The Fiction Writer Cometh

Last weekend I gave a reading at a book store in my hometown of Rice Lake, Wisconsin. I read a story from "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff," as well as part of a chapter of the new book coming out next month, "Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde". I also read some microfiction - read: flash fiction - and an observational piece I wrote especially for the event. At any rate, several people have asked me to post it, so here ya go. As a word of warning, if you're not from the RL area, you may not have much clue as to what this is all about. (It's kind of a Locals Only sort of thing...)

"The Long Way Home"

or

"The Fiction Writer Cometh"

by

Scott F. Falkner

(Said with the slight embarrassment and trepidation of someone introducing them self at an AA meeting.) I’m Scott, and I am a fiction writer.

That means I lie for a living.

Well, that isn’t entirely true.

I don’t lie in the negative sense. However, FICTION denotes untruth, which means in telling you that I write fiction, I’m telling you up front that I’m a liar. It’s just like that old story about the snake and the old woman crossing the river… you can’t blame a snake for being a snake. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I tell untruths for a living. None of what I write is true… so it’s a lie… sort of.

Like if I said that I met a middle-aged man in a diner on the corner of Center and Skull Streets, in 1995 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a man who’s name I can’t really remember, but who told me over several cups of coffee how he lived a life in the shadows and chased down supernatural beings… all in the course of making the world a better place. I could say that I based much of Helman Graff on that man’s life and what he told me… I could say that, and yet you’d have to assume that I was making it up… because I’m a fiction writer.

Anyway, I say this all up front, because I want you to know just what you’re getting into… that is, I want you to understand what I may or may not be telling you… if you catch my meaning?

I left Rice Lake, Wisconsin, in 1991. That’s going on eighteen years ago.

Eighteen years.

But let’s say it’s nineteen years. After all, nineteen holds much more weight, and anyone who’s read Stephen King’s The Dark Tower knows the powerful implications of the number nineteen.

So we’ll say I left nineteen years ago. I can do that. Because I’m a fiction writer.

I enjoyed a relatively idyllic childhood in a small town with a great family and great friends. However, when I was seventeen, I was chomping at the bit to leave. I’m sure it’s a feeling that the majority of high school seniors feel: that sense of urgency to get on with life, to get out there and see and experience all the world has to offer.

And so I left.

I don’t want to dwell too much on what happened to me while I was away. I don’t want to focus on such things as how I—in my own mind and the mind of a maniacal director—stole the show playing the part of a teenage stoner in a college production of Talk Radio.

I don’t want to dwell on how I fell two stories onto a sidewalk trying to steal a store sign in Paris, Texas, and cracked my head open.

I don’t want to dwell on sitting with my mentor, a Pulitzer Prize winning German writer, in a Milwaukee hospital as he died from self-inflicted cuts to his wrists.

There are enough stories there to fill a book in itself, stories of jumping six stories into the Chippewa River at three a.m. in February, stories about kicking a raging heroin addiction with the help of an Indian Mystic who taught me the majestic art of Tai-Chi, stories about cursing out a Theology Professor in front of a class of two-hundred students for his lack of Native American insight, stories about working at a television affiliate during nine-eleven, stories about getting married, buying houses and cars, and watching my children being born.

Lot’s of stories.

What I’d rather focus on is what I’ve noticed about Rice Lake since coming back after nineteen years of being away.

To be certain, I’ve been back in the meantime, to visit family and friends, but to tell you the truth, I never really NOTICED my hometown while I was here for those visits. Sure, I noticed small things, like the lack of a Starbucks, but for the most part the city itself was really just backdrop.

Window dressing.

Staging.

But now I’m back, and as such I’m starting to notice things.

Small things.

Big things.

Take the changing face of the businesses for instance. When I was a kid, Russ’s Pancake House was the place to go for a great breakfast. Then the lead waitress left and started up Maxine’s. Maxine’s took the place of an Asian Restaurant. Now there’s an Asian Restaurant where Russ’s Pancake House was in the first place.

Talk about full circle.

That block where Russ’s was has changed a lot. Where Dominoes was is now a Mexican Restaurant, and there’s a nifty little coffee shop on the corner that’s completely new to me. A little farther north, the big grocery store in town moved across the street, and a collection of smaller businesses moved in where it used to be… it seems like a waste of space.

The other big grocery store in town, the one of the south end, the one where I used to drag my fingers along the floor while riding in the bottom of my mom’s shopping cart, has closed down.

The mall has changed a lot too. It seemed larger when I was a kid, but just about everything seemed larger back then I suppose. The Big Steer is gone. Eat at Joe’s, the eatery which had the miniature theater where you could watch a cartoon for a quarter, is now a coffee shop. Woolworth's is now JC Penny and JC Penny is now a sporting goods store. The fountain is still there in the middle, the one I almost fell into when I was in choir and fainted on the risers set up over the top of it.

I fainted in church too, when I was playing Joseph in the Christmas pageant. I fell over onto Mary and punted the doll representing the Christ child into the third row… unintentionally of course. That was at First United Methodist up on the hill. I’ve only been there a few times since, and it seems like one of the few places that hasn’t changed all that much.

Up the street from the church, the pool no longer has the high diving board… insurance reasons I’ve been told.

My old elementary school now has a second floor.

My old high school has changed a lot. I brought my daughter there for a dance recital and was wowed by the new addition off the gym. Of course, now they’re tearing up the football field and the track, and cutting down a lot of brilliant old trees, for a multi-million dollar sports complex.

Back in my day, myself and some friends petitioned the city council for a place to skateboard. They gave us a slab of asphalt near the hockey arena.

These days, there’s a new skatepark out where the old airport used to be. It’s right next to the soccer park… which takes me to my old stomping grounds.

I used to live on the corner of Orchard Beach, across from where the old boat landing was. My backyard used to be a field with a rustic old barn, and beyond that was Nutter’s Ranch—also known as Misty Moors. Behind the ranch, the cranberry bogs where I once played, where myself and a friend saw a pack of beavers gnawing into the fresh carcass of a black bear before turning their sights on us, are now gone, replaced by a swamp.

That field behind my old house? That’s now filled with condominiums. Down the road, however, lay the Round Houses, and other than their color, they’ve not changed much. They remain a fantastically unique, and interesting comment on promotional architecture.

Speaking of promotional architecture…

Today, atop a building on Main Street, standing like a supernatural sentry, is a twelve foot gorilla.

That’s all I have to say about that.

Just like when I was little, when the wind is just right, the pervasive and comfortingly familiar stench of the onion factory still rolls through the city, as does the dull roar of the race track on Saturday nights.

And of course, the eastern horizon is still filled with the ever present shadow of the Blue Hills.

I spent a lot of time in those hills as a kid. I was taught to ski by my sister when I was five at Hardscrabble, and I continued to ski regularly until I was introduced to the wondrous invention of the snowboard in 1989.

I haven’t skied since.

Some friends and I used to hike in Gundy’s Canyon. I’m not sure if we were trespassing or not… and I’m still not sure what we saw hovering over the center of the canyon like a mechanical octopus on that summer day in 1990—I do know that four of us went out to the canyon that day… and only three of us came back.

I remember getting lost in the Blue Hills on Sunday afternoons with a friend who will remain nameless. I remember wandering for hours on dusty back roads barely wider than the car and past tin shacks that didn’t look inhabitable… but which had smoke winding up and out of their exhaust pipe chimneys.

On a recent drive out to the hills I found that much of it hasn’t changed. It’s still our very own strange and mysterious place, filled with just as much wonder as danger. I’m glad that my kids will one day have the opportunity to experience it.

So, Rice Lake is much the same as when I left, despite numerous cosmetic differences.

More importantly, I suppose, is that I’ve changed significantly in the last nineteen years.

When I left, I was an angry young man, imbued with a sense of destiny and determined to inflict my own ideas on the world as loudly as possible.

These days, as a husband and father, I’m a bit softer around the edges—emotionally and physically—though my mind and sense of awareness are much sharper. I’m still determined to force my ideas on the world, yet now I understand that for those ideas to be effective, they must often be conveyed subtly, and with a certain degree of modesty.

The Rice Lake area—much to my initial surprise—is a good place to do that.

Here, from my quiet little corner of the world, I can spew forth my lies, my untruths, and affect your minds… at least for a little while.

After all, that’s what I do. I’m Scott, and I’m a Fiction Writer.

~

CALVIN DYER AND THE REATIAN HORDE!

"Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde" will be released from Stone Garden Books next month (June '09). Check out www.scottfalkner.com for more info about my new dark fantasy western novella.

Important Delving News

~

Okay, gather 'round kids. There's something that old dad's gotta tell you. You might not like it, but I'm going to try and convince you that it's for your own good. Ready?

Here's the deal: In looking over the manuscript for the final Delving book, Delving: Culminations, I found that it didn't really live up to what I'd envisioned for the end of the series. I found that it didn't fully explore the key characters out to their ends, and that it didn't do justice properly to the series as a whole. I don't know about you, but I found that I didn't want Delving to end in a sort of sub-par manner. I didn't want to release a half-assed book.

To that end, I contacted Stone Garden and came up with a plan "b" - which I think is pretty great.

Here it is: Instead of releasing a not so great final Delving book in June, we're going to release the dark fantasy western that was supposed to come out sometime next year. This way, you still get a Falkner book this summer, and I get more time to completely rewrite Delving: Culminations, in the process making it something I'm proud to release, and making it something that you'll be stoked to read.

I understand that many of you were highly anticipating the final chapter of Delving, and for the delay, I apologize. This is completely my own undertaking, and all of the blame falls on me. However, I stress that I really do feel like giving the novel some more time is in both my, and the readers', best interest.

Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde is best classified as a dark fantasy western... something a bit off the beaten path--and yet wholly consistent with the stuff that I like to read. We'll have a lot more info about this particular book in just a bit, and if you've liked anything I've written in the past, I'm certain you'll dig this one as well.

Again, I'm truly sorry for the delay of Delving's concluding volume, but I promise it'll be worth the wait.

Thanks for your patience.
sff

The Big Nominal Update

~


Hey friends. It's been a while since I've done an all-encompassing sort of update on what's going down in Scott F. Falkner World(s), so...

These sorts of things are kinda fun for you (I hope) as you can kind of see what I've been up to, what I'm currently up to, and what I plan on being up to soon. They're also good for me as I can sort of focus in on what I'm doing myself, as when you start shifting through as many projects as I tend to do, it can often get confusing as to what comes next - or even worse, I feel like the "on-deck" projects are just awash at the other end of my desk, waiting to crash over the top of me. Not a cool feeling.

So, here's a list of what's out, what's coming, and what might be coming after that. After all, the upcoming stuff is always subject to change depending on the whim of the Creator... (that being me):

First up, I'd like to refer to Exile: The Collected Helman Graff, which came out last January, ('09). I feel like "Exile" got a bit swept under the rug in terms of promotion and exposure, which is in large part my fault, another part timing, and altogether too bad. This was my first short story collection, as well as the first one of my books to be illustrated. Nathan Fehlauer's artwork in the book is amazing, and in my estimation worthy of the cover price in and of itself. As the title indicates, the stories are all linked through the character of Helman Graff - a sort of modern day Abraham Van Helsing. The book is naturally linked to my dark fantasy Delving series, yet, I've heard from several people who haven't read the Delving series who have read "Exile", and they've enjoyed it enormously. At any rate, if you haven't checked it out, I implore you to do so. A good review of the book can be found at Horrorworld by following this LINK. (scroll down six reviews)

Next up is Delving: Culminations. This book is scheduled to be released this June and will wrap up all things Delving and Helman Graff related. I'm putting the finishing touches on this one right now... with mixed emotions. The Delving series has taken up several early years in my writing career, and that's both a good and a bad thing. Good because I think it's a good story and it really allows me to flex my horrific, fantastical, and adventurous muscles. Bad, because it's a long story that's kept me from doing other things. I don't want to put too much of a downer twist on it, because I'm still very energized with the story. I loved the way that things spun around in Delving: Assassins, and hooking up things (albeit loosely) with the Graff collection has been fun. But, it'll also be nice to put the Graff family saga behind me... at least for a while.

Once Delving: Culminations is released, the time for short stories, comics, artwork, and signings will begin.

Since there wasn't really a "proper" signing tour - or tour at all - done for "Exile..." I want to focus on getting out and meeting you guys in person this summer. Tomorrow I'll be announcing a May signing for Northern Wisconsin, but I'd also like to get to the rest of the state and some neighboring ones as well. There's going to be a big push for signing/reading dates this summer, so keep and eye out for when I'm coming near you so you can swing by and say hi. (btw: if you're a midwest area bookseller and you'd like to set up a signing, email us through the website. If you're located anywere else, and you're willing to sport for 1st Class airfare and lodging... oh, who am I kidding? Give me a heads up and point me to the nearest freight train. I'll figure it out.)

Getting published early in my career meant that I didn't get to really cut my chops a whole lot in the short fiction markets. I feel like I kinda missed out on competing for spots in the major horror and science fiction periodicals, and I know there are several anthologies that I would love to be a part of . Short fiction is going to be key this summer.

Also, I'll be focusing on art this summer. I can't remember how long it's been since I did an oil painting, and that's not cool at all. I'd like to randomly shoot through five or six before Halloween if possible, but I'm not going to hamstring myself with a timeline or a number. I'm just going to make a point to do more art.

Between the shorts and the artwork, I'm also going to be focusing on what will be referred to as the "Demon Comic". I'm going to write a script for a comic book for the first time, and see if it's worth pursuing further. I'm a little loathe to reveal too much about this one as that whole superstition shadow tickles the hair above my ear when I do.

All right, the next novel-length book I'll be writing will be a horror novel - and beyond that, It'll be a post-apocalyptic novel. That's right, it's the end of the world and I'm writing the words. God, being a God is Grand. I'll be starting this book in the Fall - specifically I'm not sure of a date or even a month. I'll start when it feels right. I'm gonna go a bit slower than usual on this one as I'm writing it for a specific, larger publisher, and will be writing with their criteria in mind. Other than those tidbits, mum's the word.

Intending to spend the entire winter on that Horror novel, springtime will allow for work on someting that's been on my backburner for far too long. Spring, 2010 will be when I finish writing my YA Fantasy novel, "Netherwood." I think about this book often, and I think the end of winter will be a lovely time to write it.

Next summer brings us to another Horror novel that's been waiting on deck for far too long. Wellsprung, a title that probably won't stick, has several chapters already finished. There's some more research I'd like to do on this particular book before completing it, research that I hope to finish this summer in the form of a week-long vacation at a local resort...

Beyond that, as far as new stuff goes, there's a few more ideas in the hopper, but I've got some time to flesh them out.

ALSO, in 2010, Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde, a dark-fantasy western novella of mine will be released by Stone Garden. I'm not sure where in the year that one will come, but it will be in 2010. I'll let you know as soon as I find out.

I feel like I'm missing something...

AH! Yes. I'm hoping to get a FalknerCast up and running as soon as "Delving: Culminations" is completely wrapped. "What's a FalknerCast?" you ask? hahahahahaha. You'll have to wait and see.

As I said before, all of these plans are subject to review, rejection, admonition, appreciation, and termination. But they do offer a blueprint of where I "think" I'm headed.

Cheers.
sff

Do You Want To Be A Writer... Or Do You Want A Life?

~

"Do you want to be a writer... or do you want a life?"

It's a good question, and entirely valid, especially when you have a wife, three kids, two cats, and a dog who would all very much like some attention paid to them even when you've got a book deadline that seems highly unattainable.

I recently read a book for my book gang called Freakonomics. In one section of the book, the author(s) wrote about how being a crack dealer is sort of a "tournament" job: Other tournament jobs are Professional Athlete, Rock Star, Actor, and of course, Writer. What does that mean? A tournament job means that most likely you're making next to nothing (financially) or you're making everything. (And yes, there are exceptions. There are bar bands that make okay money on weekends, there are stock actors who perform in localized theater that do okay, and yes, there are midlist writers that do okay as well - but I'm not speaking to the exceptions. I'm speaking to the general rules of the "tournament".)

A tournament job runs in the following way: One starts out in the lowest possible position and exhibits their talent/prowess at the given profession. Through a multitude of factors that include savvy, sticktuitiveness, and lots of luck, certain "players" are noticed, and move slowly up the ladder. The goal for all of these "players" is to eventually hit that highest echelon of the given profession: (ie. Crack God, Major League player with a Major League Contract, a Rock Star playing Arenas and touring the world, or, knock on wood, the likes of Patricia Cornwell, J.K. Rowling, Steve King, or John Grisham). But what about regular jobs? You have to start at the bottom and work your way up in any profession, right? Yes, that's true, but the thing about tournament jobs is that there are no guarantees. There's nothing that says just because your last book was pretty good that anyone will buy your next one. There's nothing that says that just because you "show up" and do the work, that you'll get paid. In other words, the "job" is based on faith - faith in your own abilities. Faith through passion. Faith that the whole thing will work out.

From someone standing outside of the tournament lifestyle, that faith can be a hard thing to get on board with. When the money isn't what one would hope, attitudes echoing "move on with your life" can become the norm... and that can be a hard thing to hear. However, it is my belief that a real Writer sees that as one more obstacle that must be overcome in the tournament. A real Writer believes that the stories must be told, whether they are read by ten people or ten million. And so, a real Writer Writes... the critics, personal, public, and private alike, be damned.

I've consistently attempted to buck the trends when it comes to having it all, the family, the career, the whole nine yards. I've been warned that it would be difficult, and warned that it would be impossible - but I've lived my life accepting the possibility of the impossible, and I don't intend to stop now.

"CULMINATION" INFO

Her presence regained, Marissa Graff has found herself more powerful than ever.

As Delving: Culminations begins, we find her systematically slaughtering the Rogues at the behest of the Delving Council.

In return for her service, the Council has promised to search for Marissa's exiled father, Helman Graff.

The surviving Rogues also search for Helman, hoping that his discovery will bring an end to the Council's tyranny over the Delving Tradition once and for all.

But once found, who will Helman side with...

...his own daughter or the resistance?

A monumental struggle between good and evil.
The ultimate confrontation between father and daughter.

The very existence of the Delving World hangs in the balance as Scott F. Falkner's epic saga culminates in this final volume of the Delving trilogy.

"Delving: Culminations" will be released this June from Stone Garden Publishing. Watch http://www.scottfalkner.com/ for pre-order information. For more on the first two volumes of the Delving trilogy, visit the official Delving website.


~

Playing Catch-up... Always

~

I'm currently typing this with one hand as my other is cradling my one yr old son as he's apparently decided to take his morning nap there. I thought that as I'm catching up on about 30 different things, I should catch up on the blog as well.

First up, I only recently had the opportunity to listen to the latest Pod of Horror, (no. 51, I believe) and I wanted to give Nanci Kalanta a hearty thanks for her unnecessary apology at the top of the show, and for mentioning "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff." As for the beer you pledged to buy me, Nanci, I've recently given up drinking. However, as far as those fifty lashes go...

Apparently I'm now on Twitter. I've been doing it for a few days and as it seems like it doesn't suck up too much time - a la myspace (which I've been neglecting, sorry) and facebook (which I've been spending too much time on). Look me up if you'd like to "follow" me - (http://twitter.com/ScottFalkner) - though I can't promise where I'll lead you. I'm still trying to decide whether or not I want to start up one of those "Haunt" pages over at the Horror-Mall... how many networking sites are there(!)? But if I do I'll let you know.

I'm working my way through the final volume of Delving - ("Delving: Culminations"). I've lain aside the "demon" comic for the moment as the third Delving book is taking priority over everything else. The cover for it should be available around the net next week.

I opened up my new Canon FS10 yesterday, I've got it working but haven't really had time to get
"in depth" with it yet. I'm hoping to maybe do some readings with it and post them on youtube... when I get time.

Setting up some spring signings is near the top of the to-do list, again, when I know what's going on, you'll know.

Went snowboarding last weekend. Fantastic weather. Fantastic terrain park. My legs still ache.

Lastly, Neil Gaiman stated on his blog that his father died last weekend. Neil has been a huge inspiration to me, and the least I can do it send out my condolences to Neil and his family. You all have my sincerest sympathies.