Calling All Readers

From D.M. Youngquist

Hello folks. Sorry it’s been awhile since I’ve put up a blog or a note or anything else. To be honest, I’d gotten away from the writing end of things somewhat, but now that I’m back, I’ll be contributing more as often as I can.

Let me give you my definition of a small press. A small press is usually comprised of people either crazy enough or ballsy enough to try to be publishers on their own. Probably a little of both. I believe we here at Dark Continents Publishing are made up of folks like that. We got our start as writers, and got tired of putting up with all the industry BS, and set out to do it better.

I’ll let you in on a little secret though: When your muse leaves you, and give you the cold shoulder, you’re going down the wrong path. My muse clammed up weeks ago. Writing was pretty much gone from my life. I was stagnant. Why? Because I let the business take the fun out of writing.

Now don’t get me wrong. Business and industry are important. People have to know about you, They have to know you’re out there. They have to know you actually publish books.

Guess what? The industry and the business know we’re here. From the other publishers to our printers, “the business” knows we’re here. Seems like most of the people who don’t know we’re here are you folks. The people who buy and love books. The end consumer.

Confession time. My day job is working in one of the ACE Hardware warehouses. I sling freight all day. Looonnnggg days now that we’re well into spring. If you live in the Midwest, and shop at ACE, there’s a good chance I’ve handled your merchandise at one point.

And one thing about ACE, is it consistently wins awards for customer service and satisfaction. Not Menard’s, not Lowe’s. Your little ol’ corner hardward ACE store.

So, since we’re a small, indie press, and the industry knows about us, what I want to do this spring and summer is for all of us at Dark Continents to get to know our customers better. Our readers. We want to hear from you. What you like, what you don’t like about our books.

“Well, they do that with their purchases,” industry would say.

This is true, to an extent, but don’t we as writers devour every review of our book by the hundreds of reviewers and bloggers out there? We live or die when we read someone found a missed comma or a misspelled word.

But what about the true critics? The ones that matter? The people who buy and read the books? Are we telling them a good story, or are we trying to produce what the industry wants?

That’s why I’m going to start trying something different. We’ll be running weekly questions about books, the industry, and other various issues, but we’ll be putting up reviews by friends and people who have read our books. Not just mine and the board here, but all our books, from Quiet Houses to Campfire Chillers to Blood Curry.

Some of the advance copies we have coming for Dan Russell’s The Collector will be going to readers as well. It sounds strange, but who do you go to for your movie and music reviews? I’d rather know what my buddy Rick Clancy thinks of a movie than Rex Reed.

We’ll mix things up. Don’t worry. We’ve got some great reviewers who look at our work, and I don’t want to miss Andy or Jim, but for the last few months we’ve been too wrapped up in what some folks call the incestuousness of the industry (I’ve got another phrase for it, but my Momma taught me to be polite in public) and we’ve lost track of our true goal.

And what is that? Bringing quality stories to the readers out there from great talent. Simple as that.

Now, speaking of the salt mines, I have to head for work. People need garden hoses, by golly, and I’ve got a warehouse full of them.

The Muse

Guest Post by: Dean M. Drinkel

As I was growing up it was definitely the Americans that inspired me.  American music, films, writers, history – and that’s just for starters.  My first collection of short stories “The Burial” (hopefully to be re-issued later this year in an “advanced format”) is certainly inspired by the States and my time at Towson State University and subsequent trips to Boston, New York and Baltimore.  When I flick through the pages and the words jump out at me, I can remember the sights, the smells, the people that made those stories possible.

I always thought it was going to be America that I ended up but, the last few years I have found my new muse and that is France – with Paris in particular playing a prevalent role in my work.  My recent story collection “Through a Forest Dark” – published through Dark Continents and their “Tales of Darkness and Dismay” series is certainly testament to that.  If you’ve been to Paris you may know the places I’ve written about, but if not, it doesn’t matter though it does (in my mind at least) add a certain legitimacy to the tales.  Two of the four stories are set in places I regularly visit – I won’t spoil it but there’s a museum and a hotel.  The other two similarly and all four written whilst I was listening to French musicians such as OSNS, SoulKast, Raphael and Lully!

The French have a different way of looking at things, they’re not snobbish about horror or sci-fi, in fact the opposite, they embrace it.  The horror films that they make are mindblowing – yes they can be classed “torture porn” but that’s just on the surface, there are lots interesting metaphors and images in their movies and more often or not there is a twist in the tale that even M. Night Shyamalan would be proud off. 

Of course their most well-known films are about to be remade by Hollywood – so it’ll be interesting to see if they stick to the originals or “re-imagine” them with a Hollywood twist. French directors too are heading to Hollywood with most of the big horror franchises seemingly having French helmers connected to them – time will tell on that one I guess.

For me, I am currently working on a new horror novel set in the South of France as well as a new collection set once more in Paris.  Having been heavily influenced by the poet Rimbaud – I am also currently doing rewrites on a horror novella set in 19^th Century Paris!!!!  And with the Cannes Film Festival soon upon us I hope to be able to pimp my very dark religious script “Magdalene”

Here’s a quick list of four French horror movies worth checking out – don’t say I didn’t warn you, they’re definitely not for the faint-hearted!

Sheitan:                               Directed by Kim Chapiron, 2006

Haute Tension:                 Directed by Alexandre Aja, 2003

Martyrs:                               Directed by Pascal Laugier, 2008

Frontier(s):                         Directed by Xavier Gens, 2007

 

Dean M Drinkel

Dean M Drinkel’s short stories have appeared in diverse publications such as Literal Translations, Estronomicon, Theaker’s Quarterly, Morpheus Tales, M is for Monster and Monk Punk. His short films The Crumps, Fou, Ruby, The Imp Of The Perverse have screened at the Cannes Film Festival. His theatre productions have been staged in various theatres throughout England. He was runner up for the 2001 Sir Peter Ustinov Screenwriting Award with his feature script Ghosts. He recently compiled Phobophobia (Dark Continents Publishing, 2011), Through a Forest Dark (Dark Continents, 2012) and Cities of Death (Static Movement 2012).  He is currently editing a Titanic inspired anthology to be published by Dark Continents during Fall 2012.

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