All New Stuff

by: S.L. Schmitz
Dark Continents Publishing is proud to announce that over the next 4 months, we will be launching the following novels. Here are some sneak peeks of what is coming:

Launching September 28, 2011:

Quiet Houses by Simon Kurt-Unsworth:
a deeply disturbing collection of stories, with one common link: a paranormal investigator who understands the difference between what is seen and unseen. And why are all haunted houses so vacant, so devoid of human understanding?

Campfire Chillers by Dave Jeffery: gather round the fire, if you dare. So many new stories to tell, so little time… Jeffrey has created a whole world of frightening creatures that haunt the wood we camp in and hike in… if you think you’re ready for the next generation of scary campfire stories, then this the book for you!

Let It Bleed by S.L. Schmitz: the soft cover, while not launching at the fabulous FantasyCon in Brighton Beach, will transition to Dark Continents from its current wonderful placement at Dead Tree Comics. Soft cover will be available via the Dark Continents catalog as of September 2011.

Launching Black Friday, November 25, 2001

HELL by John Prescott:
The second novel in his memorizing trilogy about the eternal fight between good evil. But who will win? The continuation of the Revelation Chronicles. Journey with Trez and the rest of the core group of believers as the world goes through drastic changes and as HELL itself brings forth damnation and death to the people of Earth.

Phobophobia:
we don’t have a book cover yet, but that doesn’t mean that this anthology of over 25 writers from around the world doesn’t have bite. Dean M. Drinkel is the editor of this intensely disturbing group of stories of what is fearful and what is feared.

Snareville II by D.M. Younquist:
The sequel to the original breakneck novel; face-paced and merciless. Can humans survive the zombie attack, or will the world surrender itself to the living dead?

Monster’s Ink by Scott Nicholson: the highly anticipated collection of stories from Horror Master Scott Nicholson, including the never-before-published, terrifying, post-apocalyptic zombie tale ‘Darker With the Day.’

In 2012, Dark Continents has over a dozen new novels coming out. Stay tuned as Sylvia Shults, Nerine Dorman, S.L. Schmitz, and many, many more publish their newest offerings. We cannot wait to be a part of your new year and your new reading!

Thoughts on playing dangerous games…

BY: Mo Irvine
Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand
I enjoy playing Patience. Not in itself a dangerous game, granted, unless someone opens a window and scatters the cards just as you are getting the last numbers out. That could be grounds for murder.

I love the wealth of complexities hidden within this deceptively simple game of cards. Playing out a good game of Patience is a little bit like completing a difficult crossword. Taxing on the brain, but ultimately satisfying. Watching the play of the cards, adding up the suits, guessing what will be dealt next, and what remains hidden. Should I move the red king to that blank space, or maybe wait for the next deal of cards in the hope that a much-needed black king will turn up? Decisions, decisions.

Sometimes, the play flies along, cards falling one on top of the other in a frenzy of excitement. Often I can see no way out, and simply play on in the forlorn hope that the next card I deal won’t signify the end of the game. Disappointment. Death to the dealer. Try again.

But oh, the tightening of muscles as I hunch over screen or table. The anticipation. The hope. Will I or won’t I survive this round? If I can just lay this black four over that red five, then play out the final three cards in my hand…

When I write detective fiction, or sci-fi, the end is usually clear in my mind. I simply have to decide how I am going to manoeuvre my hapless characters from point A to point B (with much death and/or heartache along the way, naturally). But when I write horror, my mind starts out almost as blank as the screen. I begin with one burning idea, one shining phrase, one clever ending – and I have absolutely no idea of the labyrinthine twists and turns that the story will have to make, in order for me to reach the end.

I am on a journey, my mission unclear. All I know is that I want to scare myself, feel that tingle along the spine, let out my breath at the end in a slow whoosh of relief, or catch it sharply in fright as I surreptitiously cast a glance around the shadowed room. Is that a mouse I hear scuttling behind the sofa? Or something far worse, something obscene and scary, something oozing… Something that has entered the room in my absence and which now lurks, biding its time, until I rise from my seat and make my hesitant way across a mile of carpet, trying desperately to reach the false safety of the light switch.

What does all this have to do with playing a card game on one’s own? For me, writing horror is like playing a game of Patience. I hunch, engrossed, over the keyboard, getting to know a person I have imagined, or a scene, or a phrase, or a beginning. I fling down my opening sentences much as I cast down my cards. The progression of the story is never certain. Sometimes I miss something, noticing my error a split second too late. What can I do to retrieve the situation? Should I try? Will things become more – interesting – if I don’t? Often there will be seemingly insurmountable obstacles to overcome. The law of averages dictates to me that there won’t be a much-needed red seven in my hand. Or a loaded gun with which to dispatch the monster. Can one shoot a monster? What if the monster is in one’s head? Or invisible? Or one’s supposed best friend? What of a gun then?

Getting to the bottom of these problems is as satisfying as laying down a good game of Patience. Of course, in Patience, sometimes you lose. And the monster wins. Now isn’t that fun?

I am really pleased to be a part – however small – of Dark Continents Publishing. I have the freedom here to run with scissors, and to watch with interest as the blood spills. And, even better, I know that others will be crouching down to the carpet to watch with me.

The Imminent Demise of the English Language as We Know It.

By John Irvine: a no-account lay-about tea-person

My invitation to join the Dark Continents Publishing team of literary ratbags was unexpected and exciting… not only from the point of view of getting my own books published, but also from the thought that, even in a small way, I might be helping to keep the English language alive around the world for a bit longer. Thank you, Dark Continents Publishing for this opportunity. God herself only knows why this progressive and innovative publisher gave me a (small) virtual desk to waste time at, but they did.
I have no formal literary credentials, serious or otherwise. I have never taken a writing course, nor do I have any university degrees or diplomas. I left school at age fifteen, but had been gifted a love of the language, something I can take no credit for… I love the language so much that I have become a pathetic cringer. Every time I see txt tlk I cringe. I steadfastly refuse to text.
Now, advertisers often use clever remanufactured words to suit their bill boards, but sometimes they just plain get it wrong. Don’t get me started on newspaper reporters and editors. *shudders* Not even BBC announcers, once the very doyens/doyennes of proper English, can no longer be trusted to get it right on air.
On the rare occasions I pontificate on this subject I am often told, sometimes derisively, that language is in a constant pattern of change. I accept that… but do we really want to return all the way to a communication system of grunts and gestures? Do we? How rich would our lives be then?
When my youngest daughter reached eight years old in the early 80s she had not yet formally learned to spell (at school), had not been taught the times tables (learning by rote is restrictive to the education of children apparently), was unable to figure out what clockwise meant because she was accustomed to digital clocks. She’s thirty eight now, still has some difficulty with spelling, grammar and punctuation because it wasn’t taught to her in her early education in Australia. In fact, one of her teachers called me in to bash my ear about helping my daughter with her English and math homework. I had taught her, amongst other things, how to do long division (not in the school curriculum) and the young female teacher was incensed. ‘Don’t you know,’ she ranted, ‘that Sarah doesn’t have to know that stuff. After all, it’s not important that she gets the right answers, only that she tried.’ This attitude still prevails.
I ran an online writers’ group for teens, based in Canada through What If? magazine, for many years. When we first started, members would post their comments and communications in txt tlk. It took me a year to convince them that this was, after all, a writers’ forum and as such we should all be writing in English rather than gibberish. It took a year, but for the following five years I saw not a scrap of txt tlk, and I can only hope that some of my incessant nagging has stuck in their everyday lives. This battle is never going to be won, alas, as we already have at least one generation of teachers and parents who are partially illiterate. And it’s a world-wide trend. I’d hazard a guess and say that a lot of young Chinese speak English more correctly than the rest of us. Perhaps that’s where the future of the English language lies…
So: where will we be in fifty years? What will writers be writing? Will there BE any writers? Will anyone remember HOW to write? The images in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 spring scarily to mind. In fifty years I’ll be 120… it won’t be my problem.

John Prescott Teaches “The Basics of Cover Design and Book Layouts” for SavvyAuthors.com

The Basics of Cover Design and Book Layouts (Aug 28, 2011 6:00 PM EST – Aug 28, 2011 7:00 PM EST)

The image you choose to be on the cover of your novel is one of the most important decisions you will make as an author. This Q&A with Author and Professional Graphic Design Artist John Prescott will answer your questions on how to determine what images should grace the cover of your book, obtaining pictures and artwork, fonts, layout, ISBN numbers, important copyright information, and useful software. Host: John Prescott

http://www.savvyauthors.com/vb/showevent.php?eventid=1143

John Prescott was born in the deep southern woods of Mississippi. Art has always captured his attention and he has been drawing in one form or another for longer than he can remember. As one of the founding members of Atlanta’s famed DragonCon, he served as the Art Director for the original collections of program books, and worked with such esteemed artists as Larry Elmore and Ben Wooten. He is the President of White Silver Publishing, maintaining a freelance stable of over 25 artists specializing in gaming and world creation.

As the Chief of Design for Dark Continents Publishing he is in charge of all graphic design and cover creation, as well as working closely with the POD industry. But he considers his greatest professional accomplishment to be his novel, PRAY. Published in 2010 as the first in a three-part trilogy, PRAY is an end times novel set within the Book of Revelation. PRAY was recently listed as one of the top 100 best selling novels in Amazon’s Kindle Horror category. The second novel in the series, HELL, will be released on November 25, 2011.

Daily Routines

BY: Sylvia Shults
Humans are creatures of habit and routine. Routines give our days structure, and let us know that all is in balance in our little corner of the universe. I’m human myself, so I really like my routines. Get up, brush my teeth, put my contacts in, do my exercises, get dressed, go to work. Come home, feed the dogs, take them out, go to bed. On Thursdays, I’ve usually got some spare time in the afternoons, so that’s when I get a lot of writing done. It was a predictable life. It was my life, and I was content.
Then, last summer, a friend of mine blew that comfortable routine of mine right out of the water. All it took was one innocent little question.
“Hey, Sylvia, how’d you like to help me start a publishing company?”
And just like that, my comfortable routine was shattered into a million little pieces.
Of course, I didn’t give David a response right away. (Didn’t want him to think I was that easy.) It took a bit of cajoling on his part, as well as a lot of peer pressure. “John and Ade and Tracie are doing it too. Come on, take a chance.” But the more I thought about it, the more the idea appealed to me. Be part of a publishing company? One that specializes in horror and dark fiction? Hey, why not? Sounds like it could be fun. That’s how they get you, you know. That’s how they suck you in. First taste is free.
Then they made me a board member. I had a title – “Publicity Director”. (I still think they gave me that title because I have no sense of shame or moderation when it comes to promoting my work.) We got stationery with my name right on it – in ink. Suddenly I was no longer just a writer. I was no longer responsible just for my own work. I was a member of a company, with, you know, duties and stuff. What on earth were these people thinking?
Then David dropped the biggest bombshell of all on this routine-loving, homebody little librarian. “Oh yeah, we’re all going to the World Horror Convention. In Austin Texas. Yes, ALL of us.” Even me, who would much, much rather stay home and read a book (or write one) than go out on a Saturday night. I sighed. This would take me even farther out of my comfortable routine. I don’t even like going out to downtown Peoria, which is half an hour away. And David wanted me to go to Texas? Yeesh! But, I figured, if the folks from Britain and flippin’ Australia could make it, I suppose I could be there too. I left the dogs with my husband, took time off from work, and made the trek to Austin. (And that’s a whole ‘nother blog post…)
And something happened there in Austin, in the dealers’ room at the World Horror Convention. Something strange, something wonderful. I was standing behind the table, waiting to jump on the next soul who wandered past (“Here, have a pen! And a bookmark! And a catalog!”), when I glanced down at the books on display. Now, I’ve been to book signings before. I’ve sold books before, sometimes with other authors. We’re always good at tag-teaming each other, passing off potential customers to each other. After all, if SOMEONE makes a sale, it’s all good, right? But at the end of the day, each writer has their own books to sell.
But. But! When I looked down at the table loaded with books in front of me, something occurred to me. Whether I sold a copy of The Taming of the Werewolf, or Snareville, or The Left Hand, or Pray – it all benefitted the company. And in the end, no matter which book I ended up selling, it would benefit me. And if Tracie sold a copy of my novel Price of Admission, that would benefit her. We were all in this together. I could feel a grin spreading across my face. Boy, there really was something to this whole cooperative thing after all.
So this trip to Austin jolted me out of my routine. So what? It’s good to shake things up once in a while. And things have stayed shaken, that’s for sure. I can now call myself a member of a respected publishing company. I’m the Publicity Director for Dark Continents Publishing. I have, you know, duties and stuff.
I still would rather stay home than go out, though. And I still like to hole up and write on a Thursday afternoon.