THE DAILY CAVE

WHERE I AM

2012-02-12T14:22:00.003-06:00

Hey Kids.

We've recently updated the website, www.scottfalkner.com, and the new format enables me to blog there exclusively. Therefore, I won't be utilizing the Daily Cave any longer.

Come check out the new site.

Thanx,
Scott

SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN

2011-04-11T22:09:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow I'll be speaking to students taking a Wisconsin Literature class at an area high school. Two of my books, "The Feast of Catchville" and "Swaybuck" are part of the class curriculum, and as such they've asked me to come as a guest speaker.

In going over some notes from previous times I've done this sort of thing, I was rediscovering just how Wild West the profession of "AUTHOR" has become over the last few years. It was only a few months ago that e-books outsold paperbacks on Amazon for the very first time in history.

This is huge, folks.

I'm one of the "old timers" who never, ever thought anything big would come of those new fangled e-reading devices. (Kinda like that whole internet fad.) But apparently I couldn't have been more wrong. Ebooks are on the rise, and as such, more books than ever are going to be available to the reading public.

Is that a good thing?

No.

And yes.

As old Ben would say, "It all depends on your point of view."

No, it won't be a good thing because anyone with a limited head for tech will be able to "publish" their writing on their own independent "imprints" with minimal effort and have it as accessible as reputable works.

Yes, it'll be a good thing because anyone with a limited head for tech will be able to "publish" their writing on their own independent "imprints" with minimal effort and have it as accessible as reputable works.

I recently listened to a series of discussions with Rod Serling in which he spoke at length about writers and writing. In one of them, he spoke about young writers not wallowing through years of "paying dues" if what they had to say was important, well thought out, well executed, and interesting. Too many times writers were being looked at as inexperienced because they hadn't cut their teeth on a hundred short story sales to magazine markets.

I disagree with what Rod was saying there.

And I agree with him.

Clearly, it's nice to think that we, as writers, really did have something unique and interesting to say in our first books, and that what we did have to say was worthy of being read by anyone who was interested. At the same time, perhaps many of us were saved from embarrassment by the very fact that what we wrote the first time out wasn't deemed worthy of being read by any and all by those that guard the keys to "being read": editors, publishers, et al.

Magazine markets.

Now there's an interesting prospect.

There once was a time when a writer could tap his fingers raw and make thirty or forty bucks a week writing three or four stories for the magazine market, and that thirty or forty bucks a week was enough for rent on a room, a little food, some smokes, some drinks, and some typewriter ribbon.

Fast forward to the twenty-first century.

The rates for the work haven't changed much, but the cost of living has. I do not know of a writer that started out in the last decade that could afford to live on writing alone when they started out. The economics of it just don't work. The digital revolution hasn't changed the economic viability of short stories - in fact, by and far, the majority of online "zines" are strangely called "for the love" markets, in that they won't pay you a dime, but boy oh boy, your story will be in pixelized "print" - the internet equivalent of Broadway's "up in lights." These days, you'd do better to start your own website and post your stories there, something more and more writers are realizing is easily within their capability.

But what about being a paid Author? you ask. How does that happen? How do you achieve that? How can I make enough money to live on simply by writing and selling stories?

Good question.

And the answer goes something like this: Be original. You write fantasy stories? So do a hundred thousand other people. You need to set yourself apart from the get go... and I don't just mean on paper. I'm talking about image. I'm talking about creating, maintaining and selling a BRAND. Sounds crass, don't it? Oh, don't get me wrong, your writing has to be on the money, so to speak. You've gotta have some talent and be able to spin a grand yarn.

But there's more to it than that.

You can no longer be an introvert and a succesful writer in the twenty-first century.

Let me say that again in case you weren't listening, You can no longer be an introvert and a successful writer in the twenty-first century.

You HAVE to be out there selling your BRAND. And when I say "out there" - I mean literally and digitally. You need to attend Conventions and book signings and lectures, and when you do, YOU NEED TO MAKE THE MOST OF THEM. People must, must, must remember who you were and what you do. People must remember that you had a spark, that there was something special, something unique about you. How you do this is entirely up to you, but you have to do it. You must have an INTENSE, DAILY web presence. You must frequent the places that your readers frequent. You must blog. You must tweet. You must make yourself known in a huge way to the masses.

Consistently.

There's a reason that there are endless MacDonalds and Coke commercials: Everpresence. You are constantly in the mind of your consumers. You are there whenever they need you.

Admittedly, all of the above is a tall order and not for the faint of heart, but it's all true. I haven't accomplished it by a long shot. I've found that there are other things in life that I wish to do beyond writing, and as such, I'm perfectly fine with not making a living at it. My goals are such that I want to write the stories that I want to write, and leave it at that. I hope many, many future generations enjoy them, and that I'll briefly be able to infect their minds and affect the way they think about things. That will be good enough for me.

At any rate, back to my original point. The profession of Writing is truly in a "Wild West" phase at present. The advent of the Ipad and tablet computers have already infected children's books to the point where the reader can push certain buttons while reading the story to activate all sorts of fun and educational "accessories." It will not be long before these sorts of things infect the adult e-book market, eventually blending the reading experience with the auditory, and the auditory with the cinematic. A blending of formerly multiple professions into possibly a solitary one.

Exciting and adventurous, both.

And scary.

The world is moving faster than ever. I hope the young can keep up, for I'm not certain that I'll be able to.

Best of luck.

STILL HERE

2011-02-17T21:32:00.004-06:00

Question: How do you know that you haven't written a blog post in a long, long time?

Answer: You forget the password to get into your blog posts.

I haven't gone through and read the last few posts I'd written, but I'm sure that they'd all do some apologizing for not posting in a very long time, and then go on to promise more frequent posts.

Let's not fall into that trap again, shall we.

I'm currently sitting in my blissfully quiet office listening to the wind howling outside the window. We've been treated to a few days of well above normal temperatures, and tomorrow we're dropping back down into the mid-twenties - normal temps for mid-February in Northern Wisconsin.

Let's start with what I've been reading.

Over Christmas, I received "The Complete Sherlock Holmes" and Volume II of Neil Gaiman's "Absolute Sandman."

I'm loathe to admit that I've never read any of Arthur Conan Doyle's famous mysteries before now. I'd always intended to, but just never got around to it. Then, shortly before Christmas, I was listening to an interview with Harlan Ellison, in which, on an Ellison-esque rant on religion, he happened to mention A.C.D.'s collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, claiming that if ANYone wanted to be smart, all they had to do was read the stories, and understand what Doyle was telling you about observation and inference. I thought to myself, "hey, you could stand to be a bit smarter," and here we are.

I'm about halfway through the Holmes stories and have enjoyed them immensely. Certainly, I've learned much, but what really surprised me about the tales is how much fun they are. Sherlock Holmes is a hoot, as is Watson in his role as straight man. The book is good fun, and I can highly recommend it before I've even finished it.

The other book I'm reading - (I've been bouncing back and forth between the two as they're both collections) - is Volume II of the Absolute version of Neil Gaiman's "Sandman." I was lucky enough to receive Volume I a few years ago, and again, it was the first time I'd ever ventured into the Sandman series. (Am I one of the only people in the world to come to Gaiman through the novels BEFORE the comics?) The Sandman is, of course, simply amazing. It's one of those things that even when you're in the midst of reading it for the first time, you realize you're reading something special. Something like a masterwork. At any rate, it's good fun, and I also pleasured myself by re-reading the first volume before starting this one. Amazing stories. Amazing mythos. Good times.

Now then, what are we writing these days?

The same thing I've been working on for what seems like the last few years.

"Delving: Culminations" is the toughest book I've ever had to write. A big reason for that is self imposed pressure, I suppose. I'm very proud of the first two Delving books, and as such I want to make absolutely sure that the final chapter of the trilogy holds up to the standard set in place by the first two.

I'd actually written almost the entire book in 2008 when I came to the conclusion that that version of the book didn't measure up to the rest of the series. I toyed with the idea of taking snippets of the book and rearranging them, but then thought that that would be cheating myself and you out of a good story. Instead, I trashed the whole thing and started fresh.

And then the hard drive crashed, and yours truly was too idiotic to have things backed up...

But let's not speak of bad memories. Lessons were learned - the hard way - and we do things differently now.

The book is going well. The characters you and I know so well are doing some surprising things. A certain Mr. Graff shows up in a big way, fresh from the pages of "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff." It's going to be a great book. It's due in late spring, and I'm hoping Stone Garden will be able to release it this summer.

What else...

Oh, I'm in the process of starting a company, but as this blog centers on the writing stuff, we'll veer away from that part of my life for the moment.

At any rate, I'm here. And that's a good thing. I had a pretty good scare involving a brain scan and some vision loss not too long ago, but maybe we'll save that story for next time.

"Exile" for Kindle

2010-11-02T22:25:00.002-05:00

"Exile: The Collected Helman Graff" is now available for the Kindle from Amazon.com.

"Exile..." contains ten short stories featuring Helman Graff, a character popularized in my first book, "The Feast of Catchville." Each one of the stories features illustrations by Nate Fehlauer, and all of those illustrations are included in the Kindle version.

I've been told that more of my books will be available for the Kindle very soon, and I'll of course give you a heads up when that time comes.

Here's the link for the Kindle version of "Exile..."
http://www.amazon.com/Exile-Collected-Helman-Graff-ebook/dp/B004A156JA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1288753628&sr=8-2

ALL HALLOW'S READ

2010-10-25T21:10:00.002-05:00

Recently some guy named Neil Gaiman came up with a great idea that I've taken a definite shine to, and it's cool enough that I'd like to pass it along to you as well.

The idea is simple. Gaiman's named it "All Hallow's Read," and all it entails is giving your friends and family members a scary book on Halloween.

You know, as the years progress and my library size increases, it never ceases to amaze me how I can always encounter a new horror novel that I've never, ever heard of each time I go to a great book store, a thrift shop, a garage sale, or what have you. With that in mind, no matter how well read in the topic your friends or relatives might be, there's always something out there that they haven't read. Guaranteed.

Of course, it's almost more fun when it comes to your friends and family members that aren't all that well versed in the genre. Herein lies the perfect opportunity to present them with the cream of the crop, the must reads, the books that will assure them little to no sleep on the last night before November reigns.

So, whatever your situation presents you with, All Hallow's Read sounds like a kickass way to celebrate Halloween. Kudos Neil for coming up with it. I'm celebrating, and I hope you will too!

Here's a link to Neil's original idea: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2010/10/modest-proposal-that-doesnt-actually.html

Twenty-Two Years and Counting

2010-09-24T20:50:00.005-05:00

All right, let's go back a ways. Let's go back twenty-two years to when I was an innocent fifteen-year old. Someone, and for the life of me I can't remember exactly who, borrowed me a cassette tape called "Garage Days Re-revisited" by a band called Metallica.

Up to that point, my musical tastes had been largely banal. Nick at Nite told me that the Monkees were pretty "swell" - and I loved listening to them. I'd dipped my toes into the Bon Jovi and Guns N' Roses well a bit too, but I wasn't head over heels into them like some of my peers.

Then came Garage Days. When I heard that first Hetfield hum at the beginning of "Helpless" followed by Lars' ensuing drum beat, I was interested, but it was the Krunch that got me; that metal guitar Krunch that I became instantly addicted to and haven't been able to shake for almost a quarter of a century.

I bought "...And Justice for All" a few days after hearing "Garage Days," and I can remember lying on my bed, listening to the "Blackened" intro, looking at the four guys wearing black on the folded out tape insert, and wanting to be them. I remember listening to and reading the lyrics, lyrics more intense and intelligent than any I'd ever heard before. Lyrics filled with anger and honesty, lyrics filled with powerful disdain. At fifteen, this band was just what I needed. I worked my way back through Metallica's catalogue, picking up "Ride the Lightning," and "Master of Puppets," and "Kill 'em All."

Oh, those were good times.

I started wearing black. I started drawing poor imitations of Pushead skulls on my notebooks at school and on the bottom of my skateboard. I learned how to play bass and formed a band with some friends.

As I said, Good Times.

Metallica was my gateway band into the thrash metal world.This was all before the internet, kids, and when you wanted to find out what was going on in the world of your favorite band, you had to pick up Metal magazines at the newstand, which I quickly did to keep up with the Cap'n's of Krunch. In the process my eyes were opened to Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer, Danzig, Suicidal Tendencies, Pantera, D.R.I., the Misfits, and so many more. I'd found my musical niche, a niche that perfectly reflected my attitudes and sensibilities. For a misfit that didn't know where to look for camaraderie and community, Thrash was a godsend. The music gave me a spark of identity, and the courage to do whatever I wanted without fear of scorn.

Okay. Fast forward twenty-two years to August of 2010. I went over to St. Paul with a friend of mine to see Testament, Megadeth, and Slayer live at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium. Before the show, Dave Mustaine, the lead singer and guitar virtuoso of Megadeth was siging his autobiography at a Borders in Minneapolis.

Despite what anyone thinks about Mustaine's demeanor or attitude, no one can dispute that he is one of the founders of the thrash movement, so I was stoked to meet him at the signing. After standing in line for close to two hours, I finally got up to the table and said, "Hello, Dave."

"Hello, Scotty." - (my name was on a post-it in the book)

"Just wanted to say that I really like your music. I've been listening to you guys and thrash metal in general for twenty-two years."

At this point, Dave stopped signing and thought for a moment before saying: "Twenty-two years. That's a long time, man."

I smiled. "Yes. It is."

"Well thanks for your support, Scott. I really appreciate it."

"Sure man. Have a great show."

And that was that. My encounter with Dave Mustaine. It was cool. Later that night, Megadeth put on a good show, and Slayer killed - no pun intended.

At thirty-seven years old, I like lots of different kinds of music. I listen to everything from Johnny Cash to Gwen Stefani to Lagwagon. And I still listen to Thrash Metal. And it's still my favorite.

WGO or 9ML!!!!

2010-09-21T21:32:00.002-05:00

So we'll title this one either "What's Going ON?" or "Nine Months Later..." - either one would work.

I see in the last post I was giving a laundry list of reasons why I wasn't blogging more. I suppose I could do that again, or I could just blog.

So what's going on? In the writing world, I continue to work on the final Delving book. Beyond that, well, everything is up in the air. There were a few other projects on deck, though whether or not they'll get written is really something TBD - that's to be determined.

What's happening in the larger writing world is certainly worth commenting on. It seems that Leisure has all but folded. When I first got into the professional writing racket almost a decade ago, Leisure was a company to shoot for. Now I'm hearing via all the author-written obits that the pub wasn't so esteemed behind closed doors. Let me say that they did a decent job of keeping that fact hidden from prying eyes. Wait a minute, before I get a deluge of hate mail, let me clarify something: a lot of my favorite authors have written books that I've loved under the Leisure banner. However, I didn't read everything Leisure put out, and apparently some "critics" have stated that not everything that Leisure put out was noteworthy. I guess you could really say that about any house, however, so perhaps the point is moot.

Everyone is talking about E Readers: "What's the price point going to be?" "Will the Ipad topple the Kindle?" "The conventional book is dead." "The Big Chains will fold because of the ebook."

The funny part is, I've never seen anyone sitting around reading an ebook. Perhaps I just live in an "e" resistant part of the country. Perhaps not.

I listened to a Studio 360 podcast yesterday in which Johnathon Franzen was interviewed. He stated that he thought the stagnation and loss of steam the white house was experiencing over the last six months only confirmed the fear that the country was "ungovernable". I thought that statement was genius.

I watched a Monster Quest program earlier this afternoon about crocodiles, and their return to power. A prehistoric crocodile, essentially the exact same model as the current crocodile, only forty feet long, fed on dinosaurs. When the dinosaurs died out, so did the "super" croc. Now, however, crocs are rising in both population and size again. Interesting program.

Contrary to popular opinion, I'm NOT going to be a Yeti for Halloween. If you think you can guess what I will be, take a shot.

There is a MOOSE on the horizon, and I can't wait to unleash it on you. More on the MOOSE project later.

Apparently I'm in a band again. We've named the outfit "Looking For Two's" and it's a compilation of my old friends, Jed (the Colorado Kid) and Aaron (the Original Duluth Shredder) and Pete, the brains behind the beast. I'm playing bass mostly, but guitar on a few tunes. So far we've got a wedding and two bar gigs booked. Sweet.

This has been fun. I hope you've enjoyed it. Let's do it again, soon.

Let's Start Blogging

2009-12-07T09:27:00.004-06:00

Heh. Let's start blogging!

It seems that I haven't posted a blog in a few months - since early October, I guess - and I was trying to figure out why. I guess the biggest reason is Twitter. Most of what I've been doing - which hasn't been a lot, I admit - I've posted over on Twitter - http://twitter.com/ScottFalkner

There's also been a lot of nonwriting things happening in my life - which didn't seem to make sense to post on TDC, but there have also been a lot of pertinent things going on, which I just didn't get around to posting on TDC.

At any rate, I apologize for my absence here, and will do my best to get back on track.

To that end, what's going on?

Writing-wise, I'm working on the third and final Delving book, "Delving: Culminations." As some of you may remember, I wrote the book last year but wasn't thrilled with the result. Deadlines and personal obstacles (moving) interfered to result in a book that I felt wasn't up to snuff, so to speak. That said, I fully intended to revise it and bring it up to the high standard set in place by the first two books, when my computer crashed. Guess what? You really, really, really should back up your files. Especially when you've got a couple of novels on your hard drive. Anyway, the crying and moping is done over those lost stories, and we move on. So. I'm writing the third volume of Delving which will be available from Stone Garden Books in 2010. If you haven't checked out the first two books, "Delving: Obligations" and "Delving: Assassins" - I strongly suggest you ask for them for Christmas as they would make wonderful holiday reads. Find out where to get them online at http://www.scottfalkner.com/ or ask for them at your favorite independent book store.

Speaking of http://www.scottfalkner.com/, Ren and I have been bouncing around ideas for a site redo to kick off the new year with. We're thinking something simpler and sleeker. Something that won't require you to dig for info on what you want to know about. I've really liked the design we've had for the last three or four years, but I think something more relavent to the style of stories I've been writing would be good.

What else?

Ah, here's something. Last month my wife and I were able to go over to St. Paul to see Stephen King at the Fitzgerald Theater. He was interviewed for the Minnesota Public Radio series, "Talking Volumes."

Wow.

What an experience. With a humor and wisdom you'd expect, he spoke about writing, (duh) focusing primarily on "Under the Dome," his latest opus. My wife and I scored second row seats, so we were up close for the entire show, (THANKS HELLNOTES - http://www.hellnotes.com/ - for the heads-up on the appearance). I decided to play the part of "Fan" instead of "Author" for the event, and smiled ear to ear as one of the best writers of our age answered questions a mere twenty feet away. I was even enough of a fanboy to yell out "Thank you, Steven!" as he was walking off stage after the event, and Mr. King looked right at me, pointed, and smiled. To top it off, I won a theater lottery to get one of 200 signed copies of "Under the Dome." Bonus!

Fanboy? Maybe Fangirl is more like it. Who cares? I had a BLAST. Thanks Steven for coming to the Midwest.

You can find youtube video of practically the entire event. Here's an addy to get you started: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agGuYCmJIIw&videos=2X-NNkmhpl4&playnext_from=TL&playnext=1

All right, I think that's about it. I've been writing and reading lots, (especially enjoyed the aforementioned "Under the Dome," Tim Lebbon's "Bar None," - if you like beer and you like fantasy then you simply MUST read "Bar None" - and I'm currently LOVING "Journal of the Gun Years" by Richard Matheson. But, as always, there's always much, much more to read and write.

To that end...

Crash and Burn

2009-10-04T00:12:00.003-05:00

Just realized that I haven't posted in the cave in well over a month, and to be frank, I'm not that surprised. Something's been happening over the last several weeks, the least of which is that my hard drive completely crashed and I lost an awful lot of stories, one novella, and two half-finished novels. We also lost some pictures of the kids (which was the largest tragedy) and some other miscellaneous data. (As an aside, before you all gang up to tell me what to do to recover the lost info, let me say "thanks" and "we've already tried that." Of the six recovery procedures/programs I tried, none worked.) At any rate, the computer is up and running again.

What's odd is that when I reinstalled XP and started mounting programs back into the system, I was a bit relieved at how... "blank" it all was. It was a clean slate. It was... new, for lack of a better word, and it seemed like something that had needed to be done. I'm a big believer in the universe pointing you in the direction that you need to go if you're only smart enough to listen, and perhaps the crash was something that needed to happen.

A lack of a computer for several days, however, wasn't the reason that I hadn't posted a blog in over a month, however. Life gets in the way, and all that is an easy excuse, but to tell you the truth, I'm not in the mood for excuses. As much as I'd like to keep you all updated on what I'm doing and what I'm about to be doing, "doing it" has to take precedence, and that's what I've been "doing" - if that makes sense.

But, I know you folks dig it when I tell you what's what, so here's a condensed version:

The sunflowers on the garage aren't finished, but they're a hell of a lot farther along than the last picture I posted on the blog. When I have TIME, I will post new pictures.

I've been enjoying building Blair Witch Totems with the kids that we are hanging all over the house and in the trees outside for Halloween.

My wife and I celebrate ten years of marriage next week. Hoo-rah! (I can't believe she's put up with me for so long!)

I get to see Metallica for the 16th time in a little over a week. Hoo-rah!

I'm going to be in Minneapolis in November to see a lecture with Stephen King and Audrey Niffenegger. Hoo-rah!

Since all of my work on the computer was wiped out (no jokes and/or admonishments about not backing up my work!) and "Delving: Culminations" was completely wiped out - I will now be working on that novel full time.

And that's about it. I'd like to get some more promotional things going on the website, and maybe do something special for the mailing list members over Halloween, but a lot of that has to do with Ren and his timeline. Finally, I feel free enough to let him deal with all the online hoopla and keep myself to the writing and the artwork.

So that's the way it goes! I hope you're all doing well, Troops, and we'll talk soon.

Mural Day Six

2009-08-27T14:05:00.002-05:00

Finding more time to do the mural lately - this picture is actually from last week. More in progress pictures to come.

Mural Day Five

2009-08-13T21:11:00.004-05:00

Was able to get some "edging" done today. After that, I'll do some detail in the sunflowers themselves, and then start on the cancerous flora at their feet in earnest.

Will be leaving tomorrow for Madison, so I don't know if I'll get much done on the mural, but will post if I do.

Mural Day Four

2009-08-11T16:42:00.003-05:00

I took two days off because I had a bunch of other stuff going on - writing deadlines, child care, school shopping trip - so I was finally able to do a bit of work today. Some of the "filler" crap is starting to take shape...

Mural Day Three

2009-08-11T16:34:00.002-05:00

Yeah, it's looking a bit like the wall of a pre-school, but I promise it'll get better...

Mural Day Two

2009-08-07T07:56:00.002-05:00

Time got away from me yesterday and I didn't have a lot of time to work on the mural. Looks like rain today, and that's not so good - but I'm going to try and get "other" stuff done this morning so perhaps I can attack the wall more this after.

Mural Day One

2009-08-06T11:35:00.002-05:00

Recently I noticed that our storage garage was looking rather... well, too garage-y. In order to spruce it up, I thought I'd take advantage of the long summer days and paint a mural on it.

Here's the progress after Day One. I'll post pics as I go so that you can see how I'm doing.

SHOT-SKI PROJECT

2009-08-04T13:08:00.018-05:00

I spent the last week or so putting together and painting a "Shot-Ski." It was a gift for my brother and sister-in-law who just purchased a new house. They have a bar in their basement, and their last name is Borgen, hence the "Borgen's Basement" logo.

Shot-Ski's are designed so that multiple persons can drink shots at once. My friend Aric Anonich is a co-owner of the Shot-Ski company, and you can find out more about Shot-Ski's at http://www.shot-ski.com/.

Above is me with the finished Shot-Ski...

Above is a shot of the whole ski...

This is detail of the shot mounting, (complete with Shot-Ski logo glass shots - which I designed btw)...

Above is a ski-length shot - no pun intended...

Above is some detail of the painting....

More painting detail...

Painting detail of the tail...

The Shot-Ski website offers completes skis (snow or water, and other off the wall designs) as well as mounting gear to design your own like I did. Check 'em out, and let me know what you think of the one I made.

New Jazma Online Interview

2009-08-02T15:20:00.001-05:00

An interview I did with JazmaOnline.com in June is now available to view. Since Jazma is running some backlogs (due to illness) the editors were nice enough to throw up a preview HERE. Click on over for the longest (and most informative) interview I've done yet.

Road Warrior

2009-08-01T20:38:00.003-05:00

A few days ago I returned to Madison, Wisconsin, a city I lived in for over a decade. There's an armful of topics I could write about after being there, and after a day or so of sobering thought, I've declined to write about any of it. The emotional part of the trip is all mine, and not something I'm inclined to share with others I don't know.

What I would like to write about, however, is the traffic in Madison. Now, Madison is by no means a gargantuan city. It is not Chicago. It is not New York. It is not San Francisco. Hell, at under 225,000 people, it's not even Milwaukee. However, living there for eleven years, I guess I just got used to the hustle and bustle of the traffic. I got used to it taking me 20-40 minutes to go to and get back from wherever it was I wanted to go. I got used to thinking in terms of "consolidation" trips - ie. "I'm going to be on that side of town anyway, so what else could I pick up?" I got used to the fact that once I took the Madison exit off of the interstate, I still had a twenty-five minute drive to my house.

I got used to all of it over eleven years and never realized it.

Okay, so we leave last September and move to a new location in Northern Wisconsin - population >10K. Where I live now, it takes LITERARLLY three minutes to drive from one end of the town to the other. The amount of stoplights in my town is probably the amount of stoplights that are on State Street in Madison.

Anyway, I hadn't thought about this much since I left last Fall - your reality is relative and all that - but visiting Madison a few days ago I was SHOCKED at how ANNOYED I as with the traffic. Talk about becoming a country bumpkin. And when I speak of traffic, I'm not being annoyed with the other drivers - I'm being annoyed with the sheer number of stoplights. I'm being annoyed with the sheer distance one has to drive to get from point A to point B. I'm being annoyed with things that are not "incident" relavent, I'm dealing with things that are "size" relevant. Madison has a great road system, and they're always improving it. I'm saying that it wouldn't matter what city I went to - after returning and living in my little burg for a while, I can't believe I put up with it, and I have no urge to return to it whatsoever.

Now if I can just persuade my wife to let me buy that compound in the hills....

Reverse Contraceptives

2009-07-28T23:42:00.002-05:00

Last week an interesting concept was arrived at by myself and a small group of my friends. For the moment, this concept remains in the realm of science fiction, but I thought that from the immense amount of discussion it created between my little group that it might make a good topic here in the Cave.

The topic is Reverse Contraceptives, and it goes something like this.

One member of my group commented on how in certain countries everyone is assumed to be an organ donor - meaning, of course, that when they die, unless they've stated otherwise, that their organs will be donated to help others. Now, there's an easy opt-out for this, something like going somewhere akin to our Department of Motor Vehicles here in the States, and just signing a form saying you don't want to donate your organs. Therein lies the rub: most people don't opt out. In the countries where organ donation is simply assumed, the organ donation rate is phenomenally high, because people just don't want to think about it. They'd rather just stick to the "default settings" and not deal with it.

That got us thinking.

The idea of Reverse Contraception would go something like this: At birth, a simple procedure (that is as yet unavailable in the real world), something low-risk like a circumcision, would be performed on baby boys and girls. This procedure would make them effectively sterile.

Once these young people were 18 years of age, they could produce photo identification at any local drugstore or hospital and receive a "reverse contraception" pill for little or no money. If both the man and the woman were taking this "RC" pill, they could become pregnant.

Think about it.

The 18 year old minimum would effectively eliminate childhood pregnancy.

The notion that you couldn't get knocked up unless you put some thought into it, unless you and your partner were sure that it was what you really wanted, would drastically reduce the abortion rate, would drastically reduce the crime rate, would drastically reduce the poverty rate.

Are their problems with the idea? Of course. Who's in charge of the RC pill? Would it be mandatory that all children get the reverse contraception procedure at birth, or would it be a parental decision? Even if it was a parental decision, my opinion is that an overwhelming percentage of parents would "opt in" for it. If you could guarantee that your kid wasn't going to get pregnant until they were out of high-school... that's a pretty great motivator.

Anyway, I thought the concept warranted a little conversation. What do you think? Is a Reverse Contraception pill a great idea, or something that infringes on human rights? Do we have a "Right" to conceive as humans? Interesting questions, and I'm looking forward to hearing your insights.

A Cronkite Comment

2009-07-23T07:03:00.006-05:00

I wanted to be sure to comment on the passing of Walter Cronkite before it sped too far back in our rearview mirror. A few days ago on NPR, there was a call-in discussion asking questions like, "How important was Cronkite?" and "How much has television news changed since the departure of Cronkite - for the better or worse?" and the discussion got me thinking.

First, the importance of Cronkite. The man's importance - along with Huntley and Brinkley's - simply cannot be overstated. These men who overtook the nation's primary news source in the early sixties set the tone for how television news would be primarily reported for the remainder of the century. Their notion that the news should be reported with dignity, with educated calm, and with the undisputable quotient of Who, When, What, Where, and Why almost guaranteed that their viewers would be well-informed.

I wasn't yet ten year's old when Cronkite signed off for the last time. As a product of my age, I can't claim to have been too much of a news junkie, but I do remember my father grabbing me and sitting me down in front of the floor mounted set, saying: "You may not understand this, but I want you to watch it." And there I sat, watching some mustached man talk about his years as an "anchorman," and signing off with his signature, "And that's the way it is." At the time I didn't really understand the relevance, but in retrospect, I'm very glad that my dad had me watch that.

Cronkite was my parent's primary news guy. After Walter left, my parents shuffled between the three "kids" that took over the networks, Jennings, Rather, and Brokaw. As I got older and began a love affair of my own with news, Brokaw became my guy - even before I started working for NBC - and had my kids been old enough to walk, I would've called them over to the set at the end of Tom's last broadcast.

But I'm getting off track.

What made Cronkite one of the greats? Clearly, his dedication to not only the news, but the 'presentation' of the news made him great. If his dedication to objectivity hadn't been so spectacular, when he did break the rules and personally comment on the apparent stalemate of the Vietnam War, would then-president Johnson have reportedly stated: "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."? Cronkite's devotion to what was newsworthy and the process that defined items as such, has become the gold standard of what is actual 'journalism'.

Which leads us to the difference in television news between Cronkite's time and the present day. Certainly, an "Entertainment Factor" has become far too large an element in determining what is newsworthy... but was that inevitable?

The problem - and perhaps in some ways, the benefit - with news today is that there are so many choices. In the heydey of my parent's generation, there were three choices for television news... at the most. Think about that: what if you had three choices to get your television news from? In this day and age, for many of you reading this, the idea seems at the very least, limiting. However, when you have so many television news sources, as well as so many online sources, the quality of the news in many cases clearly declines.

Why?

When competition increases, the means to grabbing attention and ratings becomes more diversified and more extreme. Specialities arise, and objectivity suffers as a result. Yes, there are still objective news sources available, but they are becoming fewer and farther between. Finding a quality news source now depends largely on the viewer. You, as an individual, need to weigh the objectivity of your news, and base your decisions as such on what you want to intake. This is something that a large percentage of Americans are not willing - or are not able, (because of intelligence and/or time constraints, among other reasons) - to do. (When eighteen percent, yes, EIGHTEEN PERCENT, of Americans believe that the sun revolves around the earth, well...). Additionally, when news becomes so broad and prevalent, how can it not become news itself? Just taking an easy example, remember after the last presidential election, when the GOP was in turmoil, and the question arose: "Who's in charge of the GOP, Michael Steele or Rush Limbaugh?" When news commentators become news items, a line is blurred, and questions arise. Cronkite and his ilk have always downplayed their roles, maintaining that they are only the messengers, and not the subject of the almighty news spotlight.

Perhaps, in the end, that might be Cronkite's greatest legacy: a humility that can serve as a gauge for newsmen in the future. Be less trusting of any journalist who is actively trying to make more of themselves, and not the news they report.

The Fiction Writer Cometh

2009-05-27T23:16:00.006-05:00

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"

"The Fiction Writer Cometh"

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!

2009-05-04T23:19:00.003-05:00

"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

2009-04-25T23:17:00.002-05:00

~

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

2009-04-20T21:52:00.002-05:00

~

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?

2009-04-15T22:26:00.003-05:00

~

"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

2009-04-01T22:48:00.004-05:00

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

2009-03-10T08:44:00.002-05:00

~

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.

Nice "Exile" Review

2009-03-05T12:17:00.004-06:00

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There's a new review by T.T. Zuma of "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff" in this month's Horrorworld, (March '09).

Here's the linkage: http://horrorworld.org/reviews.htm (it's the 6th review down)

By the way, I never knew that "The Feast of Catchville" was a quote - cult favorite - unquote. Very cool.

In other news, still banging away on the final "Delving" book - due out this summer - and will hopefully be confirming some spring signing dates as well.

Back to work!

Brain Matter Confetti

2009-02-16T18:13:00.002-06:00

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Still sort of sorting out the last week and a half as I've rarely known what day it was or what city I was in. Crazy busy to the point of nausea, but that's over now, and things are sort of... settling, like a blast of confetti or brain matter that has yet to reach the ground.

As such, not a lot of work has been completed, and February - being the squat month that it is - is more than halfway completed.

Ah well. In the meantime, I've come across a few things that were a bit interesting.

It seems that this is what happens at a book reading in China when someone doesn't like you're book: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/world/asia/16china.html?_r=1&ref=books

Looks like NIN and Jane's Addiction might be doing a farewell(?) tour together soon: http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=114497 - I've never seen either of the bands in concert, but they both certainly had an effect on me at different times in my life. Perhaps seeing them on their way out would be fun.

If you're an sfsw fan, and you've got a TON of time on your hands, check this out: http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~sf-papercraft/Gallery/Gallery.html

Let's see, I'm currently looking at buying a laptop computer. Never had one before and am a bit hesitant to move in that direction, but it's quickly becoming clear that I really need one for writing on the road. Suggestions? While you're at it, I also need a new digital camcorder. Again, anyone has one that they simply love? Let me know what it is.

I just picked up a copy of F. Paul Wilson's "The Keep" - I've always wanted to read it but always forgot about it when I was out picking up books. I can't wait to get started on it.

That's it for now. Wally is sitting on the floor here in my office and looking at me with those "Please walk me" eyes.

A New Addition to the Family

2009-02-08T22:58:00.005-06:00

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The latest addition to my little career has finally shown up in the flesh, or should I say in the pulp... as in paper... all right. Bad attempt at humor. But several copies of "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff" did show up in my mailbox yesterday...

...and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Nate's illustrations look great, (something I was a tad worried about) and the rest of the pages are in order, so I guess the book is a win-win. I've received a lot of emails from those of you that also received your own copy, and I hope you enjoy it. This book was a bit more of a trial than the others I've written, primarily because it was completed at the same time that I was moving my entire family into a new house, (I know, I know, could I have timed it any worse!?). To add to the general ambiance of a total clusterf^*k, short stories are something that I often wrestle with. I generally like to spread my wings over big box, industrial strength-sized stories, and it feels like going against the grain when I have to contain the narrative to something smaller in stature. At any rate, I struggled with this one a bit, but I couldn't be happier with the stories, or the packaging. Yay.

I spent last week in Minneapolis with my wife and children while my wife attended a work conference. Lots of time spent at the hotel pool. We also checked out the Mall of America - a place I haven't been to in at least ten or fifteen years. On day three of our excursion I found the courage to take my three kids - (6, 4, and 1 respectively) downtown. Driving down was fairly easy, and once I neared First Ave. I sorta had my bearings. We walked through the skywalk and had root beer floats in the IDS tower. The kids got a kick out of it and so did I. There was an Uncle Hugo bookstore near our hotel and I had a brief opportunity to check it out. Their horror section was so-so but their science fiction selection was insane. I was in a hurry so I only picked up a Keene book I'd somehow missed, and a few E.R. Burroughs titles I don't already have. I'll definitely be heading back there when I have more time.

My friend Andy and his wife Megan were in town briefly on Thursday night. I enjoyed hanging out with them, and seeing some other friends I haven't had the opportunity to talk to in at least fifteen years. Good memories. Good times.

We head back to Minneapolis this coming week for a few more days, and after that we'll have some more friends coming to visit from Madtown. February is for Friends, is the new motto, I guess.

While in Minneapolis, I had the time to start outlining a new graphic novel project while the kids were in the pool. I like where it's headed already, but never having written a comic book script before, it's taking a bit of thought. The story concerns a demon from hell that's a bit peeved over the lack of respect that evil people have for the concept of 'evil' - and what he does about it isn't pretty. I've enjoyed researching and toying with the project for the last month or so, and I think I'll continue to do so until the end of February. March 1st signals Spring (in my mind anyway) and will be a perfect time to get started on Delving: Culminations. Much of the story - or practically all of it - has been sketched out in my mind for a long time now, and I'm looking forward to telling you how Marissa and Helman's story ends.

Okay. I think that's it for now. If you've purchased and received your copy of "Exile" - I hope you like it. Drop me a line and let me know whether you do or not. If you haven't gotten one yet, head on over to your local bookstore and order it. Thanks much.

The Value of Book Clubs...?

2009-01-23T10:36:00.005-06:00

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Until recently, I've never belonged to a book club. All of the clubs I'd seen were primarily populated by women, not that that's a bad thing, I enjoy the company of women, however, the clubs I'd been aware of had concentrated primarily on female-slanted fiction, (read: chick lit). Oh, I'm probably being a bit harsh on that count. Not all of these clubs exclusively read things like Valerie Bertanelli's account of her trials and tribulations as Mrs. Van Halen, a lot of them actually centered around more literate fare - ie. thrillers from the likes of Patricia Cornwell and Jodi Picoult.

Okay. Fair enough. But what rubbed me the wrong way about these groups is how little they were concerned with the actual book they were reading and how much more they were concerned with what food and drink would be served at the meetings, and what gossip could be shared concerning the member or members that failed to show up that evening.

I'm being a blanket chauvinist and making extreme generalizations, I admit, but follow me anyhow. Suffice to say, what I personally had seen of book clubs, led me to believe that I wasn't all that interested in joining one...

...until a few months ago. I was approached by a book club - which shall remain nameless (even though it has a name) to limit the liability of those involved - to become a member. What struck me as different about this particular club was that it was made up of both sexes, - though it's primarily male - and it was open to reading just about anything. In the past they've read fiction and nonfiction, and even graphic novels - other than what the choosing member decides upon, there's no limitation as to what can be chosen to read. The members are made up of different cultural and political views, and everyone seems to be firm in their beliefs, yet no one is disagreeable. There is a stern desire to discuss things beyond the normal chitchat of what I might term as a socializing club. There are discussions - sparked by the books - on everything from religion, to politics, to story structures, to generalized anthropology. There is no food. Everyone usually brings a six-pack or so of their favorite beverage, and that serves as refreshments. We meet for a few hours to discuss the latest work and then mozy on down to the local tavern for a recap before heading home. We meet every two weeks, which I like, as a once a month meeting seems (to me, anyway) to smack of laziness. I guess in my estimation you're either involved in something like this or your not.

At any rate, I found a book club that suits my own needs exceedingly well. I get to hang with intelligent, well-rounded individuals twice a month and discuss "larger" issues. I get to read works that I might never have heard of or that I might never have touched had I not been part of the club. So, I enjoy it, and I'm terribly glad that they accepted me as a member.

What about you? Do you belong to a book club? Does it suit your needs, or are you just going through the motions?

The First 21st Century President

2009-01-20T07:31:00.003-06:00

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A few comments on today's presidential inaugeration, and the ensuing presidency.

Yes, I understand that we're almost a decade into the 21st Century, but for my money, Barack Obama is the first 21st Century President. The man uses a Blackberry. His campaign was the first in history to rely on the internet as a crucial, primary tool to relay platform standings and to mine regular Americans for donations. With an initiative to move past what conservative columnist David Brooks so aptly describes as "crushing politics" - the piercing ideological divide that's been so omnipresent since the late sixties - and actually following up in that vein since elected, (Obama's extended invitation to Republican governors for stimulus spending ideas and those unique dinner parties with both liberal and conservative journalists), speaks to a different sort of governance, at least a sort that we haven't seen en masse since the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

Oh, and he's also African American.

I was fairly impressed with myself on election day. Throughout the campaign, I'd weighed what was being offered by both candidates. I liked the 2004-era John McCain, before he knelt at the feet of King George and offered his allegiance - but I was still willing to wait and see what he wanted to do with the presidency. I'll admit that I was drawn to Obama from the start. For most of my adult life, I've been yearning for a man - or woman - in the White House who I could honestly consider to be my intellectual superior - something that Bill Clinton may or may not have been, and something that has certainly been missing for the past eight years. Call me crazy, but I like the idea of someone running the country who is vastly smarter than myself. At any rate, on election night, when several friends - constituting of both conservative and liberal leanings - came over to watch the returns, a discussion about the remarkability of an African American being elected president ensued... and as such, I was shocked to learn something about myself -

I am not innocent of racial bias in my lifetime. I wouldn't say that I've ever been a redneck-caliber racist, but I've not been as open-minded in my life as I could have been. Of course, life experiences and time, (those two mightiest menders of all evil and hurt) have dulled whatever racist tendencies I might have had over the years; to what extent those tendencies were blurred didn't occur to me until election night. It became apparent to me that I hadn't weighed Obama's race in any way, shape, or form upon reaching my decision to vote for him. I didn't vote for him because he would be the first African American president. I didn't vote against him because he would be the first African American president. I voted for him because I thought he was the best candidate for the job.

It just didn't occur to me that he was black.

He's the second youngest man to ever be elected to our nation's highest office. He's held in high esteem the world over - something that can certainly be used to mend relationships with countries that have leaned away from us in the past eight years. He's willing to listen to ideas on both sides of the fence and use what works instead of what is recommended by a small room of whispering desperados, (something that will be infinitely valuable in this age of economic catastrophe, environmental peril, and religious fanaticism).

And the dude can give a speech.

I know that there's been a lot made of Obama's speechmaking heights versus his substance; I do believe that his substance is beginning to make itself clear, but as a writer myself, I'd also like to make a case for the importance of inspiration. This country has been built on ideas - ideas of both what should be done and what can be done. The times when we've been at our worst, - the Depression, the reaction to Pearl Harbor and our inclusion in World War II, the turmoil of the sixties including the Cuban Missile Crisis - these were times when we were lucky enough to be inspired by leaders who knew how to strike a chord in our hearts and minds. "There is nothing to fear but fear itself." - "Today is a day that will live in infamy." - "Ask not what you can do for your country." - all pieces of rhetoric - rhetoric we desperately needed, as a country, to be inspired to action.

At any rate, I'm uncharacteristically optimistic about the ensuing presidency. I hope for good things, and I wish Barack Obama, and our country, lots of luck.

Endings and Beginnings

2009-01-12T09:10:00.003-06:00

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Okay, where to start? I guess at the beginning. "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff" is 100% wrapped. I approved the final galley proofs a few days ago, and it's full speed ahead. It's out of my hands now, and hopefully into yours. Just a reminder, you can pre-order the trade paperback from the publisher for less than six bucks. Yay. A pre-order link is at the bottom of the post.

So... what's next?

First and foremost, the third and final Delving book needs to be written. "Delving: Culminations" is slated for a mid-summer release. It'll tie all - or most - of the loose ends together and finish that chapter of my writing career. It will most likely be the last I'll write of Helman, or the Graff family in general, for a long, long time.

While that's happening, offers for book signings are starting to filter in. It looks like we might be doing a Milwaukee one this spring, and perhaps we'll try to shoot for a Madison and Chicago one around the same time. Now that I'm closer to Minneapolis than ever, I'll try to fit one into the Twin Cities, and of course, we'll do the tried and true Thyme Worn signing (if they'll have me!) in Northern Wisconsin.

After that...?

I've been in close contact with Nate Fehlauer, the superb artist for "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff," and it looks as if we'll likely be doing a few more projects together. I was blown away by the art for "Exile," and I knew that I wanted to do a project with Nate where his art would be even more prevalent. So, with a project and story already in mind, I'll be doing some research and "sketching" out a few things while writing "Culminations." When we get to a more concrete place with what we're doing, you'll be the first to know.

What else?

Relaxation - as much as one can relax while writing every day, taking care of three kids, two cats, a dog, and keeping house. I'm going to try to keep the Daily Cave updates a bit more regular, and a bit more personal.

Anyway, that's what's been happening and what will most likely happen... endings and beginnings.

Here's the link for the "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff" publisher pre-order at 50% off!

http://www.stonegarden.net/index.php?main_page=product_book_info&cPath=17_1&products_id=141&zenid=afbf9844e705d31ceab7dc1846dafc11

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"EXILE" Now Up For Pre-Order & Excerpts

2009-01-07T23:11:00.004-06:00

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"EXILE: The Collected Helman Graff" is now up for pre-order from Stone Garden at a crazy low pre-sale cost.

Here's the link: http://www.stonegarden.net/index.php?main_page=product_book_info&cPath=17_1&products_id=141&zenid=3dee65030e7c5ee4d4a9f9dfb9ad5ed6

The book is slated for a late January, 2009 release!

ALSO: We've been adding Preview Excerpts from the Graff Collection over at http://www.scottfalkner.com/

SO COME ON OVER and take a look at a sample of the stories as well as some "snapshots" of Nathan Fehlauer's FANTASTIC illustrations: http://www.scottfalkner.com/EXILE.html

Updates

2009-01-03T09:51:00.002-06:00

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Just a few things to clue you guys in about:

"Swaybuck" (hardcover edition) will be retired by Stone Garden Publishing no later than January 15, 2009.

This means that if you want a copy (or additional copies) of the hardcover version of the book, you MUST order it asap.

Here's some options for ordering:

http://www.stonegarden.net/index.php?main_page=product_book_info&cPath=17_1&products_id=46&zenid=df242b380c9ee5eacf0eab2e7eaecd98

http://www.stonegarden.net/index.php?main_page=product_book_info&cPath=17_1&products_id=46&zenid=df242b380c9ee5eacf0eab2e7eaecd98

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In other news, "EXILE: The Collected Helman Graff" is in the final phases of production and should be released late this month. Keep it glued here for more info.

To read more about the collection, go to www.scottfalkner.com

Do Ya Like My Books?

2008-12-07T22:39:00.002-06:00

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Hey kids, it's been a while since I've done this, and I thought with the holidays fast approaching it might be a decent time...

If you've read any of my books and thought they were worthwhile, here's a gentle reminder that they'd make a great Christmas gift.

What gets someone in the Yuletide spirit like an Albino Zombie wreaking havoc on a small town?

What makes you think of Jesus' birthday more than a story about a retired history teacher fighting for his soul against an Indian curse?

What better way to celebrate family togetherness than reading about magical families fighting each other with animal totems?

That's right! Scott F. Falkner volumes make fantastic Christmas gifts for those "hard to buy for" friends and relatives!

Anyway, here's some links to put my books in your loved ones' stockings:

"The Feast of Catchville"

http://www.amazon.com/Feast-Catchville-Scott-F-Falkner/dp/1600760112/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228711538&sr=1-4

http://www.stonegarden.net/index.php?main_page=product_book_info&cPath=17_1&products_id=49&zenid=04d3d858f4e3dd08766d7b735ac56bb0

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Feast-Of-Catchville/Scott-F-Falkner/e/9781600760112/?itm=3

"Swaybuck"

http://www.amazon.com/Swaybuck-Scott-F-Falkner/dp/1600760546/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228711538&sr=1-3

http://www.stonegarden.net/index.php?main_page=product_book_info&cPath=17_1&products_id=59&zenid=04d3d858f4e3dd08766d7b735ac56bb0

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Swaybuck/Scott-F-Falkner/e/9781600760549/?itm=4

"Delving: Obligations"

http://www.amazon.com/Delving-Obligations-Scott-F-Falkner/dp/1600760538/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228711538&sr=1-2

http://www.stonegarden.net/index.php?main_page=product_book_info&cPath=17_2&products_id=69&zenid=04d3d858f4e3dd08766d7b735ac56bb0

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Delving/Scott-F-Falkner/e/9781600760532/?itm=2

"Delving: Assassins"

http://www.amazon.com/Delving-Assassins-Scott-F-Falkner/dp/1600760880/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228711538&sr=1-1

http://www.stonegarden.net/index.php?main_page=product_book_info&cPath=17_2&products_id=103&zenid=04d3d858f4e3dd08766d7b735ac56bb0

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Delving/Scott-F-Falkner/e/9781600760884/?itm=1

OH! AND ONE MORE THING!

If you do like my books, I'd like to ask one thing more of you...
Even if it's a little one-sentence blurb, reviews really do make a big difference. Going to Amazon or Barnes & Noble's website and writing a little something about any of my books that you've read would make all the difference in the world, and would be a most appreciated xmas gift from you to me. I don't think I've ever requested reviews from my readers in the past, so this is an inaugeral plea. Below you'll find the links for Amazon and Barnes and Noble that lead straight to "my" pages, and you can review the individual books from there. If you would, I thank ye kindly in advance.
Oh, and of course, if you find an opportunity to review my stuff elsewhere, via GoodReads or your own personal blog, or what-have-you - please do. A hearty thanks from yours truly.

Here's the Amazon and B&N links:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Scott%20F.%20Falkner

http://books.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?ATH=Scott+F+Falkner

Scotty-Doo! Where Are You?!

2008-12-05T23:37:00.002-06:00

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"Over here!"

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Well, well, well - people actually do read the blog - that's great to know. Over the past few weeks I've gotten no less than twenty-six emails regarding my apparent pseudo-vacation from the internet.

"What's up with the Crichton post being your last one?"

"Why aren't you posting anymore? I hope nothing's wrong..."

"What's the deal? Are you still writing?"

Falkner? Where are you!?

First off, thanks for the concern. Second of all, I'm a bit frightened and a tad thrilled at some of your apparent addictions to The Daily Cave. Hee. Yes, I'm still here, and yes I'm still writing - in fact, the writing is a large part of the reason that I haven't been "online" much as of late.

It's a double-edged sword, ain't it?

You gotta write to stay in the game - hell, I wouldn't be here if I wasn't a writer - I'd probably be in the midst of a flame war over at Ain't It Cool or Shocklines. At the same time, however, in the world of being a burgeoning writer, you've got to stay visible, and in the opening decade of the 21st Century, the easiest and best way to do it is via the internet.

Spend too much time online and you can't get any writing done.

Spend too much time writing, and everyone thinks you're dead.

Ah well.

In the words of the unimitable Jack Torrence: "Honey? I'm home."

First off I want to address a few writing questions that have been posed to me by readers over the last few weeks:

The first is from Antonym Mouse (who's turning into a regular at the blogger version of the Cave - yay!):

AM writes: Out of sheer curiosity, being a Wisconsinite myself, what section of Wisconsin have you moved to?Also, your new house sounds like a dream. It also sounds like a perfect source of inspiration. When I write I like to dial in on a certain object and create a story sort of focused around that, whether it be a central or a more supplemental part of the story. That house sounds most excellent in that respect.

First off, thanks for your questions and great comments, Mouse. Second, where I live is a bit of a mystery, eh? Privacy is a big thing for me. Those that know where I live, know where I live. Those that don't can wonder. :) Being a bit less dramatic, however, I live in the Northwestern Tier of the state, far enough north to understand that January is unbearable without a major-league snowblower in the garage and a case of Leinies in the fridge - (wink - hint given).

Yeah, the house is growing its sea legs, and we're growing with it. I'm getting used to the way the second story stairwell leans to the left when you're walking down it and where the main floor hardwood creaks when you step on it. I'm liking it more and more.

The next question was emailed to me by a woman who only wishes to be referred to as "Dammit Janet": "Scott, just writing to let you know how much I enjoy your books. I've read The Feast of Catchville, Swaybuck, and the first Delving book. As much as I liked Delving, I'm really not a dark fantasy fan, if that's what you want to classify it as. For the most part, my favorite genre is horror, with the occasional mystery thrown in for fun. What I wanted to ask you is, with the science fiction serial that was available through your web page, your horror books, and now the dark fantasy Delving series, do you or your publishers ever want to tie you down to just one genre? I've read in the past that authors who jump from genre to genre have a harder time building up readership than authors who stick to a single genre. Just curious. Oh, and one more thing, write more horror books! You're great at it!

Thanks for the email, Janet, and thanks for reading. As of today, no one has "pressured" me to stick to a single genre. So far, I've been incredibly lucky to work with Stone Garden Press, a publisher that is open to a wide range of subjects. As for limiting myself to one genre - I understand what you mean about building readership, and that has crossed my mind from time to time, but it comes down to this: If I'm forced into a situation where I have to write something, the writing becomes less fun, and more forced in the process. (What was that Johnny Cash quote, "If you put the screws on me I'm gonna screw right out from under ya!"). I guess there's a point where you have to decide whether you're going to do this for the art or for the money. The brilliant ones, of course, do both. I've elected to follow my head and heart simultaneously, and to write what I want to write. Hopefully, if I do it well enough, readers like yourself might take a chance on something that you haven't read before, and maybe, just maybe you'll dig it.

As to writing more horror? Definitely. A great horror book, actually two are on the horizon. Keep your eyes peeled.

Okay, the last question we'll address today is from Jess via the blogger version of the blog - (is that redundant?):

Scott, I saw in your previous posts that you're ok with answering questons. Mine is, how much does your real life play into you work? Do oyou use actual events from your life in your books. Just curious. Thanks.

Thanks for the question, Jess. And as a reminder, any of you fine folks out there are free to ask me whatever, whenever. You can do it anonymously through the Blogger version of The Daily Cave, (though I do like to read at least a first name so I have an idea of whom I'm responding to) through the myspace version, or just email me through the Contact section of www.scottfalkner.com .

Okay, now to the question. Real life events? Yes, I actually shot a zombified deputy when I was in college which made its way into one of my... okay, okay, I'm kidding. Of course I've drawn on real life experiences when writing my books, though they're not written down verbatim - otherwise it wouldn't be fiction. More than events, I - as all good writers do - try to tap into emotions that have been caused by certain events in my "real" life, and try to transpose those emotions to events happening within my books. I'm trying to rack my brain to see if there's anything from the books that are out now that were close to something that happened in my own life... hmm. The only thing that really comes to mind is the funeral scene in "Swaybuck." The part when the pastor tells Carl the thing about sap running over a broken branch is a way that a tree "cries" or "mourns" a death... yeah. That was actually told to me by a pastor at a funeral for a family member of mine.

Anyway, thanks for the question, Jess. I hope I answered it adequately.

All right. I think that's it for this installment. Yes. I'm here. Yes. I'm writing, or at least I will be in a moment. Lot's will be happening in the buildup to and past the end of the year. "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff" comes out next month, and we'll have lots of Goodies (with a capital "G") to be read in anticipation of it. I promise to check in more, too.

Michael Crichton's Legacy

2008-11-06T02:58:00.003-06:00

Earlier today, I was extremely saddened when I learned of Michael Crichton's passing just yesterday. Apparently he'd been struggling with some version of cancer for some time. He was only sixty-six.

When I first started envisioning a life as a writer, it may surprise you to find out that I didn't want to be Steve King. I didn't even want to be Clive Barker.

I wanted to be Michael Crichton.

Crichton transcended not only genre, but medium as well. He started out writing mystery paperbacks in the 60's while he was in medical school: he thought it would be a keen way to earn some extra money. He never thought they were worth much - posterity-wise - and he had them published under a pseudonym. After becoming a full-fledged doctor, however, writing appealed to him more an more while the politics of medicine appealed to him less and less. Crichton wrote everything from the aformentioned mysteries, to historical-based adventure ("The Great Train Robbery" and "Eaters of the Dead") to academic science-fiction adventure ("Congo," "Sphere," "The Andromeda Strain," "Jurassic Park") to what I would call science-fiction "warning" books, ("Prey," "State of Fear," "Next"). Whatever you classify his work as, you must classify it as a "Crichton" work. He was one of those authors that carved out a distinctive style all his own, and perfected it.

Given the opportunity to direct a feature film version of his own novel, "The Great Train Robbery" - Crichton reluctantly agreed. This foray into film was only the first of several "behind the scenes" attachments to many popular films and television series. Virtually all of Crichton's fictional works have been made into films, or are in development. He shepherded "E.R." into being - and of course, his novel about Dino-DNA inspired Steven Spielberg to make one of the most far-reaching and successful films of the twentieth century.

I admired Michael Crichton's honesty and his stubbornnes; he was one of those authors/creators that did what he wanted, when he wanted. He will be sorely missed, but oft remembered.

If you haven't read Crichton's autobiography - "Travels" - I HIGHLY recommend it. I GUARANTEE that you won't be disappointed.

The Big Spout

2008-10-20T13:41:00.002-05:00

~

One of the hardest things about having a blog attached to a quote-unquote "career" is that you have to mind what you say on said blog. "Mind what you say?" you ask. But that sounds like censorship... self-censorship, yes. But still censorship.

Let me explain.

Let's say I want to speak my mind on what I call one of the major-breakers: these are the big topics that seem to divide a large majority of people, something like abortion or presidential politics, or global warming, or evolution (and those last two shouldn't involve any debate at all but that's neither here nor there).

When speaking on these issues, there's a few things I need to consider:

First of all, "How many readers do you want to risk losing?"

I have to admit, that one rarely registers. If there's someone who's racist or homophobic and is going to be insulted by my viewpoints, to tell you the truth, I don't want you buying my books.

Secondly - and here's the big one - "How much do I want to distract you from the reason this blog exists in the first place?"

Would "The Daily Cave" be here if I weren't a writer? Probably, but in a different format, and as part of something you regular readers would never have come across. If that were the case, I'd probably be much, much more outspoken about certain topics. The thing is, though, I 'am' a writer, and "The Daily Cave" is about my writing and other imaginative creations.

Perhaps it's a self-limitation thing, the more I think about it. If I were to spout off about what pisses me off on a daily basis, there'd be little time to write much else, and again, that would eat into the time I like to spend writing books, (kind of like I'm doing right now... heh). Anyway, the idea is to STAY FOCUSED on why this blog is here. I must admit, however, there have been quite a few times when I've thought about starting an anonymous blog, of adopting an alias and spilling my opinions on quite a few things onto the screen. But, again, that would detract from what I really enjoy doing.

To be sure, you long time readers know that from time to time I've put myself out there in TDC, telling you what I think about this or that, but believe me, there's much more that's been held in check... because I want to stay focused.

So, what do you think? Is it important to keep an "author" blog confined to "author" issues, or would it be better if I spouted off about this and that? Just curious.

Touching Base in a Big Way

2008-09-30T20:58:00.003-05:00

~

It's a whole new world.

My family and I have officially made the move. We're in a new house, in a new section of the state of Wisconsin, in a whole new mindframe. Things have been hella hectic these past couple of weeks, and as such I've not been around much. I hope you understand.

The work has suffered tremendously these past twenty days or so, and I'm finally to the point where I can catch my breath and readjust - so to speak. I'm using this new living situation to map out some new writing routines that will hopefully have me getting much more work done than my last ones. In the past, I was merely "getting the work done" on a semi-daily basis, with no real structure when it came to the time of day. Now, I'm in a situation where that'll change. 5:15 in the AM is the new start time, and the finish time is whenever those one to two thousand words are finished. Starting so early let's me get the ball rolling when the house is quiet, and will definitely put the hammer down on me to finish before the family gets up and going for the day. Starting right away in the morning will also keep me from staying up until three or four in the morning and being drained and dead throughout the next day.

Call me older. No, call me wiser.

At any rate, the work starts again tomorrow. The books are still on track, and I won't be doing - or not doing - anything on my end to hold up the publishing schedule.

Did I mention I have my own, private office on the main floor of our new house now? The only problem with it, as I've come to find out, is that I have too many books for the available shelving. What to do? Get rid of some books? Ha! Hardly. I'm looking into how best to build some permanent bookshelves into the walls. That'll be coming in the forseeable future. I haven't lived in an old (built circa 1902) house for a long time. Lot's of old woodwork. Hardwood floors. Lot's of nooks and crannies. Solid oak doors. Locks that only skeleton keys could touch. All the little accents that new houses lack. I'm digging it more and more.

Okay. Lot's to do, but I just wanted to check in to let you know that I'm not six feet under, and I'm not avoiding ya'll. I hope you're well. I'll talk to you soon.

And Then There was Nothing

2008-09-14T02:49:00.007-05:00

~

Wow. Cleared out. Vamoose. All gone...

Well... almost. The truck came and took away virtually everything in my house today. Ten hours of loading boxes yesterday, and about six hours of loading the 'big' stuff today. And now it's all gone. For a few different reasons, I'll still be residing at the house - mostly to tie up loose ends - until the end of next week when I'll join the rest of my family in our new house in the north country. Until then, I've got my dog, my cats, and my computer to keep me company, and that's literally it. Hmm... seems to me that that time would be best spent doing some uninterrupted writing... and that's exactly what I intend to do.

Before that, however, a few of you sent in some questions after the offer laid out in my last blog post, so let's get to those.

Tiffany asked: "Scott, if you could only write one genre, what would it be? And don't just say dark fantasy because it has elements of everything else in it!! If you really, truly, HAD to choose one genre, what would it be?"

Well that's a tough one isn't it? You're right to think that I would choose dark fantasy if given the option. Dark fantasy is vague enough that you can branch out into aspects of horror, fantasy, and even elements of science fiction and space opera, and still be well within the confines of the genre's qualifications - at least from my perspective. And, of course, that's the appeal of Dark Fantasy, isn't it? There really isn't anything set in stone that says that such and such qualifies as being part of the genre and such and such doesn't. Though, really, the same is true for horror - though horror might be a bit more restrictive. All a story has to do to be eligible for the horror moniker is to instill an element of Fear in the reader's mind; now, that fear can be instilled through a variety of ways including but not limited to the use of suspense, the intimation of bodily or mental harm upon the protagonists, the use of supernatural beings or entities, or supply a generous injection of the unknown - because that, as all of you I'm sure are well aware, is what is most frightening to us as human beings.

The Unknown.

Often, that Unknown comes in the form of Death - (note my over-use of capital letters to achieve a lackadaisical attempt at emphasis) - the threat of Death, or the uncertainty of it's finality. Human beings hate being out of the loop, and death is one of those things that the thoughts and musings that take place in the dark little hidey-holes in the backs of our minds refuse to look on as final.

But I'm getting off track.

Before I answer your question, however, let me make it clear that to me genre classifications are a first-rate yawn fest. Of course they help in finding new authors that write the kind of things that you like to read - as in you know where to look at your local bookstore or online, and yet most of my favorite authors downright refuse to be classified by the sheer variety of their voluminous amounts of work. Authors like Richard Matheson, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, and even Clive Barker, make themselves hard to pigeonhole to a specific genre.

"What?" you say. "But Clive Barker is a horror writer...?" Really? I'd argue that Imagica is more fantasy than horror. I'd argue that the books of the Abarat are straight ahead fantasy, not to mention Young Adult. I'd argue that Sacrament is horror, but in a subtle sense.

"What?" you say. "But Neil Gaiman is a fantasy writer...?" Really? I'd argue that short stories like Closing Time and Shoggoth's Old Peculiar are terrifying. I'd argue that Good Omens and even Stardust indicate that he's a skilled humorist. Oh, and he writes children's books too... and then there's that comic book thingy... and the screenplays...

Matheson writes everything from fantasy to science fiction to teleplays to horror to westerns to...

Ellison... well, Ellison is Ellison.

All is to say that to me, a writer is either a good one, or a writer isn't. Harlan Ellison hates being termed a "speculative fiction" writer. It narrows what he does in some sense. He is a Writer and nothing more... or less.

I am a Writer.

If, Tiffany, you chloroformed me some evening, bound my hands and mouth, shoved me in the trunk of a 1976 Oldsmobile, waited until I awoke, and poked toothpicks under my fingernails, I might, might mind you, say that if I truly had to choose one genre and only one, I might tell you that that genre would be horror: the classification isn't quite as broad as dark fantasy, but it's close.

Don't fence me in.

And now to the second question. Antonym Mouse (I assume that's an alias) wrote:

"Hello Scott! First off, I just read the Feast of Catchville for my high school Wisconsin literature class, and I ABSOLUTELY /LOVED/ it. I didn't think one ever got truly good books assigned to them to read in school, but I was so very wrong.
Secondly, I am also an aspiring writer. As a young author, the work of others greatly interests me. So, a few questions. When did you really start to know you wanted to write? Did you know then that you wanted to write in the horror genre?"

First off, let me say how thrilled I am that high schools are teaching Catchville. Ah, to mold, slash, infect young minds is a wonderful thing! (Bwa-ha-ha-ha!) Seriously, though, I'm glad you enjoyed it, Mouse. I was trying to think back to the assigned works that affected me most in high-school, and the one that came to mind first was The Metamorphosis by Kafka. No, it wasn't contemporary, but it still had the grit and "newness" of a larger literary world beyond what was usually taught.

When did I know I wanted to write? Hmm... I think I always possessed an innate desire to be creative. Whether it was through words, through art, through acting, or through music, the Humanities have always spoken to me in a way that no other calling could have.

Though I always dabbled in all of those creative endeavors at the same time, I went through what you could call "primary" phases with each one. In high-school, I was primarily a music and art guy. Lots of playing bass and guitar with a band some friends and I put together, and lots of drawing when I was alone in my room, allowing my existential teenage angst to bubble up into a full boil. When I reached college, the acting bug hit full tilt, and I was in a few university productions. However, college is when I realized that writing came easier to me than any of the other creative disciplines; it was also when I realized that it was the one thing that I mined the greatest amount of pleasure from. It was also when it hit me that I could do it professionally.

There's a point in your life where you suddenly realize that you're an adult, and that there's a world of opportunity open to you. Sure, we're all told that we can do anything we want when we get older, but I don't think that the concept really sinks in until you've ridden a few dozen miles in the saddle. At some point in my university experience, it genuinely occurred to me that I could write a story that other people would want to read, that I could in some small way entertain, educate, and possibly open other people's minds to my own skewed way of thinking. When that kernel of a thought did occur to me, it was like the walls came down and I could see clearly for the first time. Of course! I'm a writer!

Easy to think. Harder to do.

But that's what weens writers from the ranks: the willingness to spend the time and put in the ridiculous amount of unrecognized work just to tell a story. Part of me is very glad that I entertained the notion of being a rock star, of being a world famous artist, of being a star of stage and screen before I realized I wanted to devote my life to writing - and writing well. However, there's also a part of me that wishes that I would have realized that I wanted to do it earlier - perhaps when I was in high school - so that I could have started cutting my teeth on the nuts and bolts of it all from the get-go.

But what are ya gonna do? No regrets and all that.

Did I know from the start that I wanted to write horror? Hopefully you've read this entire post and gleaned an impression as to my opinions on genre classifications. But what you're asking is a different animal, and the answer is, nope. I first tried writing science fiction, or more accurately, I tried writing space opera. Sitting down at the keyboard, I strenuously tied a rambling narrative of about 200 thousand words together over the course of about a year into something that vaguely, possibly, resembled something that - if you squinted from a distance - might have resembled a novel.

But it was great practice. It forced me to sit down on a regular basis and perform the physical act of tapping my fingers against a collection of keys. Believe it or not that's one of the hardest things to do as a writer: simply put everything else aside and write. The experience also allowed me to prove to myself that I really could finish a novel-length work. Now, at 200k, I overdid it a bit, but that's all right. It was something I needed to excise before I could move on to the "next thing".

When did horror come up? Somewhere around 1992 I got my hands on a big old book called The Stand by Steve King. I'm sure you've heard of it, and if you haven't, rectify that fact.

Prior to reading that book, my idea of horror was a narrow one. It centered around monsters and ghosts and the usual Bogey Man kind of generic. The Stand showed me what could really be done with the horror genre - how far it could be stretched and how deeply it could saturate the human mind.

I was hooked.

After reading King's tale of "Cap'n Tripps" and Randal Flag, I realized that horror was the conduit through which I could best tell the stories I wanted to tell at the time. I immediately started work on the tale that would eventually become Swaybuck.

Any-hoo - horror bit me at the right time and place. Did I stick with it exclusively? No. Will I return to it? Absolutely. I love to read and write it. As a young writer, Mouse, I think you need to flap around for a bit in the genre muck. Write what you like to read, but don't imitate what you're reading. Understand what's been done in the past, and build on it - take it in new directions and surprise yourself. If you surprise yourself as a writer, you'll definitely surprise your readers.

I hope that answers your questions. Thanks again to both Tiffany and Antonym Mouse for writing in. Anybody else - feel free to drop me a line with whatever you want to know.

And now... back to work.

Questions? Comments? Scathing Rebuttals?

2008-09-10T00:55:00.004-05:00

~

Where did summer go? About a week ago, we hit ninety degrees (92 to be exact) for the first time all year. Yesterday morning it was in the low 40's, and tomorrow morning is supposed to be in the high 30's. While walking Wally earlier this evening, I counted seventy-three Canada geese in a field near my house. Just before sunset, they all took off, honking and hooting, headed south towards warmer environs.

I continue to pack up everything we own. The first phase of the move takes place this coming weekend. Also, this weekend marks the release of Metallica's latest album, "Death Magnetic." I feel like a kid on the week before Christmas. I've been listening to the band since 1988. I've seen them live 17 times. I've been in the front row half a dozen times, and I've been in the last row of stadium seats more than once. I had a chance to meet all four of them in 2003, and they were just as down to earth as I thought they'd be. The early releases from this album already mark it as the best stuff they've done since "...And Justice For All," and I couldn't be happier. I'm 35, and hearing new music by my favorite band still makes me feel like it's twenty years ago, when I was fifteen and hearing them for the very first time. As Martha Stewart might say, "It's a good thing."

Ren finally put up the interview I did with him a few weeks ago on the website. You can find it under the Extras section of www.scottfalkner.com.

In my previous blog post, I mentioned that I might be organizing some sort of live Q&A in the near future. Well, after thinking about it a bit, it kind of occurred to me that doing it "live" was a bit pointless. After all, in this day and age it's hard enough to schedule time to do anything we might enjoy, (Tivo's and DVR's are incredibly popular for a reason) much less make certain that you're free to sit down and chat with yours truly. Anyway, what I thought I would do instead is just make it ABUNDANTLY clear that you guys, my readers, are MORE THAN WELCOME to ask me questions via a number of ways:

1. You can post them here on The Daily Cave. You don't have to sign up for anything. You can even post anonymously. Below each post where it says 'comments', you can click on that and either leave a comment or question for me.

2. If you're a myspace member, you can post questions or comments on that version of The Daily Cave, or else just send them to me via my myspace account, or post them in the form of a myspace comment.

3. Email us through the website. All you have to do is go to www.scottfalkner.com, go to the Contact section, and click on the Contact icon.

From now on I'll make a point to address any and all questions posed through the above outlets.

And lo and behold, we've already got one. One of my longtime friends and readers, Tam shot me this question via myspace at the end of my last blog entry:

"I wonder if you write/paint while listening to music and does it inspire you?"

Great question, Tam. And thanks for asking it.

This is a question I've heard asked a lot of writers and artists. Not too long ago, I was listening to an NPR interview with Maurice Sendak. The reporter asked him the above question, and he answered that while writing he needed absolute silence. While doing his initial sketches, he usually listened to music, and while painting/coloring his pieces he watched television. Author, Kealan Patrick Burke has said in the past that he can't have anything on in the background as it provides too much distraction. Brian Keene writes with a variety of different kinds of music playing.

To each his own, I guess.

Personally, when writing I do like to have music on, but it can't be anything with words. Usually, it's classical music, or some soundtrack or another. I feel like the music helps me to detach from the real world; it's almost like an invisible barrier, cutting me off and allowing the imagination to flourish. If the music has words, I likely know them, and the words to the songs get into my head and infect the words I'm trying to write.

Does that make sense?

Painting is a completely different story. I usually paint with a variety of different kinds of music, and when I say variety... My musical tastes vary wildly. Most people who know me are convinced that all I listen to is the heavy stuff: ie. Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax and the like. Don't misunderstand, I love all of those bands, but there's a plethora of other types of music that I like, and I'd be doing myself a great disservice to limit myself to only one genre of music.

Let's do a quick experiment. I'll throw my ipod on shuffle, and write down the first ten songs that come up:

1. "You Can't Bring Me Down" by Suicidal Tendencies
2. "Useful Idiot" by Tool
3. "Amor Volat Undique" from Carmina Burana by the Cleveland Orchestra
4. "Enter Sandman" live from Calgary by Metallica
5. "The Map Room - Dawn" from the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" soundtrack by John Williams
6. "Dread and the Fugitive Mind" by Megadeth
7. "Soul Eater" by Danzig
8. "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett
9. "Caribbean Blue" by Enya
10. "Reason Why" by Rachael Yamagata

So there you have it. Probably not as varied as I would have liked just for the sake of making my point, but varied enough.

As far as inspiration goes...

There was a point several years ago where I considered writing a volume of short stories all based on individual songs. That idea never came to fruition, but the possibility is always there. In a more general sense, of course I'm inspired by music. In my mind, that's the reason I listen to it. When it comes to classical music, the moods and feelings it incurs are definitely appreciated and remembered. Those same feelings and moods are then tapped into when applying the same to my own pieces of art - that being either with words or with paint. As far as 'popular' music goes (for lack of a better word) often the lyrics and/or the aggression of a lot of the music I listen to spurs me on. The majority of the popular music I listen to deals with some pretty heavy themes - as in it's not just about scamming on some skank "in da club". Not that there's anything wrong with that type of music if you're into it, it's just that I'm more drawn to music and lyrics that address bigger issues in personal lives and the world at large, and I constantly draw inspiration from music such as that.

Does that answer your question? I hope so, and thanks again for posing it, Tam.

So, now it's up to the rest of you. Feel free to fire off anything on your mind about writing, painting, music, or anything else. The only thing that I'd ask is that if you're inquiring about a certain part of a book that I've written, and the question might spoil details for someone who hasn't read it, then ask the question via the Contact button at the website, or send me a private message through myspace. Thanks in advance.

Moving Interviews Contents Highlight

2008-09-03T02:35:00.002-05:00

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Summer's End has brought many a change in the Falkner household. For the last month or so, I've been living alone while my family has moved on up to our new locale. We're in the process of closing on a new house, and I'm in the midst of packing away stuff I'd forgotten we'd owned. How does one acquire so much stuff?! At any rate, what with getting the kids enrolled in school and all the other hoopla that accompanies a big move, things have been a bit hellish.

Oh yeah, and I'm supposed to have a book finished by now as well.

When the official release for "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff" came out yesterday, I was asked by one of my long-time readers if I could reveal the table of contents. Yeah. I sure can. Here they are:

1. A Whiter Shade of Death
2. Solid Evidence *
3. What Should Not Be
4. Mad Martin *
5. A Simple Haunting
6. Lupine Lover *
7. Operation Valkyrie
8. The Other *
9. Of Hyla Japonica
10. Dig and Delve

* These four stories were including in the promotional chapbook, "Graff: Tales from the Hunt," but all four have been revised and expanded for "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff".

While thinking of how we could amp up the website - I get bored with things very easily - and connect with you guys a bit more, Ren and I realized that we hadn't done a scottfalkner.com interview in a while - in a year or two at least, and what with the recent release of "Delving: Assassins" and the upcoming Graff Collection release, it might be a good time to do another one. So, last weekend, Ren came down to the house and grilled me for a few hours on all the latest going's on. That interview, the third or fourth scottfalkner.com interview - I'm not sure which, will be put up on scottfalkner.com this weekend.

In addition to that, in order to get some input from you - the reader - in the next few weeks I'm going to be doing a live Q&A, where you can get the skinny on all the stuff you've wanted to know about me but were afraid to ask. Details are still being worked out, but keep checking back to find out when and where.

I'll leave you guys with one of the highlights of my past week:

EXILE Announcement

2008-09-02T03:25:00.013-05:00

~

Finally! The time has come to announce the new book.
First, the official stuff...

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

WHO IS HELMAN GRAFF???

Readers have been asking that question since the release of
Scott F. Falkner's very first book. Finally, the mysterious hero from "The Feast of Catchville" is back doing what he does best in ten tales of terrifying adventure.

Facing off against lusty werewolves, maniacal clones, Nazi death machines, billionaire vampires, and much more, Helman Graff uses wits and weapons to vanquish his enemies with a
minimum of mercy.

"EXILE: The Collected Helman Graff"

by Scott F. Falkner

Illustrations by Cover Artist Nathan Fehlauer

From Stone Garden Publishing

JANUARY 2009

*************************************************
Cool, eh?

I'm pretty stoked about it. I'm just putting some finishing touches on a few of the stories and the book will be complete. If you've never read "The Feast of Catchville" or any of the "Delving" titles, don't worry about it. You don't need any knowledge of those to fully enjoy "Exile."

I'm really lucky to have Nate Fehlauer doing the artwork for the book. His work is amazing, and I've just found out that he'll probably be doing an illustration for all ten of the stories in the book. Too cool. Okay, if you want to read more about the book, or check out some wallpapers based on Nate's art, head on over to my site, (www.scottfalkner.com).

It looks like we'll have something new and kinda cool on the website sometime this week. It's something that we haven't done in a while, and maybe you'll get a kick out of it. Stay tuned.

Back to work. Back to packing. Back to anxiously awaiting "Death Magnetic"...

Imminent Announcement...

2008-08-27T01:33:00.003-05:00

~

? ? ? ?

Hey kids, just a quick heads-up to say that if you're not a member of the scottfalkner.com Mailing List, you'll want to be asap. Check out why at scottfalkner.com!

August Update

2008-08-20T02:34:00.003-05:00

~

Haven't been able to catch up much on the blog updates as of late. Sorry about that - but it couldn't really be helped. Very busy. I do want to say thanks to everyone who came to the book signing last weekend in Northern Wisconsin. Also, thanks to everyone at Thyme Worn for once again making me feel at home, and thanks to Sally at WJMC for the fantastic radio interview.

There's a ton of stuff coming down the pipe next week, including a book announcement.

Thanks for your patience, I promise it'll pay off.

Too Much Real Life

2008-08-09T01:01:00.004-05:00

~

The inevitable madness that is my life continues -

I'm currently working my derrière off to finish "The Mystery Book" that will shortly be a mystery no longer. Yeah, you know those "????" images that have been popping up over the last several weeks - soon, very soon, you'll be finding out what those are about, and you'll be introduced to the artist who did them, (here's a hint - it's NOT me). The final pieces of the puzzle are being put together and will be unveiled soon.

Speaking of which, if you are in Rice Lake, Wisconsin next weekend, I'll be reading from and signing copies of "Delving: Assassins" and unveiling the new mystery book at Thyme Worn Treasures. So, if you're in the audience, you'll find out what's what - first hand before everyone else. Buy your plane tickets, gas up the car, and BE THERE next weekend. Check out the Events section of the website, (www.scottfalkner.com) for details. I'll also be doing a radio interview on Northwestern Wisconsin's WJMC some time on Friday - details to be released later this week.

Other than that, there really hasn't been much going on, except for tons and tons and tons of travel, some house hunting, and more travel.

Speaking of which, today I called 911 for the first time in a long time.

There was a car stopped at a crosswalk in a small town I was traveling through. I stopped behind that car, and watched as the driver in front of me waved an elderly man to cross. He started out, passed the car in front of me, and came inches from being hit by an old Mustang driven by a high-school girl as she sped through the intersection. He dived out of the way, hit his head hard on the asphalt, and wasn't moving. While the people in front of me got out of their car to help, I ran to the middle of the intersection and stopped all the other traffic while calling 911. The police and an ambulance came, and they got the guy to the side of the road. Turns out he'll be okay, though there was a lot of blood. They bandaged him up on the spot, and after telling them what I saw, they said I was free to go. Not sure what happened to the teenager, (she did stop as soon as it happened) but it was all pretty crazy.

Too much real life for a Friday afternoon.

OH! And by the by, if you check out the latest Pod of Horror (#46) - which you should be doing on a regular basis anyhow - you'll hear Mark read the letter I wrote to him and Nanci. Get it through itunes or go to their page at HorrorWorld - http://www.horrorworld.org/poh.htm

Examining Extraterrestrials

2008-07-28T01:27:00.005-05:00

~

Perhaps you've heard about the interview that Dr. Edgar Mitchell did over the weekend with Kerrang Radio in the UK.

Dr. Mitchell holds a PhD from MIT, was an Apollo Astronaut, and was the sixth man to walk on the moon.

In the radio interview - (the audio of which is available in the youtube video below) - Dr. Mitchell explains that he himself hasn't witnessed aliens firsthand, but that he is privy to knowledge that aliens do in fact exist and have visited Earth. In a rebuttal interview with Discovery.com - (the web link for which is offered at the end of this post) - Dr. Mitchell says that several people who were actually at the Roswell crash in 1949 relayed to him that an alien craft was discovered, as well as alien bodies. He also says that in the late nineties, he met with an Admiral at the Pentagon who confirmed that aliens do exist, and that they have made contact with earth.

The majority of Americans today believe that life does exist outside of Earth. Less believe that aliens have actually visited our planet. The French and Mexican Governments (among others) have admitted that unidentified flying crafts have flown over their airspace that defy present day technology. In 2006, the Vatican proclaimed that "...any eventual proof of extraterrestrial life would in no way diminish any Catholic's faith in God..." There is no doubt that much, if not the majority, of claims concerning aliens is rubbish - however, there is also a large amount of eyewitness accounts and dodgy government activity that certainly warrants more examination.

Some would ask why? What difference could it possibly make whether or not they exist and whether or not they've visited our planet and whether or not the government knows about it?

As an answer, I would supply just one of thousands of possible replies. If an extraterrestrial craft has indeed reached Earth, the energy source required by such a craft for such a journey - that being from other worlds - would be immense. Such an energy source could be beneficial in solving so much of the world's energy problems - from generation to pollution.

At any rate, I thought it was worth thinking about, and thought it worthy to try and get you to think about it too.

Here's the youtube video of the audio from Dr. Edgar Mitchell's interview with Kerrang Radio:

And here is the address for Dr. Mitchell's rebuttal interview with Discovery: http://dsc.discovery.com/space/qa/alien-ufo-edgar-mitchell.html

~

WAITING FOR THE CLICK

2008-07-20T04:15:00.002-05:00

~

Writing is both a joyful and daunting art. At certain points of the process you can feel like you're on a cloud, whiling your way through the process with the greatest of ease. There are times when a book feels like it's writing itself - as if you're only there to manually throw the words down as someone whispers them into your ear. There are those times when a character is so real to you, so physically in the room while you're writing their dialogue... Those times when you're reading over what you've written and an interesting, unique, and profound theme that you'd not even thought about exposes itself in glittering detail throughout the entire work. Those times when someone who's read your work tells you that what you've done is important - that you somehow enriched even a small part of their life by writing it...

Those are the good times. Those are the reasons we do it.

And then there are the daunting aspects. The minutiae of it all, the nitpicking - going over every last word and detail to make sure that you've written what you wanted to write. The agonizing pressure to write something worthwhile, to write something new, to write something that takes what you're doing to the next level. The sheer time involved to get it right. The needless yet constant worry that the ideas won't be there tomorrow. The need for a life outside of writing, and living with the knowledge that life outside of writing detracts from writing. Then there's The Block.

For me, that last one is just about the worst. You've heard of Writer's Block to be sure, but there are as many different kinds of Writer's Block as there are authors in the world or stories in the history of man. WB - for brevity's sake - is a catch-all term for anything that impedes the process - scratch and/or amend that to read - anything internal that impedes the process. It's a Deficiency in your mind with a capital 'D', and there's a million and one ways to get around it... at least that's what all the Self Help Writing Blogs say.

My way of getting around it is simple - (or should I say, simply agonizing...): I ignore it. I refuse to accept it. I deny WB's very existence... often at my own peril.

What I mean by that is instead of going on to something else, (as those all-knowing Writer's Blogs suggest) instead of focusing my efforts elsewhere, I'll instead persist with the present project, writing line after line and paragraph after paragraph of complete and utter drivel. In some cases, I've continued this for days, knowing all the while that everything I was putting down would eventually have to be gutted - completely rewritten - if it was ever to have the tiniest chance of ever, ever seeing the light of day. And why do I do this instead switching to a different project? Part of it, I think, is that when WB happens, it infects your mind into thinking that you can't write well on any story - at least that's how it is for me - so what's the point of switching to another one? Another part of it, and this is probably the main reason - at least I like to think that it is - is that I'm just too damn stubborn. WB infuriates me to the point that I begin to think of it as a struggle that must be won at any cost - a failure to do so will mean that the fundamental ability to accomplish what I love doing most will be sacrificed.

Is it as dramatic as all that? It certainly is.

And then, at some point, after trying to think my way around the Block, perhaps for days, perhaps for a few weeks, the clouds part and that particular obstacle that had been throwing me, that particular concept that has proven as illusive as the end of a rainbow, becomes clear. There's this Operatic "Aaaaaah" moment that CLICKS in your mind, and the Block is over. It becomes a figment. A vague literary concept that you can't really remember ever experiencing because you are a confident, influential, and above all capable writer that really doesn't have to deal with that sort of nonsense...

That moment, that Click, when the Block ends, well my friends, that's another of those wondrous, joyful moments in the Writing Game. That's another one of those rushes, and I'm oh so happy to convey to each and every one of you, (or both of you) that the Writing Gods on High blessed me with just such a moment on Friday afternoon.

Things are good.

Things are Clicking.

BTW: CHECK THE OFFICIAL site, (www.scottfalkner.com) on Monday, July 21st for a very special treat. (Here's a hint: ? ? ?)

TO POV OR NOT TO POV

2008-07-18T00:18:00.006-05:00

~

I was just sitting down to start writing for the evening and thought that I'd throw up a blog post before I get neck deep into the "mystery" book and forget all about it.

It's funny how I go through the days and something will occur to me and I'll think, "wow, now there's something I could write about on the blog," and then, of course, I sit down in front of the computer and forget all about what that said something was going to be...

I had hoped to hit the second Hellboy movie this week, but was bummed that it didn't quite fit into the Grandmaster's timetable. Of course, now I'm behind, and the Dark Knight comes out this weekend, and I'll be scratching my head wondering which one to see first...

The cover artwork for the new Metallica album, Death Magnetic, (check out Metallica.com to take a gander - it's pretty sweet!) was released today, as was the Kerrang! tune for the Iron Maiden tribute cd, Maiden Heaven. Metallica covered Remember Tomorrow, which I've put up at the end of this blog post - just because you're you!

To tell you the truth, I've been stalling a bit as of late when it comes to the stories in the "mystery" book. I know what the stories are about - as in I know what happens in them, ie. the sequence of events - the problem is that I've become a bit jaded with how they're being told...

Here we go. Here's a subject.

So often when writing a story - be it a short or a novel or whatever - the actual way to tell it becomes obvious. Whether it's in first person or second, whether it's from the point of view of the antagonist or protagonist, or whether its omniscient, all of that will usually make itself clear to me right from the get-go.

Now then. When doing a number of short stories that all sort of interact with one another, (like I'm doing with the 'mystery' book) in order to make them interesting as a collective unit, I've decided to break up the points of view from story to story. That sounds obvious, and yet... It almost seems like the more I think about the POV of the stories, the harder it is to pin down said POV. I've ended up second-guessing myself considerably, and have rewritten more than one of the them with a different POV just to see how it would play out.

Normally when you shake a story up like that, it offers a fresh perspective, and often gives you an easier time of conveying the events in a more interesting way; however, in a few of the tales I'm writing, there just doesn't seem any method that ends up as an absolutely perfect fit. Oh well - it's just a matter of figuring out what works and what doesn't. Speaking of... I should get back to it.

Here's that brand new Iron Maiden cover done by Metallica. Enjoy:

ON THIRTY-FIVE. ON THE PAST. ON THE FUTURE.

2008-07-15T03:26:00.001-05:00

~

Guess what? Today I'm 35, which means that I'm now old enough to be President of the United States - and I'm seriously considering it.

Age is odd. At thirty-five, I still feel in some respects like a 22 year old, and in others I feel about 60. My body is hanging in there, despite the havoc I've wreaked upon it (knock on wood) and I still have the majority of my mental facilities, so I guess I don't have much to complain about... then again...

One of the core requirements for an artist is to be unsatisfied. I think that understanding that concept is one of the keys to coping with an artistic life. Once an artist becomes content, becomes satisfied with the status-quo - said artist is dead in a figurative sense, (of course).

I am figuratively very much alive.

It's apropos that my birthday and New Year's are at the polar ends of the year. Today, July 15th, is the absolute center of summer, and of course, January 1st is just about winter's bleakest point. In the past few years when my birthday or New Year's rolled around, I've shied away from looking back over what I've done, as well as avoided looking forward to what I've planned on doing. There were a couple of reasons for that. Dwelling on past accomplishments is a death knell to be sure. You can't rest on your laurels, nor languish in your failures. Learn from both and move on. As far as looking ahead, I was afraid that I was spending a bit too much time thinking (and blogging) about what I was going to do... in place of actually doing it. In addition, I was always afraid of penning (pun not intended) myself into a project - just because I said I was going to do it.

I think it's time for a more political - read: presidential - approach. After all, I'm 35 now, and being presidential is fully age appropriate. I'll talk about what I've done when I want to talk about it, and I'll look ahead when I want to look ahead. I'll think, discuss, and write about what I'm going to do next, and I won't hold myself to it at all... how presidential.

I guess that's sort of a heads up for the two or three people that read this blog: Take it all with a grain of salt.

All right, a year ago (about) the first book of my dark fantasy trilogy called Delving came out. When I wrote the book, it wasn't intended to be a "first" of anything. It was intended to be a stand alone story called Delving. However, the response from early pre-readers exceeded those of my other books, and they all wanted to know what happened after the first Delving book.

After?

How the hell did I know? At any rate, the response was favorable enough that I made the decision to continue on with Delving into another book. After thinking about it for a while, I realized that I sort of did know just where the story could go, and realized that I could pump another two volumes out of it.

The thing was, I had experienced a phenomenal response from my first published book, The Feast of Catchville - and a so-so one from my second, Swaybuck. As a result of the enthusiasm of my then-pre-readers - who wouldn't hesitate to tell me if something sucked - I thought the release of the first Delving book - Delving: Obligations - would be fantastic. I even went and sucked some great blurbs out of a few well known authors in hopes of getting the word out on the novel. Ren and I created a website, actually a "wing" of the official scottfalkner.com website, that catered exclusively to the world of Delving, offering character bios, excerpts, backgrounds, and even t-shirts to try and amp up the release of the book.

And a year ago it came out, and didn't do what I'd necessarily call phenomenally well in the sales department.

I was shocked. Stunned. A general state of disbelief ensued. What did I do wrong? I've not heard one negative review of the book - and by ALL means, if you've read it and didn't like it, I'd love to hear from you, seriously. The promotion matched, if not surpassed that of my other books. WTF?

The only thing that I can really figure is that the books aren't horror novels. They're not about ghosts or zombies. They're certainly dark fantasy, but they're anchored more in character relationships and self-discovery. They're more "literate" than the stuff I've written in the past.

So perhaps that was the problem? I was birthed into the horror genre, and the horror genre wanted nothing to do with the new books.

Okay.

I can deal with that.

A year passed.

Some more people have picked up the first Delving book over the last year. I've heard from some of them, and they all were excited to hear what was going to happen in the second one. Cool. The second book, Delving: Assassins, came out last month. It's different from the first one. It's less introspective and more action-based. It's a book that I would want to read (as is everything I write), and I guess that's all that really matters at this point. I continue to write for me. I've dropped out the whole pre-reader part of the process because I'm just arrogant enough to think that I'm smart enough to know what it is that I want to do and how to do it. I loathe accepting other people's points of view when it comes to my writing. Of course, I work with my editors to put forward the best possible collection of words and sentences - that's my responsibility to my publisher - but as far as the ideas go, as far as the genres go - that's all me.

And now I'm writing what we've been referring to as the "mystery" book. It's a collection of short stories. It's sort of horror, but a lot dark fantasy. It'll be tough for some to latch onto. It'll be perfect for the sensibilities of others. I like it a lot so far. And as I said before...

Next month I begin writing the last Delving book, Delving: Culminations. In tone and theme, it'll be a mix of the first two. There are a lot of family dynamics that need to be addressed. There are a lot of characters who will either kill or be killed. There are Delves that fans of the series will be shocked by. There will be a final confrontation that could mean the end of the world.

There's a book I finished in the last year called Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde. I submitted it to a publisher that specializes in what I like to think of as horror-based fantasy and science fiction. Having read other books by this mid-list publisher, I thought Calvin Dyer... might actually be a good fit for them. Guess not. "It's very good - we just don't feel it fits with what we do..." was the response. I guess my inability to pick a genre and stick with it is once again working against me. But what am I gonna do? I write what I like to read. Period. If the rest of the industry can't get behind it, fuck 'em. By the way, if you're a publisher and interested in Western-orientated Dark Fantasy, drop me a line.

Three books are in the works, and about five others are in the "I've written the first few chapters and am still letting them float around in my mind before I really go toe to toe with them" phase. I'm not sure which of these I'll hit after I'm done writing Culminations. Oh, trust me, they'll all get written, it's just a question of order and where my mind is. I've read and heard other authors talk about how you "have" to keep plowing through one book before you head onto the next one.

Every time I hear someone tell me I "HAVE" to do something, my nerves tingle like the hackles on a bloodlusty wolf.

My painting has really, really, suffered in the past year. Again, I worked myself into doing a "series" of paintings called the Zecada Fears. I had this whole idea of accompanying five different paintings with a short story I'd thought up. Great. Two of them are done - you can view them in the Gallery on my website. The third is virtually finished, but it's just a time issue. With three kids, a full docket professionally, and all the other mandatory bullshit that filters into life despite my best efforts to keep it at bay, something's gotta give. One of these years, perhaps 2010 - I'm going to take the entire year off from writing and just paint full time. I look forward to it.

Writing a play is something that I've wanted to do for a long time. I don't feel quite confident enough to do it just yet, but I think I'll start reading more plays in the near future to get a feel for the medium. The undisclosed city - or rather, town - we're moving near in the next few months has a small community theater which I would very much like to get involved in. Perhaps after being a part of a few productions, whether on the stage or behind the scenes - will allow me to absorb that much more of the medium, and get me thinking about writing, producing, and directing theater. We'll put that one in the 'on the horizon' file.

Comics. This is something else that I've been wanting to do for a long time. I'd originally thought of doing a comic utilizing not only my writing talents, but my painting as well. I thought I might do something a la Dave McKean's Arkham Asylum. That possibility is still there, but as with theater, I need to know more about the process. I talked to a friend of mine yesterday that writes comics professionally, and he recommended some resources to look into if I was interested in the process. I'm definitely going to be taking a good long look at it with hopes of writing something for the medium soon.

The small town that we're moving to over the next few months has a very rich history - primarily in the lumber industry. As with most small towns, there's a lot of that history that has been recorded over the years, and most of it is pretty generic. Something I would very much like to do in the coming years is shoot a film concerning the story of the lumber industry in northern Wisconsin. I know a few dark details not included in the majority of the generic histories that make me think a documentary on the subject could be fascinating. Again, film is something that I've only had a limited education in, and documentaries are something that I've never really been schooled in. So, the process will need to be examined, and examine it I will.

There's always something to hold my attention and to look forward to. I guess that's a mark of a life worth continuing. At thirty-five, I'm not satisfied, not by a long shot. There's lots more to do. There's daily vendettas to be addressed. There's barriers to break. There's roles to be discovered.

There's work to be done. Always.