This week Twilight Tales brings you two strong voices in genre fiction. Both are award winning authors who have special ties to Twilight Tales.
Tina Jens founded Twilight Tales almost fifteen years ago. She saw it grow from a local reading and writing group into an organization with a national reputation. Her time and dedication have brought many respected authors to Twilight Tales’ microphone. After Tina stepped down as President and CEO of the group, she took on the task of guiding young writers to find their own voices while teaching at Columbia university in Chicago. We are pleased that she has found the time to fit a featured reading into her busy schedule.
Jody Lynn Nye has published a number of books featuring fantasy, mythology, and cats. Her last book co-authored with Robert Asprin debuted in March of this year. Jody has a large following of readers who not only enjoy her books, but cats as well. Jody has appeared a number of times at Twilight Tales, always with wonderful stories full of fun and mischief, and occasionally cats.
Let’s see what this week’s authors have in store for us…

Starting with the basics, what is your story called and can you tell us about it briefly?

Tina: I’m thinking about dusting off one or two of my shorties, stories that just beg to be performed and pair that with an excerpt from my novel in progress. But that’s just today’s plan. The show’s a whole week and a half away. I could change my mind six times between now and then!
I’ve got several novels in progress. One on the front burner, a couple-three on the back burner. I may go with one of those. It’s easier for an audience to enjoy a novel excerpt that either starts on page 1, or is a self-explanatory, stand-alone scene. The Twilight Tales (Ir)regulars have heard several segments of my primary novel-in-progress (THE PROPHECY WAR) at the open mics, and I’m not sure the section I’ve just polished stands alone, so I may go with the beginning of THE LEGEND THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN (the sequel to THE BLUES AIN’T NOTHIN’), INTERNATIONAL OHIO (starring a sleuthing waitress who works in a truck stop), or SEIZE LOVE (about a hitwoman who has seizures at really inopportune times and who has a crush on her newest assignment).

Jody: My story is “And So, Ad Infinitum.” It originally appeared in an anthology entitled Familiars Fantastic (DAW Books). It gives new definition to what constitutes a familiar and who can have them. (I was hoping to have my vampire orthodontist story finished, but life conspired against me, so I hope people don’t mind an old story.)

What inspired this story?

Tina: THE PROPHECY WAR sprung from a novella I wrote when Bob Weinberg & Marty Greenberg invited me to choose a Nostradamus prophecy and write a story based on it for THE SECRET PROPHECIES OF NOSTRADAMUS anthology.
The idea for INTERNATIONAL OHIO came while I was doing a bit of research for THE PROPHECY WAR. I needed a state with a town named “Memphis” but wondered if there were other options than Tennessee. That led me to look at a map of Ohio and I noticed that they have an Athens, Dublin, Liverpool, Gahanna, Lebanon, Lima, Macedonia, Madeira, the list just goes on and on.
SEIZE LOVE was an act of desperation. I was at the Borderlands Books Novel Writing Boot camp, and we were required to come up with a brand new, fully-developed novel idea and write the opening chapter in less than 12 hours (that included sleep-time). I didn’t come up with anything I liked until about 2 hours before the next session. But it turned out quite well, and I will continue developing it.
THE LEGEND THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN picks up a few months after the first blues book leaves off. Mustang, Ratman & Old George have struck out as itinerant blues musicians, hoping to raise enough money to rebuild the club. Mustang falls for a bad man, who happens to be possessed by Ratman’s long-dead rival. Bad, bad things happen. It’ll be a darker book than the first one.

Jody: No one will be surprised to learn that it has a cat in it. I enjoy having cats in my literature when it is suitable. I am inspired by two things: putting food on the table, and writing up the ideas that come to me. The fact that I can do one by doing the other works pretty well.

You have both been doing readings for some time, has anything interesting or odd ever happened at a reading that you would like to tell us about?

Tina: EVERY night at Twilight Tales is interesting & odd, and I say that after fourteen years of weekly attendance!
The weirdest thing that’s happened to me was at a book signing. It was at a Borders Books in a mall in Burlington, Iowa, near my hometown. They had me set up at a table out in the mall in front of the store, hoping the mall zombies might notice me. A short woman, probably in her sixties, with calloused hands and weather-worn wrinkles that suggested a lifetime of hard physical work, approached the table, stopping about ten feet away. She crossed her arms and glared at me.
In a voice more timid than I’d intended I said, “Can I help you?”
She said, “I just wanted to see what an author looks like.”
A shaky laugh I hadn’t meant to let out escaped and finally I said, “We look just like anyone else.” (Alright, granted, I was in a three-piece black suit that had subtle beading on the knee-length walking jacket - not exactly everyday fashion in small town Iowa.
She stared at me some more then said, “You’re not so much,” and stalked off.
My dad was with me. He gave me a sympathetic one-armed hug then went off to get me a drink from the Orange Julius stand. Thank goodness for dads!

Jody: At a DucKon (local SF con) once, I was reading a story using about fourteen
voices. Afterwards, Fred Pohl, whom I had not noticed in the audience, came
up to compliment me. I floated around all day after that.

When wandering book stores, what sorts of books attract your attention?

Tina: I love all kinds of category fiction from paranormal romance to police procedurals, from dragon tales to British humor, from zany road trips to the mysterious blood rites of Haitian voodoo. I have a great fondness for genre fiction that includes humor; things you’d never find shelved in the humor aisle. Folks like Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Janet Evanovich, Kinky Friedman, Tim Dorsey, and Carl Hiaasen. While they say you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, books with humor are almost always packaged in garish colors, so as I browse the shelves, I keep an eye out for books that are lime green, Sunkist Orange and lemon yellow with the odd splash of goober purple thrown in.

Jody: Since I was just in The Strand bookstore in New York, I can tell you what I did. I went straight for the cookbook section. I’m an avid cook and baker. Then I browsed the early literature, history, then mysteries. When I’m writing SF or fantasy, I never read them, so I go through a lot of
mysteries.

Writers are always looking for advice, has any one ever given you great, or really out there advice you can share with us?

Tina: Bob Weinberg gave me the best piece of advice: Never stop writing at the end of a scene or anyplace that gives you a sense of closure. He said he often stops in the middle of a sentence. If you end your writing session at a natural break, you’ll feel all fuzzy and satisfied inside and won’t feel a sense of urgency to get back to it. If you stop writing in the middle of things, you’ll feel unsettled until you resolve the scene. Then of course, you launch halfway into the next one so you never feel complacent.

Jody: Learn your craft. Spelling and grammar count. Learn to write dialogue in different voices than yours. Don’t wait for permission from anyone to write what you want; it is always your privilege to use your talent. A dear friend whom I just lost said, “Never air your education.” What he meant was that no more than ten percent of what you studied to write that story should appear in the story itself. You should write FROM your knowledge, not of it.

Finally, is there anything exciting on your horizon, or anything else you’d like to share with us?

Tina: I’m really enjoying my retirement from the administrative side of Twilight Tales. I’ve got more time for writing, more time for teaching, and more time to play around with other creative projects.
Along with the novels outlined above, I’m adapting two short stories and a novella for radio-theater performances, polishing up a novella I co-wrote with Bob Weinberg that will be released as a signed limited edition hardcover, working on a poetry collection of American Haiku, and doing a ton of research on New Orleans - both for a novel and a new college course I’m hoping to teach at Columbia College - Chicago in January. And, in my spare time, I’m revising my curriculum and reading list for the next semester of the Fantasy Writing Workshop at Columbia. And hitting the blues clubs, of course.

Jody: New books coming up in November: Myth-Fortunes (Wildside Press), January:
Myth-Chief (Ace mass-market paperback), April: A Forthcoming Wizard (TOR
Books, second half of An Unexpected Apprentice).

We hope you’ll join us on Monday September 29th at Mystic Celt (3443 N. Southport) to hear Tina’s and Jody’s fiction, and perhaps more discussion!

This coming Monday, we have two featured readers from the Chicago area.
Jude Walter Mire is the other half of the killer-works.com dynamic duo: we met the (or rather, his) “better” half of the duo—his fiancé Jill Cooper–last month. A Twilight Tales “regular,” he’s also currently serving as our CEO.
Russell Working is a staff reporter for the Chicago Tribune and the author of the short story collections Resurrectionists and The Irish Martyr.
Following are their answers to our interview questions.
Read the rest of this entry »

Twilight Tales would like to introduce you to two mystery writers at this weeks featured reading: Mary Welk and Mark Zubro, both of whom write great mysteries with interesting locales. Both also have quite a following for their books, so we are quite pleased they could both make time to come and visit us and share something of their work. You can look them both up online to see just what sorts of fun and mayhem they get their characters into. If you aren’t yet fans of theirs you will be once you hear them read.
Following are their answers to our interview questions.

Let’s start with the basics: What’s the title of the story you’ll be reading for us, and can you tell us a little something about it?

Mark: Schooled in Murder - 12th book in the Tom Mason mystery series. It’s about a murder at a school and the madness of the world of modern education.
Mary: I’ll be reading the prologue from A MERRY LITTLE MURDER, the first book in my “Rhodes to Murder” mystery series featuring Caroline Rhodes and Carl Atwater, followed by “Code Blue”, a short story I wrote for the anthology CHICAGO BLUES. The two pieces differ greatly in characterization and mood, the second piece being much darker than the first.

One of our volunteers tracked you both down at the Printer’s Row Book Fair, are you still surprised at the unusual things that can happen at personal appearances?

Mark: For me the most surprising thing is when someone actually shows up.
Mary: Having been in the writing business for over ten years, very few things surprise me any more. But something happened at Printers Row this year that really tickled my funnybone. On Saturday, two of my writing companions walked up and down Dearborn Street carrying a sign advertising the 2009 Love Is Murder mystery conference. The sign was tacked to a yard stick that they held high enough to be seen above the crowd. Love Is Murder was spelled out in big, bold letters on the sign, and my friends handed out bookmarks explaining the event to all they met. They eventually returned to the Echelon Press booth where some of us associated with LIM were signing books. Hard on their heels came two security guards who were working the fair. They pointed to the sign and asked us what it was about. We told them about the conference and they just shook their heads. Apparently they’d been approached by several people who saw the sign and decided that the words “Love Is Murder” referred to some sort of terrorist plot cooked up by a sect of hate mongerers. Once we stopped laughing, we assured the officers that we loved the city of Chicago and everyone in it, we were innocent of any and all hate mongering charges, and we were only advocating a fun time at a great mystery conference. The officers accepted our word, but they made us hide the sign under the table for the rest of the day. It was amusing at the time, but it does remind you that some people are one beer short of a six pack when it comes to brains.

You’ve both been published mystery writers for a while now, was that an easy or hard thing to make happen?

Mark: The short version of a tale I am loathe to tell is that in a stunning bit of luck and serendipity, I sold my book to the first place I sent it to and without having an agent.

Mary: Not easy at all. As an unpublished manuscript with the working title of FOUR TO GO, my first book, A MERRY LITTLE MURDER, was a finalist in the 1996 Hemingway First Novel Competition. It was the only mystery among the twelve finalists, the winner being a novel called THE UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY OF OSCAR WILDE. I’d also entered it in the 1996 St. Martins’ First Novel Contest, and the judge who read it wrote to me saying it was one of the two best manuscripts she’d read that year. It didn’t win that competition either, but I was encouraged to seek out an agent by those two successes. The problem was, I wasn’t very knowledgeable about the publishing business, and my query letters stunk. I never found an agent to represent me. Despite that, the book was finally published in 1998 under the title A DEADLY LITTLE CHRISTMAS. After the fourth book in the series, THE SCARECROW MURDERS, was released by Hilliard & Harris Publishers in 2 004, Echelon Press agreed to reissue DEADLY under their imprint. The only problem was, they weren’t thrilled with the title. Eventually we compromised and the book came out as a revised edition in 2007 under the title A MERRY LITTLE MURDER. Echelon will be reissuing the second in the series later this year, but again as a revised edition under a new title. What was originally published in 1999 as SOMETHING WICKED IN THE AIR will now be called THE RUNE STONE MURDERS.

What kinds of things first brought you to writing, and what kinds of things inspire your stories?

Mark: Freddy the Pig in the Walter R. Brooks novels brought me to writing. Two things that inspire my writing: one - the desire to understand why we do the awful things we do to each other; two - the desire to get even with people I don’t like, for example, it would never be good, in my stories, for a person to be racist, sexist, homophobic, or a school administrator - you are unlikely to make it to the end unscathed.
Mary: I come from a family of avid readers and writers. My dad was published in the field of science. My mother saw some of her poetry published. Two of my sisters are published in the non-fiction field. I had my first short story published in a school newspaper when I was fourteen. Needless to say, it was a mystery. In the mid ’60’s I turned to music and joined a couple of local folk-singing groups as a guitar player and song writer. In 1967 I met my husband, a motorcycle-riding, guitar-playing college student who, although he was in ROTC at Loyola, still tweeked his nose at the establishment by singing war protest songs outside of City Hall. We married in ‘68, and a bunch of kids later, I returned to writing, this time writing stories and plays for my children. I’d written the first draft of A MERRY LITTLE MURDER in 1967 while in nursing school, but it gathered dust in my desk until 1992 when I pulled it out, discovered that the plot was pretty good (although the characters and dialogue weren’t), and set about rewriting the entire thing. Due to work and raising children, it took me four years to get it to the point where I was pleased with the results. After that, I hired a professional editor and revised the manuscript six times before sending it off to the two competitions I mentioned previously.

I’m inspired by good puzzles, and so I try to write puzzling mysteries. I get ideas from things I read in the newspapers, from personal stories told by friends and family members, by places I’ve been and things I’ve seen. I’m fascinated by interpersonal relationships, so all of my plots involve people who commit crimes because of relationships gone wrong.

Did anyone every give you any advice about writing that was really helpful or totally out there?

Mark: Yes, and I’m not quoting here, but Sarah Paretsky told me once that I should concentrate on writing the book and creating the characters I wanted to. She gave me confidence to keep going.
Mary: Most of what I’ve learned about writing has come from reading excellent literature. I try to read writers who are masters at their craft, and I read as much to learn the craft as to enjoy the story. Other writers can teach you about the technical side of writing, but I’ve found that learning how prose should flow, how tension should build, etc., comes mainly from reading novel after novel after novel. As for advice, the best thing someone told me was to put my manuscript aside for a few weeks after finishing it, then take it out and read it with a fresh eye for style, rhythm, word use, description, etc. I’ve found I can improve a story if I do this.

When you wander the aisles of a book store, what kinds of books do you pick up?

Mark: Mysteries and non-fiction history.
Mary: I write mysteries, but when I’m in a bookstore, I naturally gravitate to the non-fiction section. I’m fascinated by history, and I enjoy reading historical non-fiction, especially political or war-related history. Again, I’m interested in what makes people tick, and history fulfills that need to understand people.

Finally, is there anything else you’d like to share with our audience before we see you read in person?

Mary: I’d like to thank everyone who’s come tonight to hear Mark and me read. I appreciate your interest in our work and in storytelling in general, and I hope you enjoy our stories. I’d also like to thank the staff of Twilight Tales for inviting us to appear here. And if you enjoy mystery fiction, please join Twilight Tales — and me! — at the annual Love Is Murder mystery conference in February, 2009. We have a great lineup of authors, demonstrations, and activities to offer both readers and writers at a brand new hotel just north of the20city limits. Thank you!

We hope you’ll join us on Monday August 25th at Mystic Celt (3443 N. Southport) to hear Mary’s and Mark’s fiction, and perhaps more discussion!

This week Twilight Tales features a returning favorite and a new voice to our mic for your listening enjoyment.
First up is new voice Zally Adams. Zally read us a wonderful piece of fantasy fiction when she first appeared with Tina Jens’ writing class back in April. Considering her sense of humor and story telling ability, we are sure to be pleased with what she’ll read for us this time: either the continuation of the tale she began that night, or whatever else her happily warped mind constructs in her next alternate reality. Whichever case, we are confident Zally will continue to make us laugh and amaze us with stories for quite some time to come.
C.T. Thieme is a returning favorite. He tells fabulous ghost stories, both real and imagined. One of his recent publications was in the new anthology Hell in the Heartland (Annihilation press, Roger Trexler and Martel Sardina eds.). The story Moon Creek Road is an eerie tale of Streator, Illinois and its environs. C.T. always manages to make us think and surprises us with the unique turns his stories take. We can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.
Following are their answers to our interview questions.

What’s your story called, and what is it about?

Zally: The piece I will be reading is from a selection of origin stories I have been working on about the creation of 20th century gods.

C.T.: I was afraid that was going to come up eventually. It doesn’t have a title yet. Not because of lack of effort, but because it just hasn’t come to me yet. Right now, I’m calling it “Mo and Jesse” so I have something to save the file as. It is a conversation between two, well, people, depending on your point of view. They are definitely people from my point of view. Kind of like “My Dinner with Andre” except Andre Gregory once claimed he was god, Wallace Shawn attempts to kill him, and Satan is their waiter. They meet and talk in a recreated Garden of Eden in the middle of the Sahara. Ghosts, nuns and Al-Qaeda all make cameos in the cast of players.

What inspired the story, or what inspires you to write?

Zally: For the past few years I always wondered how ideas of gods were created and what kind of gods would be created in the 20th century. Sure there would be gods of things like electricity, computers, and cars but there are also very 20th century concepts that get swept under the rug, which is what this story deals with.
As for things that inspire me (I’ve never been asked this so it is a little odd to answer) I have to say it deals with a few things. Music, orchestral and cello solos are the biggest contender in my writing. I’m not sure why cello exactly but it always seems to play apart in my creative process. I also am a documentary buff and love nothing more than the History channel on a rainy afternoon (or National Geographic with the all their shows about serial killers and taboo subjects like that. Its nice fuel for the fire you know.) Besides that I love to research. I will spend hours with dusty old books looking up mental disorders, historical events, names, gods and even flower meanings until I find something that stirs me into writing.
More than anything else however is just observation from daily life. I enjoy studying human behavior everywhere I end up. Every scenario allows me to look for a different emotion, a different stance, facial expression that can be used in my writing. As of right now I have been hanging out at the Art Institute since it is the only museum in the city where people go with the mindset that they are going to judge everything around them. Its very fascinating indeed.

C.T.: This story is a good example of my general source of inspiration. I have always read and looked for old myths and stories, local, national and international. I’ve also always had a strong draw towards new interpretations of old mythological themes. Jungian archetypes with the overlay of various eras. When I was in high school, I was really drawn to the tales of Morocco and the Berber tribes of the Atlas mountains which eventually led to a trip there when I graduated. There was a tale I read, at the Peru, IL library of all places, regarding a very simple but special place in the desert where two great men met and talked. That image stuck with me until, twenty years later, it developed into this story.

You have both had some significant changes in your lives. Zally, you graduated from college and have begun to work seriously on your writing and C.T we understand you just welcomed an new addition to your family (congratulations!) This is a significant, positive change in both of your lives. Has it affected your writing in a good way?

Zally: Oh Gods! Don’t remind me I don’t have school in the fall, the concept of not being in a classroom is still beyond my mind to comprehend.
Even though I don’t have school to look forward to this has been the first summer that I have been able to devote to nothing more than my writing since, well, ever. The time has given me a chance to really explore my craft and play with developing concepts and ideas that I had to put on hold for far too long.
I have also been looking into becoming an editor in the future to immerse myself even deeper into the art form I love so much. But this idea is currently on hold along with the majority of my writing for I am apply for graduate school as we speak and that has been taking up the majority of my time.

C.T.: It would be easy to be melodramatic about this. Suffice to say, time becomes a very precious thing, and a balance has to be struck. The family is growing and needs time and attention. Still, to give it all one way or another is to betray both. In the first weeks of Byron’s life, I could see my father’s face in his. There is a legacy to consider.

What sorts of stories interest you as a reader, and what types of fiction do you wish there was more of out there to read?

Zally: If there is a book put in front of me I will probably attempt to read it. I can’t choose just one type of story when there is so much out there!
I love books that use symbolism and I try to bring that to my own writing. Every plant, color and name I use is there for a reason and I love to watch my reader’s faces as it all clicks in their mind. Foreshadowing is a delicate art and I respect any author who can use it well. With foreshadowing comes great description, a book or story holds me if I can see the world it is taking place in, which is why I love fantasy and horror. Description is so important to both genres that I just gravitate towards them.
I also like disturbing books like my all time favorite ‘A Clockwork Orange.’ The fact that the acts committed in such books are so horrible yet the narrator is so strong makes me love them. It’s the ability to get inside the mind of a psychopath in your own home without worrying that your going to end up garbage bags at the end of the story.
Right now however my reading list has been taken over by steampunk novels and short stories for their interesting take on history and technology. Oh and the brass, I love the description of the sparkling metal.
As for fiction I would like to see more of. Hmm, I think there isn’t a specific type of fiction I would like to see more of than I would like to see interesting new ways to explore genre. I would like to see more aspects of fantasy combined like in ‘Scar Night,’ by Alan Campbell who mixed steampunk technology and angel lore together beautifully.

C.T.: In the 1980’s, NPR put a significant amount of effort and funding into supporting radio or audio drama. They aired mostly modern and some well written older series. ZBS Media (zbs.org) produced some extremely well written tales that were long enough to take the time necessary to develop not just characters and settings, but also the mood or sense of the story. I love a good piece of flash fiction, but I do miss the well told tales where action was not necessarily immediate and you got to know the place and the characters before you went on the adventure. Darren Callahan is one writer that springs to mind as someone who has actually accomplished great work with this neglected and valuable format.

Have you gotten any advice as a writer that you would like to share with us?

Zally: I met Neil Gaiman a few years ago at an NPR taping and was able to meet him. I brought my journal that at the time had ‘publish or perish’ written on the cover and Mr. Gaiman asked me if I wrote and what the story I was working on was about. I started to tell him and he hushed me telling me he didn’t want to be spoiled and wanted to be able to read it one day. I almost died on the spot. I still have the journal up on my bookcase with the simple word ‘Publish’ written by him in the cover.
Besides that it’s not the advice that I have gotten it’s the obstacles I have faced that push me to want to write. Being told that what I do can be nothing more than a hobby and not an art fuels my desire to prove myself. I know it is not what you expected for advice but I think that being able to take the negative and turn it into something positive to fuel your desire is just as important as hearing praise.

C.T.: There has been good and bad advice. Then some advice that is what you make of it. What has really made the difference is the encouragement, especially from writers I’ve met through Twilight Tales. Encouragement or not, I’d be writing. I don’t seem to have the choice. But to share that writing is another thing entirely. Whether it was Marty Mundt taking the time to help me work up a story into a stronger piece or Eric Cherry asking, “so, when are you reading next?”, the willingness of the T.T. community to let me read a story and to have that constructive feedback from writers I don’t quite feel in the same league with has been something I’ll never be able to adequately say thank you for. What Tina Jens and Twilight Tales has allowed for is more valuable than any piece of sage advice I’ve ever received.

Is there anything you’d like to add to let our reader’s know more about who you are as an author?

Zally: Even though I write fairly depressing or gore filled fiction I’m really a nice girl! Well that is if you excuse the decapitated body under the floor. I swear that was a one time thing and I would never do that to another person who said my work was mediocre…I promise.

C.T.: Stop on by heathens-haven.com. Originally collected Chicago ghost tales, short stories, novel excerpts and memories all floating in the digital ether.

We hope you’ll join us on Monday August 11th at Mystic Celt (3443 N. Southport) to hear Zally’s and C.T.’s fiction, and perhaps more discussion!

This week Twilight Tales and Killer-works.com bring you a special event: Beach Blanket Blood Bath! It’s not just an excuse to show off your dark side: it’s also a contest (cash prizes), a raffle, and whole lot of bloody fun. So we asked Jill Cooper, the Killer-works Headmistress of Horror, her thoughts about the event coming up on Monday, July 28. We got back some interesting replies. Have a look and a laugh, fire up that PC or pen, and join us on the blood spattered sands of summer.

Let’s start with the basics… Tell us a little about Killer-works.com.

Jill: Killer-works is an online review/recommendation site for all things dark and disturbing. This includes but is not exclusively horror. One of the things that differentiates us from similar sites is that we are constantly looking for disturbing content in all areas - be it books, films, art, artifacts, events…There is definite overlap with the traditional horror genre, but we aren’t restricted by labels. Basically if there is something to disturb the masses and it’s well executed, we’re interested in it! Our goal is to become the destination to find “…the best dark and disturbing things for your mind.” (our tagline) and to be able to actually buy everything we recommend from our site. …There are more origin details in the “about killer-works” section of the site.

What first drew you to horror?

Jill: Vast quantities of Dr. Seuss and night-time monsters in my closet - age 3.

What kinds of things do you hope will be featured or killed at the up > coming Beach Blanket Blood Bath and contest?

Jill: Men in Speedos (or not in Speedos…I’m not picky).

You’ve turned the evening into a contest with cash prizes, publication on the Killer-works.com web site, and possibly in an anthology. Is this a new kind of venture of Killer-works.com?

Jill: This contest is definitely a new venture for Killer-works and we’re looking forward to hearing lots of beach-y gore! Publication on our website is a relatively new venture, we have been posting a monthly Flash Fiction piece since April of this year. We coined Flash Fiction to be under 1000 words (you can find submission details online as well) So far the entries have been fantastic and we’ve actually published some Twilight Tales peeps. At the end of a full year of online publications (i.e. April 2009) we will be publishing a print anthology with all of the submissions plus any extras we decide on. The contest winners from Beach Blanket BB will be part of this anthology as well as being featured online at Killer-works. We decided to give writers a bit more word play than the Flash Fic - 3000 words max - as well as a bit more cash. We want to see lots of bloodshed!

We hear there’s going to be a raffle as well, how many rolls of pennies should the attendees bring along with them so they can score some killer swag?

Jill: Well, Killer-swag (a very cool item with our logo on it) will be free for writing your email on our signup sheet to get our free weekly newsletter. Our snazzy blood bath beach gear will be raffled off at 2$ a ticket. You don’t want to miss out - some very unique stuff! (We’ve contacted a mortuary novelty shop…I shall say no more.) Proceeds to go to Twilight Tales - the lovely NPO that it is!

Other than sign up for Killer-works.com, is there anything else you’d like to tell us about the contest or Killer-works.com in general?

Jill: Yes, besides looking for entries for our monthly Flash Fiction, we’re now open to guest writers for our weekly articles. We’re looking for our writers to develop a “voice” of their own for readers to get to know and relate to (and I always add my two cents!) You can find all the writer’s guidelines here: http://www.killer-works.com/write_guidelines.asp.
We are also currently running a short horror film contest! We’ve only just started promoting this one (we’ll be extending the current Labor Day deadline) and will be featuring it (as well as Flash Fiction) at the up and coming Festival of Fear (part of Fan Expo Canada) in Toronto the end of August. Killer-works will have a wee booth - we’re very excited! If you plan on being in Toronto from Aug 22-24, you should come visit me there…
Thanks! Jill

Come one out and meet Jill and her merry minions of mayhem this Monday July 28th at 7:30 pm at the Mystic Celt 3443 Southport in Chicago.

This week we have Aaron Longoria and Lane Kareska at our featured reading.
Aaron Longoria has done a number of open mics and participated in this year’s Red Light Night. His voice training really brings his characters to life at live reads. His tales of the Dragon Cafe and its hapless owners have really been a hit. whatever he brings to the mic this week, you can be sure the evening will be fun and the voices interesting.
Lane Kareska is a relatively new voice at our mic, but his first reading (in a group of fiction writers from Tina Jens’ class), so impressed us at Twilight Tales that we invited him to be a featured reader. The snippet we heard, shows great promise. We hope his new job, several hours from Chicago, doesn’t keep him away too long.
Following are their answers to our interview questions.

Let’s start with the basics. What’s your story called, and can you tell us a little about it?

Aaron: Dragon Cafe: Passion on the Side is my first in-depth characterizational story within the Dragon Cafe series. Slopwyth Dragon is co-proprietor of the Dragon Cafe, and the tale tells of long-lost love renewed between Slopwyth and his lover of three years ago, Artifice Stallion, the premier danseur of a horseling troupe called the Equines Fine; and the insuing [sic] conflict therein.

Lane: My story is called “King Hellry.” These are the beginning pages of my novel of the same title. It’s about a young guy named Sam who through a series of circumstances, finds himself accompanying his old and dying Grandfather, Arthur Hellry, on a hallucinatory and violent trip into the wild heart of Mexico- where Hellry hopes to find and kill his lifelong rival, Wolfram True, the Sin Eater.

What kinds of things inspire you to write?

Aaron: Usually, a nice, brisk walk helps motivate me to write—stirs up the sluggish brain cells. As for inspiration, ideas can come from as far as left field. It might be something I see while driving hither and yon.
As for my current story, Passion on the Side, I noticed a bus stop poster while waiting for the light to change. The poster showed the Lipizzan stallions dressed in tutus, dancing and standing on their hind legs. I saw that and said, “There’s a story there, somewhere…”
Lane: My family, friends, experiences. All the crazy people I know and the good and bad times alike. My earliest memories are being read to by my mom. She really instilled a respect for literature in me and made me want to try and be a writer. I also find myself most inspired by place. I’ve had some really horrible experiences in some great places and vice versa. But beyond that, I’m really getting into places with age. Places that are older than can be counted. The novel King Hellry was inspired by grandfather, but it was also inspired by the southwest, where I was born and where I lived and where he lives now. Mountains, deserts, ghost towns.

Do you have a particular genre or do you write more across the board?

Aaron: I’ve always appreciated Fantasy. There’s so much one can work with—human and non-human characters. That seems to be my forte; the conflict involved between such diverse species within their own worlds, yet making it realistic as well as fanciful.
Lane: My mentor Tina Jens has really liberated me when it comes to genre. I’ve always been a pulp nut, even when I didn’t know what to call it that. Working with her has really energized my passions for horror, for the weird and the fun. The most fun I’ve ever had in my life was as a kid reading comic books in the summer. Was Spider Man a genre? I don’t know, I know he touched on great themes of literature, but also there were sci fi issues, and horror issues, and romance and even moments of sex appeal.

Have you gotten any advice that has made a difference in your writing?

Aaron: I’d say the best advice I’ve ever heard is “Listen to your characters.” As I’m fleshing them further, they’re the ones taking place within the story. Makes for more believable storytelling.
Lane: Tons. Rob Duffer has taught me that it’s good to be scared, to not feel too comfortable. Mort Castle taught me work ethic. Tina Jens has taught me to take fun seriously, and to respect craft.

What’s the biggest obstacle you have to overcome when you sit down to write?

Aaron: For me, it’s the flow of the story. Making sure I’m going from Point A to Point B and back, as well as pulling the story all together, creating and resolving the conflict, and just making sure everything gels. If I’m happy with the flow, I’m hoping the reader will be, too.
Lane: The temptation to get up and do something else. Every session is a battle.

Any final thoughts you’d like to let to share about your featured reading?

Aaron: I enjoy bittersweet love stories. I think it’s important for our heart-strings to be tweaked now and then, and I hope my audience finds this as enjoyable a tale to listen as I found it a pleasure to write. Thank you.
Lane: I’m thrilled to be a part of this. Thrilled to be sharing and to be experiencing all the fun.

We hope you’ll join us on Monday July 21st at Mystic Celt (3443 N. Southport) to hear Aaron and Lane’s fiction and perhaps more discussion!

This week Twilight Tales brings you a pair of returning favorites: Wayne Allen Sallee and Larry Santoro. Both authors have been published multiple times. Most recently the two have been touring the state promoting their publications and the new Annihilation Press anthology Hell in the Heartland. Its an anthology of dark stories set throughout the State of Illinois, a worthwhile read for anyone looking for a summer book.
Larry Santoro is also the author of the recently published novel Just North of Nowhere. He has a long history in the theater as well as writing. Just read along and you’ll see Larry explains himself quite well.
Wayne Allen Sallee’s life experiences have made him a master of dark stories with a hint of comedy tossed in when you least expect it. He’s been published in everything from anthologies and e-zines to full novels. A new book titled The Holy Terror published by Midnight Library, is due out this fall. Wayne is “pinch-hitting” for the previously scheduled Mort Castle. Unfortunately, Mort had to cancel but will reschedule as soon as he can.

Following are their answers to our interview questions.

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As mentioned previously, we have been finalizing arrangements for our new temporary home while we await the Red Lion’s return…which has been somewhat delayed by the filming for Public Enemies, but since it means one last immortalization for our beloved old building we can’t say we terribly mind. Not out loud, anyway.

We are pleased to announce that discussions were successful! Starting July 7 for our monthly open mic night, we will be in the back room at the Irish public house Mystic Celt.

Mystic Celt is located at 3443 North Southport in Chicago. It is roughly one block North of the Southport Brown Line L stop, slightly more than halfway between Belmont and Addison.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank the Fixx, specifically Gary but also the whole gang there for being so kind to us when we needed the help. We’ve been told we would be welcomed back any time we need it or to run an event or two there. I’m sure you all join Twilight Tales in thanking the Fixx for their hospitality and kindness.

This week we have three readers for our Featured Reading on the June 30th. Here’s a little bit about each reader and a few questions that will help you get to know them and what they will be presenting at the mic for us.
Martel Sardina is a long time Twilight Tales favorite. She’s an award winning author and former staffer who has recently added editor to her long list of credentials.
Joshua Doetsch is also a returning favorite and has recently had his first book published. He works mostly in the horror and fantastic reality genres, but his talents are sure to delight and surprise.
Nathaniel Gray is a new voice at our mic. He comes to us from Tina Jens’ class. his first appearance at our mic was all too brief and left many of us wanting to hear more of the story he presented that night. Here’s our chance to hear it.

Following are their answers to our interview questions.

Let’s start with the basics, what’s the title of the story you’ll be reading?

Martel: Let’s see…there’s the transgendered Frankenstein story, the noir murder mystery, and two really creepy ideas that are floating around in my brain. I suppose it will depend on my mood.
Josh: I’ll be reading excerpts from my new novel, Strangeness in the Proportion.
Nathaniel: Three pieces. The first is a short short titled “Interlude.” The second is an excerpt from my novel, The Rider. The third is a short story titled “Just Jazz.”

Who or what inspired it, and tell us briefly about the action?

Martel: The transgendered Frankenstein story was inspired by a conversation I had with a couple of teammates after a recent softball game. Ahh, the things you can think of with good friends over a couple of bottles of beer.
Josh: A lot of the inspiration (and the title) comes from the quote I use to open the novel:

“There is no exquisite beauty…without some strangeness in the proportion.”
—Edgar Allan Poe, “Ligeia”

The book is set in White Wolf Publishing’s World of Darkness setting (a real world setting with monsters in the shadows). It is technically a horror novel…but I like to think of it as a love story on the other side of entropy. As for inspirations…there were a lot of them. I wanted to story where a Tim Burtonesque misfit, drawn by Edward Gorey (with shades of silent film comedic heroes like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton) is forced into the dark underworld of Frank Miller’s Sin City as if directed by Edgar Allan Poe. The story is about an eccentric, absinthe addicted forensic pathologist, Simon Meeks, who falls in love with a Jane Doe cadaver. When Jane disappears, Simon snaps and goes off in search of her (scalpels in hand), plummeting into the hidden supernatural world that lies just under the surface of Chicago. It’s kind of about love and relationships with the dead…like the movie Ghost…only where that movie was more “Unchained Melodies”, my book is more “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” The lyrics and music video of the Nine Inch Nails song, “Perfect Drug” was also an inspiration (in fact, the lyrics work as a very vague plot synopsis). And finally, Count Carl Tanzler von Cosel (the infamous romantic/necrophile of Key West, Florida), offered some inspiration.
Nathaniel: Interlude came from an idea for a series of short stories all involving the same situation in this diner, where each story uses different groups of characters to see how they would play out in isolation. Those stories never got written, but Interlude, a conversation between the Cook and the waiter, did. The Rider is one of those pieces that has been gestating since my young childhood. I’d seen a screenshot for a game called “Full Throttle” which had this badass biker crossing a desert. I knew nothing about this rider or the story, but the image burned itself on my mind and I’ve been trying to get it out ever since. Just Jazz came from an idea about seeing and changing the future and my frustration with the only medium people use for that being weaving. I see the future as this ordered set of outcomes interconnected with other outcomes. This thought reminds me of music and how every note and chord affects the following notes and chords, and changing one will force others to change. So I made that into a story.

What’s the most interesting reading you’ve ever had?

Martel: I’d have to say my first ever reading at the Twilight Tales Open Mic at Love Is Murder 2005. I was so nervous that I was shaking which caused the paper to make a lot of crinkling noises. But after it was over, one author told me that he liked my story. If that hadn’t happened, I might have given up on this writing business then.
Josh: A drumming circle open mic night at Twilight Tales. I was reading an emotionally heavy piece…and the drums got me more into it…and I think that helped the drummer to get even more into it…and round and round and it felt like the most intense reading I’d ever given.
Nathaniel: This is actually my second reading ever (the first also being here at Twilight Tales with Tina Jens’s Fantasy Class through Columbia)

What inspires you to write, or what makes you want to tell a particular story?

Martel: I tend to write about things that upset me or things that scare me.
Josh: There is a ghost tree that grows in my head. On each of those thousand-thousand ghost branches are a thousand-thousand ghost ravens and each raven has a story to tell. When it is ready, a raven pecks at my eyes from the inside. I’ve learned the hard way that it’s best to obey the ravens.
Nathaniel: I’d heard about this condition called graphomania, and I think I have it. The Rider definitely comes from that incessant urge. I’ve been trying to tell his story since Middle School , and only in the past year or so has it really seemed possible.

What insights would you like to share with other authors about the writing process, getting published, or overcoming an obstacle in the story?

Martel: J.A. Konrath once told me that there was a word for writers who never gave up…published. I think that’s the most important thing for writers to remember. Never give up.
Josh: (1) Do not kill the things you love because of other people’s pretensions. Do not throw away your comic books, Godzilla movies, and Halloween decorations because someone says they’re tacky. The things we love fuel our stories and if you really love them, your stories will be deep enough. (2) Do not develop any pretensions. Only spend your energy on enthusiasms. The difference between a pretension and an enthusiasm is the difference between a man showing off his luxury car to his peers as a symbol of affluence…and a boy tearing the hell out of his new bike on a dirt hill, alone and in ecstatic joy. Never use a big word because you worry about what someone thinks. Use a big word because it’s fun and you want to play with it—play the hell out of it—work it to the nub. (3) And do not fall into the hysteria of anti-pretension either. Never throw away a big word because someone tells you you’re pretentious. Remind them that you have no pretensions, only enthusiasms. Make sure you are telling the truth when you say this. Or don’t. You are a writer, and thus a con-man of a sort, after all.
Nathaniel: Oh god, umm… You know? I have no idea. I keep asking those questions and all the answers I get seem too simple to be possible. So to help confound matters further I’ll tell you to: Just write. Get it out in any way possible. And above all be prepared to suck (at first).

Is there anything you’d like to tell us about yourself , or your writing that will help us understand who you are as a writer?

Martel: Just remember that I’m crazy and it will all make sense…LOL!
Josh: When I was a boy, I had a water bed. Water beds tend not to have a space underneath. No space, no monsters under the bed. My writing teacher and mentor in college is still convinced that I’m making up for lost time.
Nathaniel: I am terribly inconsistent. I’ll have weekends where I’ll get thousands and thousands of words out (many of them crap) and then there will be long stretches of time where writing becomes me saying to my friend, “hey I’ve got this great idea” and then not touching it for a long time. It’s very much a little-kid-in-a-house-of-mirrors syndrome. Everything is “ooooh shiny!” and I get distracted easily.

Finally, is there anything else you’d like to share?

Martel: Yes. I’d just like to say thank you to everyone who has tried to help me become a better writer over the years. I’d name names but I think that would encompass the entire Twilight Tales audience. So thank you everyone!
Josh: My first novel, Strangeness in the Proportion will be out sometime in the near future, by White Wolf Publishing. If you’d like to know anything else about me, you can check out my blog at www.myspace.com/nevermore_66.
Nathaniel: My brain can’t wrap itself around such an open ended question… I can’t think of anything.

We hope you’ll join us on Monday June 30th at The Fixx Coffee Bar (3053 N. Sheffield) to hear Martel’s, Josh’s, and Nathaniel’s fiction and perhaps more discussion!

There have been a lot of changes at Twilight Tales recently, from staff to location. This year we
return an old friend to the line-up of special dates and theme nights: Pride Night is making its return to our mic on June 23rd. We’ve gathered four diverse writers to present their own brand of pride for you:
Gregg Shapiro and his Life Partner Rick Karlin are both authors and inductees of Chicago’s Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. They both write for news print about culture or lack thereof and many forms of fiction from poetry to plays.
Sukie De la Croix, noted Historian and journalist, is a returning Twilight Tales favorite who’s humor and insight into the gay human condition have left many a viewer gasping for air with both laughter and illumination.
Jezzi Belle Stewart is a transgendered actor who is equally at home playing Miss Jezzi Belle (and others) in her one-woman comedy show, or playing President Theodere Roosevelt in his one-man show.

Following are their answers to our interview questions.

Let’s start with the basics, what is the title or titles of what you’ll be reading for us?

Gregg: I will be reading selections from my book of poetry, Protection, which was published by Gival Press (givalpress.com) in Jan. 2008
Sukie: Uh .. don’t know. Haven’t thought about it yet.
Jezzie: “The Suffragette Redemption” a transgender fiction story co-authored by my dear friend, Gwen Lavyril

Tell us about your story in a few lines, or give us a line from your favorite scene in it.

Gregg: The book is divided into three sections - one set in Chicago, one in Boston and one in Washington, DC. I will read a few poems from each.
Sukie: Another writer once described me in print thus: “Sukie de la Croix is a literary thug.” I’ll take the compliment. So my life story would be “The Autobiography of a Literary Thug.”
Jezzie: In excerpts from the diary of Emily Wentworth, a suffragette in Seneca Falls, New York cira 1903, we learn the story of Henry Wentworth, her brother, a boorish boy who thinks women should not have the vote because they are flighty creatures fit only to bring comfort and pleasure to men. Because of his anti-suffragette actions, he is first forced and later decides on his own to become Henrietta, During the course of his three day journey as Henrietta, he does a 180 degree about face learning the true strength and intelligence of woman. He goes from a thouroughly humiliated caricature of a woman (where Gwen’s part ends) to a proud trans-suffragette.

What inspired this story (or) what inspires you to write?

Gregg: Most of the work in the book is my experience as a gay man in the city.
Sukie: Instead of speaking to [jerks - ed.] one at a time, I write it down and get it published to reach as many [jerks - ed.] as possible without actually having to meet them.
Jezzie: Gwen wrote the first part of the story which ends with Henry still feeling ashamed and humiliated. I believe that femininity is something to be proud of, so I asked Gwen’s permission to add a part 2, where Henry becomes proud of being Henrietta and works for women’s suffrage.

Has writing fiction outside of what is called the mainstream posed a problem, or does it get your work noticed more?

Gregg: My short fiction publications have been in queer outlets, including Christopher Street, Blithe House Quarterly and the Alyson anthology Bar Stories, to name a few, so I don’t think I can answer that.
Sukie: I do write in the mainstream. I totally reject the word and concept of “Alternative.” I’ve never had anything rejected. No, honest … anything I’ve sent for publication has been published. What I read at Twilight Tales is usually not for publication, but I do it for fun.
Jezzie: No problems because all my non-TG activities are under my drab name.

What do you hope a reader or viewer will take away from your work?

Gregg: I hope they will find something universal in my work.
Sukie: I’d like them to go away having learned that NOT SAYING WHAT YOU THINK IS VERY BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH.
Jezzie: If you are transgendered, be proud of it - you have nothing to be ashamed of.

Is there a particular aspect of life gay or straight you try to give insight to?

Gregg: Not to lose your sense of humor.

Sukie: I don’t think of my work in those terms.
Jezzie: How wonderful it is for a male to have the gift of femininity within himself and that we live in an age where, though the battle is not by any means won, he can more and more without fear and with pleasure bring it out into the open and express of it.

Do you have any advice to your fellow writers about writing in general or in this specific niche?

Gregg: Writers of books must be readers of books.
Sukie: This will sound harsh, but if you need advice about writing you should be doing something else.

Jezzie: I can tell you what I dislike: TG stories that are simply excuses for graphic sexual descriptions or descriptions of abuse, particularly if the participants/victims are children. Don’t do it!

Anything else you’d like us to know about you or work?

Jezzie: Whether acting or writing, I have one heck of a lot of fun!

We hope you’ll join us on Monday June 23rd at The Fixx Coffee Bar (3053 N. Sheffield) to hear Gregg’s, Sukie’s, and Jezzie’s fiction and perhaps more discussion!