QUOTE/BOOK OF THE WEEK: February 9, 2015

Instead of offering up a particular quote from a written work that I found exceptionally moving or compelling, I've decided to reference an entire book as inspiring and compelling. Being an aficionado of the darker side of literature, I like to think I'm case-hardened and that no written work can deeply disturb me given my familiarity with the genre. JF Gonzalez's SURVIVOR is one of the few novels that has tested my endurance and genuinely captivated and repulsed me with its extreme content. That's not to say, however, that the work is merely an excuse for gratuitous violence; in fact, the piece explores basic human survival instincts and the extreme sacrifices people make in order to simply escape certain perilous circumstances.

The book follows a couple and their romantic weekend getaway that quickly descends into a realm of depravity after a small band of assailants kidnap Lisa and plan to feature her in a "snuff film." Lisa, several months pregnant, desperately struggles to survive and makes a very unsettling deal with her kidnappers in order to survive - a deal she soon comes to regret, unfortunately.

Although I've only read the book once, I anticipate I will return to SURVIVOR time and time again for literary inspiration. The book is truly commendable in its delivery of captivating and enthralling characters and its ability to genuinely unsettle the reader. This is undoubtedly a book that will not appeal to everybody.  Regardless, for those who prefer high-octane unrelenting visceral horror fiction - look no further than JF Gonzalez's masterpiece, SURVIVOR.

MUSIC OF THE WEEK: February 9, 2015

Some might consider her the quirky Welsh equivalent of Katy Perry while others consider her unique and commendable in her own right; regardless of the public view, Marina Diamandis from Marina and the Diamonds is perhaps one of the most innovative and musically interesting artists operating in the music industry today. Widely applauded for her fashion style of amalgamating vintage elements with quirky cartoon sensibilities, Marina's voice and songwriting talents are far more recognized in the public eye. With already two relatively successful and well-received albums beneath her belt, Marina is currently on the press tour for her latest endeavor entitled, Froot. The new album is a departure from her previous effort, Electra Heart, which incorporated elements of electronic pop music and returns to the sonic elements of her first album, The Family Jewels, which borrowed materials from indie rock as well as new wave.

While the titular track of the upcoming album, Froot, is captivating and incorporates lighthearted 70's inspired disco elements, Marina's latest single from her upcoming project, entitled "Forget", is exceptionally inspired. The lyrics are relatively uncomplicated and mainly preach the philosophy of abandoning regret and moving on from one's mistakes. It's definitely a song to which I've been returning more and more frequently since I first heard it.

REFERENCE OF THE WEEK: February 9, 2015

A fantastically written and edited book dedicated to analyzing and promoting the best ways possible to craft compelling monsters in contemporary horror and science fiction material is entitled, Writing Monsters. The book's writer, Phillip Athans, not only borrows examples of successful and awe-inspiring creatures from literature, but cites familiar ones from film and television in order to substantiate his point. In the simplest of terms, Athans' text is a means by which to educate fledgling authors the proverbial "building blocks" by which to efficaciously creature a monster of ghastly proportions that will successfully shock, disgust, and/or terrify potential readers. Throughout the book, Athans analyzes the themes certain monsters symbolize, the archetypes of certain infamous monsters, and, most importantly, how these ideas can best be portrayed on the fiction landscape. Athans' text is uncomplicated, unpretentious, and therefore accessible to any reader and lover of speculative fiction.

Pick up a copy here: http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Monsters-Believably-Terrifying-Creatures/dp/1599638088/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1425850564&sr=8-6

GOOF OF THE WEEK: March 2, 2015

Although Mississippi's literacy program may show improvement, there is hardly any grammatical improvement with regard to the integrity of the Associated Press. Here we have a blatant spelling mistake that's exceptionally ironic considering the fact that the article concerns a program dedicated to encouraging literacy in the state of Mississippi.

Really?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: March 2, 2015

One of the most significant and disturbing voices of horror fiction in the late 20th century was undoubtedly Clive Barker. Born in Liverpool, England, Barker struggled for years with his touring theatrical company before exploding onto the horror literary scene with the publication of his Books of Blood. His debut work was a Grand Guignol inspired collection of short stories devoted to exploring the perverted, disgusting, and the uncanny. Horror icon Stephen King was quoted as saying, "I have seen the future of horror. Its name is Clive Barker." With that impressive kind of benediction, Barker went on to become one of the greatest best-selling authors all time and was responsible for adapting several of his pieces into successful films, such as, Hellraiser and Lord of Illusions.

One of Barker's most recognized and praised works is a novella published in 1986 entitled, The Hellbound Heart. The text is what would eventually become the basis for the 1987 film, Hellraiser. Barker's piece concentrates on a mysterious puzzle box that, when solved correctly, has the potential to open up another dimension engineered by creatures, known as the Cenobites, who are connoisseurs of extreme sensual experiences and skilled in the art of pain and agony. The piece maintains the high-octane viscerally graphic prose that Barker first introduced to his readers in his iconic Books of Blood collection.

One of my favorite passages in Barker's novella is when dissatisfied housewife, Julia, encounters the grotesque reanimated remnants of her former lover, Frank, who has just escaped from the dimension of the Cenobites.

It was human, she saw, or had been. But the body had been ripped apart and sewn together again with most of its pieces either missing or twisted and blackened as if in a furnace. There was an eye, gleaming at her, and the ladder of a spine, the vertebrae stripped of muscle, a few unrecognizable fragments of anatomy. That was it. That such a thing might live beggared reason what little flesh it owned was hopelessly corrupted. Yet live it did. Its eye, despite the rot it was rooted in, scanned her every inch, up and down. She felt no fear in its presence. This thing was weaker than her by far. It moved a little in its cell, looking for some modicum of comfort. But there was none to be had, not for a creature that wore its frayed nerves on its bleeding sleeve. Every place it might lay its body brought pain: this she knew indisputably. She pitied it. And with pity came release. Her body expelled dead air, and sucked in living. Her oxygen-starved brain reeled. Even as she did so it spoke, a hole opening up in the flayed ball of the monster's head and issued a single, weightless word. The word was: "Julia."

REFERENCE OF THE WEEK: March 2, 2015

Horror 101: The Way Forward is perhaps one of the most helpful and insightful texts devoted to analyzing and emphasizing the complexities regarding the art of horror writing. Although the piece was published by a small and not very well known press, Crystal Lake Publishing, the work has received rave reviews from critics and readers alike for its sharp and uncomplicated method of instruction. Horror 101 collects essays from various big guns in the field of speculative fiction that are savvy and extraordinarily perceptive. These collected essays are not only helpful for beginners in the field, but are essential to authors with pro sales under their belt as many of the discourses discuss the means by which to increase productivity, balance art and commerce, and strengthen one's fan base, and deal with editors and the business side of the publishing industry. The book's roster is impressive to say the least and boasts successful names such as, Ramsey Campbell, Edward Lee, and Graham Masterton. Perhaps one of the most helpful essays in the entire collection is written by Campbell and is entitled, "Avoiding What's Been Done to Death." This article is especially vital to any writer of dark fiction (pro or novice) as originality in any creative work is fundamental. Horror 101 is certainly a lesser known reference text; however, the insight it offers is irreplaceable.

COPYEDITOR'S HANDBOOK, Beyond Grammar: February 23, 2015

In the chapter, “Beyond Grammar,” our book analyzes the four primary areas with which copyeditors struggle including, organization, expository style, bias-free language, and publishing law. First, we learn the regulations regarding organization and the means by which material is segmented in order to accentuate a certain kind of structure. There of course are countless forms of organizations. Different techniques such as, alphabetical organization, chronological order, numerical order, and others have separate guidelines. Second, we learn of the importance of expository style and how it is imperative that a copyeditor not influence or several impress their own style upon the piece with which they’re reviewing. Judgments about a writer’s style are often extremely difficult for a copyeditor and certainly a sensitive subject. The copyeditor commonly has to pause and reflect on whether their motivation to correct something in a manuscript stems from the unavoidable fact that the writer has made an error or if their motivation is propelled by their own certain sense of style.

Then, we learn about bias-free language, which is especially significant seeing as it negates any outlet for stereotyping certain classes, religions, orientations within the text of a document. The purpose is certainly not to discourage an author’s point-of-view, but rather prevent them from offending, sidelining, or ignoring an entire group of people. Finally, the chapter explores the importance publishing law. The chapter asserts that it’s commonly the book copyeditor’s responsibility to alert the editorial coordinator whether or not there is material within a manuscript that might prompt a lawsuit. This is an especially significant aspect of not only the copyediting process, but the publishing process in general as legal issues are a very common threat to any newly published material.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: February 22, 2015

Although I've already included a sample of text from Ballard's provocative 1973 novel, Crash, I feel compelled to include example of his remarkable prose. Another equally unsettling work from Ballard is his 1970 release, The Atrocity Exhibition. The work is often regarded as "experimental fiction" and rightfully so. Seemingly  random, there is a thin thread of perversity that connects all of the passages of his text and forms an impressive body of work. The piece is divided into labeled fragments with jarring titles such as, "Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan." In fact, a condensed version of Crash! appeared in The Atrocity Exhibition and subsequently went on to become a full-fledged independent work of fiction.

One of my favorite passages from Ballard's text is as follows:

“Travers’s problem is how to come to terms with the violence that has pursued his life - not merely the violence of accident and bereavement, or the horrors of war, but the biomorphic horrors of our own bodies. Travers has at last realized that the real significance of these acts of violence lies elsewhere, in what we might term “the death of affect”. Consider our most real and tender pleasures - in the excitements of pain and mutilation; in sex as the perfect arena, like a culture-bed of sterile pus, for all the veronicas of our own perversions, in voyeurism and self-disgust, in our moral freedom to pursue our own psychopathologies as a game, and in our ever greater powers of abstraction. What our children have to fear are not the cars on the freeways of tomorrow, but our own pleasure in calculating the most elegant parameters of their deaths. The only way we can make contact with each other is in terms of conceptualizations. Violence is the conceptualization of pain. By the same token psychopathology is the conceptual system of sex.”

Ballard's prose is uncompromising in his delivery of gut-wrenching visceral content. To read Ballard is to willingly disintegrate the moral fiber of reality and excuse oneself into a hallucinatory dimension of perverse proportions where nothing is off limits.

MUSIC OF THE WEEK: February 22, 2015

(If you're anything like me, music is an integral aspect to the writing process. It helps set the mood, gets adrenaline pumping, and soothes writer's block.)

Quite possibly one of the most underrated artists on the contemporary music landscape is Detroit born-and-raised singer, Porcelain Black (Alaina Beaton). After enjoying indie success with her alternative metal-rock band, Porcelain and the Tramps, Alaina signed with RedOne (responsible for Lady Gaga's "Just Dance", "Poker Face", and "Bad Romance") and, together, they began laboring on a highly anticipated album, to be entitled Mannequin Factory. This process began in 2009. To this date, there still has been no proper release, unfortunately. Despite Porcelain enjoying significant success this past summer with a European tour and her single, "One Woman Army", reaching #1 on the France music charts, RedOne's management refused to properly release her record. Since then, Porcelain has left RedOne's production company in hopes of navigating the music landscape on her own.

Regardless of the split, about 80% of the material that was to be on her debut album leaked in early January of 2015. Fans were elated.

Porcelain is a singer to whom I constantly return, especially during the intensity of creative projects. She describes her musical identity and fashion style as a cross between Marilyn Manson and Britney Spears. I can dig it.

Her most infectious song to date is entitled, "Stealing Candy from a Baby". The track features a gritty electronic dubstep beat with powerful industrial-meets-pop vocals.

GOOF OF THE WEEK: February 22, 2015

Although a grammatically incorrect sentence or missed apostrophe residing within the confines of the main text of a published news article is certainly contemptible, a grammatically incorrect headline is even more unforgiving.

The major gaffe, here, being "rethins" instead of "rethinks" is especially ridiculous considering it introduces the news article.

The Associated Press certainly has got some 'splaining to do.

REFERENCE BOOK OF THE WEEK: February 22, 2015

While I'm often leery of overwhelming the creative portion of my brain with countless analyses detailing the proper way to structure a story or develop a character, there is one book in particular that has been exceptionally beneficial. The book is entitled, On Writing Horror. Collected and compiled by The Horror Writer's Association of America, the book features essays written by experienced and highly lauded masters of the craft such as, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Harlan Ellison, Jack Ketchum etc. What's so commendable about this compilation of essays is that each contributor keeps their chapter brief, not too preachy, and highly accessible to even the most inexperienced writer.

Some of the most enthralling selections include how to craft visceral and gut-wrenching violence, how to properly develop characters in a horror setting, and how to seem credible even in an other speculative element. All of the aforementioned components are arguably significant factors that determine the quality of any work of horror fiction.

You can pick up a copy, here: http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Horror-Handbook-Writers-Association/dp/1582974209/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424615234&sr=8-1&keywords=on+writing+horror

Happy reading!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

When Ellis' study of a psychopathic Manhattan businessman hit bookstores in 1991, the public was outraged at the depth and level of perversity and debauchery Ellis had relayed on paper. Although the book remains controversial to this day, one must acknowledge the fact that American Psycho is a significant feat in horror fiction as well as literary fiction in general.

Here is one of my favorite passages from the book:

"…there is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there. It is hard for me to make sense on any given level. Myself is fabricated, an aberration. I am a noncontingent human being. My personality is sketchy and unformed, my heartlessness goes deep and is persistent. My conscience, my pity, my hopes disappeared a long time ago (probably at Harvard) if they ever did exist. There are no more barriers to cross. All I have in common with the uncontrollable and the insane, the vicious and the evil, all the mayhem I have caused and my utter indifference toward it, I have now surpassed. I still, though, hold on to one single bleak truth: no one is safe, nothing is redeemed. Yet I am blameless. Each model of human behavior must be assumed to have some validity. Is evil something you are? Or is it something you do? My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone. In fact, I want my pain to be inflicted on others. I want no one to escape. But even after admitting this—and I have countless times, in just about every act I’ve committed—and coming face-to-face with these truths, there is no catharsis. I gain no deeper knowledge about myself, no new understanding can be extracted from my telling. There has been no reason for me to tell you any of this. This confession has meant nothing…."

 Ellis' novel is perverse, disturbing, and downright enthralling in its depiction of the primal and more unexplored psychosis of human nature. Not only does the novel explore these more untouched human issues, but the piece accentuates the contemptible aspects of our consumer-based culture and the negative effects of capitalism. Ellis stresses all these issues in the guise of what most write off as merely a horror novel.

GOOF OF THE WEEK: February 17, 2015

Here's another exceptionally funny mistake that's been printed in a professional publication.

Not only did the writer of this article butcher an otherwise interesting headline with the careless typo of "for" instead of "four," but the writer also made "drops" plural. The headline should read: "One in four kids drop out of high school."

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: February 10, 2015

Quite possibly one of the most controversial and graphic novels on the lat 20th century is speculative fiction author J.G. Ballard's psychological drama in which he explores the eroticism of the car accident, CRASH.

First published in 1973, Ballard's novel concentrates on a young man who uncovers a secluded cult-like subculture of people who delight and find sexual satisfaction in car crashes. The novel successfully analyzes the symbiotic relationship between sex and death. I've read the novel countless times and continue to remain enamored by Ballard's lyrical prose as he describes the grotesque. Not to mention, Ballard's flagrant audacity with regard to his subject matter has to be admired as well.

Here is one of my favorite verses from the piece:

Trying to exhaust himself, Vaughan devised an endless almanac of terrifying wounds and insane collisions: The lungs of elderly men punctured by door-handles; the chests of young women impaled on steering-columns; the cheek of handsome youths torn on the chromium latches of quarter-lights. To Vaughan, these wounds formed the key to a new sexuality, born from a perverse technology. The images of these wounds hung in the gallery of his mind, like exhibits in the museum of a slaughterhouse.

Ballard's transgressive and perverse writing style and subject matter has gone on to inspire a new wave of literary writers. Crash is quite possibly one of his greatest books and one to which I continue to return in order to sap inspiration.

GOOF OF THE WEEK: February 9, 2015

It's incredibly ironic that a headline devoted to informing readers that a particular spelling-bee is being postponed bears an unforgivable error.

Read below:

While grammatical errors are inexcusable for any professional level source of information, one such as this is especially contemptible considering the fact that it's a headline AND deals with the news of an impending spelling-bee. I'm assuming that the writer of this particular article was not involved in the spelling-bee in question.

Chapter 1 of The Elements of Style

The Elements of Style is perhaps one of the widely cited and referenced books dedicated to analyzing the craft of grammar and punctuation. Its integrity and popularity may derive from the fact that it was co-authored by acclaimed children's author, E.B. White (Stuart Little) or the simple fact that it is a commendable and brilliantly compiled compendium of grammar. Regardless of the reason, the reference book is admired and read by many.

In the first chapter, we learn a variety of important guidelines. In the first section, we learn the elementary rules of usage. We learn the correct way to form the possessive singular of nouns with 's, we learn to use a comma after each term in a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, how to enclose parenthetic expressions between commas, how and why to place a comma before and or but when introducing an independent clause, and much much more.

We also learn the proper composition of sentences. For instance, the book asserts the reader never to break a sentence into two. In other words, we are encouraged not to use periods as commas. Also, we learn never to join an independent clause with a comma.

Despite the many rules and regulations the book explores, the text is uncomplicated and very straight-forward, making the information extremely accessible to any reader.

An Excerpt from William S. Burroughs' NAKED LUNCH

Perhaps one of the most controversial and widely lambasted American novels of the 20th century was beatnik author William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch. The piece is a non-linear collection of vignettes that concentrate on the exploits of drug addict, William Lee. Most readers denounced the work as loathsome and repugnant with its explicit depictions of the otherwise unnatural. Despite the criticism, the book garnered a small cult following and maintained public interest throughout the years.

Although the text was once thought to be completely impossible to translate into film form, acclaimed director David Cronenberg delivered the film adaptation of Burroughs' work to the public and was met with critical praise. Here is a trailer for the film:

Below is one of my favorite excerpts from the book. Despite the gruesome and somewhat shocking subject matter, note Burroughs' dark sense of humor that effectively captivates and enthralls the reader.

“Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to talk? His whole abdomen would move up and down, you dig, farting out the words. It was unlike anything I ever heard.  Bubbly, thick, stagnant sound.  A sound you could smell. This man worked for the carnival,you dig? And to start with it was like a novelty ventriloquist act. After a while, the ass started talking on its own. He would go in without anything prepared... and his ass would ad-lib and toss the gags back at him every time.  Then it developed sort of teethlike... little raspy incurving hooks and started eating. He thought this was cute at first and built an act around it... but the asshole would eat its way through his pants and start talking on the street...  shouting out it wanted equal rights. It would get drunk, too, and have crying jags. Nobody loved it. And it wanted to be kissed, same as any other mouth. Finally, it talked all the time, day and night. You could hear him for blocks, screaming at it to shut up...  beating at it with his fists...  and sticking candles up it, but... nothing did any good, and the asshole said to him...  "It is you who will shut up in the end, not me... "because we don't need you around here anymore. I can talk and eat and shit." After that, he began waking up in the morning with transparentjelly... Mlike a tadpole's tail all over his mouth. He would tear it off his mouth and the pieces would stick to his hands...  like burning gasoline jelly and grow there. So, finally, his mouth sealed over...  and the whole head...  would have amputated spontaneously except for the eyes, you dig? That's the one thing that the asshole couldn't do was see. It needed the eyes. Nerve connections were blocked... and infiltrated and atrophied. So, the brain couldn't give orders anymore. It was trapped inside the skull... sealed off. For a while, you could see... the silent, helpless suffering of the brain behind the eyes. And then finally the brain must have died...  because the eyes went out... and there was no more feeling in them than a crab's eye at the end of a stalk.”

- William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch

Chapter 3 of The Copyeditor's Handbook

The third chapter of The Copyeditor's Handbook summarizes and explores the various resources with which most copyeditors use in order to assist in their systematic process of editing a manuscript. Four of the most essential books that the book stresses all copyeditors use include, dictionaries, style manuals, thesauruses, and usage guides. Although the chapter stresses that the volume of a copyeditor's reference shelf will drastically vary depending on the types of material he or she copyedits, the book insists that these for aforementioned works are essential to any copyeditor.

 

What I found most extraordinary was the level of subjectivity in the field of copyediting. Although I knew very little of the subject to begin with, I always assumed that there would be very stringent, non-negotiable texts and procedures that all editors have to follow. This chapter seems to stress the opposite as most of the materials needed for editing depends on the company for whom the editor has been hired. It seems as though every company has their own sets of guidelines and, therefore, there is a vast differentiation between companies of what is considered acceptable and unacceptable. In short, there seems to be no definitive list of copyediting rules (with regard to capitalization, hyphenation, punctuation and other random literary idiosyncrasies). Although the chapter seems to stress that the Chicago Manual of Style is the preferred manual of choice by most editors, they go on to suggest the discrepancies between that particular book and other resources on the subject.

 

Despite the inconsistency between texts and how certain once well practiced standards become obsolete after time, I respond well to the consistency that's shared among all copyeditors when revising a manuscript. The chapter stresses the importance of a copyeditor's focus on clarity, coherency, correctness, and consistency. Although there may be slight variations in standards in editing, the method by which all copyeditors achieve the ultimate success is the same.