http://www.whc2016.org/registration.html
If you use Goodreads, then you're in luck. I'm giving a way a copy of my novel, Consequence. It's super simple, just click on the button to enter the giveaway. If you win, I'll send you a signed copy of the book. Easy, peasy.
Goodreads Book GiveawayEnter GiveawayHere we are at the start of a new year and it's looking like it's going to be a big one. Good things are on the horizon.
First and foremost, if all goes well, my wife and I will be welcoming our second daughter into the world at the end of February! We've got a name pinned down (and no I'm not sharing it). We're pretty danged excited and anxious about the new addition. On the writing front, I'm editing the second book of the Dark Tyrant Series and will hopefully be done with it by the next couple of weeks. I'm editing the draft of my children's book about a magical teddy bear who keeps children safe from things that go bump in the night. I'll hopefully have it done by the end of the month and submitted for consideration. I'm also drafting the third book of the Dark Tyrant Series and hope to have that finished and submitted by the end of July or August. On another front, I'm involved with the second anthology put together by the Utah Chapter of the Horror Writers Association. That anthology is finished and in the processed of being put together by the publisher. If you liked Old Scratch, then definitely check this one out, it's going to kick some ass. It's called, It Came From the Great Salt Lake: A Collection of Utah Horror. On the hunting front, I've already put in for a Turkey tag. I'll be putting in for big game when it opens up. I think I'll mix things up and try my hand at archery for elk and maybe go back to black powder for deer. I'll continue to put in for pronghorn, bison, and bear, but I doubt I'll draw for any of those because I lack the points. Finally, I'm hoping to get some more reading in this year. I read some kick ass books last year, but not as many as I'd like. Happy New Year! Want to win a free copy of my debut book, Consequence? All you have to do is follow this link and follow me on Amazon and you'll be entered to win a physical copy of the book. By following me, you'll be able to stay up-to-date with all my news, new releases, and anecdotes about hunting, gaming, survival, horror, and writing. Pretty easy, right? Here's the link: https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/d62baead1af23fbe
Shifting gears to romance again. It's the holidays which means giving and helping out friends and family. The talented Deanna Dee has written a Christmas themed short story for all fans of romance and I wanted to help promote her new work. Here's a blurb:
In her sixteenth year on Christmas, Noelle wants a true love. Noelle Peterson is sixteen and never been kissed. She has her eye on Trey Sang, but she can barely talk to him, never mind anything else. With a little help from her best friend and her goofy cousin, can she work up the nerve to approach Trey? Will this Christmas bring the first (kiss for) Noelle? You can find it on Amazon by following this link: http://tinyurl.com/zc28k8y Merry Christmas! |
AuthorC.R. Langille writes horror, fantasy, urban-fantasy, dark fantasy, and is considering stepping into the sci-fi realm. He has a grasp of survival techniques, and has been a table-top gamer for over 16 years. Archives
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