I have 42 stories left to read but my brain is mush this morning so I’ll hold off until tomorrow. If you haven’t received an acceptance to round two or a rejection, one of the two is coming this week…

            Boone has been working as a fiction editor since 2005, when he took a copy-editing position with Carnifex Press.  His first print anthology was When the World Runs Thin.  Boone has since been a copy editor, lead editor, and managing editor for various fiction and non-fiction publications, including Staffs & Starships, Loki’s Journal online, Wizard Productions, Community Connections News magazine, and most recently, Steampunk Magazine.

            As a writer, he has had stories published online at EveryDayFiction.com, 365Tomorrows, and Big Pulp.  Boone has also had non-fiction work appear in CCN magazine, as well as a short in the aforementioned When the World Runs Thin anthology.  His work ranges from dystopian to literary, poetic flash fiction to steampunk.  J Boone Dryden is a lover of all things short story and avidly reads a vast selection of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Magic Realism, mainstream, and others. He also writes about writing, the writer’s life, and his thoughts on process and theory at his blog, One Writer’s Perspective.

            Day-to-day he runs the Milwaukee Writers Workshop, a critique and workshop group for writers, founded in 2006.  It is now one of the largest and longest-running groups for writers in Milwaukee, and it is host to WriteCamp Milwaukee – the only free, un-conference for writing of all kinds, now in its fourth year.

            J Boone Dryden hopes to bring some fresh material to Rymfire Books and exhibit his understanding and love of Science Fiction short works.

We will now be focusing on the open States: Nevada, North Carolina, Maine, Washington State, Maryland, Illinois, Colorado, Alaska and Florida. We’ll update you on where each State stands as far as submissions as they come in.

We’ll also be adding a new State or two to the list as well, so keep checking back and follow us on Facebook for all the latest news for these anthologies at State of Horror Facebook Group

This morning I hit the 225-read mark and wanted to share some stats with you… because I felt like it, and I haven’t posted in way too long over here…

I either rejected outright or moved the story to Second Round A or Second Round B. Rejected means, duh, your story was rejected. I think we all know what that means, right? Second Round A means I really liked the story, it was original, and there weren’t any glaring weaknesses to it. Second Round B means I liked the main part of the story but there were some questions about it, either the plot or characters, or the spelling/grammar was off and it needed a rewrite… and (especially in at least 2 cases) the story would’ve been a solid choice for group A if the author had taken the time to edit it one more time.

More than likely I’ll have my 15-20 stories for the book in Second Round A and the ones in B will be rejected.

Now, the stats (I know, I know, exciting!):

225 stories read so far…

12 accepted into Second Round A – 5.3%

4 accepted into Second Round B – 1.7%

209 stories rejected – 93%

Keeping the percentages in-line for the rest of the stories, I’ll have 18 stories in Second Round A and 6 in Second Round B, but the B group will be rejected and (perhaps) up to 3 of the A group…

Bottom line: edit your story, read it aloud and submit the best work you can submit.

“Zombie Writing!”

Will be FREE… that’s right we’re giving away this eBook FREE, no strings attached (although we’re hoping you love it so much that you post a review on Amazon about how much you loved it)

ZOMBIE WRITING!

So, You Want To Write About Zombies?

Learn secrets, opinions, styles, and get advice on creating your own zombie story, from 44 Masters of the Zombie Genre, whether they’re talking about books, short stories, movies, television and influences for your work, and talk about their own Undead Tales.

Neil Kloster * Mark Clodi * Richard Lee Byers * Joe McKinney * Jason S. Hornsby * Rie Sheridan Rose * Christian Jensen * Mainak Dhar * JD Gillam * Mark Justice * Michael D. Griffiths * Dane Hatchell * T.S. Charles * David Moody * Todd Brown * Craig DiLouie * Lee Pletzers * Andy Taylor * Kevin Coryell * Brent Abell * Sharon M. White * Kelly M. Hudson * Chantal Boudreau * Carole Gill * Marissa Farrar * Tim Waggoner * W.D. Gagliani * David Lee Summers * Lou Antonelli * Shawn M. Riddle * Keith Gouveia * Ian DG Sandusky * Tony Monchinski * David Dunwoody * DA Chaney * Adam Millard * Thomas Scopel * Jeremiah Coe * Jasper Bark * Ray Wallace * Eric S. Brown * Blaze McRob * Kate Madison * Armand Rosamilia

The story is about a chemistry student Jerrod Tayler who is asked to visit his eccentric and genius professor Dr. Luther at his home. In recent months, Professor Luther has come to mean more to Jerrod than his own father, who has never stopped belittling him. He is hoping his mentor has asked him over to discuss the secretive and revolutionary research he is doing at the university.

When he sees a century’s old painting of twin men standing side by side smiling in the professor’s study, he is shocked at their uncanny resemblance to Professor Luther. This is the first of many surprises in store for Jerrod at the good professor’s home. What lies waiting for him in the basement will certainly chill him to the bone.

Your thoughts on self-publishing vs. traditional publishers?

I have only published my stories in the traditional fashion, but several of my friends have tried their hands at self-publishing. Most of them have had great success with it, so I think the secret to making it either by self-publishing or via traditional publishing is just keeping in tune with what is popular and when in the industry, and keep writing. Getting a story, in a genre that is in demand, out every couple of months and keeping your productivity constant is the secret. The hard work usually pays off in the long run, no matter what venue of publishing a writer takes if he/she knows what’s in demand and focuses his/her writing to reflect the market. 

What do you think of the horror story genre these days?

Like all other genres, I believe it has spread its wings and keeps evolving. It goes with the flow as is the case with all genres. Right now I’m seeing a lot of new twists to classic horror tales making their course. Some are really interesting and unique takes on these classics.

Some of your favorite authors that inspired you?

There are many, but those who inspired me the most would be Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Austen, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Laurell K. Hamilton, and J K Rowling.

Each of these authors has or had his/her own unique style of writing that at one point or another took my breath away. The awe factor definitely came into play, whether via one of their characters they created, how they developed the plot, or through their narration.  

What is your ultimate – realistic – goal as a writer?

My realistic and practical goal is just to become a prolific writer in diverse genres. My learning process is never-ending. I want to experiment in many genres and cross genres, using various writing techniques. There’s always a new way to tell a tale and the journey of discovering a new way to write it is so fascinating to me.

What are some of your influences?

My mood, my music, my daily experiences, my life, my interests, my favorite authors, the list is endless on what influences what and how I write. It’s the same with all writers, I think.

Give us a typical day in your writing schedule.

My day is pretty chaotic, so finding the time to write is a challenge. I try to set aside an hour a day to write, and then will chose a piece of music or album that reflects my mood and complements the genre I’m writing in. I love lighting scented candles and have them around my laptop while I write, and of course a piping hot cup (cups) of my favorite coffee handy at all times.

When the muse is kind, I can write up to 2000 words in that hour. When it’s not, then it gets frustrating and I go onto some other task hoping and waiting for the muse to return.

What story/book of yours are you most proud of, and why?

That’s an easy question. The horror novel I co-wrote with Keith Gouveia, “The Dead Speak in Riddles”. It should be coming out this year with the Library of Horror Press. I love the protagonists Keith and I created. Mine is a French Canadian ex-monk/ hoarder who has a past history with tampering with Ouija boards and the occult. Keith’s is a charismatic and cunning vampire who used to be a priest centuries ago. His character is mysterious and intriguing. He breaks all molds of what a vampire should be.

Here’s a tentative blurb on it:

Deep in the dark and cryptic catacombs of the Capuchin monastery in Palermo, Sicily evil stirs. Among the over two thousand mummified remains lies a buried secret. One about to be uncovered by a naive and stray ex monk. After channeling spirits via a Ouija Board, Gontier Tremblay is guided to the catacombs to stop this evil from rising.

Insatiable thirst for blood is a curse Father Abramo wishes on no living soul. After killing the four priests that took his true love, Ersilia, away from him, he was damned and has been roaming the world with this thirst for over two centuries. He’s been killing and feasting on blood off of the scum of the earth and ridding the world of their vileness and evil. But when the apparition of one of the priests he killed begins to haunt him, he soon uncovers the secret to resurrection. Armed with this revelation, he heads back to the catacombs to resurrect and be united with his true love and make her a powerful immortal as he.

Within the macabre crypts of the Capuchin monastery, good, evil, and the summoned undead will rise and fight, and the fate of mankind will be determined by the final outcome when the Dead Speak in Riddles.

What are you working on now?

I have a few short stories I’m fiddling with as well as a mystery/thriller novel I’m co-writing with a very good friend. We’re still working on the research on it, which is quite complicated and time consuming. But we’re having a great time with it. It’s uncanny what you can find out about history and the secrets buried in our relics. These secrets are right there in front of us, but we don’t actually see them until someone else points them out to us, which is our case right now.

Shameless plug time… where can we find your work and you?

Via my website: www.giovannalagana.com

My novels, anthologies, ezines, and magazines where my stories have been featured are listed there as well as my blog.

Revenant

Seven Ghostly Tales of Horror… Featuring Sing ‘Em by Loretta Leslie… When The Bough Breaks by Trent Roman… Isolation by Jason White… That Smell by Horace James… From The Neighbors, With Love by Frank Roger… The Rails by Raine Sellers… Rendezvous on 22 Mountain by Jason Andrews… Edited by Armand Rosamilia

Amazon Kindle

Revenant II

Featuring Six Ghostly Tales of Horror… The Stranger and the Ghost by David Taub… Hospitality by James Gardner… The Cherry Tree by James S. Dorr… The Knight In The Wall by Martha Hubbard… Kid, House, Forest, Monster by Aaron J. French… The Slave Canal by David F. Gray… Edited by Armand Rosamilia

Amazon Kindle

“A Frontier Banquet” is set during a time of westward expansion into Oregon. Deep in the Cascade Range, a railroad agent and a pack of mercenaries stumble upon something that has been buried for a long time. Now, hordes of undead Indian warriors and one prehistoric horror want their flesh.

Your thoughts on self-publishing vs. traditional publishers?

Probably the two biggest advantages of traditional publishing are exposure and money. Because those have never been our core assets, I would argue that horror is uniquely positioned to take advantage of self-publishing. Consider. Horror has produced relatively few superstars, and several of them, such as Poe and Lovecraft, died penniless. Horror works well in bulk. In econ-speak, by allowing more producers into the market, self-publishing shifts the supply curve outward. Whether in cheap pulps, the goofy shock magazines of the ‘60s & ‘70s, entire vistas of cheaply-made monster flicks, or shiny new anthologies, horror has always been a genre that believed quantity had its own special quality.
Self-publishing has some new advantages too. Now, electronic media can disseminate anyone’s work far and wide for dirt cheap. It will be interesting to see if we start to get some horror figures coming out of the self-publishing world thanks to these new developments.

What do you think of the horror story genre these days?

Horror could see a minor resurgence in popularity in the future. Tangentially macabre franchises from Twilight to television’s Ghost Hunters or Grimm have proven popular enough to earn imitators. Even better for standard horror, the popularity of zombies remains high (even shambling onto television with The Walking Dead). If we’re real lucky-like, more people may begin to drift from there into horror fiction.
Or maybe I’m just talking through my hat and it’s nothing but Twilight spinoffs and NecRomance for the next decade.

Some of your favorite authors that inspired you?

The Big Six:
Cornea-blistering action sequences: Matthew Reilly
First interested me in horror: Stephen King
Can’t-put-it-down pacing: Lee Child
History goes (horribly) awry: Harry Turtledove
Slick characterization: writing duo Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
 
There are a plenty of authors who inspire me, including the late Michael Crichton, Shelby Foote, and Robert Ludlum, but if I were some sort of talent-vampire, skulking through the night and feasting on the skills of others, I’d start with those six guys. I’m consistently blown away by their books.

What is your ultimate – realistic – goal as a writer?

I’d be pretty happy to be in the same room as any of the people mentioned above. Granted, it would probably because I was delivering a pizza to some writing convention, but, hey, whatever works.

What are some of your influences?

Oddly enough, Mystery Science Theatre 3000 might be a major influence on my writing. On the show, a man and his robot companions are forced to watch terrible movies as part of a mad experiment, and the audience watches along as the hosts mock the rubber-suited monsters and stilted dialogue. MST3K exposed me from a young age to the gleefully cheesy horror films of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Perhaps of equal importance, it taught me what not to do with a story. Do NOT leave your audience in the dark. Do NOT have pointless subplots. Do NOT take your work too seriously.

Give us a typical day in your writing schedule.

I’m either in my classes at the University of Oregon or up to no good during daylight hours, so I write at night. The amount of writing is directly proportional to the proximity of a deadline.

What story/book of yours are you most proud of, and why?

“Billy Yank Versus the Conqueror Worms” might be my favorite story. It appeared in Rymfire’s own State of Horror: Massachusetts. Aside from a nifty little narrative within the narrative which I’m inordinately proud of, I’m quite fond of both the giant maggot creatures and the ending.

What are you working on now?

Graduating.

Shameless plug time… where can we find your work and you?

Potential stalkers are welcome to find me on Facebook. My stories can be found in Undead of Winter, State of Horror: Georgia, State of Horror Massachusetts, and Skeletal Remains from Rymfire and The Big Book of New Short Horror by Pill Hill Press.

We’d love to hear suggestions/comments from you to make this the best experience possible…

We’ll be adding content, submissions policies, contests, interviews, etc. in the coming days and look forward to your feedback.

Our goal is to be a solid publisher of Horror, Heavy Metal and Undead in 2012.

Won’t you join us?