Via Neil Gaiman…who passed this on and made me smile VERY early in the morning…

My son turned 17 and in celebration, he and I went out for Sushi.  We didn’t take the rest of the family because a: they hate sushi and b: he wanted to go bowling.  So that is what we did.  My younger son, Zane (Dudemister on YouTube) wants to be a film maker, and he recorded (and edited) some footage of the great sporting event…it’s a little long…

And he was me.  I spent some time last week bringing my collection “The Fall of the House of Escher & Other Illusions” back to life as an e-book.  This was published in 1995 – one of a series that included “Something Haunts Us All,” by Brian A. Hopkins, “Fugue Devil & Other Weird Hororrs,” by Stephen Mark Rainey, and “Endorphins,” by Nancy Kilpatrick.  Volumes were also scheduled by Lois Tilton and John B. Rosenman, but the project faltered.

Anyway…it was interesting to go back and read the stories that defined my early career.  I wrote with a lot of energy and passion back then – a little less craft, but for the most part, they stand up.  Hell, I wrote novels based on two of the stories in this volume…I guess they stuck with me.

More on this in my Storytellers Unplugged Essay “A Week in the Wayback Machine,”

More on the book itself:  I had to rescan and format two of the stories, and scan the artwork.  It was a labor of love, let me tell you.  I can say – I don’t write like this anymore.  On one hand, I know the craft has improved.  On the other, there’s an enthusiasm and style to these very early stories of mine that I still enjoy.  This collection includes a romantic fantasy, two vampire stories, a couple of my patented religious horror stories…in other words, variety.  I’ve published all the stories separately, and then I published the entire collection with all the original illustrations intact.

This is the first ever fiction collection by author David Niall Wilson. It was originally published as a signed, limited edition trade paperback in 1995.&nbsp; This book includes many early stories that have never been reprinted, and two – notably “On the Third Day,” and “A Candle Lit in Sunlight” that were later expanded to full-length novels.&nbsp; The cover is by the late and sorely missed Augie Wiedeman and the interior illustrations are by Michael Grilla. </P> <P>This collection includes vampires, magic, Lovecraftian horror, and religious fable. The introduction is by the late grandmaster of horror and fantasy, Hugh B. Cave.

All of the stories in this collection can be ordered individually on the site – or you can get the collection with original illustrations here.  DOWNLOAD THE COLLECTION FROM MACABRE INK DIGITAL. Or click the titles below to order the individual stories.  Very short stories have dropped to .50.

The contents include:

The Fall of the House of Escher
A Candle Lit in Sunlight
Miracles in the Night
On the Third Day
Yours, the Vengeance
On the Road to Damascus
Sparkling Eyes

I just finished listening to this this morning, so I thought I’d get my thoughts up here while they were fresh.  Let me begin by saying that I consider Straub to be one of the top two or three dark fantasy authors of our time.  His trilogy Koko / Mystery / and The Throat is a series of novels that I point to when trying to explain layered, multi-level fiction. He is sharp, literary, and I always admire his facility with words and his ability not to compromise literary quality and style for commercial ends.

With that out of the way, I have to say that I found this book slightly disappointing.  It is well written, and the premise is interesting, but for me the characters were a problem.  The protagonist is a novelist, and his outlook on life seems very sheltered and pampered.  I have a hard time relating to him, and I found his passivity somewhat of a downer.  I admit that it is entirely possible that this was due to the narrator, Robertson Dean, who has a very deep voice without a lot of character changing ability – sort of droning, I thought.  It may be that the narrator took over the voice of the character in a way that turned me off to the book in general.

The plot is the somewhat familiar “something bad happened to us all when we were kids and we’re back together to sort it out” formula.  I have loved this in the past, but this time I think the story might have benefited by a more linear approach.  I think, had the book begun when they were kids and followed through their lives from there, then come back later I might have enjoyed it more.  As written, I thought a lot of the build up was tedious, and even the very bad character who should have terrified me lost steam in the narrative “re-telling” of his deeds.

In fact, upon reflection, I believe that’s what bothered me about the book.  Almost all of the real action is told through narrative, and for me that narrative didn’t really come to life the way it has in earlier novels.  I just found myself not much caring what happened to Spenser Mallon, the 60s guru, or most of his flock of followers.  With a couple of notable exceptions, they were all self-absorbed, and even the connection brought about by their shared childhood trauma didn’t bridge the gap between them – probably because the narrator is the one member of their group who wasn’t really a part of the experience central to the story.

Anyway, before I give the wrong impression, I enjoyed this book.  It will not go down as one of my favorites by this author, and the narrator of the audio book will go on my “not unless it’s a masterpiece I have to read” list…

I’d give it about 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

-DNW

Things have a way of twisting themselves into knots that are hard to untie.  For instance, I’ve been spending a great deal of time getting the digital publishing thing moving forward.  It’s not easy – it takes formatting, it takes some proof-reading, it takes time to upload and convert and find art…and all of that, while time well spent, kept me form writing.

I have a novel, “Heart of a Dragon,” that I’ve revised the first eight chapters of.  Most of that has been in the last few days, as I force myself up through the sort of thick miasma of “other things to do” that has cramped my creativity of late.  I’m also just starting on a new ghost-writing project. This one is very intriguing, and I am taking my time with it.  What I need is to get back into the groove I had last summer, and that’s what I’m working toward.

The new schedule is come home, work with my youngest son on his homework, put the daughter thing to bed (after listening to her read) and then settle in to work.  I work on the new book first, trying to get at least a chapter – a couple of thousand words – before ten o’clock.  After that I have an hour, and in that hour I try to get at least one more chapter revised on the already completed novel.  It’s not optimal, but on a good night I can crank out five thousand on the new book and revise two or three chapters.  It’s a matter of focus.  It’s a matter of not obsessively checking Amazon sales and bulletin boards.  It’s a matter of discipline.

I guess this is sort of a kick in my own butt to get me going…tonight was good.  I didn’t write on the new book, but I revised the first chapter and cleaned it up, and I know where it’s headed next.  I also revised chapter eight of “Heart of a Dragon.”  It’s something.  Tomorrow I hope for something more.

See you there…

-DNW

Last night I got a truly delightful e-mail from a woman in Florida who puts together boxes, books, and a newsletter for our soldiers fighting over in Iraq and Afghanistan. She and her husband had been wondering why all the fuss about rabbits on Easter when it’s ham we carve for the Easter Dinner. She hit Google, and she found my story – The Easter Pig, written for my daughter Katie. I hope this will make the pig an integral part of the Easter tradition – it is now to be a part of the Easter edition of the newsletter going overseas. I hope it brings some laughs!

I wrote this for my daughter Katie a few years back.  We shake it off and blow away the dust every year.  This time we cleaned up the story a little and did some new artwork…several folks asked me about it, so … without further ado, here you go.  THE EASTER PIG…

Everyone knows the story of the Easter Bunny.   We all know how he travels the world every Easter morning, hiding candy and colorful eggs for all the good boys and girls to find and  how he bring smiles to every face with baskets full of plastic grass, laden with treasure.

There are other creatures of Easter, though, and eventually all of their stories must be told.  They aren’t always pretty, and they are possibly not as pleasing to boys, girls, parents or anyone who hears them, but fair is fair, so forget the hare, so to speak.  This is the tale of the Easter Pig and his eternal quest to bring an end to the egg-heavy holiday, fighting year after year in his porcine rage, unheralded and near-forgotten.

>==>Read the entire story >==>