Flametoad

Because Ed has been complaining that I never post on my blog anymore…

Here in Texas a series of small cold fronts have finally broken the choke hold of 100 degree days that gripped the state. Now that we’re back down to more seasonable temperatures in the 80s and 90s, our thoughts turn to the time of ghosts and goblins (and candy!) drawing ever closer.

With retailers stretching their seasonal sales earlier and earlier, most of us in the U.S. started seeing Halloween decorations on the shelves in August. It’s a little hard to get into the spirit* of things after being pelted with pumpkin decorations at every turn for weeks on end. To help you restore some of that holiday fear**, why not pick up an anthology of ghost stories? In fact, let me suggest one anthology in particular. The recently released Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror includes a story of mine- The Angry Stick.

This book has been a long time in the making, but the story even longer. I was approached by Matt McElroy of Flames Rising Press back in early 2010 about submitting an anthology story for consideration. Honestly, it was a pretty rough time for me. Ed and I were working like mad to put the finishing touches on Degrees of Horror, our big (and I mean BIG) Pinebox setting book for Savage Worlds set on the ETU campus. By that point we’d been running that particular marathon for several months. The last thing I needed to do was take on more writing work. Still, when opportunity knocks it’s hard to plug your ears.

The Angry Stick started as a thematic sibling to another project I’d started in 2009. That one was a sci-fi story (working title Mission Incomplete) that I’d started but set aside until I could figure out how to pull off the ending. I knew how I wanted it to end thematically, but I hadn’t worked out the actual mechanics of what the protagonist would do to generate the resolution I had in mind. The Haunted anthology story would be totally different– present-day ghost hunting had absolutely nothing in common with my sci-fi story. Yet as I cast about for ideas I came around to that same theme I had been exploring in Mission Incomplete. Apparently it was an idea that wanted out one way or another, and as elements clicked into place I saw how I could make the story work. The good news is that whereas Mission Incomplete lay, well…incomplete, the resolution on The Angry Stick came about much more easily. There’s something to be said for persistence and re-writing.

The protagonist in The Angry Stick is a seasoned ghost hunter who has been drawn to a pool hall in Pinebox, Texas by reports of strong supernatural activity. I had some backstory in which the protagonist got his start in Pinebox, but almost all of that ended up on the cutting room floor in favor of fleshing out other parts of the story. Those are the kinds of tough choices you have to make when you’re working under a word limit and I appreciate editor Monica Valentinelli’s wisdom on zeroing in on the more important parts. The story is better for her input.

It’s been more than a year since I wrote The Angry Stick and maybe 6 months since I turned in the final requested edits. With the benefit of time and experience, I recently picked up Mission Incomplete again. I’ve been polishing the parts I’d written two years ago and drawing closer to the ending I knew I wanted. Only, a few days ago I realized that what I’d originally envisioned (and pulled off in The Angry Stick) really didn’t entirely make sense for the protagonist in this situation. Now I either have to figure out how to re-frame things such that the ending is still logical or I have to come up with another ending that still satisfies the overall theme of the story. That’s okay though. I’m a writer. I have some ideas.

*See what I did there?
**And there?

In case you haven’t heard the news, a short story of mine is appearing in anthology this month. The anthology is called Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror and the e-book can be had for only $4.99. A print edition will be following in the coming weeks. Anyhow, my story, The Angry Stick, is the last one in the book.

With Halloween right around the corner, the timing couldn’t be better. This collection of short stories brings examines the practice of ghost hunting. Not the Ghostbusters variety, but rather actual ghost hunting as it’s done today and on reality shows like Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters International, and Ghost Adventures. I’m afraid my story takes liberties in the interest of drama and isn’t as scientific as actual ghost hunting, but the theme holds.

My story’s name, The Angry Stick, is taken from the tale’s setting—a rustic pool hall in the rural East Texas town of Pinebox. I’m sure nearly none of you will be surprised to learn that this isn’t the first time I’ve written about this particular pool hall. The Angry Stick made its official debut in an issue of the e-zine Modern Dispatch, though the issue number escapes me. It’s inspired by an actual pool hall here in Texas, though the name has been changed and the layout of the building is somewhat different. For whatever it’s worth, this Angry Stick and the events that take place within are officially part of the Pinebox setting continuity.

So what’s the story actually about? Here’s the elevator pitch: A seasoned ghost hunter struggles to conceal his curse while helping a pretty amateur who stubbornly investigates a hostile spirit.

That’s about all I can tell you for now without getting into spoiler territory. In closing, I’d just like to say that the nice thing about writing for anthologies is the opportunity to be associated with people more talented than yourself. I’m honored that The Angry Stick is being included among stories by such an excellent lineup of authors. If you’re in the mood for reading something spooky this Halloween season, I hope you’ll consider our “11 tales of Ghostly Horror”.

Come back in a few days to watch me do a deadly balancing act as I talk about how I came to write The Angry Stick while managing to avoid spoilers. Can it be done? Tune in and find out!

This little video is incredibly bloody (for paper animation, that is) but cool in the amount of work that went into it. Enjoy!

Path of Blood – Demon at the Crossroads of Destiny from Eric Power on Vimeo.

I was a teen in the 1980s. By then my paternal grandfather had passed away and my grandmother lived on her own. Without the responsibility of having to care for an ailing husband, she renewed her life by keeping busy with a variety of activities and friends. As time went on though, her eyesight declined and she felt uncomfortable driving at night. Thus, I became her companion—first in the passenger seat and later as the driver—on some of her adventures. As a teen, you can imagine that I appreciated some escapades more than others and as I got older they became more of a nuisance than a treat. Needless to say, now I cherish every memory and only wish I had more.

One of our standing dates was a short 10 mile drive to the tiny town of Harwood. I seriously doubt Harwood had a population in the triple digits at the time, but what it did have was an empty schoolhouse. Like many towns along the railroad connecting Houston to San Antonio, Harwood had once been a thriving community. The town’s lifeblood dried up with the decline of passenger travel by rail and the introduction of the Interstate highway a few miles away. This old, brick building was a monument to livelier times and boasted a handful of classrooms as well as a cafeteria with a stage at one end—perfect for a monthly bluegrass jam.

I took the bluegrass jam for granted, just as teens take nearly everything for granted. Some of the bluegrass musicians drove three hours or more to spend an afternoon and evening in a vacant building in a speck of a community just for the joy of jamming with each other. Even while groups took turn on stage (two songs per turn), other musicians would meet in the hallway or outside to teach each other new licks or just have fun. While some musicians came to the bluegrass jam as a group, just as many arrived singly and formed groups for the night right on the spot. Many months, the tiny schoolhouse was filled with 60 to 80 enthusiasts. Remarkably, there was no admission fee for the event, only a tip jar to cover the cost of renting the building for the day.

All of which is to say, even though my eyes were set on rock and roll as a teen, more than a little of that good bluegrass music made its way into my heart. Thus it was with a mixture of nostalgia, appreciation for good music, and a respect for Steve Martin (yes, THAT Steve Martin) that I picked up Rare Bird Alert. His banjo prowess astounded me even when I watched a video of his standup routine, and it seems that he has finally returned to a music he clearly loves. My reintroduction to Steve’s new work came through a YouTube video of one of the songs on this album, a funny “gospel” song called Atheists Don’t Have No Songs. When I earned a $15 Amazon credit for pre-ordering something else, I decided on impulse to give Rare Bird Alert a try.

I should also mention that as I near 40 years old, I fully recognize that I’m not in the record companies’ demographics. I rarely buy music anymore, preferring to listen to Pandora. When I do buy music, it is always digital. I made an exception this time for two reasons. First, Amazon’s credit excluded digital downloads, and second, a customer review noted that the liner notes took the package to another level. Now that I have the CD in hand I have to agree. Clearly a lot of production work went into the physical package, from the trading cards(!) to the liner notes. I usually couldn’t care less about liner notes, but the notes helped me paint a mental picture while listening to the songs with no lyrics.

I won’t comment on every song, but there are a few that really stood out for me. Yellow-backed Fly is a fishing song with a whole lot of simple charm. I could listen to it over and over. Steve Martin’s sense of humor comes out in Jubilation Day, a song about breaking up. The Great Remember is a beautiful song in which lyrics would have only served to gild the lily. The previously mentioned Atheists Don’t Have No Songs is also a fun, funny treat.

I’ve listened to Rare Bird Alert completely twice now, and it will probably be in heavy rotation as soon as I can rip it to MP3. My only complaint really isn’t a mark against the album as it is a statement about my preferences. Rare Bird Alert is a studio album and sounds like it. The recording and production are top notch, the playing flawless … yet there’s a certain zest that comes from jamming together that’s missing. That is simply the nature of a studio album versus a live recording, and it’s a preference I’m sure wholly influenced by many a summer night spent listening to live bluegrass jams. Regardless, I’ll definitely be adding The Crow: New Songs for the Five String Banjo, Mr. Martin’s prior bluegrass CD, to my wishlist.