It Was Already Broke When I Got Here

Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine This Morning...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:35:49 GMT

If you've been a reader of my Cedar Hill Cycle for any length of time, then you know that it's based on my my hometown of Newark, Ohio (specifically, the Newark I remember from the late 60s and 70s) -- which, I'd like to point out, never had a homeless shelter, so when I created Cedar Hill, I gave it one.

Well guess what? If you will go and read this story from today's Newark Advocate, you will discover that not only is the city building a homeless shelter, it is building it almost precisely where the fictional one in Cedar Hill has been located for the past 20 years (click on this link and the one that follows, please): http://tinyurl.com/yzjfh8u

...weird scenes inside the gold mine this morning, folks.

If You've Got Any Good Thoughts Lying Around and Gathering Dust ...

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:10:19 GMT

... send them my way around 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. I'm going in spinal surgery (sort of the surgery of last resort) to correct the problems I've been having related to the nerve, tissue, and bone damage in my left leg that has all but dictated the course of my life for the past 4 years. This is easily the most anxious I've ever been about surgery. Something about strangers poking around at the base of my spine ... I dunno, maybe it's just me :)

If it works, I'll let you know; if it doesn't work, Lucy will be the one letting you know.

That was a joke.

Seriously, send a few spare good vibes with my name on them into the multiverse tomorrow morning; it would be sincerely appreciated.

Res ipsa loquitur

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:03:57 GMT

Interview With Chris Conlon

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:06:00 GMT

My good friend Chris Conlon (Thundershowers at Dusk, Poe's Lighthouse, Starkweather Dreams recently appeared at Horrorfind where he gave a reading from his latest poetry collection and had time to sit down for this surprisingly good interview. (I say "surprising" because, if you've ever conducted an interview at a con -- especially one while sitting in the dealers' room -- then you know how difficult it is for either the interviewer or the subject to remain focused, articulate, and heard. Both Chris and the interviewer do a bang-up job; so without my babbling any longer, here 'tis):

Meet Author Christopher Conlon from Gore De Vol on Vimeo.

A Reason To Laugh

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:39:29 GMT

Having recently parted ways with my publisher (so, yes, the 6th and concluding novel of the Cedar Hill Cycle is now, for the moment, homeless) I find fewer and fewer things make me smile these days, but the following made me laugh so hard I almost fell out of my chair. Hope you get a chuckle or two out of it, as well (You'll need to click on it for full-size):

Raising Money for A Damned Good Cause

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:01:15 GMT

This comes courtesy of my and Lucy's good friend, Jonathan Reitan, a wonderful human being who was diagnosed with HIV 2 years ago; I made no alterations to his letter: why try to improve upon heartfelt perfection? I urge you to make a donation, and to feel free to reprint this post anywhere you feel it's appropriate.

***************************************************************

Dear Friends,

Every 9 ½ minutes a new HIV infection occurs in the United States with 1.1 million people in the U.S. currently living with it.

I became one of those people almost two years ago (Sept. 19, 2007) and until we have a cure, it has been my mission in life to raise funds for HIV prevention as I never want to hear of another friend of mine contracting the disease.

On October 11th, more than 10,000 of us will come together in Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Oregon with the goal of raising $350,000 for services provided by Cascade AIDS Project to prevent new HIV infections, care for people affected and infected by HIV/AIDS, educate communities to eliminate stigma and advocate for immediate action in combating the pandemic.

Please help me reach my goal of $1,000 by making a donation today; any amount helps! Just stop and think how quickly we blow $20 for an unhealthy lunch, tickets to a bad movie, or the amount we spend for our daily coffee drinks or a few cocktails on a night on the town and think about how that $20 can be put to good use...$20 buys 50 safe-sex kits that are distributed all over Oregon and SW Washington!

Follow This Link (http://tinyurl.com/AIDSdonation) to visit my personal fundraising web page and enter your payments right there with a credit or debit card (it's SO easy!). If link does not work for you, please email me back and I'll help you out. You can even donate in the name of a lost loved one or as a business owner...your name will be displayed on my page for the world to see.

Your donation will make a difference in the lives of individuals and families affected by HIV and AIDS.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart,

Jonathan Reitan, aka
Jonny Woo Foxx, Mr. Gay Oregon '09-'10

Saturday's Mass Signing

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:24:03 GMT

I, along with Elizabeth Massie, Jason Sizemore, G. Cameron Fuller, Brian J. Hatcher, editor Michael Knost and Lucy Snyder, participated in a mass signing at the Border's Books in Barboursville, West Virginia this past Saturday for the official release of Writers Workshop of Horror. The event went quite smoothly -- thanks in no small part to the bookstore staff, all of whom were courteous and frighteningly well-organized -- and the attendance was, well, something of a shock: at several points over the course of the 2-hour event, the line for signatures wove through the entire store, once even almost spilling out onto the sidewalk!

It was a terrific time, start to finish -- and on case you weren't able to make it, here's a link to some video from a local television newscast:

http://www.boomboxradio.net/boombox/PlayerSetup/Players/WOWKTVPlayer.aspx?FileId=208663_wowk

Featured Author in This Month's Black Static

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 01:39:23 GMT

I'm honored to be one of the Featured Authors in the just-released issue of Black Static #12. Peter Tenant's "Case Notes" section features a 7-page article about myself and the Cedar Hill Cycle, including capsule reviews of the first 4 novels and a longer review for the latest, Far Dark Fields (see book trailer in post below). The article is the most in-depth piece anyone's yet written about the cycle (there's also an interview with me), but there's a certain paragraph that just floored me, and I wanted to share it with all of you:

"The Cedar Hill cycle of novels, novellas and short stories, is one of the finest achievements of recent horror fiction, to my mind equalled in scope and ambition only by King's Dark Tower sequence. Author Gary A.Braunbeck's work demonstrates to the sceptic that genre can address serious metaphysical and philosophical concerns, while at the same time the stories are filled with a simple human compassion that illuminates each piece of the great puzzle he is painstakingly assembling. Like all the best writers, whether in or outside of genre, Braunbeck engages the intellect and the emotions, forcing us to think, challenging us not to feel."

Color me flabbergasted.

Black Static (formerly The Third Alternative) is a superb dark fiction magazine published in England (It can usually be found on the magazine rack at Borders). You can find more info -- including subscription information -- here:

http://ttapress.com/blackstatic/currentissue/

BTW: it looks as if I'll have some Cedar Hill-type news next week

The Official, Full-Length Trailer for Far Dark Fields

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:29:49 GMT

At last, here it, courtesy of the terrific John Palisano (www.johnpalisano.com) and company. Fangoria will be hosting this, as well, and a smaller version will be going live on my own website later today. I think John did a fantastic job of capturing the tone of the novel -- of the entire cycle, in fact -- in this. The actors all did a splendid job, and I am humbled by the finished film.

I'll shut up now. Here it is:

Teaser Trailer for Far Dark Fields

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:36:36 GMT

Writer, Friend, and Filmmaker John Palisano ( http://www.johnpalisano.com/ ) is currently filming not so much a book trailer for my new novel as a mini-movie reflecting the Cedar Hill Cycle thus far. It will have music, real actors, dialogue, cuts, cross-fades, and maybe even a montage or two -- if you know John's work, then you know it's going to be quite something. (Make sure you check out the films on his site!)

In the meantime, he's been good enough to put together this short "teaser" trailer. I wasn't expecting anything like this, so it came as a lovely surprise:

First Reviews of Far Dark Fields Are In ...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:35:21 GMT

... and the two most recent ones are extremely positive.

Dread Central gave it five knives, their highest rating (first time one of my books has ever gotten that rating):

http://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/far-dark-fields-book

And Famous Monsters of Filmland really dug it, as well:

http://famousmonstersoffilmland.com/2009/06/10/literature-review-far-dark-fields-by-gary-a-braunbeck/

(The second review gets a bit effusive in its praise, but, hey, the reviewer is obviously an admirer of my work, and I like that right down to the ground.)

The novel hits bookstore shelves on July 28th, and I'm both anxious and excited to see what readers think.

New Author Portrait

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:47:56 GMT

My friend, artist, DJ, and all-around anarchist Dave Christman -- http://www.grendelsden.net/ -- has done an author's portrait of moi, and I couldn't be more pleased. I've been a fan of Dave's work for years (Lucy and I have 4 framed prints proudly displayed throughout our home), and now, I have this beauty:

Click on the image for a larger, higher-rez version.

This made my day, Big Time.

The Scariest Movie I've Seen in a Long Time

Tue, 19 May 2009 16:35:34 GMT

Okay, I almost never post video here unless I think it;'s something outstanding.

This is an animated short film -- 5 minutes -- and in those 5 minutes, this thing managed to scare me more than most full-length American horror films of recent memory.

And here's the thing: this film also uses several over-familiar slasher-flick cliches ... yet they work. Beautifully.

You'll never hear the music from an ice cream truck the same way ever again, I guarantee it.

Monster Name Decoder

Sat, 16 May 2009 16:30:57 GMT

Get Your Monster Name

I think it's the Enchanted Creepy Kingdom that really sells that second one.

That is precisely where I live.

New Interview on Diabolical Radio

Thu, 14 May 2009 03:08:06 GMT

Actually, it's Part One of a two-part interview that the good folks over at Diabolical Radio are using to wrap up their first-ever "Horror Author Spotlight" series, and I was honored to be the final interview.

I'll be embedding links to both Parts One and Two as they go live. (Part Two premieres at 11 p.m. EST on May 20th.)

I should 'fess up about one thing here; Krist conducted the interview at around 11 or 11:30 p.m., and he and I chatted away until well after 1 a.m. I was not only a little tired when the interview began, but I'd had 2 root-canal surgeries done earlier that day, my mouth was still a bit swollen, more than a bit painful, and I'd taken some pain meds right before the interview began. Whether or not this actually had any effect -- adverse or otherwise -- on my interview performance is something I couldn't really judge then and can't judge still, but I wanted to let you good folks know that if I sound a little odd from time to time, there were reasons.

I had a lot of fun doing this, and hope you'll enjoy it, as well. Krist and Chase (his engineer) start things up with a rundown of various horror movie and literature-related news, and the interview with me starts about 15 minutes or so into the broadcast.

See you back here next week for the conclusion!

My Old Town

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:11:49 GMT

Below is a link to an 8-minute video from The New York Times about the high-school orchestra in my old town of Newark, Ohio. For those of you who've wondered what Cedar Hill would look like, you get several nice shots of it (including the Midland Theatre); but it's the resignation on the faces of the students that can break your heart. Newark hasn't passed a major educational (read: tax) levy in a very long time. Come see the paradise from whence I formed my worldview:

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/04/14/us/1194839473817/this-land-ohio-serenade.html

Color Me Stunned

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:32:43 GMT

A few months ago I received an absolutely lovely e-mail from a reader who'd just read In Silent Graves at his wife's insistence because it is -- and this is a direct quote from the e-mail -- "...her favorite novel of all time." The gentleman went on to tell me how much he admired the novel, how deeply-felt and compelling he found it to be, and that he, along with his wife, would continue to tell their friends that they must read it.

I was really quite moved by that e-mail. Then, today, I get a message from Maria Grazia from
Horror Bound Magazine (http://www.horrorbound.com/news.php) informing me that the winner of their first book contest ... well, here's the official release:

"The winner of our very first book contest is Alan R. Braun of Pekin, Illinois. Alan wins a copy of The Science of Stephen King by Lois H. Gresh and Robert Weinberg.

"Here's what he said when we asked what his favorite book (horror genre) of all time is:

"'My favorite book of all time is Coffin County by Gary A. Braunbeck, because the man's writing is beyond insidious. He makes the devil cringe; however, he writes in such a manner to make one see the light in the darkness. Moreover, his sympathy for the common, working man stirs my heart with emotions not usually felt toward the horror genre.'"

This floored me. I never would have imagined thirty years ago when I first began writing that one day I would write something that would become someone's favorite novel, let alone favorite novel of all time, let alone more than one person feeling that way toward a piece of my work. This reminded me once more of the obligation we have as story-tellers to put as much craft, heart, intelligence, and imagination into our work as humanly possible, and to never stop striving for personal excellence.

This kind of knocked my socks off, and I just wanted to share it with you.

I often doubt that my any of my work will have a lasting effect, but things like this (which made me smile) make it so much easier to live with those doubts.

I'm just sayin'....

A Sure-Fire Way to Cheer Yourself Up

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:08:26 GMT

This works for me nearly every time. If you're not feeling on top of your game because there are a ton of mental and/or emotional cobwebs still blocking the synaptic paths, then do this:

Put on Bad Company's song "Feel Like Makin' Love," and sing along -- except every time the word "love" appears, replace it with "beans" and see if that not only casts the song in whole new light, but makes you laugh out loud before you can get through to the end.

I'm just sayin'....

Discourtesy and Other Thoughts from "Broken-Down Never-Was" Land

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:03:12 GMT

This one's a bit longer than usual, so don't say you weren't warned :)

I realize that the writing business can be filled with stress and pressure. I realize that many -- if not all -- writers (and yes, I'm including myself in this blanket observation) can be, to put it mildly, a bit over-sensitive to criticism, even when that criticism is of the most intelligent and constructive variety. And I realize that some writers have egos that can quickly get out of hand (what I like to call the "My-Poop-Suddenly-Smells-Like-Perfume" Syndrome).

I realize this. I accept it. I don't much like it, but the above are for the most part small prices to pay for being able to enjoy the privilege of writing fiction and then have people actually pay you so they can publish it, and then have other people shell out their hard-earned money to buy said fiction so they can (hopefully) enjoy reading it. That's all good. Makes me almost smile. Warm and fuzzy feelings have been known to follow, albeit briefly because that's the kind of guy I am, but we're not here to discuss my dreadful personality problems.

I also realize that for every wonderful person like Graham Masterton, Clive Barker, Poppy Z. Brite, Bill Gagliani, Ellen Datlow, and Mort Castle (to name but a mere six), you can easily find at least that many writers and editors who make you wish there existed such a thing as a Carbon Recall program for the Perpetually Self-Possessed, Rude, and Arrogant.

Over the past decade I have, whenever time permits, done anything I can to help a new writer along; critiquing short-story or novel manuscripts, writing Introductions or Afterwords to their collections ... I've even, I'm proud to say, helped secure agents for some of them, agents who have gone on to make very nice sales for said writers. Again, all good stuff. Makes me happy for these writers and their success.

I never expect to be thanked for these things, seriously; if I didn't have faith in a young writer's ability and his or her work, I wouldn't waste my time.

Something happened yesterday that has been troubling me a great deal,and in order for you to understand why it's been troubling me, I need to paraphrase a line from William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist. The two priests, Fathers Merrin and Karras, are about to begin the first phase of the titular ritual (wow -- say that five times really fast after your fourth tequila shooter) when Merrin cautions Karras not to listen to the demon, because the demon will tell lies -- but it will also "...mix the truth in with those lies."

There were a couple of young beginning writers whom I helped out all I could a few years ago. Both have gone on to see a decent -- arguably enviable -- amount of success in their career in a surprisingly short period of time. One of these writers remains in contact with me to this day, and credits me with having helped launch their career. That's great. Makes me feel like I'm paying forward everything J.N. Williamson did for me when I was starting out and had next to no friggin' idea what I was doing.

The other writer has, for reasons that I don't understand and will probably never know, expunged me from their universe. Won't answer e-mails, changed their phone number and didn't update me, moved and didn't bother to give me their new address, unsubscribed from my newsletter, removed the link to my web page from their web page, un-friended me on LJ and Facebook both with no explanations ... All right, already, I get the idea. Doesn't make it sting any less because I thought said writer and I were close friends, but you move on because the other way lies madness.

Back to the Exorcist thing.

Yesterday I was on the phone with a young writer whom I have been attempting to help as much as I can. I had promised to have my comments on their short story to them by yesterday, but a couple of personal matters arose -- my favorite uncle died -- and I had been, well ... sad and distracted for a few days. My mother and all of her brothers are now gone, and my family -- not that big to begin with -- is much, much smaller now. Compounding this was the news that I not only have some dead bone in my bad leg, but quite probably some dead muscle, as well, and it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better. (Parenthetical pause: don't ever make fun of someone who'd had to deal with severe chronic pain for more than 6 months, there isn't a goddamn thing about it that lends itself to levity.) This news did not exactly overjoy my wife, Lucy, who has been going above and beyond the call to help take care of me while we try to get this problem (which we've dealing with for the better part of 3 years) resolved. (The writer in question knows much of this, since we were, I thought, friends, and so felt safe in sharing some personal information with them.)

Ahem.

I apologized to said writer for not having my comments ready yet, could they please give me 2 or 3 more days ... and they went to Defcon One and emptied the missile silos. Some very unpleasant things were said, but the Blue Ribbon went to the statement they delivered (at about 400 decibels) right before I said "This conversation is over," and hung up with out waiting for a reply.

Almost verbatim (you always remember the ones that hit too close to the nerve), this writer said -- after informing me that my work is awful and is "apologist" (?) and that Coffin County was a waste of time and paper: "I should have known better than to depend on a broken-down never-was who's going to spend the rest of his pathetic career at the bottom of the midlist if he's lucky!"

The demon will mix the truth in with its lies, indeed.

I've never made any secrets about my health problems, especially the fairly serious ones that have cropped up during the past five years. I won't list them all here because it would be tedious to the extreme and, besides, it seems like too many people define me not by my works and actions but by these health problems (Hell, sometimes I define myself by them), but when you get Right Down To It, technically, in the estimation of more than a few people, I suppose I am currently in the "broken-down" state. The "...never-was..." portion of their comment is, I think, unworthy of comment, and as for the possibility that I will remain on the bottom of the mid-list for the rest of my professional life -- well, let's face it, show me half a dozen writers who say they couldn't care less about that prediction and I'll show you at least four liars, one delusional, and the sixth writer who's probably asleep and didn't hear the comment in the first place.

What this long-winded post boils down to is this: I do not expect anyone -- other writers or not-- to swoon and fall at my feet because of my work; but at the same time, I do not expect to be the target of vicious discourtesy because someone gets their nose bent out of joint because I question their understanding of the use of the semicolon or don't get to their short story precisely when I say I will (and do so for free I feel compelled to add).

In even briefer terms: I treat others courtesy and respect, and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the same in return. And I do not appreciate having personal information thrown back in my face in order for someone else to feel they've gotten the upper moral hand in an argument. Anyone who stoops to that is neither a professional nor your friend.

I'm just sayin'....

Coffin County Makes BFA Long List

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:34:10 GMT

The British Fantasy Society announced its long list for the British Fantasy Awards, and I'm proud to say that Coffin County is included on the list for Novel. This isn't a BFA nomination -- it's the list of works that will be considered for a nomination. I know that CC won't go any further than this (thought that would be wonderful), but just making the Long List is great! Color me proud, that's for certain :)

To download the entire list (that contains a plethora of strong works -- not a big surprise, considering this is the British Fantasy Society), go here:

http://www.britishfantasysociety.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=194&Itemid=35

This was some very nice news on which to begin the weekend, and I just had to share.

I Couldn't Figure Out Where Else To Do This, So ...

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:05:54 GMT

I didn't want to go on a bunch of message boards and post this over and over, so I figured, Hey -- it's my LJ, who's it going to hurt?

Starting next week, I will have a fresh batch of hard copies of Coffin County available to any Active member of HWA who would like to read it for Stoker consideration.

If you're interested, please contact me at gary@garybraunbeck.com with your mailing address and I will send a copy your way -- with my thanks for your time and consideration.

And if any of you good folks feel like helping me spread the word about this offer, I would be deeply appreciative. (With Stephen King on the ballot in the same category, I'm going to need all the help I can get.)

Cover for Far Dark Fields

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:34:21 GMT

Overall, I've been pretty lucky with my book covers, both those released through the small press and those through mass market houses. I have liked more of them than not. But recently, I've been really lucky in that the art department at Leisure Books has consulted with me in-depth on my last 2 covers -- have, in fact, used my suggestions for the covers almost to the direction in which the grass on the ground is blowing. The cover for Coffin County -- okay, can't resist this, so rewind, stop, press PLAY -- The cover for the Stoker-nominated Coffin County is almost precisely what I described when asked for specific ideas. (Having the hanging bodies be a bit out of focus was Don D'Auria's idea, and I thought it worked beautifully.)

I would like to share with you now the cover for the next Cedar Hill novel from Leisure, Far Dark Fields, to be released this August; I think this is the best cover Leisure has given me to date:

Click on cover for a larger, higher-resolution version, then click on that image for the mondo-rez version.

Yes, that is The Reverend in the foreground and, yes, that dark, hunched, deformed figure you see shambling toward him in the distance is Hoopsticks -- who, at long last, shows himself and has his true nature revealed.

I think this is a wonderful cover, and wanted to share it with all of you.

...And the Nominees Are...

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:46:50 GMT

The nominees for this year's Bram Stoker Awards were just announced, and I am exceptionally proud to say that my novel Coffin County was given a nod in the Novel category. Now I can spend the next 4 months in a haze of worry and sleeplessness :)

The full list of nominees can be found here: http://www.fearzone.com/blog/bram-awards

My heartfelt congratulations to all nominees.

A Couple of Personal-Type Announcements

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:40:21 GMT

I'll just get right to it:

1) I have the flu. Big Time. My functionality is limited to maybe 30 minutes in the upright mode before running to worship the porcelain god and then staggering to the bedroom ands passing out. If you've sent me an e-mail in the past 48 hours and haven't heard back from me, please be patient for another day or two. I should be done praying for the sweet release of death by then and back to me old cheerful self.

2) Those good folks who have written to me requesting hard copies of COFFIN COUNTY for Stoker consideration (did I mention it made the Preliminary Ballot? Color me happy -- nay, ecstatic --about that), please note that your copies will go out this week (if Ohio isn't under a foot or more of snow come tomorrow morning); for those of you who might be considering requesting a copy, please note that all hard copies are now gone, so you'll have to make due with the dreaded (and, in the eyes of some, tacky) PDF version. I apologize for this, but I simply don't have any extra hard copies to spare as of now.

3) I have a temperature nearing 102 (101.7, to be exact) right now, so if there are any typos, apologies.

R.I.P. Andrew Wyeth

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:51:58 GMT

One of this country's finest painters -- I use the word "painter" instead of "artist" because he never referred to himself as the latter -- has passed away:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090116/ap_on_en_ot/obit_andrew_wyeth

I've always loved Wyeth's work, the way he was able to capture sadness without making an image over-done or mawkish. For my money, the emotional power in his work equalled that of Van Gogh's or Gaugin's. 91 is a good run, no argument, but Wyeth was one of those creators you want to see live to be 110. Or live forever.

If you're not familiar with his work, Goggle his name and be amazed.