#HauntsandHellions Book Event Calendar

Welcome Horror Addicts, to the Haunts and Hellions Book Event Calendar. We have many delightful events planned for your enjoyment and edification. Be sure to join us for interviews, tales of inspiration, excerpts, and parties galore! We would be most honored by your presence.

DATE	WHAT?	WHEN?	WHERE?
MAY	2021	PST	WEBSITE
1	31 Days of #GothicRomance on Instagram	1-31	https://www.instagram.com/horroraddicts.netpress/
13	Press Release for Haunts &Hellions	1:13p	horroraddicts.net
14	Haunts & Hellions Book Event Calendar	1:13p	horroraddicts.net
15	Haunts & Hellions Inspiration for the Book	1:13p	horroraddicts.net
16	Chilling Chat: Author Lucy Blue	1:13p	horroraddicts.net
16	Excerpt “The House Must Fall”	all day	https://www.rlmerrillauthor.com/rocknromanceblog
17	The Inspiration Behind “Left Behind”	1:13p	horroraddicts.net
18	Excerpt “Hungry Masses”	all day	http://www.emmyzmadrigal.com
19	The Inspiration Behind “The Siren and Bowery Jack”	1:13p	horroraddicts.net
20	Excerpt “Left Behind”	all day	emzbox.com
21	Chilling Chat: Author Emerian Rich	1:13p	horroraddicts.net
22	HorrorAddict.net #194, Haunts and Hellion Podcast	1:13p	horroraddicts.net
22	Facebook Party Announced	1:13p	horroraddicts.net
23	Excerpt “She Woke at Midnight”	all day	https://nachingkassa.wordpress.com/
23	Chilling Chat: Author B.F. Vega	8:13a	horroraddicts.net
24	Chilling Chat: Author N.C. Northcott	8:13a	horroraddicts.net
24	Facebook Party, Day one	8a-8p	https://www.facebook.com/groups/208379245861499
25	Chilling Chat: Author Kevin Ground	8:13a	horroraddicts.net
25	Facebook Party, Day two	8a-8p	https://www.facebook.com/groups/208379245861499
26	Chilling Chat: Author R.L. Merrill	8:13a	horroraddicts.net
26	Facebook Party, Day three	8a-8p	https://www.facebook.com/groups/208379245861499
27	Chilling Chat: Author Rowan Hill	8:13a	horroraddicts.net
27	Facebook Party, Day four	8a-8p	https://www.facebook.com/groups/208379245861499
28	Chilling Chat: Author Daniel R. Robichaud	8:13a	horroraddicts.net
28	Facebook Party, Day five, winners announced	3:00p	https://www.facebook.com/groups/208379245861499
29	Excerpt “Companions”	all day	http://www.daphnestrasert.com
29	Chilling Chat: Author Tara Vanflower	8:13a	horroraddicts.net
30	The Inspiration Behind “She Woke at Midnight”	1:13P	horroraddicts.net
31	Chilling Chat: Author Emily Blue	1:13P	horroraddicts.net
JUNE
1	Excerpt “With Red Eyes Gleaming”	all day	https://consideringstories.wordpress.com/
1	The Inspiration Behind “Californio Fog”	1:13P	horroraddicts.net
2	Chilling Chat: Author Daphne Strasert	1:13P	horroraddicts.net
3	Excerpt “Lady of Graywing Manor”	all day	http://blueswriterthoughts.blogspot.com/
3	The Inspiration Behind “Companions”	1:13P	horroraddicts.net
4	Watch Party Announced	1:13P	horroraddicts.net
5	Excerpt “Love Never Dies”	all day	http://writerrowanhill.com/
6	Chilling Chat: Author Naching T. Kassa	1:13P	horroraddicts.net
7	Watch Party Reminder	1:13P	horroraddicts.net
8	Excerpt “Maudaleen”	all day	http://www.kevinground.com/
8	Watch Party 6pm, Facebook	6:00p	https://www.facebook.com/events/271539928045528
9	The Inspiration Behind “With Red Eyes Gleaming”	1:13P	horroraddicts.net
10	Excerpt “The Siren and Bowery Jack”	all day	www.TheTaoOfTim.com
11	Chilling Chat: Author Emmy Z. Madrigal	1:13P	horroraddicts.net
12	The Inspiration Behind “The House Must Fall”	1:13P	horroraddicts.net
13	Excerpt “Blood and Dust”	all day	http://emzbox.com
13	Haunts and Hellions released on Kindle	1:13P	horroraddicts.net
14	The Inspiration Behind “Maudaleen”	1:13P	horroraddicts.net
15	Excerpt “Californio Fog”	all day	https://bookhoarding.wordpress.com/
16	The Inspiration Behind “Hungry Masses”	1:13P	horroraddicts.net
17	Excerpt “My Ain True Love”	all day	https://lucybluecastle.wordpress.com/

Chilling Chat: Dark Divinations – Naching T. Kassa

Naching T. Kassa is a wife, mother, and horror writer. She’s created short stories, novellas, poems, and co-created three children. She lives in Eastern Washington State with Dan Kassa, her husband and biggest supporter. Naching is a member of the Horror Writers Association, Head of Publishing and Interviewer for HorrorAddicts.net, and an assistant at Crystal Lake Publishing.

How did you become interested in the Victorian era?

My interest began in 1985 with the Granada TV series, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes for the BBC. I’d seen westerns and other period dramas, and I had always loved mysteries, but this was the first one which resonated with me. I became obsessed with Sherlock Holmes and all things Victorian.

What is your favorite Victorian horror story?

My favorite is The Hound of the Baskervilles. And even though Sherlock Holmes doesn’t appear in most of the story, it’s still a masterful tale. I love how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle took a legend he’d heard from one of his friends and turned it into a great horror story. 

Do you have a favorite Victorian horror movie? What attracted you to this film?

Bram Stoker’s Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola is my favorite. Not only are the visuals sumptuous and beautiful, but the script is also close to the book. No other movie or television show I’m aware of has adopted the epistolary style. You also see Dracula as an old man with hairy palms, the scarring of Mina with the sacred host, and the ship Demeter which brings Dracula to England. Some liberties are taken with the story, and some of the actors are a bit wooden, but it is a fairly faithful adaptation of the story.

Are your characters based on real people?

My character, Jacob, is based on a real person. There have been many theories as to this person’s true identity, but I don’t think anyone really knows who he is.

What are you most afraid of?

Horrible things happening to those I love.

Dark Divinations is the first anthology you’ve every edited for HorrorAddicts.net. What part of the process did you find the most difficult?

The hardest part of editing this anthology was choosing from all the wonderful submissions we had. There were so many good ones, so many I wish we could’ve included. Unfortunately, a major reason why these stories didn’t make the grade was failure to include all three elements of the theme. There had to be an element of horror, a method of divination, and it had to take place in the Victorian era. If a story contained these elements, it made it to the next phase where I checked to see if the voice was true to the period. I also checked for historical accuracy.

It was difficult letting some of these stories go and I want to thank all the authors who subbed and didn’t make it. Your stories were good. They just didn’t fit the vision of the anthology. I think this is something we authors fail to take into account. We automatically assume we’re no good when we receive a rejection. And that’s not the case at all.

What’s the best part of editing an anthology?

Showcasing wonderful talents. The people who’ve written stories for this anthology are terrific writers, and their takes on the theme were diverse and imaginative. I loved that they did their research and came up with such exciting methods of divination. We have tea leaf reading, dreaming, scrying, stichomancy, entrail reading, crystal balls, seances, throwing the bones, and even arachnomancy. (Arachnomancy is the use of a spider to tell the future, in this case, the spider’s web.) These writers are so creative! I hope the readers will enjoy their work as much as I have.

You’ve mentioned all the elements you looked for in the story. Was there anything else which served as the deciding factor in your choices?

Yes, the story had to be fun. I don’t know about how others read, but I tend to cherry-pick the anthologies I read. I don’t read them in order from first to last. I pick what looks most interesting to me and go from there. All the stories in here are fun to read, no matter what order you decide to read them in.

What is your favorite form of divination?

The Ouija board! I’ve had some weird experiences with that particular divination device. It’s predicted some things which actually came true. Several had to do with stories I would write and jobs I would hold.

What does the future hold for you? What books, short stories, or works do Horror Addicts have to look forward to?

I have a Sherlock Holmes story called, “The Adventure of Marylebone Manor,” coming out this year. It’s in Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives, edited by John Linwood Grant and published by Belanger Books. And on April 3, my story, “The Darker Side of Grief,” was published in Arterial Bloom. The anthology was edited by Mercedes M. Yardley and published by Crystal Lake Publishing. I’m really excited about this story.

I’m also a staff writer for Crystal Lake Publishing’s new fiction series, Still Water Bay. The series debuted April 27^th.

Addicts, you can find Naching on Twitter and Facebook.

 

 

 

Dark Divinations Book Recap. Did you miss anything?

Thank you for visiting us for our Dark Divinations Book Events. Did you miss any of this fab stuff? Read more about your favorite authors and get insight on the stories are each of these links.

“Power and Shadow” by Hannah Hulbert
 Inspiration | Interview | Excerpt

 

“Copper and Cordite” by Ash Hartwell

Inspiration | Interview | Excerpt

 

“Damnation in Venice” by Joe L. Murr

Inspiration | Interview | Excerpt

 

“The Pocket Watch” by Emerian Rich

Inspiration | Interview | Excerpt

 

“They Wound Like Worms” by Naching T. Kassa

Inspiration | Interview | Excerpt

 

“Miroir de Vaugnac” by Michael Fassbender

Inspiration | Interview | Excerpt

 

“The Bell” by Jon O’Bergh

Inspiration | Interview | Excerpt

 

“Romany Rose” by Stephanie Ellis

Interview | Excerpt

 

“Miss Mae’s Prayers” by H.R.R. Gorman

Inspiration | Interview | Excerpt

 

“Broken Crystal” by Rie Sheridan Rose

Inspiration | Interview | Excerpt

 

“Breaking Bread” by R.L. Merrill

Inspiration | Interview | Excerpt

 

“The Ghost of St. John Lane” by  Daphne Strasert

Inspiration | Interview | Excerpt

 

“The Moat House Cob” by Alan Fisher

Interview | Excerpt

 

“Of Blood and Bones” by Jeremy Megargee

Inspiration | Interview | Excerpt

Rie Explores Dark Divinations

Rie Sheridan Rose, author of “Broken Crystal” from our anthology Dark Divinations,
has done much research on each of the divination techniques used in our book.
She explores each one in this awesome series of blog posts.

“Power and Shadow” by Hannah Hulbert

“Copper and Cordite” by Ash Hartwell

“Damnation in Venice” by Joe L. Murr

“The Pocket Watch” by Emerian Rich

“They Wound Like Worms” by Naching T. Kassa

“Miroir de Vaugnac” by Michael Fassbender

“The Bell” by Jon O’Bergh

“Romany Rose” by Stephanie Ellis

“Miss Mae’s Prayers” by H.R.R. Gorman

“Broken Crystal” by Rie Sheridan Rose

“Breaking Bread” by R.L. Merrill

“The Ghost of St. John Lane” by  Daphne Strasert

“The Moat House Cob” by Alan Fisher

“Of Blood and Bones” by Jeremy Megargee

 

Available now at Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087LBPBNS

Dark Divinations – They Wound Like Worms

The Inspiration Behind “They Wound Like Worms.”

By Naching T. Kassa

Inspiration is the spark which ignites the fire of imagination. It comes in a myriad of forms and from many different places. The inspiration for “They Wound Like Worms,” came in two forms, one from a book and the other from a BBC documentary. The book is Dracula by Bram Stoker. The documentary is The Diary of Jack the Ripper.

Dracula is written in Epistolary Style. This means every chapter is a letter or journal entry written by one of the characters. When I first read Dracula, I’d never seen anything like it. The reader sees Dracula, the other characters, and the scenes in the story from many points of view and attitudes. This got me thinking. What if I wrote a story from my main character’s point of view? What if I wrote it through letters he had written his sister? The idea was an intriguing one and I decided to go for it.

Now that I had my main character and style, I began to wonder who the story would be about. Who could make such a story interesting? The journal entries in Dracula led me to think of diaries and a documentary I’d seen as a teen. The Diary of Jack the Ripper was narrated by Tom Baker—of Dr. Who fame—and concerned the controversial book by Shirley Harris. The show claimed the diary of the Ripper had been discovered in 1992. It also claimed the author was James Maybrick, a cotton merchant from Liverpool. True or untrue, it was a fascinating take on the Ripper legend.

A second spark lit my imagination. I decided to create my own Ripper, someone with a different motivation for killing. My Ripper doesn’t kill for pleasure. He kills women because he needs to read their entrails and see the future.

And so, two sparks became an inferno and a fun story entered the world. I hope you enjoy “They Wound Like Worms,” and all the stories in Dark Divinations.

Naching T. Kassa is a wife, mother, and horror writer. She’s created short stories, novellas, poems, and co-created three children. She lives in Eastern Washington State with Dan Kassa, her husband and biggest supporter. Naching is a member of the Horror Writers Association, Head of Publishing and Interviewer for HorrorAddicts.net, and an assistant at Crystal Lake Publishing.

Chilling Chat: Dark Divinations – Naching T. Kassa

Naching T. Kassa is a wife, mother, and horror writer. She’s created short stories, novellas, poems, and co-created three children. She lives in Eastern Washington State with Dan Kassa, her husband and biggest supporter. Naching is a member of the Horror Writers Association, Head of Publishing and Interviewer for HorrorAddicts.net, and an assistant at Crystal Lake Publishing.

How did you become interested in the Victorian era?

My interest began in 1985 with the Granada TV series, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes for the BBC. I’d seen westerns and other period dramas, and I had always loved mysteries, but this was the first one which resonated with me. I became obsessed with Sherlock Holmes and all things Victorian.

What is your favorite Victorian horror story?

My favorite is The Hound of the Baskervilles. And even though Sherlock Holmes doesn’t appear in most of the story, it’s still a masterful tale. I love how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle took a legend he’d heard from one of his friends and turned it into a great horror story. 

Do you have a favorite Victorian horror movie? What attracted you to this film?

Bram Stoker’s Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola is my favorite. Not only are the visuals sumptuous and beautiful, but the script is also close to the book. No other movie or television show I’m aware of has adopted the epistolary style. You also see Dracula as an old man with hairy palms, the scarring of Mina with the sacred host, and the ship Demeter which brings Dracula to England. Some liberties are taken with the story, and some of the actors are a bit wooden, but it is a fairly faithful adaptation of the story.

Are your characters based on real people?

My character, Jacob, is based on a real person. There have been many theories as to this person’s true identity, but I don’t think anyone really knows who he is.

What are you most afraid of?

Horrible things happening to those I love.

Dark Divinations is the first anthology you’ve every edited for HorrorAddicts.net. What part of the process did you find the most difficult?

The hardest part of editing this anthology was choosing from all the wonderful submissions we had. There were so many good ones, so many I wish we could’ve included. Unfortunately, a major reason why these stories didn’t make the grade was failure to include all three elements of the theme. There had to be an element of horror, a method of divination, and it had to take place in the Victorian era. If a story contained these elements, it made it to the next phase where I checked to see if the voice was true to the period. I also checked for historical accuracy.

It was difficult letting some of these stories go and I want to thank all the authors who subbed and didn’t make it. Your stories were good. They just didn’t fit the vision of the anthology. I think this is something we authors fail to take into account. We automatically assume we’re no good when we receive a rejection. And that’s not the case at all.

What’s the best part of editing an anthology?

Showcasing wonderful talents. The people who’ve written stories for this anthology are terrific writers, and their takes on the theme were diverse and imaginative. I loved that they did their research and came up with such exciting methods of divination. We have tea leaf reading, dreaming, scrying, stichomancy, entrail reading, crystal balls, seances, throwing the bones, and even arachnomancy. (Arachnomancy is the use of a spider to tell the future, in this case, the spider’s web.) These writers are so creative! I hope the readers will enjoy their work as much as I have.

You’ve mentioned all the elements you looked for in the story. Was there anything else which served as the deciding factor in your choices?

Yes, the story had to be fun. I don’t know about how others read, but I tend to cherry-pick the anthologies I read. I don’t read them in order from first to last. I pick what looks most interesting to me and go from there. All the stories in here are fun to read, no matter what order you decide to read them in.

What is your favorite form of divination?

The Ouija board! I’ve had some weird experiences with that particular divination device. It’s predicted some things which actually came true. Several had to do with stories I would write and jobs I would hold.

What does the future hold for you? What books, short stories, or works do Horror Addicts have to look forward to?

I have a Sherlock Holmes story called, “The Adventure of Marylebone Manor,” coming out this year. It’s in Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives, edited by John Linwood Grant and published by Belanger Books. And on April 3, my story, “The Darker Side of Grief,” was published in Arterial Bloom. The anthology was edited by Mercedes M. Yardley and published by Crystal Lake Publishing. I’m really excited about this story.

I’m also a staff writer for Crystal Lake Publishing’s new fiction series, Still Water Bay. The series debuted April 27^th.

Addicts, you can find Naching on Twitter and Facebook.

 

 

 

Dark Divinations now in eBook!

HorrorAddicts.net Press Presents:

Dark Divinations edited by Naching T. Kassa

Available now on Kindle!

It’s the height of Queen Victoria’s rule. Fog swirls in the gas-lit streets, while in the parlor, hands are linked. Pale and expectant faces gaze upon a woman, her eyes closed and shoulders slumped. The medium speaks, her tone hollow and inhuman. The séance has begun.

Can the reading of tea leaves influence the future? Can dreams keep a soldier from death in the Crimea? Can a pocket watch foretell a deadly family curse? From entrail reading and fortune-telling machines to prophetic spiders and voodoo spells, sometimes the future is better left unknown.

Choose your fate.

Choose your DARK DIVINATION.

Join us as we explore fourteen frightening tales of Victorian horror, each centered around a method of divination.

---

“Power and Shadow” by Hannah Hulbert / A young woman, with the power to manipulate the future using tea leaves, teaches her friend a lesson at her mother’s behest.

“Copper and Cordite” by Ash Hartwell / On the eve of her fiance’s departure for the Crimea, a young Englishwoman discovers the power which lies in dreams. Can she use it to save him?

“Damnation in Venice” by Joe L. Murr / When a roguish fortuneteller counsels an aging writer, he ends up in danger of damning his own soul.

“The Pocket Watch” by Emerian Rich / When a young American bride returns to her husband’s English estate, she receives a present from his deceased mother that can foretell a deadly family curse.

“They Wound Like Worms” by Naching T. Kassa / A man writes his sister concerning a method of divination which reveals his true love. But, as his obsession grows, the method grows bloodier.

“Miroir de Vaugnac” by Michael Fassbender / A widowed seer, augmenting her skills through an antique scrying bowl,  faces grim choices when she learns she is not fully in control of its power.

“The Bell” by Jon O’Bergh / A physical medium, who earned his fortune faking necromancy, finds he’s buried in a coffin and must call upon his powers to save himself.

“Romany Rose” by Stephanie Ellis / A penny gaff mysteriously appears outside a London shop, awaking a spirit with a terrible agenda.

“Miss Mae’s Prayers” by H.R.R. Gorman / A preacher seeks to rebuke an Appalachian witch for her use of the Bible to divine the future, but ignoring her warnings leads to dire consequences

“Broken Crystal” by Rie Sheridan Rose / A young, Irish fortuneteller discovers her true fate when she reads for a dangerous man who won’t accept her prophecy.

“Breaking Bread” by R.L. Merrill / A wife, suspecting her husband of infidelity, tests him with a magic loaf of bread, but her quest for knowledge might be more trouble than she asked for.

“The Ghost of St. John Lane” by  Daphne Strasert / While conducting a seance to contact her dead husband, a woman discovers a girl with strange gifts and provokes a man who seeks to destroy her.

“The Moat House Cob” by Alan Fisher / In a tower of fortune-telling animals, a spider spins a web over London. What ominous force may be headed their way?

“Of Blood and Bones” by Jeremy Megargee / When a woman throws the bones in search of her sister’s murderer, she finds an unimaginable evil. Will she avenge her sister’s death? Or share her fate?

Available now at Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087LBPBNS

Or order the special edition, signed copy with hand-painted tarot cards at HorrorAddicts.net

Dark Divinations Book Event Calendar

Welcome Horror Addicts, to the Dark Divinations Book Event Calendar. We have many delightful events planned for your enjoyment and edification. Be sure to join us for interviews, tales of inspiration, excerpts, and parties galore! We would be most honored by your presence.

MAY
1	Press Release	horroraddicts.net
2	Book Events Calendar	horroraddicts.net
3	Naching’s Watch Party Announcement	horroraddicts.net
4	Chilling Chat: Hannah Hulbert	horroraddicts.net
5	Inspiration: Power and Shadow	horroraddicts.net
6	Press Release	http://www.emzbox.com
7	Chilling Chat: Ash Hartwell	horroraddicts.net
8	Excerpt: They Wound Like Worms	nachingkassa.wordpress.com
8	Inspiration: Copper and Cordite	horroraddicts.net
9	Naching’s Watch Party Reminder	horroraddicts.net
9	Naching’s Watch Party	https://www.facebook.com/events/624037611791038/
10	Chilling Chat: Joe L. Murr	horroraddicts.net
11	Inspiration: Damnation in Venice	horroraddicts.net
11	Excerpt: Miroir de Vaugnac	http://michaeltfassbender.com/
12	Chilling Chat: Emerian Rich	horroraddicts.net
12	Excerpt: Of Blood and Bones	http://www.ellderet.com/blog
13	DD on Kindle!	horroraddicts.net
13	Excerpt: The Bell	https://obergh.net/songoffire
14	Chilling Chat: Naching T. Kassa	horroraddicts.net
14	Excerpt: Romany Rose	https://stephanieellis.org
15	Inspiration: They Wound Like Worms	horroraddicts.net
15	Excerpt: Copper and Cordite	http://Ashhartwell.co.uk
16	FB Party/Watch Party Announced	horroraddicts.net
16	Excerpt: Ghost of St. John Lane	http://daphnestrasert.com/
17	Chilling Chat: Michael Fassbender	horroraddicts.net
18	Inspiration: Miroir de Vaugnac	horroraddicts.net
18	Excerpt: Damnation in Venice	https://joelmurrauthor.com
19	Chilling Chat: Jon O’Bergh	horroraddicts.net
20	Inspiration: The Bell	horroraddicts.net
20	Excerpt: The Pocket Watch	http://www.emzbox.com
21	Chilling Chat: Stephanie Ellis	horroraddicts.net
22	Chilling Chat: HRR Gorman	horroraddicts.net
23	FB Party/Watch Party Reminder	horroraddicts.net
23	FB WATCH PARTY	https://www.facebook.com/events/265774944815381/
23	FB PARTY	https://www.facebook.com/events/2757190921169669/
24	Inspiration: Miss Mae’s Prayer	horroraddicts.net
24	Excerpt: The Moat House Cob	http://afstewartblog.blogspot.com/
25	Chilling Chat: R.L. Merrill	horroraddicts.net
26	Inspiration: Breaking Bread	horroraddicts.net
26	Excerpt: Broken Crystal	https://riewriter.com/
27	Chilling Chat: Rie Sheridan Rose	horroraddicts.net
28	Inspiration: Broken Crystal	horroraddicts.net
28	Excerpt: Breaking Bread	https://www.rlmerrillauthor.com
29	Chilling Chat: Daphne Strasert	horroraddicts.net
29	Excerpt: Power and Shadow	https://www.hauntjaunts.net/
30	Inspiration: Ghost of St. John Lane	horroraddicts.net
31	Chilling Chat: Alan Fisher	horroraddicts.net
31	Excerpt: Miss Mae’s Prayer	https://hrrgorman.wordpress.com/
JUNE
1	Chilling Chat: Jeremy Megargee	horroraddicts.net
2	Inspiration: Of Blood and Bones	horroraddicts.net
3	Inspiration: The Pocket Watch	horroraddicts.net
3	Press Release	nachingkassa.wordpress.com

HorrorAddicts.net Presents: Dark Divinations

HorrorAddicts.net Press Presents:

Dark Divinations edited by Naching T. Kassa

Available now at Amazon.com

 

It’s the height of Queen Victoria’s rule. Fog swirls in the gas-lit streets, while in the parlor, hands are linked. Pale and expectant faces gaze upon a woman, her eyes closed and shoulders slumped. The medium speaks, her tone hollow and inhuman. The séance has begun.

Can the reading of tea leaves influence the future? Can dreams keep a soldier from death in the Crimea? Can a pocket watch foretell a deadly family curse? From entrail reading and fortune-telling machines to prophetic spiders and voodoo spells, sometimes the future is better left unknown.

Choose your fate.

Choose your DARK DIVINATION.

Join us as we explore fourteen frightening tales of Victorian horror, each centered around a method of divination.

 

“Power and Shadow” by Hannah Hulbert

A young woman, with the power to manipulate the future using tea leaves, teaches her friend a lesson at her mother’s behest.

 

“Copper and Cordite” by Ash Hartwell

On the eve of her fiance’s departure for the Crimea, a young Englishwoman discovers the power which lies in dreams. Can she use it to save him?

 

“Damnation in Venice” by Joe L. Murr

When a roguish fortuneteller counsels an aging writer, he ends up in danger of damning his own soul.

 

“The Pocket Watch” by Emerian Rich

When a young American bride returns to her husband’s English estate, she receives a present from his deceased mother that can foretell a deadly family curse.

 

“They Wound Like Worms” by Naching T. Kassa

A man writes his sister concerning a method of divination which reveals his true love. But, as his obsession grows, the method grows bloodier.

 

“Miroir de Vaugnac” by Michael Fassbender

A widowed seer, augmenting her skills through an antique scrying bowl,  faces grim choices when she learns she is not fully in control of its power.

 

“The Bell” by Jon O’Bergh

A physical medium, who earned his fortune faking necromancy, finds he’s buried in a coffin and must call upon his powers to save himself.

 

“Romany Rose” by Stephanie Ellis

A penny gaff mysteriously appears outside a London shop, awaking a spirit with a terrible agenda.

 

“Miss Mae’s Prayers” by H.R.R. Gorman

A preacher seeks to rebuke an Appalachian witch for her use of the Bible to divine the future, but ignoring her warnings leads to dire consequences

 

“Broken Crystal” by Rie Sheridan Rose

A young, Irish fortuneteller discovers her true fate when she reads for a dangerous man who won’t accept her prophecy.

 

“Breaking Bread” by R.L. Merrill

A wife, suspecting her husband of infidelity, tests him with a magic loaf of bread, but her quest for knowledge might be more trouble than she asked for.

 

“The Ghost of St. John Lane” by  Daphne Strasert

While conducting a seance to contact her dead husband, a woman discovers a girl with strange gifts and provokes a man who seeks to destroy her.

 

“The Moat House Cob” by Alan Fisher

In a tower of fortune-telling animals, a spider spins a web over London. What ominous force may be headed their way?

 

“Of Blood and Bones” by Jeremy Megargee

When a woman throws the bones in search of her sister’s murderer, she finds an unimaginable evil. Will she avenge her sister’s death? Or share her fate?

 

 

Available now at Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087LBPBNS

Or order the special edition, signed copy with hand-painted tarot cards at HorrorAddicts.net

Crystal Lake Publishing Presents: Arterial Bloom

Lush, Brutal.

Beautiful, Visceral.

Crystal Lake Publishing proudly presents Arterial Bloom an artful juxtaposition of the magnificence and macabre that exist within mankind. Each tale in this collection is resplendent with beauty, teeth, and heart.

Edited by the Bram Stoker Award-winning writer Mercedes M. Yardley, Arterial Bloom is a literary experience featuring 16 stories from some of the most compelling dark authors writing today.

Arterial Bloom boasts a foreword by HWA Lifetime Achievement Recipient Linda D. Addison. You are invited to step inside and let the grim flowers wind themselves comfortably around your bones.

The line-up includes:
The Stone Door by Jimmy Bernard
Dog (Does Not) Eat Dog by Grant Longstaff
Kudzu Stories by Linda J. Marshall
Dead Letters by Christopher Barzak
The Darker Side of Grief by Naching T. Kassa
Welcome to My Autumn by Daniel Crow
Still Life by Kelli Owen
Three Masks by Armand Rosamilia
Doodlebug by John Boden
Happy Pills by Todd Keisling
What Remained of Her by Jennifer Loring
Blue Was Her Favorite Color by Dino Parenti
In the Loop by Ken Liu
The Making of Mary by Steven Pirie
Mouths Filled with Sea Water by Jonathan Cosgrove
Rotten by Carina Bissett

Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths.

“Yardley’s debut anthology floored me. An incredible cocktail of poetic darkness, fueled by some of the best names working today. A must-have for any horror fan.”–Matt Hayward, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of What Do Monsters Fear? and A Penny For Your Thoughts
 
“The stories in Arterial Bloom work in tandem, enticing the reader into rapturous melancholia. The end result is both comforting and unsettling, my favorite way to feel.“–Sadie Hartmann, Cemetery Dance

“For a horror anthology that represents back-to-back literary prowess and diversity, filled with stories that are brooding and beautiful, Arterial Bloom more than fits the bill.”—D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review.

“It starts with the title, Arterial Bloom–a release of crimson power, turning into something else entirely–blossoming and expanding, changing shape. These stories are transformative, mixing horror and wonder, in equal amounts. Mercedes Yardley, and Crystal Lake, have an aesthetic that haunts the reader, getting under your skin, burrowing in, and calling you home. Always lyrical, always powerful, this anthology will shine some light into the darkness, but beware the moment the beam starts to flicker.”—Richard Thomas, author of Disintegration and Breaker, past Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, and Thriller award nominee

“Arterial Bloom is an anthology which is hard to pick flaws in. Each of its sixteen stories contributes to the whole, in both subject matter and depth of feeling. The way the table of contents has been crafted together delivers an ideal ebb and flow of pace, length and tone. Following on from Crystal Lake Publishing’s hugely successful Tales From The Lake series, Arterial Bloom will sit proudly alongside those tomes and, undoubtedly, the best anthologies that 2020 has to offer.”––This Is Horror“

Kill Switch: An Overview

During the early months of 2018, Emerian Rich and Dan Shaurette began brainstorming the theme of the next HorrorAddicts.net anthology. Dan approached Emz with an interesting idea. He wanted to create an anthology inspired by Tech Horror, something like the NETFLIX television show, Black Mirror. The prospect excited Emz. All they needed was a name.

They came up with several during the coming weeks. Everything from Glitched, to Future Dark to Kernel Panic to Digital Dread. Nothing clicked until January 19, 2018.

Dan: Kill Switch?

Emz: That’s it!

And, Kill Switch was born.

Dan chose the Vampire/Android cover and the submission call went out. Authors responded to the theme and the submissions began to roll in. Everything went smoothly until Father’s Day, 2018. That was the day Dan suffered a medical emergency. He would survive but he wouldn’t finish the anthology.

Emz was torn. She didn’t know whether to shelve the book or not. After weighing the pros and cons, a single thought came to her mind. What would Dan do? The answer was simple. He would press on.

That’s where I came into the picture. I’d joined HorrorAddicts.net as an interviewer, reviewer, and publishing assistant just a few months before. As Emz took over editing the anthology, I stepped in as Head of Publishing. We assembled a submissions team with Laura Perkins and J. Malcolm Stewart (followed later by Kate Nox and Cedar George) and went right to work.

A month passed as the team sifted through manuscripts looking for technical gems to fill the pages of the anthology. In the end, they decided on thirteen stories. The authors were notified and the anthology announced. Phase one was complete.

Several months of formatting and editing followed. We worked hard on every story, cutting and polishing the technical gems until they were perfect diamonds. At last, on May 9, Kill Switch was ready for the world.

And so, with pride and a deep sense of accomplishment, HorrorAddicts.net presents to you… 

KILL SWITCH

Edited by DAN SHAURETTE and EMERIAN RICH

With stories by:

DANA HAMMER / MOW-BOT

Mike’s new Mow-Bot is the answer to his weekend chore dreams until the neighbor’s cat disappears.

TIM O’NEAL / REMS

A doctor eager for publication and fame unethically tests a wound debridement technology with disastrous results.

NACHING T. KASSA / PHANTOM CALLER

An elderly woman enlists the aid of two repairmen when her pest elimination program goes haywire and begins attracting ghosts.

EMERIAN RICH / SOULTAKER 2.0

A game programmer in the final stages of launching a new version of the MMORPG “SoulTaker,” finds a bug even he can’t fix.

DAPHNE STRASERT / IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

Daemon is willing to do whatever it takes to get the girl of his dreams and if his Iriz eye implant can help him do that, he doesn’t care what else it does.

GARTH VON BUCHHOLZ  / HAÜS

A five-year-old boy is left home alone while his parents travel overseas, but his smart-house will keep him safe, right?

JERRY J. DAVIS / TRAVELS

In a near future world where viewers are addicted to a television station featuring a hypnotically seductive sphere bouncing on an endless, surreal journey through unspoiled natural environments, Dodd is the only one who is “awake” enough to fight back.

GARRETT ROWLAN / GO GENTLY

In a future world where no one except fake grandparents live past the age of 65, Enid needs to land the job that will save her life, but a trip down memory lane may prove more difficult than she expects.

CHANTAL BOUDREAU / STRANGE MUSIC

An audio-sensitive college student is the only one who can hear the difference in a mechanical birdsong that attacks her little sister.

H.E. ROULO / ANGELS DON’T FEAR HEIGHTS

A man uses technology to control his daughter from beyond the grave, will she ever be free?

BILL DAVIDSON / INTELLIGENIE

A terminally ill woman discovers a frightening secret when she issues a deadly order to her personal robot.

LAUREL ANNE HILL / 13TH MAGGOT

A scientist working with bioengineered medical maggots fails to document her obvious erroneous observation, only to later realize her horrific mistake.

PHILLIP T. STEPHENS / SUBROUTINES

A computer programmer looking for his missing children in a legendary ghost house encounters a malevolent AI.

And, though I’ve stepped in as Head of Publishing, I could never fill Dan’s shoes. With much love, we dedicate this book to you, Dan. Thank you. We hope you enjoy it.

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4 DAN

 

 

Kill Switch Origins

Addicts, have you ever wondered what inspires an author to write a horror story? What event sparked terror in a writer’s brain? Well, wonder no more. Some of our Kill Switch authors have been kind enough to provide us with a peek inside their twisted minds. We hope you enjoy these Kill Switch Origins.

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Subroutines: Writing from the Scrap Heap of Memory

I checked through the drafts in my Ulysses app and discovered I wrote the original version of “Subroutines” for an online writers’ group two years ago. I believe the theme of passing through doorways. (The other writers’ doorways led to heaven.)

Most likely I was working on a second story or poem that involved code, and the link from entrapment to endless loop was a natural segue.

I don’t believe in waiting for inspiration to write. I work with scraps and found images I drop into memory and then fish them out at random. Most of my stories begin with an image, dust motes dancing in sunlight, a woman’s hair spreading into the water, a spot of blood on a pillow. It doesn’t matter what image I retrieve, that’s the one I work with.

Once I find it, I fashion the image into a metaphor that represents character flaws, motivations or self-deception. The endless loop in subroutines is a metaphor for the patterns that define our lives. The loop traps us but escaping the loop derails us as often as it resets our course.

Once I fashion the metaphor, I turn it loose in the story’s garden to see where it crops up. Sometimes I get flowers, sometimes I get weeds, which is fine. Weeds and wildflowers cover my lawn (which pisses off the neighbors who like their yards neatly trimmed). I want my mind as messy as my yard.

~Phillip T. Stephens

---

As regards the origin of my story, “Go Gently,” honestly I can’t recall…it’s been years of rejections and rewrites…all I have is the memory of the preacher Gene Scott—I think that’s his name—asking for Kruggerands on his weekly message. He was the model for Dr. Jack Carl in my story.

~ Garrett Rowlan

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My short story, “HAÜS,” was inspired by a discussion I had with a relative who installs digital security systems in homes, commercial buildings, and public facilities. I wondered, “How diabolical would it be to have an advanced security system so effective and deadly that even a small child who was ‘home alone’ for a while would be safe against armed Intruders?”

~ Garth von Buchholz

---

[“In the Eye of the Beholder”] I worked in the field of User Experience Design for a few years and saw a number of interesting design concepts for augmented reality. Combining the digital world with the real world has been technology’s inevitable direction for a while now. Considering how connected our lives are through social media, this combination is increasingly problematic. What is privacy in a world where everything goes online? What’s happens when our digital selves merge with our actual selves? And what happens when they start to take over?

~ Daphne Strasert

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[“Soultaker 2.0”] I always liked the idea of a sinister power claiming parts of us as we play video games. There have been so many studies on how video game playing can affect our bodies and minds while playing. What if the effects were irreversible?

~ Emerian Rich

---

My story was inspired by a real invention. It’s a small white box which uses ultrasonic sound to repel pests (spiders, mice, etc.) from your residence. My husband and I bought these devices online. You just plug them into any outlet and switch them on.

After a while, (when the device no longer worked. I guess the mice grew accustomed to the sound) I began to wonder about these things. What if they could repel pests, but attracted something else to the house? The idea bumped around in my head until I heard about the Kill Switch submission call. Then the whole idea clicked into place and “Phantom Caller” was born.

~Naching T. Kassa

Kill Switch Chilling Chat: 4 Quick Questions with Daphne Strasert, Emerian Rich, and Naching T. Kassa

 Daphne Strasert is a horror, dark fantasy, and speculative fiction writer from Houston, Texas. She has been published in several anthologies including Crescendo of Darkness and Postcards from the Void.

 Emerian Rich is the author of the vampire book series, Night’s Knights, and writes romance under the name Emmy Z. Madrigal. Her romance/horror cross over, Artistic License, is about a woman who inherits a house where anything she paints on the walls comes alive. She’s been published in a handful of anthologies by publishers such as Dragon Moon Press, Hidden Thoughts Press, Hazardous Press, and White Wolf Press. She is the podcast Horror Hostess of HorrorAddicts.net.  

Naching T. Kassa is a wife, mother, and horror author. She resides in Eastern Washington State with her husband, Dan, their three children, and their dog. She is a member of the Horror Writers Association, Head of Publishing for HorrorAddicts.net, and an assistant at Crystal Lake Publishing.

1.) Do you listen to music when you write? Who do you listen to?

DS: I like to listen to music while I write. I find that lyrics are good when I’m thinking about my stories, but when I actually write, I prefer instrumental music. Two Steps from Hell is a personal favorite.

ER: It varies depending on what I am writing. I try to find a genre or theme song for the character I am writing and play it when I’m writing an intense scene with them. If I am just writing, in general, it’s either 90’s Goth, big band Jazz, or 80’s.

NTK: I love to listen to KISS, Journey, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Steppenwolf—anything from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. One of my favorite and most inspirational CDs is music by Bernard Herrmann. Herrmann composed music for most of Alfred Hitchcock’s films and it’s terrific for writing horror.

2.) Where do you find inspiration?

DS: I find it helpful to look at art and design concepts. Pinterest has a great platform for artists to post fantasy, science fiction, and horror concept art. I keep several boards of inspirational images and quotes that relate to my stories.

ER: Everywhere. I used to think I had to go to a certain place or see a certain film to create, but really, I am always creating in my head whether my pen is to paper or not.

NTK:  Things just come to me. They just seem to slip through the door between my conscious and unconscious mind.

3.) What is your favorite piece of “Tech” horror?

DS: I really enjoyed Ex Machina. The intersection of technology and humanity has always fascinated me (I have degrees in computer science and psychology).

ER: I really enjoyed some of the Black Mirror episodes. My favorites were about tech that we are just around the corner from like “Fifteen Million Merits” and “Nosedive.”

NTK: Ok. People may disagree with this, but it was scary to me. My favorite piece of “Tech Horror” is the movie, WarGames starring Matthew Broderick and Dabney Coleman. A young guy accidentally hacking into a military computer and initiating WW III? It was really frightening, especially when you’re growing up in the shadow of nuclear war.

4.) What does the future hold for you? What do we have to look forward to?

DS: I’m currently working on my second novel, a mystery, that I will be submitting the agents and publishers later this year.

ER: Wow. Do any of us know? I hope I will keep writing and become a better writer as I go–which is always my goal. I could wish for cloning to become a thing so that I could be more than one person and write all the millions of ideas in my head, but I’m sure it would inevitably go bad and the world would be overrun by Emz. Now, THAT would be a horror story.

NTK: I have a short story coming out in the anthology, Dark Transitions, published by Thirteen O’clock Press. I’m Editing Dark Divinations for HorrorAddicts.net, and I have a story in a big anthology I’ve been trying to get into for several years. I just about fainted when I found out I was accepted.

Chilling Chat: 4 Quick Questions with Naching T. Kassa, Daphne Strasert, and Jess Landry

Naching T. Kassa is a wife, mother, and horror writer. She also serves as Head of Publishing for HorrorAddicts.net and as an intern for Crystal Lake Publishing. She lives in Eastern Washington with Dan Kassa, her husband and biggest supporter. Naching is a member of the Horror Writers Association.

Daphne Strasert is a horror, dark fantasy, and speculative fiction writer from Houston, Texas. She has been published in several anthologies including Crescendo of Darkness and Postcards from the Void. 

Jess Landry’s fiction has appeared in several anthologies, including Fantastic Tales of Terror, Monsters of Any Kind, Lost Highways: Dark Fictions from the Road, and the forthcoming Twice-Told: A Collection of Doubles, among others.

1) What did you learn from participating in the contest?

NTK: I learned so much from the contest. Most of which is detailed in my little op-ed in the book. But, if I had to pick one thing it would be learning how to submit a novel for a publisher’s consideration.

DS: The Next Great Horror Writer Contest was my first time making short stories. I learned about keeping my writing tight and making sure that my stories had no extra fluff that they didn’t need–especially for a short story that really needs to keep the tension high.  I learned how to proof my writing (especially on a deadline) and make sure that I was submitting my absolute best work.

JL: As cheesy as it sounds, I learned that if I put my mind into something, I can do it. It was daunting at first—we basically had 1-2 weeks per assignment to whip out a smorgasbord of different stories…albeit not all at once, but still. My brain can pretty much only concentrate on one idea at a time, so the struggle was real, y’all.

2) Would you do it again? What would you do differently?

NTK: I wish I could. I loved the challenges and I miss them. Receiving an assignment from Emz was like the prelude to a writing adventure. Unfortunately, I won’t participate in another #NGHW contest. As a staff member of HorrorAddicts.net, I’d have to recuse myself from it. But, even if I weren’t part of HA, I couldn’t do it. I had my chance. It’s time to step aside and let others step up. I’d love to be a judge though.

As to what I’d do differently, researching more comes to mind. Some of my work suffered because I didn’t know what to write. I’d never written a full blog piece before. If I’d been smart, I’d have gone to the HorrorAddicts.net website and studied the pieces they’d accepted in the past. This is a big mistake we writers make. We submit to magazines, anthologies, and publishers without studying what they produce.

DS: I would do the contest again in a heartbeat, if HorrorAddicts.net would let me (though I’m sure they’d rather have a whole new batch of newbies!). Maybe if the contest runs again, I could act as a judge or a writing mentor.

For what I would do differently, I would spend more time prepping my novel through the duration of the contest. When I was lucky enough to present to Crystal Lake, I wished that I’d had more time. Even if I hadn’t been in the top three, the work on the novel never would have gone to waste.

JL: Heck yes. It was a great all-around experience, and – most importantly – it got me writing. A lot of the work I created during the contest has gone on to find wonderful homes, so I couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out.

3) What inspired your piece?

NTK: Like most of my ideas, it came out of the blue while I washed dishes. Dishes are boring. So boring, I have to distract myself with stories to get through them.

I think I was washing a big pot with spaghetti noodles stuck to the bottom when Father Lopez’s character came to me. But, I could be wrong. It might’ve been macaroni.

DS: “Audio Addict” was inspired, in part, by the Crescendo of Darkness prompt itself where it mentioned “the lack of music”. That inspired the idea of a world in which there was no music, or at least, not pervasive the way it is in our world. Once I hit on the idea of music as an illicit commodity, the structure of “Audio Addict” was almost fully formed.

JL: Wesley Snipes. In particular an interview with Patton Oswalt where he said that during the filming of Blade: Trinity, that Mr. Snipes stayed in character the whole time, even signing notes he had for the director of the film as ‘Blade.’ I thought, hell, if he’s that in character, does he keep his teeth in when he goes to sleep? Or when he goes out to get gelato? Wouldn’t he want something with a little…sparkle? From that train of thought, FangBlingz was born.

4) What does the future hold for you? What do we have to look forward to?

NTK: I’m editing an anthology called, Dark Divinations, for HorrorAddicts.net. We’re accepting submissions until Halloween. Each story must be set in the Victorian age (1837-1901) and involve some element of divination.

I have a few stories coming out too. My story, “War Beads,” will appear in the Dead Light Publishing anthology, Not Just a Pretty Face. “Phantom Caller” will appear in Kill Switch. And, “Second Strike,” will be published in the anthology Dark Transitions by Thirteen O’clock Press.

DS: I have a few stories slated to come out in 2019, including one for the HorrorAddicts.net anthology Kill Switch. I will also be completing a mystery novel and submitting to publishers.

JL: The future is full of deadlines, glorious deadlines. I have several new stories scheduled for some awesome anthologies coming out later this year (my lips are sealed on the specific details!), and one of my short stories, “Mutter” (from Crystal Lake Publishing’s Fantastic Tales of Terror), has been nominated for a Bram Stoker Award in the Short Fiction category, which is exciting (beyond exciting, really. I’m just trying to contain myself).

You can find Naching on Facebook and Twitter.

Jess can be found on Facebook.

#HOWConference – Last chance to chat?

 

Join us tonight
Thursday, February 28
for our LAST CHANCE CHAT
Live on ShoutBox Chat
9 pm pacific / 12 mid eastern

You can still chat with HorrorAddicts.net year-round by…

Joining our FB group

Women Writer’s Group

Following us on Twitter

Subscribing to our blog

Listen to our podcast on iTunes

Hope to see you tonight!

And if you’ve missed any of our awesome articles/panel discussions, check out:

Scare Yourself and Your Readers – Dina Leacock

How to Make Your Horror Tourniquet Tight – Laura Perkins

The Embodiment of YA Horror – Laura Perkins

Gary Frank Author Interview

Overlooked Elements of Promotion – Loren Rhoads

Christine Norris Author Interview

Brainstorming 101 – Laura Kaighn

Brian McKinley Author Interview

Importance of Networking – Ilene Schneider

Of course, our HorrorAddicts.net staff has come through with several horror articles and general writing tips, too:

Submitting Your Short Story – Naching Kassa

Self-Publishing Checklist for Newbies – Emerian Rich

How Not to End a Sentence with a Preposition – Kristin Battestella

Getting Out and Staying Out of the Slushpile – Emerian Rich

Vampires versus Vampires – Kristin Battestella

Baby Steps for New Authors – Emerian Rich

There’s just so much to see and do out HOW! We’ve already decided to keep using the Forum and the ShoutBox Chat for more HorrorAddicts.net perks and events! Browse our Online Conference today, tomorrow, at your own pace anytime – and be sure to tell us What You Think of HOW!

Chilling Chat with Naching T. Kassa

Naching T. Kassa is a wife, mother, and horror writer. She’s created short stories, novellas, poems, and co-created three children. She lives in Eastern Washington State with Dan Kassa, her husband, and biggest supporter.

Naching is a member of the Horror Writers Association and a Writer/Interviewer for HorrorAddicts.net. Her latest short story, “Audition,” can be found in the anthology, Crescendo of Darkness.

Naching is a strange and busy lady. Today, she hands the interview reins to the person who knows her best, Nani K.

Nani K: Welcome to Chilling Chat, Naching! Thank you for joining me today. It’s been a while.

NTK: Yes, the last time we spoke was during the Next Great Horror Writer Contest. You grilled me.

Nani K: (Laughs.) I did. But, I still have questions for you.

NTK: Ask away!

Nani K: How old were you when you discovered horror?

NTK: About three. My father introduced me to King Kong when it appeared on TV. I also had weird dreams. One of these involved a demonic sandwich.

Nani K: What? A demonic sandwich?

NTK: I slept in a bunk bed and my older sister slept above me. I thought the corner of her blanket was a sandwich with wings and vampire teeth. I have a rather vivid imagination.

Nani K: I guess! Is that why you wrote “The Face” the way you did? It’s frightening but, it’s also funny.

NTK: I wanted to write something different, something kids could enjoy as well as adults. Campfire Tales are usually told by children and I think funny and scary go hand-in-hand. Look at Scooby Doo or Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein. The two most memorable things in the world are things that frighten us and things that make us laugh.

Nani K: Did you write this story with a certain person in mind?

NTK: I actually wrote it for my 12-year-old grandniece. (Hi, Mylie!)

Nani K: Do you often write for a certain reader?

NTK: Yes. I write for my husband. If he reads the story while watching football, and doesn’t look up at the screen, I know it’s a good story.

Nani K: What do you think makes a good story?

NTK: As a fan of Sherlock Holmes, I’d have to say characters. It’s their decisions which shape and drive the narrative. Sherlock Holmes has so many quirks. He can solve mysteries using minutiae, disguises himself (even his roommate can’t recognize him,) and has a code of ethics that sometimes goes beyond the law. When Doyle killed him off, people mourned him. (They even wore black armbands!) They treated him as though he were a real person. The best stories have believable characters. And, a moderate amount of description.

Nani K: You don’t like description?

NTK: Too much description bores me and I skim through it. As a reader, I like using my imagination. Give me an idea of how things look. Don’t describe every little crack in the wall or fiber in the carpet.

Nani K: What is your writing process like?

NTK: Usually, I start with one scene and allow the characters to work toward it. The germ of one story began with a vampire sitting in a lawn chair outside the window of a house. Another, involved a small girl handing a woman a river rock.

Nani K: Why do you write horror?

NTK: I enjoy scaring people. When I was little, and it was dark, I’d hide in the doorway of my bedroom. When people passed by on their way to the bathroom, I’d jump out and yell “Boo!” They didn’t like it at the time, but they laughed later. I think people enjoy that little rush of adrenaline, that feeling when your heart speeds up and your skin tingles. That’s why they love horror books, podcasts, and films.

Nani K: Speaking of horror films, what’s your favorite?

NTK: My favorite horror film is The Exorcist III starring George C. Scott and Brad Dourif. It was released in 1990 and it’s terrific. Very subtle, not as “in your face” as the first. William Peter Blatty wrote the original novel it was based on and the screenplay. He also directed the film. There are some serious scares in it. One has to do with a nurse on her rounds in a hospital. Brrr!

Nani K: Do you have a favorite horror TV show?

NTK: I love The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Thriller (Watch “Pigeons from Hell” it has a silly title but it’s terrifying,) but two of my favorites are Kolchak: The Nightstalker and Supernatural. Love my monster hunters. You can’t get much better than Carl Kolchak and Sam and Dean Winchester.

Nani K: Do you watch The Walking Dead?

NTK: Sorry, not a zombie person. I like monsters who have brains, not those who eat them.

Nani K: Do you have a favorite horror novel?

NTK: I have two. They’re the only books which actually frightened me. The first is Psycho, by Robert Bloch. The second is Watchers by Dean Koontz. Highly recommended.

Nani K: What is your favorite campfire tale?

NTK: My most favorite is, “The Man with the Golden Arm.” It’s about a man with a golden arm and the thief who steals it after he dies. The ghost haunts the thief in a rather surprising way.

Nani K: Naching, what does the future hold for you? What works do the Horror Addicts have to look forward to?

NTK: Well, aside from “The Face,” I have a few things coming out for HorrorAddicts.net, a story in an upcoming anthology, and I’m working as a temporary intern for Crystal Lake Publishing. Oh, and my poem, “Call Me Mary,” just came out in the Horror Writers Association Poetry Showcase Vol. V.

Nani K: Thank you for chatting with me again, Naching.

NTK: Always a strange and surreal pleasure, Nani K.

Addicts, you can follow Naching on Twitter and through her website.

 

Chilling Chat Episode 154 Crescendo of Darkness with Emerian Rich

Emerian Rich is the author of the Night’s Knights Vampire Series. She’s been included in many short story anthologies and also writes romance under Emmy Z. Madrigal. She is the horror hostess of HorrorAddicts.net and Editorial Director for the San Francisco Bay Area magazine, SEARCH. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and son. Find out more about Emerian at: http://www.emzbox.com

Our lovely horror hostess is a real scream. She took time out of her busy schedule to chat with me about Crescendo of Darkness, editing and publishing, and the new HorrorAddicts.net submission call.

NTK: Welcome to Chilling Chat, Emz. Thank you for chatting with me.

ER: I am so excited to be on here. I never get to chat with you except about HorrorAddicts.net business.

NTK: Crescendo of Darkness is the eighth book in the HorrorAddicts.net series of anthologies. How did it come about?

ER: I had been thinking about doing a music-themed horror anthology for a while. I had read A. Craig Newman’s “Circe’s Music Shop” back in the 90s—Yes! The 90s!—as part of a crit group I was part of online. The story stuck with me. I just loved it. So when Jeremiah Donaldson E-mailed me to say he wanted to do a music anthology, I said, “Yes! Under one condition…We have to have this guy’s story in the book.”

NTK: So, “Circe’s Music Shop” set the bar for the anthology?

ER: Yes, in a way. However, Jeremiah has a much different view of music than I do. He knows more about guitar/rock and you will see that a lot of the stories go down that road. For me, music is more melodic and dramatic. My favorite stories in the anthology are the ones that put off a spookier piano-y vibe. I think we got a really nice mix because we were both reviewing them.

NTK: Did you look for stories to surround “Circe’s Music shop?” What was your criteria for the stories you chose?

ER: We did not look for stories that fit with A. Craig’s. He might have put the idea in my head but, when we were reading, we just graded them by how much they moved, scared, or touched us. We were open to all interpretations. HorrorAddicts.net Press has a system for populating our anthologies. We have a team of four readers. The Editor, me, and two others from staff. We all read and grade. Whichever stories get the top grades, we publish. The Editor has veto power and can fight for one if it’s not in the top of the list but, mostly, the highest graded ones (meaning the ones that all of us enjoyed) are the ones that ultimately get into the book. Except yours, which won an award when graded by pros. Congratulations, by the way.

NTK: Thank you! “Audition” was a fun story to write for the Next Great Horror Writer Contest and I’m so honored to be included in Crescendo. We have another NGHW finalist included in the anthology. What attracted you to Daphne Strasert’s story?

ER: Well, as you know, we were only allowed to publish one story from the competition, that being yours, which we felt was the best out of the group. However, we allowed the other contestants to submit something else. When Daphne’s new one came in, I was happy to see it, because she is also a great writer. We graded hers just as all the others and she rang in to the top grades as well. I can’t speak for the others on the submission team, but for me, not only was Daphne’s so different from the others—starring a music box, not an instrument—but it’s also a really creepy story. Daphne’s voice is so fresh and contemporary. I could see this story being made into a movie like The Ring.

NTK: There are fourteen authors included in the anthology and you have a wonderful variety of stories. Can you give us a quick run-down of what the reader can expect to see within these pages?

ER: First, we have a good number of guitar-based stories. Your story, “Audition,” “Circe’s Music Shop” by A. Craig Newman, “Loved to Death,” by Sam Morgan Phillips, “While My Guitar Gently Bleeds,” by Benjamin Langley, “Six String Bullets,” by Cara Fox, and “A Whisper in the Air,” by Jeremiah Donaldson really reflect the cover. Then, we have piano themes in “Solomon’s Piano,” by Jeremy Megargee and “They Don’t Make Music Like That Anymore,” by Kahramanah. There are cursed objects like Daphne Strasert’s, “The Music Box,” and Sarah Gribble’s, “The Legend of Crimson Ivory.” “Lighthouse Lamentation,” by R.A. Goli involves a haunted lighthouse, while Calvin Demmer’s, “Keep the Beat,” is about a cursed village. H.E. Roulo’s, “Become the Music,” is about a child who is allergic to music and my story, “Last Lullaby,” is a re-imagining of the Phantom of the Opera tale.

NTK: Emz, as I mentioned before, this is HorrorAddicts.net’s eighth anthology. What made you become an editor and publisher?

ER: I’m not sure when I fell into all this. When I was in my 20s, I had a local ‘zine called Dark Lives. I would publish horror/goth authors and artists. In the early 2000s, I decided I better stop and get to work on my own novels. When I started HorrorAddicts.net as a podcast, I never even dreamed it would be what it is today. As you know, we are populated by fans and the staff that come to help spread the horror goodness. We became a blog and a site and a lifestyle for so many craving horror that publishing just seemed like a natural progression. Also, I love reading horror and I read so much by authors that haven’t been published before that I’m like…THIS is the stuff I want to read. But if no one is publishing it, then it can’t be enjoyed by other horror enthusiasts like me. I’m really interested in publishing things I like that may not fit the mainstream publishing system. Cool things I haven’t heard before. New ideas that aren’t the same rehashed formula we get in industry anthologies.

NTK: So, what is your favorite kind of horror? What movies, novels, and TV shows do you enjoy?

ER: I like classic horror. By classic, I don’t mean I always have to crouch by the light of the black and white set, straining my eyes to make out the grays of the darkly lit forest, I mean what we think of as classically spooky. The shutters banging, the ghost in the tower, the creaking doors, and melodramatic music. The Woman in Black, The Others, and Ghost Ship are some of my favorites. For TV, I am more into humorous horror themes like Reaper and Dead Like Me. But, I’m also a fan of shows like Ghost Whisperer, The Others (TV show from the 90s), and Midnight Texas. Reading is a whole different story. I really like Anne Rice and Andre Neiderman. My favorites of those two are Anne’s Pandora and Andrew’s Bloodchild. But, it’s been so long since I’ve been able to just sit and read for fun, it’s hard to pin any new author’s down. I am either reading shorts for anthologies reviewing a book for the show, or working on my own stuff. Oh, for the days of laying in bed or on the porch swing and reading! I want all those bored hours from my childhood back!

NTK: Do you write classic horror? Do your books and stories fit in that category?

ER: Now, that is something I haven’t been called on! Wow. I never thought about that. I have written a book like that, Artistic License. A woman inherits a house where anything she paints on the walls comes alive. My vampire work would probably be considered more like dark urban fantasy. Gritty, street kids, and Hell kind of stuff. However, now that you mention it. I think my love of classic horror is really coming out in my work in progress. I am re-imagining Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey in modern times. The heroine is now a goth girl who adores horror media. So, I’ve been injecting lines from movies, excerpts from classic books like The Grey Lady by Elizabeth Gaskell, and Witch House by Evangeline Walton, and even creating a little myself when seeing through the character’s eyes. Jane Austen is thought of as a romance writer but, this book (while it does have romance in it) is more like a love letter to all my favorite horror creators.

NTK: As you know, Emz, Season 13 is CURSED! We’ve talked about your favorite horror, what is your favorite curse?

ER: This is so tough! Omg…so many to choose from! Well, I can’t give you just one. I really like studying the curses surrounding the Titanic. I think it’s fascinating and just can’t get enough of the conspiracy theories there. I really like the Egyptian and mummy lore and the scarab devouring thing creeps me the hell out. But the coolest curses, I think, are the book curses. The ones we’ll be talking about later in the season about the books that have curses written inside them…“Those who lay their eyes upon this manuscript and have not pure intentions, shall be struck down by their maker,” kind of stuff. I had something happen to me in real life where I witnessed someone unable to read or decipher a book. It was a magick book that had an inscription in it about if the person didn’t believe or wasn’t pure of heart, they would not be able to read it. I could read every word as plain as day but, she was like…“What does it say? Is it some sort of code?” Really made an impact on how I consider book curses today. If that could work, why wouldn’t a curse in a book work?

NTK: What awesome curses! And, speaking of books, HorrorAddicts.net has a new submission call coming up. Could you tell us a little about Kill Switch and what you’re looking for?

ER: Yes, Kill Switch is Dan Shaurette’s brainchild. I will be looking for interesting, new, Black Mirror-like stories. I think Dan will have a more sci-fi accepting view, but they all must be horror, so I’m looking forward to reading some really great things. Tech horror is so interesting because we are living in an age where things like implanted chips and bionics are so close to us. Tech is going so fast and it’s not even the future anymore. It’s NEAR future. How will your tech terrorize the world?

Something new we are trying is a blind submission process. We will be grading stories before we know who wrote them. I’m interested to see how that turns out.

NTK: What does the future hold for you, Emz? What do we have to look forward to?

ER: Wow…you do ask the hard questions huh?

My goal is to keep writing and publishing unique and exciting horror with new ideas that we can all geek out on. Also, I plan to continue to support new horror writers and get their voices heard.

NTK: Thank you for chatting with me, Emz! It’s nice to talk to the lady behind the scenes of our favorite podcast and blog.

ER: Thank you for the interview! It’s rare that I get to be on the other side of the couch!

Crescendo of Darkness is available for purchase now. The submission call for Kill Switch ends on October 31, 2018.

#NGHW Winner of the Self-Interview Challenge Naching T. Kassa

Winner Naching T. Kassa!

DIALOGUE WITH THE DARKER HALF
by Naching T. Kassa

Naching T. Kassa describes herself as a wife, mother, and horror writer. She resides in Valley, WA with her family and their dog, Dallas. Naching is a member of the Horror Writers Association and a contributor to The Demonic Visions book series. Recently, one of her poems was accepted into the HWA Poetry Showcase Volume 4.

But, what do we really know about this dark lady? Who is she and what makes her so darn scary? We asked Nani K, the person who knows her best, to shed a little light on the shadow.

Nani K: Good morning, Naching. Thank you for sitting down with me.

Naching: My pleasure.

Nani K: First off, I have to say this. You don’t look like a horror writer. You’re always smiling and you seem so sweet. Where do you get these ideas?

Naching: (laughs) You’d be surprised how many times I get this question. Usually, my ideas just come to me.

Nani K: Out of the blue?

Naching: In a manner of speaking, yes. Imagine everyone has a door in their mind which separates their conscious from their unconscious. Most people keep the door closed. They don’t want to see the things which lurk on the other side. Horror writers want to see those things, want to explore them. We love that direct line to the dark side.

Nani K: Your ideas come from the unconscious mind?

Naching: Yes, with certain exceptions. There are times when I reach outside the door. Reach for things beyond myself.

Nani K: What do you mean?

Naching: Well, take “The Laughing Man,” for instance.

Nani K: Your 300-word story in the Second Challenge of the Next Great Horror Writer Contest?

Naching: Exactly. In the story, Laughing Man has a very distinctive scent. He smells of almonds. Looking at this part during the editing process I thought, “This is stupid. How is it scary? He’s rotting and leprous. He wouldn’t smell nice.” So, I went online and I looked up the smell of gangrene. That was too gross. I didn’t want my character to puke when the monster entered. He’s supposed to lie still. I decided to look up the smell of infections instead. Now, I had never researched infections before, never seen this site. But, what I found there creeped me out. There was an infection which smelled like almonds. Needless to say, it stayed in the story.

Nani K: Is this what makes a great horror writer? Reaching beyond yourself?

Naching: It can. But, I think great horror writers have a different ability. I think they can touch the darkness which resides in us all. The great writers force us to open our doors and let our monsters out. If only for a little while.

Nani K: I can see that. No one would want the door open all the time.

Naching: As a reader or watcher of horror I wouldn’t want mine open that long. However, a writer is different. Judging by the way Stephen King writes, I’m pretty sure his door is always open.

Nani K: Speaking of King, is he your favorite horror writer?

Naching: Well…I like him very much.

Nani K: You have another favorite?

Naching: I had a dream a while back where Stephen King and Dean Koontz fought for my affection.

Nani K: Oh—

Naching: (laughs) Not that kind of affection. And, it wasn’t some duel with swords. Though, that would’ve been cool. No, King said I was his greatest fan and Koontz said I belonged to him. I met with King in my living room and then I met Koontz in the kitchen.

Nani K: Who won?

Naching: Koontz. I told him he was my favorite. He was ecstatic. (laughs) It was an awesome dream.

Nani K: Do you think Koontz’s door is open all the time?

Naching:  I’m not sure. It’d be frightening if it was.

Nani K: While we’re still on the subject of doors, let’s talk about opportunity knocking on yours. How did you get involved with the Demonic Visions series?

Naching: The editor, Chris Robertson, and I were in an erotic/horror anthology together. I befriended him on Facebook and he told me he was about to start a new series of anthologies. He invited me to write for the first one. There are six volumes now and I have stories in all of them.

Nani K: How many erotic/horror stories have you written?

Naching: I thought you’d pick up on that one. I’ve written two. One was about a demon. The other was vampire erotica. My stories are different from other writers. They tip toward the romantic side.

Nani K: Do you like writing romance?

Naching: I do. Though, I find some of the categories confusing. A few months ago, I received a rejection for a horror story with romantic elements. The editor said he couldn’t buy it because he considered the story a Paranormal Romance. Now, there were no shifters involved. There were no humans in love with supernatural beings. Makes me wonder what criteria he used to decide this.

Nani K: You’ve brought up a good point here. Let’s talk about rejection.

Naching: (groans) Oh, man.

Nani K: What advice would you give a first time writer regarding rejection?

Naching: Persevere. If you get rejected, fix the story and send it out again to another place. If it gets rejected ten times, take some classes and improve your skills. Don’t give up. Never give up.

Nani K: You’re passionate about this.

Naching: It’s not in my nature to give up my dreams. I’m not a just writer by profession. It’s who I am. Also, before both of my parents passed, I told them I’d be a writer. If I give up, it’s like lying to them. And, I’ll never do that.

Nani K: You’ve often credited your father with your introduction to horror. What did your mom think of your interest in it?

Naching: She supported me but I think it worried her. She wasn’t into horror. My dad, on the other hand, was a big fan. He showed me Universal Horror, Hammer films, Hitchcock, Roger Corman films, and all the big movies. We watched Joe Bob Briggs’s Monstervision on TNT. He also bought me horror novels. He bought me my first Dean Koontz. My husband bought most of the rest.

Nani K: You’ve called your husband “your biggest supporter.” How does he help you?

Naching: Dan is great. He’s the sole provider for our family, he watches the kids while I write, and he’s my first reader. He also likes to scare me. He loves to make me jump during horror films.

Nani K: Does he ever worry about your horror writing? Does he stay awake nights wondering whether you’ll come to bed with a knife?

Naching: So, that’s why all the knives disappeared! I wondered why we didn’t have any in the house. No, I’m just kidding. He doesn’t worry. He knows me too well.

Nani K: As a wife and mother, how do you find time to write?

Naching: I write when everyone’s asleep. It’s dark and quiet. Very conducive to horror. I often wind up spooking myself.

Nani K: Earlier, you spoke of skill improvement. What do you do to sharpen skills?

Naching: I take online courses and I read books on writing. There’s a great website called edX.org and it offers classes from distinguished universities. Most classes are free unless you’d like to earn a certificate. Then, you have to pay a fee. My favorite course was English Grammar and Style from Queensland University in Australia. It was terrific.

Nani K: What books do you recommend for the first time horror writer?

Naching: “On Writing” by Stephen King, that’s the horror writer’s bible. “Strunk and White’s Elements of Style” and “Self-Editing for Fiction Writers” by Renni Browne and Dave King are also great books.

Nani K: What is the one thing a writer needs most?

Naching: Readers. We should take as many as we can get, no matter what the age group. For a long time, I wrote what I considered adult horror. The funny thing is, most of the readers who approached me and expressed their admiration for my writing were teenagers and young adults. If you think about it, this is our largest audience. And, if they discover us now, they’ll follow our work into adulthood. That’s why I want to be the female version of R.L. Stine. I want to encourage and inspire another generation of readers.

Nani K: Thank you, Naching.

Naching: Thank you, Nani K. It’s been fun.

To find out more about Naching, go to: http://frightenme.weebly.com

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Listen to the contestants battle for points this season on HorrorAddicts.net