Volume 10

Attention: WritersNewsWeekly is now accepting books to be submitted for review.
Click here for our submission guidelines.

Monsters Are Taking Over Literature
By Sara Halleman

We did the mash! We did the literary-monster mash up... and it was a literary smash! Its the publishing fad that has been taking our beloved classics and turning them into monster parodies. It all started in 2009 with Seth Grahame-Smith’s monster mash-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The book follows along the same general plot with just a few slight changes. The most obvious being that zombies, or ‘unmentionables,’ roam the English countryside.
Read More

WNW speaks with Robert Freese

WritersNewsWeekly had the pleasure of speaking with horror fiction author Robert Freese this week. We discuss his two releases this month and why he is so drawn to the genre.

"I’ve been writing since I was a kid, putting together my little stories like books with tape and staples. I used to draw my own comics too. It seems like I’ve always been writing something."

Read More

Surviving the Creative Wasteland By Jessica Quillin

Most, if not all, writers know the exasperating feeling of rewriting a sentence or paragraph a million times yet being unable to achieve quite the right tone or phrasing. Most of us eventually either give up or move on in this situation. Yet, I’ve always wondered if it is possible to write through these moments of frustration, even though you may feel as if your brain is zapped and your creativity nil.
Read More

Change is a Good Thing By L.L. McKinney

As October slowly draws to a close, autumn kicked into full force. The leaves are turning and the air now has a delightful bite to it. Halloween (my absolute favorite holiday) approaches, bringing with it costumes, candy and harmless tricks. The days grow shorter, the nights grow longer, and the times are changing, quite literally. Soon we’ll all have to set out clocks back by an hour. Change is a good thing, both in life and in literature. I know how horrifying it is at first, but once we embrace it as writers, it can be one of the most powerful tools in that toolbox we discussed last week.
Read More

By L.L. McKinney

As October slowly draws to a close, autumn kicked into full force. The leaves are turning and the air now has a delightful bite to it. Halloween (my absolute favorite holiday) approaches, bringing with it costumes, candy and harmless tricks. The days grow shorter, the nights grow longer, and the times are changing, quite literally. Soon we’ll all have to set out clocks back by an hour. Change is a good thing, both in life and in literature. I know how horrifying it is at first, but once we embrace it as writers, it can be one of the most powerful tools in that toolbox we discussed last week.

A lot of first time writers are afraid of change. I was no exception. Sure, altering sentences and shifting words around during the editing process was expected, but I figured the bulk of my story would be left in tact throughout everything. It makes me chuckle, sitting here thinking and writing about it. I believed my plot was rock solid, my carefully planned timeline was perfectly laid out, and that I wouldn’t have to make very many alterations at all—aside from the usual grammar and punctuation errors. I couldn’t have been any more wrong. Granted, I could have held to the “original” work and only changed typos and the like, but I went further than that and I’m glad I did. My first draft—correction, my second draft, is so much better than anything I originally had in mind. Granted, I kept to the plot quite whole, but I changed a number of things.

One thing I changed was my protagonist’s name. That took some doing. I know I’m not alone in loving everything about my main character. His strengths, his weaknesses, his fault, everything. And his name was no exception. After all, I had spent weeks coming up with the perfect one. Sadly, it wasn’t as perfect as I believed because I wound up changing it. The new name suits him quite well, too.

Along with my main character’s name, I changed his age. He went from being in his early twenties to being seventeen, and with such an alteration came a shift of character. Mannerisms were dropped and new habits were developed. It’s almost as if he’s a completely new person, and yet not. I can’t explain it any better than that, I’m afraid. I know that’s a rather ambiguous statement, and I apologize, but it’s the truth of the matter. Plus, when I changed my protagonist’s age, I had to change the ages of his closest friends. Three more characters shared in the alterations by proxy.

The characters weren’t the only ones modified, either. The timeline of my story itself was shifted. I had to account for school and absent parents in new ways. Beforehand, everyone was out of school and out of the house. Now, none of my characters have even graduated!

Even after all of this, I can understand if someone out there is going “okay, so you made a few small modifications. None of these is anything major.” I can tell you that changing a name is a very big deal, at least to me, but for those wanting something a little more grand, how about this. Next month is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. For those who do not know, it is during the month of November where thousands of writers from around the world undertake the task of getting down 50,000 words all in the spans of 30 days. The rules are simple, the work to be completed must be a new one with no prior words written. I’ve said it before that the book I’ve chosen to work on is Heritage Blade: Awakening. Yes, I’ve already started on it, and I’m over halfway finished, but I’ve discovered that the current story just isn’t working. The plot is taking it further and further away from what I had envisioned, so I’m going back to the drawing board for NaNoWriMo.

I’m rewriting the entire thing, from start to finish. The only thing that will remain the same is the characters’ names. Not even their relation to one another, for the most part, will stay in tact. This is a huge change. Thousands of words, already typed, set aside. Not thrown out, I’m certain I can make another story out of them, but not this one. This one will be reborn during November, and I honestly cannot wait to get started. This change, the largest one I’ve made by far, is also the best one. In the past I shied away from complete rewrites, but now I embrace them fully. At least this one.

Change is not always pleasant, but it is the only constant in life, and when it extends to literature it is downright beautiful. Stories are stagnant. Once they are finished they simply lie there. They cannot progress on their own, as the words do not press themselves to the page. Change is the only way a story can grow from mere potential to greatness. Change is at the heart of the revision process. Don’t be afraid of it, fellow writers. It can do more wonders for our tales than we ever imagined.

“The great thing about revision is that it's your opportunity to fake being brilliant.”-Will Shetterly

L.L. McKinney is a freelance writer, a published poet and a playwright. As an active member of First Tuesdays and YA Lit Chat, she is currently seeking representation for her young adult paranormal urban fantasy, Swayed.

By Jessica Quillin

Most, if not all, writers know the exasperating feeling of rewriting a sentence or paragraph a million times yet being unable to achieve quite the right tone or phrasing. Most of us eventually either give up or move on in this situation. Yet, I’ve always wondered if it is possible to write through these moments of frustration, even though you may feel as if your brain is zapped and your creativity nil.

While the age of the internet may have saved trees in reducing the size of the stereotypical pile of crumpled paper near writers’ desks, this likely had little effect on the frequently painful process of writing—i.e. surviving writer’s block, writing about your ideas when you finally get them, and eventually revising your own work.

The reason I am musing on this topic is due to two sad hours spent on Friday typing, deleting, typing, deleting, and typing for an article pitch that I was writing. The general idea of the pitch, in my opinion, was quite interesting. It was just the execution that had problems. When I sat down to write, my thoughts were jumbled and my words, in turn, were, well, unsatisfactory.

On the whole, it was a rather deflating end to a relatively successful week. I had made good progress on the research front of several projects, including gathering final data for my education policy paper and chatting on an informational basis with a few magazine editors to see if my ideas carry any weight before I begin pitching articles to their publications. To my slight surprise, the editors with whom I spoke were encouraging and offered useful suggestions on how to proceed forward with my pitches.

After speaking with these editors, I was extremely excited to begin working on a few pitches as soon as possible. Yet, in spite of two hours of work, I ended up with four paragraphs that could perhaps be used for a full-length article but were far from a pitch. Even though I had been furiously writing (and deleting, of course), my mojo was off. I felt no pizazz or surge of inspiration. At the time, this made no sense to me, as I had just conversed with two relatively well-known magazine editors who seemed to find some interest in my ideas.

In retrospect, I think that I failed in two critical areas. First, I psyched myself out by building up the importance of these pitches in my head. Second, I should have taken the time to slow down, step back, and jot down a few ideas to center my thoughts before trying to type anything substantial on my laptop.

As every writer knows, the world of freelance magazine pitching is, at best, mercurial. This is not necessarily even in reference to the usual warnings one receives as a freelancer about the inevitability of rejection. I’m talking about the market itself. Despite an ever-growing tome of articles and “how-to” books on pitching, the freelance market seems to shift with the wind. What may seem a best practice one day to reach out to an editor may annoy them the next day or cause your pitch to be rejected or ignored.

Unlike other areas of the consulting/contracting market, there is no established bid-and-pitch system for magazine articles. This is likely a good thing as it is arguably more accessible and encourages creativity and diversity. Yet, it means that, as writers, we have to be doubly aware that it may not be our ideas or the way in which we’re presenting them that is causing our work to not get noticed. It could simply be the result of catching an editor on a bad or busy day or the unfortunate product of having pitched an idea that is similar to one that someone else already proposed.

Recently, I have tried to follow the advice of a writer friend to approach editors with a general pitch and attached samples of my writing. This has gained me several informational interviews, which is good. Yet, it hasn’t quite sold anything. The funny thing is that another writer I know suggested that the problem could, in fact, be the attachments themselves. She suggested that my pitch should be a single tightly-written email that sells the core of my idea and offers to send more information should the editor be interested. However, both recommended being unrelenting with following up and not being afraid to send a pitch to another publication if I don’t hear back in a decent period of time.

With all this advice in my head and my own common sense about the vicissitudes of freelancing, I became rather overwhelmed when trying to write my pitch. It was both too much information to think about at once and too many details for what should be a pretty straightforward process. I can easily explain to someone in conversation about what I’m interesting in writing. It’s just a matter of translating that into engaging, comprehensible prose.

As a result, I’ve determined that I need a fresh start on this pitch. I want to detoxify my brain to restore my creative imagination towards this particular idea. I need to cleanse my mind as much as I can of external advice in order to focus on my idea and why I think that it is perfect for a chosen publication.

So, this afternoon I’m setting aside an hour. I’m going to unplug from the Internet and my Blackberry (though someone may need to pry it from my hands). The plan is to grab a cup of tea, pen and paper, and my laptop. I’ll then see where my thoughts and words take me. It could be nowhere but at least I’ll get the experience of slowing down and decompressing for a while, which is always a good thing.

Stay tuned next week to see how well this little experiment goes….

Jessica Quillin owns Quillin Consulting, LLC, a consultancy in Washington, DC, focused on content development, research, and strategy for the public and private sectors. She holds a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Cambridge.

By Ravis Harnell

"I think you might want to buy a knife."

Claudia's eye never wavered from the peephole as her left hand rose carefully to grasp the button at the end of the security chain.

Even though she wanted to shriek, or puke, or run.

The scrawny young man standing on her well-lit front porch didn't seem very threatening. He actually looked a bit like a grown-up Harry Potter, with his mousy hair and wire spectacles and refusal to raise his head and try to look threateningly yet fruitlessly in backwards through the peephole, like all proper late-night potential dangers should.

Still, she was freaked. She asked him to repeat himself as she quietly pinned home a security device designed to stop any intruder, so long as any intruder weighed less than ninety pounds and wasn't intent on getting inside.

"Please," said the stranger out front. "I think you might want to buy a knife."

It was almost one in the morning. The TV was quiet. Fifteen minutes earlier, Claudia's cell phone had been sitting on the coffee table, within three arms' length; now, it was off charging in the bedroom. When she looked, she could see the land-line phone on the wall in her bright, sane kitchen, roughly fourteen miles from her current position behind the chained front door with the frightening young man on the other side of it.

"I don't need a knife right now, thanks." She actually stretched her hand out toward the kitchen phone, like she was drowning, and began following the panicked momentum it inspired. "Let me go ask my boyfriend, he's just in the other room."

The stranger knocked again. He didn't pound; he knocked. Somehow, it was worse.

"Seriously, ma'am, listen to me." His voice wafted through the wood, reasonable, a bit shaky, devoid of hope. "I think you might want to buy a knife."

"This is a neighborhood watch neighborhood!" Claudia hollered, from somewhere around where the weakening gravitational pull of the peephole began to battle with the strengthening gravitational pull of the phone. She stood, in limbo. "People can see you on my porch!"

Say something tough.

"Motherf***er!"

Yeah, you really sold that.

She tiptoe-stumbled the rest of the way into the kitchen, pulled the handset from its cradle, pushed the giant idiot-proof TALK button on its underbelly. Having the phone at her ear pretty much meant that she was talking to the cops, which pretty much meant that they were on their way to yank the oddly restrained psychotic off her porch, which pretty much meant that this was pretty much over. Her breath slowed. She began to think about exactly what she'd say to the 911 dispatcher, to devise a way to describe what was happening.

She began to realize she would have to make it sound like more than a semi-harmless-looking guy trying to sell her a knife at a weird hour.

She began to realize the call wasn't going through.

"Lady, please!" The door jumped on its hinges. "You really, really NEED TO BUY A KNIFE!"

Claudia shrieked and tossed the useless landline aside; it skittered across the old tile and slid under the microwave cart. She leaned heavy against the salmon wall of the kitchen, hyperventilating, and started to slide into a crouch. What stopped her, as suddenly and surely as death, was an image of herself doing it, just like every stupid victim in every one of the stupid slasher flicks she loved to deride, to dismiss.

Are you gonna be that?

She decided she wasn't.

She counted, surely more quickly than it seemed, to ten, and straightened her legs, thankful for the wall at her back when the lightheadedness came. She mentally rocked herself, building inertia for the trip through the living room to the bedroom, and her cell. The nutcase could've gotten in by now if he'd wanted; either he didn't, or he wanted Claudia to be a whimpering boneless puddle by the time he did, and that wasn't going to happen.

Almost, but not quite.

Claudia pushed off from the pink kitchen wall, and sailed through the archway into the living room. Her eyes never left the front door as she negotiated the strait between the entertainment center and the cocktail table, and adjusted her trajectory, dead reckoning by the single old-fashioned light fixture hanging in the hall. It wasn't until she made the turn into the hall that she quit her vigil, and it wasn't until she quit her vigil that it came to her that the party on the front porch had been awfully quiet for at least a minute, and maybe longer.

First the phone, then the peephole.

She didn't need the bedroom light to locate her Nokia on the nightstand. All remained silent as she waited for it to fire up, then dialed 911, knowing it would trigger the phone's GPS locator and the cops would come whether she said anything or not. When she looked up from the phone's display, she was a little surprised to find she was back in the living room, facing the front door.

A tiny female voice asked what was her emergency.

Claudia put one hand on the center of the door, slid forward, put her eye to the lens.

No one was on the porch.

The tiny female voice repeated itself.

She raised her other hand, the one with the talkative phone in it, to the security chain.

And, just like every stupid victim in every one of the stupid slasher flicks she loved to deride, to dismiss, she opened the door.

* * *

Sitting behind the hedge that lined the yard directly across the street, quaking, his knees tucked up to his chin, the Knife Salesman watched them flow from the roof, from the darkest shadows of the lawn, from either side of the porch, to funnel through the narrow slice of light between the front door and the jamb.

When she started to scream, he pulled his glasses off to wipe his eyes, then began to clean the lenses compulsively. She didn't scream for long. When he put his spectacles back on, he saw the front door was closed again.

Leaves rustled behind him, despite the lack of wind. He felt wet, vaporous weight on his right shoulder, cold and moist on that side of his neck.

"You broke the rules," it hissed.

The Knife Salesman didn't answer.

"You begged her."

He tried to shrug away. It was like trying to shrug away from humidity, from fog.

"And so there is another customer."

"No!" He shook his head, eyes clamped shut, negating it, negating everything. "I won't."

"If you go, there is a chance." There was a chilly mirth to its consideration. "If you do not, well ... "

Sharp metal slid between his stomach and his thigh, heavy in his lap. After a moment, he wrapped his right hand around the ancient handle.

"You should hurry," it said, brisk now, businesslike. "In thirty minutes, Mister Reginald Brewster of 419 Seventh Avenue North is going to find himself in dire need of a knife."

By Sara Halleman

WritersNewsWeekly had the pleasure of speaking with horror fiction author Robert Freese this week. We discuss his two releases this month and why he is so drawn to the genre.

WNW How long have you been writing?
Freese I’ve been writing since I was a kid, putting together my little stories like books with tape and staples. I used to draw my own comics too. It seems like I’ve always been writing something. The first time I was actually published and paid for what I wrote was the Fall 1994 issue of Femme Fatales, a sister publication of Cinefantastique. I was given the opportunity to interview guys like Fred Olen Ray and Jim Wynorski and it was a blast. My first fiction sale soon followed.

WNWWere you always interested in horror fiction?
Freese Yes, absolutely. I grew up during a great time in the 80s when there were a lot of horror movies and a lot of horror novels. I consumed every flick I could see and every book I could get my hands on. As I pursued writing I gravitated toward horror immediately. I wanted to scare people.

WNWWho is your favorite horror fiction writer?
Freese Wow. There are so many. The guy who absolutely knocked me out and who made me want to write scary tales was Robert Bloch. His novel Psycho II was the first book I had ever read that I couldn’t put down. I literally stayed up all night reading and finished it in the morning. It blew me away. Bloch wrote much more than just horror but his horror thrillers really clicked with me. There are other guys too whose work has been very influential- Joe Lansdale, John Russo, Ray Bradbury, Gary Brandner, Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont, Richard Laymon, to name a few.

WNWHow do you find inspiration for your scary tales?
Freese Just out of every day life. Something might strike me as creepy or weird so it sits in my head for a while until I can use it. Or I see something and kind of twist it around into something scary. My wife helps a great deal too. I bounce ideas off her all the time. We can talk and she’ll make a suggestion that just totally knocks me over. She’s had a huge influence on my work, directly and indirectly. She may suggest something that ignites another idea that I would not have had otherwise. Inspiration can come from anywhere at any moment. Writers have to pay attention to the world around them.

WNWWhat types of horror stories scare you?
Freese All kinds of horror stories scare me. Some ghost stories and haunted house stories, when they’re done right, really get to me. James Herbert did one a number of years ago called Haunted that really did a number on me. Joe Lansdale writes some of the best psycho thrillers. He does the most horrible things to his characters sometimes that you literally feel like he’s punched you in the stomach it’s so shocking. Bloch’s Night World and American Gothic also come to mind as gripping and disturbing tales.

WNWYou recently released Paranormal Journeys, a book about real life paranormal investigations. Was there anything that really freaked you out when you were doing your research?
Freese Oh, yeah. All of it freaked me out to a certain degree, but if I was working on it and my wife was home I was okay. If I heard any little noise or strange sound, I just wrote it off as her. One rainy afternoon I was alone and working on the chapter about this place known as Corpsewood Manor. It was the site of a brutal double murder, just really grim, gruesome stuff. Between being in the mind frame of writing about this tragic place and the raging storm with the howling wind and all that, I had to walk away from it for a little while. It got to me. I had this overwhelming feeling that someone was watching me. That’s the best way to describe it. Some of that stuff is just so disturbing. I wrote the book with Paul Cagle, who is a paranormal investigator, and none of it bothers him. I think he’s used to it because he’s been investigating for so long, but I’ve already heard from readers who started the book alone in their house and they had to put it down because it was getting under their skin. They couldn’t handle it.

WNWYou have a second book, Bijou of the Dead, that will be released on Halloween. Tell us about that book.
Freese Bijou of the Dead is my first novel. Basically, it is a revenge tale involving living dead voodoo zombies attacking a rundown movie theater during a horror movie double feature. I actually wrote it and self-published it in 2007. I am very proud that it was picked up by StoneGarden.net Publishing. I am referring to the StoneGarden.net release as its “official” release. It’s a fun book, especially for people who like bloody zombie novels. I love movies so it takes place in a one-screen bijou, which is a word most people no longer use but I found it appropriate for the tone I set for the story. It’s not your typical “shoot ‘em in the brains” undead romp. I went with a different set of rules and people seem to enjoy it. My wife was not fond of the idea at first but fell in love with it after reading it. It’s won over a lot of staunch zombie fans who were reluctant to give it a chance. The zombies have an agenda- they have a reason for coming out of their graves. They use power tools. It’s a fast moving horror adventure with guts. Lots of guts. Guts everywhere.

WNWWhat do you think makes a great horror novel?
Freese Compelling characters. As long as I believe in the characters on the page I’ll accept anything you throw at them. It doesn’t matter if the menace of the story is a vampire, a serial killer or rabid dust bunnies. As long as the reader can relate and believe in them, the writer can create real horror. It is essential for the reader to care about what happens to the characters in a horror story. If not, the author has no chance of creating any real suspense.

WNWHave you ever thought of stepping out of horror and into other genres?
Freese Well, when you write horror, you have the opportunity to write in a lot of different genres. Horror can take place in any place or time, so some horror tales have a flavor of fantasy, science fiction or even a western. Romance can find its way into a horror story as can humor. I think humor can really help some types of horror work better. So even though you are working in horror, you can work in these other genres too. Now, I have worked in a number of different genres. When I was starting out, I found a website that published horror, science fiction, romance and fantasy stories. I wrote stories for all four genres every two months for a couple years. It was great training, learning different techniques, trying different ideas. Some of those stories I would never show people today, but many of them were essential in my growth. I would like to work more in other genres, but something tells me a little horror will no doubt work its way into the story somewhere.

WNWAre there any future projects in the works?
Freese I’m always working on something. I’ve just talked to my partner on the paranormal book. Our publisher seems interested in a follow up book, so we’re kicking around a couple ideas. I have a number of short stories appearing in upcoming anthologies like The Undead that Saved Christmas, Strange Tales of Horror and Daily Bites of Flesh: 2011. Earlier in the year I had a post-apocalyptic, action, sci-fi story published entitled “2017: Frankenstein and the Warriors of the Lost City.” It was my homage to all those great Italian rip-off movies made after Mad Max and Escape from New York. I’ve got an idea of expanding that story into novel length. I also have a werewolf western I’m working on. In addition, I write for a number of different magazines. One is Videoscope, which I contribute movie reviews and interviews. I’ve been approached by a publisher to collect some of the interviews that I’ve done in a book, so I’d like to get to work on that soon.

To find out more about Robert Freese check out his website at www.robertfreese.com , which will soon be updated with his recent projects. His books can be found through bookstores and various online book dealers as well as his publishers at www.stonegarden.net and http://etreasurespublishing.blogspot.com/

By Sara Halleman

Crime. Murder. Suspense. These are three terms that basically sum up a typical Agatha Christie novel. The first book I read by the famous author was Murder on the Orient Express. The book fits the mold of true detective fiction with plot twists, shady events, and dynamic characters.

The story is set on a train traveling from Istanbul to France carrying famed detective Hercule Poirot. The detective is confronted by the man in a neighboring compartment with a proposition. The man, named Rachett, believes that he has an enemy who is out for blood and offers to hire Poirot to prevent any trouble. The detective turns down the hefty amount of money and as the day turns to night Rachett is found dead in his compartment. Agatha adds extra coincidence with a snow storm that forces the train to stop. To avoid attention, the director of the train, M. Bouc, asks his detective friend to solve the case before foreign police get involved.

The mysterious clues come one after another when the detective and co. interview all suspects with valid alibis. After further inspection of the victim’s body, it appears that Rachett has been stabbed twelve times. The wounds ranged from deep powerful lacerations to quick slashes. Detective Poirot’s expertise also identifies that the wounds were made by a left AND a right hand. Among these strange occurrences is an array of evidential objects. A knife soaked with blood, a broken pocket watch, a pipe cleaner and a monogrammed handkerchief are among several items that Poirot uses to crack the case.

Chrisitie certainly knows her detective fiction and it definitely shows with this novel. She understands the intelligence that goes behind cracking the case and includes this trait in her detective protagonist. The book is filled with entertaining and descriptive events that will leave readers anticipating more. This detective story comes to life with these descriptions and the exciting dialogue between the well-rounded characters. Everything comes together to finish the novel with another case solved by detective Poirot.

By Sara Halleman

We did the mash! We did the literary-monster mash up... and it was a literary smash! Its the publishing fad that has been taking our beloved classics and turning them into monster parodies. It all started in 2009 with Seth Grahame-Smith’s monster mash-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The book follows along the same general plot with just a few slight changes. The most obvious being that zombies, or ‘unmentionables,’ roam the English countryside. The Bennett sisters are trained in martial arts and weapon training and Elizabeth and Darcy regularly fight off armies of the undead together. The book quickly gained much popularity and eventually ending up on number three on New York Time’s Bestsellers list and remained on the list for 41 weeks.

With the book being such a huge success its no wonder that it has sparked many more monster parody novels.To follow the zombie fighter Elizabeth Bennett is Elinor Dashwood’s attempts to survive in a world of man-hunting sea creatures in Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. Once again the plot of Jane Austen’s classic is twisted into a world of survival. However, the author, Ben H. Winters, manages to keep the story intact.

Author Michael Thomas Ford follows with a different approach. In December of 2009 he released the first of his three book series about the famous author Jane Austen who he portrays as a vampire. In the part one of the trilogy entitled, Jane Bites Back, the undead New York bookshop owner must balance two suitors and a dark presence. The second book, which will be released in 2011 is entitled Jane Goes Batty.

Although none of the books following Pride and Prejudice and Zombies have reached the same success, this trend shows no sign of slowing down. One by one monsters has been taking over these famous novels and it seems that no book is safe. Some people feel annoyed that this fad is creeping into the classics but those same people can’t deny that it is also bringing a new generation of fans to the work of these famous authors. Sure its not the same book that the authors intended, but the characters and themes are still present. These mash-up authors are careful not to take away from the story, just give them a quirky, new perspective.

So who’s next for these monster mash-ups? Surely this theme cannot be limited to just Austen novels. I would be interested to see a twist on Shakespeare, Steinbeck or Salinger. I personally don’t see these twisted novels going anywhere soon. There is endless possibilities and a demand for supernatural literature in pop culture. If it takes a few vampires and zombies to get the younger generation interested in the classics than so be it! I say whatever keeps people interested in literature can never be a bad thing.

Attention: WritersNewsWeekly is now accepting books to be submitted for review.
Click here for our submission guidelines.

WNW Reviews The Passage
By Sara Halleman

To get into the Halloween spirit I have decided to read a book that is toping horror’s book list since its publication earlier this year. The book, The Passage by Justin Cronin, extends to a hefty 784 pages but reads at the pace of half of that. At first glance Cronin’s novel can be mistaken for another vampire fantasy story. However, once you commit yourself to the tale you will see there is much more to it. Cronin adds in government conspiracies and a viral epidemic to give the vampire tales a unique twist. Read More

WNW speaks with Howard Hopkins

WritersNewsWeekly had the pleasure of chatting with Fictionwise #1 Best-Selling and Eppie nominated author, Howard Hopkins. Based in Maine, Hopkins writes horror fiction, westerns, pulp fiction, comic books and graphic novels. Read more to learn about why horror intrigues Hopkins. Read More

Ready, Set, ... Write By Jessica Quillin

This week I have so much to research and write about that I scarcely know where to start, never mind actually have time to breathe. I’m trying to take things one step at a time. But, as an intrinsic multi-tasker, I am finding myself impatiently working on one project for an hour, jumping to the next one, and then back to the first project. Read More

Tools of the Trade By L.L. McKinney

I hope everything is going well with the editing and revising of those works in progress. I’m so deep into my own rewrites that I’m up to my eyeballs in red ink. I’m incredibly busy in concerns to my writing, which is a wonderful place to be, and I’m glad we could be there together. Read More

Thom Olausson 2008 ©

Back From the DeadBack From the Dead

From within his cold and dead heart only sinister beats pounded
A ghost lived in his corpse and time had taken his mortal soul

In the empty hallways of his rotting brain only dead thoughts remained
In his glassy and dead eyes only the Reaper was reflected

As an evil incantation from Necronomicon was read out loud
The ghost in the corpse stirred and sensed the world of the living once more

With revenge as fuel the dead body came back to life
With its dead eyes it could finally see its resting place

It rose from its coffin and then stood silent in the dark and cold crypt
The door was ajar and graves could be seen by the pale light of the moon

A piercing voice whispered in the dark: Go, seek and destroy…
With a jerk it obeyed and walked into the night to seek its prey

It felt only rage as it stumbled towards the open cemetery gates
Guided by that sinister voice it now sought the blood it craved

So if you see its emaciated corpse wander across the fields, then beware!
For it is a child of Darkness and its conjured ghost will never rest…

Steel and Flesh

A head explodes like an overripe melon
Steel and flesh still do not mix
Distorted faces in a deathly circle
The undead just won’t go away!

Deadly spikes enter every single orifice
Sadistic hate + sweet love= Satanic Passion
Disfigured lovers mating in Hell’s Asylum
A dead eye still stares back at us

Fragments of glass pierce the tender skin
A dead brain upon the Reaper’s scales
Body harvesters licking the blood-soaked floor
Insane choirs of the dead singing hymns

Electricity enters the shaved spot; Death’s Door
Satanic butchers dismembering corpses
Justice and Fair will never belong together
I kill! You kill! We All kill what can be killed!

Eyes popping out of the sockets with a fleshy sound
Thanatos smiles in the pale light of the moon
And maggots devour our empty shells; decay!
Sick and demented babies within Death’s cradle

Eyes stitched together by needles from Lethal Injection
Gigantic wheel of steel crushing our bones
Grinding us down into dust in the icy wind
History bound to repeat itself in the end…

By Lindsey Hall

Creaking sounds on the floor,
So I pull up the covers more
Stranger lurking in the dark,
Even in the peaceful park.

In every corner there are ghosts,
Waiting to be tonight’s frightful host.
The lighting flashes and the thunder booms,
I hear and see it in all the rooms.

When monsters come out from under the bed
I put my pillow over my head
I walk over to my door and shut it tight
And hope it will not be a fright night.