Beyond The Words, Past
A Science Fiction / Fantasy Column
By Steven Shrewsbury

HITTING IT

Aside from the cleanliness of Toronto, what I recall the most about my recent sojourn into the Great White North was the massive fantasy section at the Worlds Biggest Bookstore. These volumes would put the common science fiction/fantasy sections in one’s regular Borders store to shame. Be that as it may, it was time to be a kid again. Several titles enjoyed a prized spot, perhaps because of Frank Miller’s 300 graphic novel and the subsequent tail kicking film. I picked up an alt history title THE SEVEN HILLS by John Maddox Roberts. He wrote Conan books years ago and I found this title to be very good. If you like rough and ready works with true realism HILLS and 300 for that matter, are for you.

I’ve interviewed the author and praised Tim Lebbon’s DUSK. The sequel, DAWN was on the shelf and I grabbed it. Truly a horror novelist writing dark fantasy, DAWN takes a brutal look at the genre and kicks it between the legs in the process. Get DAWN. Read it. Love it. Amen.

As many different books as there are, I’ve came to learn just as many creative processes are out there. Some folks write in the morning, others late at night after the kids are asleep. I know of a man who dictates his work. Editing is another animal. A guy I know writes everything on a computer, yet prints it out to perform edits. Another writes on a laptop and edits on a main frame. Sure, it’s all relative and the creators cannot adhere to a set formula for the process.

From what I see, many publishers want something they can easily identify, whether or not the writer creates in the nude or not. Sometimes, moving product is more important than expanding the intellect of the genre. Bah, who am I kidding? The dollar moves everything. Can one create a satisfying story to oneself and sell it for profit? Sure. Folks do it all the time. Writing for money is no sin no more than slaving in a factory is…hmm.

There are times when the muse leaves. However, sometimes muse is stimulated by reading. For as many years as my eyes have permitted it, I have loved to read. My son is reading two of the favorite books from my youth, Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Hour of the Dragon by Robert E. Howard. All right, the latter I am reading to him. It’s great to see the wonder in a child’s eyes as a mummy rises from the dead, but I digress.

As a youth, I enjoyed books so much, new tales started to appear in my head. It still happens. Reading good fiction (or non-fiction) makes the creative muse explode. At least in me, it does. It floods the mind with possibilities and far away places. Usually, one encounters characters and persona’s one loves to hate or strives to admire. Not just great classics like Kurt Vonnegut’s MOTHER NIGHT (a true example of facing what one really is) or a current fave like Brian Keene’s GHOUL (a tale of monsters, human and otherwise, heavy with nostalgia and small town life), or DARK HARVEST by Norman Partridge, but today, I come to praise those who are hitting it. These are a few folks I know that deserve a pat on the back.

Jason Brannon is a writer in the small press that I’d love to see go places. Works of his like THE CAGE show real promise. Dittos for Angeline Hawkes. Her recent work THE COMMANDMENTS is an example of works by a woman with the balls to never stop trying.

A couple fellows in the more bizarre vein who really stay at it are Charlton Mellick III, John Edward Lawson and Kevin Donihe. Charlton keeps pushing the envelope with entertaining works like MENTRATING MALL. John Edward Lawson and I go way back. Kudos to him for his recent Bram Stoker nomination for his poetry collection THE TROUBLESOME AMPUTEE. If one wants to read what goes on in a creative mind, check out his books SIN CONDUCTOR and DISCOURAGING AT BEST. Each is a slice of a surreal world where the borders are blurry. Dittos to Kevin Donihe, who created a terrific title in GRAPE CITY. A powerhouse who deserves to be read more, no doubt.

In the realm of comic books, writers Cullen Bunn (THE DAMNED) and Nike Oliveri (CALL OF THE WILD) deserve major nods. Both are talented writers that should be working for Marvel, DC or Dark Horse. In time, they will be.

Recently, Simon Wood, Gord Rollo, and Nate Kenyon scored mass-market contracts with Leisure Books. I couldn’t be happier for them. I hope they attain readers and recognition enjoyed by other writers who kick ass, like James A. Moore, John Skipp, Bill Gagliani, and Sephera Giron. If you don’t know of these writers, check them out and get a taste of folks that are really trying at this game.

There are so many good ones I’d love to say more about, namely Ron Kelly, J.F. Gonzalez, Weston Ochse, Jeff Strand, and Brian Knight.

What about me? Well, my books GODFORSAKEN, THOROUGHBRED and NOCTURNAL VACATIONS are still available. It does my gut good when someone writes to say how much they enjoyed GODFORSAKEN, even though I’d do it better now, that was then. My book THRALL will come out next year from Elder Signs Press. Will folks read my books with their kids someday? I doubt it, but nothing makes my day when I have a fan at a Con tell me how much they enjoyed one of my tales.

When I read one of the above authors, it reminds me of how far I have to go, how much more ground there is to cover. I keep at it. I hit it every day. Why do I push myself so hard? Well, that is a column for another day. We’ll tackle saddling up the muse in the next article. A wise lady named Karen Koehler said the other day, It’s a tough, bloody road. As long as your goals are clear and you are happy where you are going, nothing else matters. Damn. I need to applaud her and recommend her books as well. SLAYER, SHREDDER and others, get ‘em, folks.

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