Today's featured author is Kenny Sills who wrote the novel "Tattoo: A Beautiful Sin." Kenny has been signed to Dark Moon Press. Remember if you're an author interested in having a feature on the blog contact me through the site.
                                   Thanks ~Micah




By Kenny Sills

Imagine waking up in a darkened room.  A bright light flashes on over your head and you find yourself naked, bleeding, and tied down to a cold, metal autopsy table.  A giant mad man, dressed as a surgeon, enters the room.  Your eyes follow him as he makes his way to a nearby stereo.  He pushes a button and the melodic sounds of a Beethoven piece fills the air.  He turns to look at you but with his surgeons cap and mask covering his face, all you can see are his dark, void eyes.  He removes a blue towel from a metal stand, revealing several pristine surgical devices... and an old rusty pocket knife...  He glides his latex covered finger over the tattoo on your chest and his eyes wrinkle as he smiles beneath his mask.  As the classical music rages on, he picks up a shiny, metal scalpel from the table and you begin to scream as it punctures the flesh just above your tattoo.

Deep within the Manistee National Forest, in the weeks leading up to Halloween, the secluded logging village of Walkerville, Michigan is thrust into a nightmare as locals start disappearing, only to have their bodies, or body parts, found; naked, pale, and with deep patches of flesh seemingly ripped out of them where there once were tattoos. The local sheriff and deputies must enlist the help of Captain Parker and the Grand Rapids Homicide Department. While interviewing Syndi, the most beautiful woman in Walkerville, Captain Parker vows to keep her safe... but can he keep his promise? The village sheriff and Captain Parker desperately try to work on the bizarre cases in their own distinctive ways, to find the person or persons responsible for the grisly murders before other unfortunate villagers suffer the same fate.

Websites:
http://tattooauthor.wix.com/tattoo
https://www.facebook.com/TattooABeautifulSin

Can be bought here
http://www.amazon.com/Tattoo-A-Beautiful-Sin-ebook/dp/B0077T9PZ8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329405674&sr=1-1

or for an autographed hard copy, email me at [email protected]

“There’s always two of me just hanging around…” Immortalized by the great American Philosopher Weird Al Yankovic


So the guitarist in my old band always said “I wish I could clone myself.” He thought he could make the perfect band if he could clone himself four times and then all of his clones would play different instruments. His band would then go on to rule the world and topple the Beatles as the greatest band ever.


I sometimes think about this myself; If only I could clone myself I could send my clone off to work so he would be bringing home a paycheck while I stayed at home to write. The biggest problem would be that all of you guys would have to deal with two people with my “unique” personality bothering you all the time. I’ll paraphrase what the late great John Candy once said in a movie “What’s unique mean.. Latin for Asshole?”


Or what if we could clone some of the greatest humans we have ever had on this earth? Imagine an entire baseball team of Ted Williams’s or an entire government full of Abe Lincolns. The easy answer is that variation makes life so incredible, different people bringing different skill sets to every occasion. It’s true that if everyone were the same, life would be boring, but what if we just allowed the really, really great people the ability to clone themselves? Maybe we could have a vote on who would be acceptable to clone? Although then we’d probably end up with some American Idol like reality show where the winner could clone themselves and we’d end up with fifty-six Clay Aiken’s running around. They’d probably call it “American I-dolls.”


Maybe a suitable solution would be that you could clone yourself, but you’d have to leave one of you chained up in the basement at all times. People could visit your clone if they wanted, but really no one would and you’d end up down in the cellar playing X-box with your clone all day. Although wouldn’t that defeat the whole purpose of having a clone?


So my question for everyone reading this blog is: If you could clone yourself would you? and what would you have your clone do while you did whatever?

So we have another installment of our author guest blog. Today is B.P. Broome an up and coming author who has his novel available at Smashwords and Amazon.

Hope you enjoy,
Micah

The More Things Change, The More They Remain The Same




I completed the first draft of my first post-apocalyptic novel, A World Gone Gray, way back in 2007. Like most writers, I planned on setting the initial draft aside for a month or so to: a) distance myself from the work in the hopes of bringing a fresh eye to the editing process, and b) write other stuff. Then life happened.


I finally got around to editing AWGG in mid-2008, just as America’s presidential race was beginning to heat up. The main antagonist (aside from magma and tectonic plates) in the novel is a corporate raider named Howard Garner. When society collapses, he takes it upon himself to assemble a young, impressionable group of frightened survivors and turn them into a mindless fighting machine willing to do his every bidding, no matter the reason or the risk. Not surprisingly, mid-2008 me drew a few parallels between Mr. Garner and the guy who was preparing to leave the White House and retire to his ranch in Texas.


I spent most of 2008 and 2009 sending query letters to just about any literary agent vaguely familiar with the sci-fi and thriller genres. Though I had a few partial requests, nothing came of them. In the meantime, life happened again, and A World Gone Gray was relegated to the back burner.


Flash-forward to 2012. Our humble author has finally gotten his shit together, and he’s established roots in the heart of the Midwest. He blows the dust off his ancient manuscript and dives full-bore into editing it again. Along the way, he notices eerie parallels between the bad guy in his novel (Howard Garner), and the guy currently occupying the White House. Both are incredibly charismatic, both have a deep-seated urge to reach the highest stations in life regardless of the cost to those around them, and both are woefully unqualified to hold the position they hold.


Both A World Gone Gray and my second novel, Signal Fire, were written long before I’d heard of the prepper movement. Though there are some prepper elements in each novel, I left most of my characters to deal with the sudden changes in society with nothing but the shirts on their backs. Thankfully, they’re bright enough to know that they can’t rely on random smiling guys in suits to lead them when the fecal matter makes contact with the oscillating cooling mechanism. When all is said and done, I think they’ll be okay.

***

B.P. Broome writes fiction in Indiana when he isn’t at work paying his bills. His post-apocalyptic novel, A World Gone Gray, is available at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GSIBV5G/) and Smashwords, as is his short story collection (http://www.amazon.com/Like-Life-Itself-Short-Stories-ebook/dp/B00GZCZC5A/). His second novel, Signal Fire, will be released on March 4, 2014. He blogs at: http://bpbroome.wordpress.com/

So as an author I'm supposed to love all words, I'm required to think that there are no stupid words only people who miss-use words. I'm here to tell you that there are stupid words, at least in my opinion and that these words are popping up more and more lately. 

The words that I really hate are the trendy new smashed together combo words. For example "Guy-liner" that's just lame, or "Stay-cation" come on! recently on the news I heard a weather man say "Snow-mageddon" why do we have to jam two word together to make some kind of cheesy hybrid. If you can think of more of these types of words that are trendy and should never be uttered again please post them down in the comments section. Thanks that would be Booty-licious ... I'm going to go put on my Man-kini and I'll check back later.


Thanks
Micah

For today’s blog I’d like to discuss the Strain Series by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, but more importantly I want to ask if you think it’s a good idea to transform that series into a Television program on F/X? The series consists of three books The Strain, The Fall and The Night Eternal. It’s a modified vampire-virus story. It’s really good and if you haven’t read it I recommend it.


Anyway, Del Toro made the decision to put the series on F/X as opposed to making it into a feature film trilogy. I simply don’t think that this series will work as a basic cable program. It’s very violent and contains subject matter ranging from Vampire autopsies to vicious attacks and destruction of humans.  That isn't a problem if they stay in line with the book, but I think they’ll probably sensor the hell out of it and dumb it down. Maybe I’m wrong, The Walking Dead has been pretty violent and sometimes gory and that has been true to form.


That brings me to Del Toro’s motivation: Is he putting the series on F/X because he doesn't want to deal with the costs and hassles of making three Pacific Rims? Or is he going with the television medium to try and capitalize on the Walking Dead success? Is it a combination of all of the above or did he get a deal too good to refuse from F/X?


Del Toro has bucked the trend many times… When they told him a Japanese style, Godzilla full feature wouldn’t work anymore unless it was a re-boot, he made Pacific Rim anyway. When critics said he couldn’t be an author of anything that didn’t have a visual aspect, he released the Strain Series. Blade, Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth were all cult successes and he backed out of the Hobbit when it was a guaranteed buttload of money (I know he still got some dough). Proving he has the balls to blot if a project doesn't meet with his approval.

Of course we won’t know until we see it whether Del Toro made the right choice, but let’s speculate.

So what do all of you think??? Please comment below, I’d like everyone’s opinion on this.


Thanks -- The guest blog hosts will be back very soon.


~Micah

This is the first post in a series of guest blogs set to come up over the next few week. Furious Deep is a talented horror and post-apocalyptic writer from Illinois. His debut novel "The God Cure" will hit shelves soon you can get to his site here:  http://furiousdeep.wix.com/furiousdeep


If you are interested in guest hosting this blog please see the prior entry. Thanks everyone for all the support, enjoy this post about why we write/love post-apocalyptic fiction. 


Micah~



A Post-Apocalyptic Sign of the Times by Furious Deep

“Fuck Martha Stewart. Martha’s polishing the brass on the Titanic. It’s all going down, man." - Tyler Durden

Why is it that when I heard this line in the movie theater I wanted to stand up and cheer? We are seeing more and more stories about the end of civilization as we know it, and I believe there is a good reason for it. Reality shows about doomsday preppers, survivalists, and underground bunkers are all over primetime TV. Websites about alternative housing and permaculture are drawing in members by the thousands. Books and movies about surviving the end of times have been growing in popularity for years, and just like Tyler Durden's philosophizing, they have captured the imagination of people everywhere. But why the appeal? Why does this one subject seem to strike a chord with so many? Well, the short answer, in my opinion, is that life kinda sucks. 

People are fed up with business as usual. We have been raised with the false idols of economic stability and the American dream, and now that we are here we have the sickening feeling that there must have been some mistake. Surely this is not how things were meant to be? We rushed to grow up to the promise of freedom that adulthood would bring, and now that we are here, we realize we've been duped. We were told we had to go to school to get good jobs and be successful, that somehow we were going to have it easier than our parents did when they were working too hard to actually spend time with us. Now here we are saddled with thousands upon thousands of dollars in student loans that can never be discharged, hundreds of thousands of dollars in mortgage debt, car payments, cell phone bills, and a ridiculously high cable bill so that we can sit down for a few hours each night and try to forget how miserable we are. 

It is no wonder that anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting more than 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older. No fewer than one in every ten Americans suffer from depression as well, and that number is growing by 20% each year. Prescription drugs to treat these diseases are the most commonly prescribed medications in the U.S... I believe that these diseases are a direct result of the way we live our lives; in the same way that obesity and heart disease are a consequence of our diets. More and more American's are seeking treatment for these problems each year, because deep down inside we all know that eventually we are going to die and we are wasting what little time we have. It seems hopeless...

And then someone comes along with a story. It is story where it all just goes away. The slate is wiped clean. The bills are gone. The job you hate is gone. All the bullshit... gone. It evokes in us a unique combination of fear and delight. A terrible yearning for the loss of all the noise and static and the beginning of a new life filled with purposeful action. It is a story where instead of just getting by, going through the motions of the daily auto-pilot routine until you can finally retire and die; you get to live with purpose. Every action is a means of survival. A new world where you can't ignore your kids with your nose buried in a smart phone. A world where the only things that mater are the people you love, food and shelter. A post-apocalyptic world where we finally get it right. 
Sources:

http://www.healthline.com/health/depression/statistics-infographic

http://www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics

I want to have a guest hosting session on my blog where any writers and readers in the science fiction, horror, fantasy and post-apocalyptic/dystopian sub-genre post; pimp their book, tell a story or discuss anything at all they want. If you’re a writer (even if it’s short stories), reader, or a fan of fiction (movies, books, television, video games) please contact me through the site. Or you can respond through a comment in this post. I will set-up a day when you can take over a whole blog posting. You can ask a question, start a poll, tell a story, anything goes or promote anything you have created like written stories or artwork/video etc. the only parameters are that it has to be in the categories I have listed.


Hopefully we can get a “fireside” discussion going where people who are interested in anything from Aliens to Zombies can post on this blog. So this is a call to all writers, readers and fans step forward. There are no stupid blog posts anything within the realm of science fiction, Horror, fantasy and the sub-genres is welcome!

Tell me your favorite Ghost Story!! Let's scare the pants off each other!!

Don't be shy, we all bite!

So you may be wondering why I am discussing panic attacks on a writing website… The reason is that my main character in my upcoming novel “Wormwood” suffers from severe anxiety attacks and so do I. Nate’s triggers are international catastrophes, he panics while watching the news. He becomes a “doomsday prepper,” but his worst fear actually happens -- Nuclear War…. But that’s all you’ll get out of me, I don’t want to ruin the story for you…. No more spoilers from here on out:


My triggers are different, my first panic attack happened on a plane flight back from my brother’s wedding in Winnipeg, Canada.  I felt like I couldn’t breathe, like the world was closing in around me. It wasn’t that I was afraid of crashing, it was that I hated not seeing where we were going, not having control. So after you have one panic attack it starts a “vicious cycle” that’s because every time you get a little anxious you start to think about the last panic attack. So then you have another one, and you remember the previous panic attack and on and on……


So I went and got it checked out. The psychologist diagnosed me with (PAD) Panic/Anxiety Disorder. No shit. Obviously I had a panic disorder, but I was surprised to learn how common it is.


Nowadays when I have a panic attack it reminds me of the scene from Steven Spielberg's “Empire of the Sun” when the doctor yells at Christian Bale’s character Jim and says “Try not to think so much, Jim, try not to think so much.” My whole body feels buzzy, but not in a good way, I get so that I feel like I can’t take in a big enough breath. I feel sweaty and my heart races, it lasts for a period of about 10 minutes where I might die or go crazy or both.  The strange thing, or maybe it’s not so strange, I don’t know enough about it. Is that I feel anxious for the rest of the day. Most of my panic attacks either happen when I wake up in the morning or sometimes I wake up in the midst of one in the middle of the night.


So that’s where I am today, in a ball of anxiety.  02/15/2014

So there are many sites and blogs about traditional publishing vs. self-publishing. Which is better and what works for which type of author. I don't have personal experience with either so I'm going to discuss how this decision has fallen to me and what I plan to do about it. 

When I finished my novel "Wormwood" I was super excited. I want to get it out to everyone who could ever want to read it. So I started querying agents, I found that agents are completely bombarded by authors seeking representation. There is so much noise directed in their direction that it's virtually impossible for an unknown commodity (like myself) to even get my sample chapters read. The process of getting noticed usually takes years, showing up to their speaking engagements following their blogs etc... But I want my novel out sooner than later, I want people to read it. So I did some research, I sent my book to some small publishers, I looked into self-publishing. I received some interest from two small publishers, but they would want a percentage of any royalties and the rights to my book. What happens if they go out of business, what happens if my book sits on their site and sells two copies??? It's a pretty big risk to take when a year or more's work is in their hands. This book is my baby, I don't want to lose it when a small publisher goes under in this difficult business.

 I came across one of my favorite authors http://HughHowey.com I always thought he was with the big New York publishers. He's a best-seller and writes really amazing science fiction. It turns out he's self-published, not only is he self-published, but he's an advocate for self-publishing in general. Visit his site he's broken it down to a science.

Hugh's major point is why as writers are we giving publishers a piece of our hard work when the online publishing world is available to everyone. Every consumer gets their books online now, whether it's through their Kindle or buying print books from Amazon... His point is why should we let someone take a percentage for something we can do ourselves. Why take 40% royalties or less when we can get 70% doing it ourselves.

I kind of agree with him especially for my first book. 

Of course there are some huge benefits with traditional publishing; namely marketing and promotion. If you self publish you do everything yourself, no one will ever know your book exists if it's not marketed and promoted.

So I think the best course for me is to self-publish, hope to build a following and then hopefully the traditional publishers will come to me. I have started my platform, that is what this is, have a look around. I've started to put my name out there to feather the bed for when my novel is released. At first I will be depending a lot on family and close friends. I appreciate every single one of you.

So please if you're into social media -- tweet or post my website on your facebook page, linked in or twitter etc. etc.

Thanks for reading. I will continue to share my journey into the publishing world here.
-Micah