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Friday, March 25, 2011

An Acceptance

I'm thrilled to report that my short story "Shafts to Hell" has been accepted for publication in How the West Was Wicked, a new anthology from Pill Hill Press. According to the description of the anthology on the call for submissions page:
How the West Was Wicked is an anthology of WEIRD WESTERN fiction with dark overtones and elements of horror. Let the imagination go crazy.
"Shafts to Hell" centers on a gold miner driven insane by claustrophobia who commits a grisly murder and then contemplates the nature of Hell while awaiting his hanging. I'm aiming for a story with an unreliable narrator in the "The Cask of Amontillado" tradition. Be forewarned. "Shafts to Hell" is extremely creepy and not for the faint of heart.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

CSFF Blog Tour: The Resurrection Day Three

A story without vivid characters is just a series of events that most likely doesn't engage us. Mike Duran's characters from The Resurrection engage us. Their physical descriptions are memorable and they are "real" people with idiosyncrasies and lives beyond the events of the story. Duran creates a sense of depth, that the characters are moving from point A to point B in their lives and then the young boy's resurrection throws up a road block in everyone's path.

For my survey of the characters, I'll begin with the creepiest and work my way up.

Mr. Cellophane--Clark's name for him--is the "thing" that haunts Clark's church office, hovering in a corner at the end of a bookcase. It's never clear exactly what Mr. Cellophane is: ghost, disembodied spirit, demon, or something else. In a short essay at the end of the novel, Duran discusses the various possibilities and their theological implications but never answers the question. "What I am advocating," Duran writes, "is a world view that tolerates (at least in a 'fictional' sense) a being that defies neat categorization" (p. 300). Duran's description of Mr. Cellophane is rich and memorable.
The specter ... watched him with sallow eyes. An opaque, gauzy sheath seemed to cloak the presence. Pale organs throbbed beneath its translucent skin. It appeared to be a young man, or the remnants of one, caught between worlds (p. 1).
Mr. Cellophane is one of Clark's many secrets, issues that he would like to ignore. Clark fears the specter will one day materialize during a meeting with a parishioner or, worse yet, the elders. Mr. Cellophane appears to Ruby when she meets with Clark to discuss the resurrection and communicates with her. Later, we learn that the apparition is connected with the gifts that Professor Keen has been sending to Clark. Later in the story, Mr. Cellophane turns up and performs some pyrotechnics at an opportune moment for Clark's well-being.   

Weighing in at number two on the creepy scale is Professor Benjamin Keen who once taught at Clark's seminary but was forced to resign for his heretical beliefs. Keen has since become an anthropologist, focusing on religion, and has recently published a book titled The Myth of Religion. Keen lives on an isolated ranch decorated with ritual masks gathered during his travels. He also keeps a manservant named Mr. O and a squawking parrot named Jade. Keen is a proponent of syncretism and heads a coterie of like-minded intellectuals into which Keen is anxious to introduce Clark. Keen frequently refers to Clark as the "Wandering Soul," an epitaph which Clark later learns to his horror has a very specific meaning. When Clark attends the meeting of the syncretism group, Keen shows him a room dedicated to the pantheons of various pagan religions. A stone altar rests on a dais at the room's center and an obsidian dagger is on display. On closer inspection, Clark realizes that the altar is not decorative. It has been used.

A number of minor creepy characters also warrant mention. In Purple Maze, one of the downtown occult shops, Ruby and her prayer group friends encounter Gwen, the store's owner. The store occupies the land on which White Creek Chapel once stood. Gwen is plump with pomegranate-dyed hair and green fingernails shaped to points. She keeps a massive iguana as a pet and considers herself a witch although her incantations have no effect on Ruby and friends. Gwen also hates Christians. Coy Barkham, a wealthy businessman whose roots in the community go back multiple generations, is the head of the board of elders at  Canyon Springs Community Church. He is intimidating physically with a forceful personality to match. The elders bend to his will. Barkham's grandfather profited from the fire that destroyed White Creek Chapel, which occupied prime real estate and therefore stood in the way of commercial development. Clark's historical research uncovers Barkham's business connections but he is unprepared for the depth of Barkham's greed and duplicity. Mace Wilflee is a reporter for the Rippington Weekly, a tabloid that wants a piece of Ruby's story. Wilflee is sleazy and annoying and above all, relentless in his pursuit of some kind of story. Duran's description says it all.
[Wilflee] wore wraparound sunglasses, the kind that looked very cool or very trendy, depending on one's hipster IQ. His hair was short and spiky with bleached ends; his polyester shirt was unbuttoned enough to expose a tanned chest draped with excessive jewelry (p. 122).
Ian Clark and Ruby Case serve as the protagonists for The Resurrection and everything is seen through their perspectives. The events transform both of them. Clark moves past the tragedies of his past, regains his purpose and passion for life, and surprises the villains with his new found will to fight for his beliefs. Ruby, who has suffered all her life from a bad hip which causes her to limp, finds her faith reinvigorated. Never one to put herself forward, she accepts leadership when it is thrust upon her and appears willing to make whatever sacrifice necessary for the good of the community.

In his science fiction trilogy, C. S. Lewis describes a universe in which spiritual forces of good and evil are battling over control of Earth, known as the silent planet because the forces of evil occupy it. The fight has been raging for ages with humans wittingly or unwittingly choosing sides. Duran's story presents a similar worldview. Greed leads such characters as Barkham to drift toward the dark side while power appears the chief motivator for Keen. Complacency, as typified by Clark early in the novel, allows those such as Barkham and Keen to operate unchallenged.

If you're looking for a page-turner that will also challenge your concept of the spiritual world, find yourself a copy of The Resurrection.

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of The Resurrection from the publisher.

To read more about Mike Duran and his writing, visit his web site at http://mikeduran.com/.

To learn what the other CSFF bloggers are saying, follow the links below:

Noah Arsenault
Brandon Barr
Red Bissell
Book Reviews By Molly
Keanan Brand
Kathy Brasby
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Melissa Carswell
Christian Fiction Book Reviews
Carol Bruce Collett
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Wanda Costinak
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Janey DeMeo
Cynthia Dyer
Tori Greene
Nikole Hahn
Katie Hart
Joleen Howell
Bruce Hennigan
Becky Jesse

Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Emily LaVigne
Shannon McNear
Matt Mikalatos
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirtika
Joan Nienhuis
Nissa
John W. Otte
Gavin Patchett
Sarah Sawyer
Andrea Schultz
Tammy Shelnut
Kathleen Smith
Donna Swanson
Jessica Thomas
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
Nicole White
Dave Wilson

Monday, March 21, 2011

CSFF Blog Tour: The Resurrection Day One

The ResurrectionThe Resurrection, Mike Duran's debut novel, follows the struggles of Ruby Case and Reverend Ian Clark as they grapple with the aftermath of a miracle and the dark forces that hold sway in the small coastal town of Stonetree. The novel combines aspects of a thriller, ghost story, and detective story. Duran attacks the evils of greed and complacency but his prose is never preachy. The characters and their stories remain always at the forefront.

The story begins with a haunting and a vision. Ever since accepting the position at Canyon Springs Community Church, Clark has been visited by a ghost in his office. The translucent figure of a young man hovers near the end of a bookcase but says nothing. Clark, whose faith and ministry are in steep decline, has taken to ignoring the apparition until it goes away, a metaphor for Clark's approach to his life's problems. He intends to resign in days and leave the ministry behind. The vision appears to Ruby on a Sunday morning during her weekly prayer meeting with her two friends. Duran describes her vision with precise and engaging details.

It was stark in its simplicity: an immense gray tree with barren, arthritic limbs tilted on a high hill. Behind it stretched an unending curtain of crimson sky.... The tree towered over her, its skeletal limbs like a vast umbrella speckled with blackbirds.... As she studied it, her thoughts went to a single leaf blooming on a craggy bough, bright and green like newly sprung grass (p. 4).

The tree is an ancient, dead oak in an abandoned cemetery at the top of a high bluff overlooking the ocean and the town of Stonetree. That evening, Ruby attends the funeral of a co-worker's child. Ruby touches the body when filing past with the other mourners and to everyone's shock, the boy sits up in his casket, alive and disoriented. It appears that a genuine miracle has occurred.

Some hail Ruby as a saint and healer. A long line of the sick and desperate come to her home for help, and despite her husband's advice to ignore them, Ruby cannot turn them away although her efforts to perform another miracle fail. Other elements in the community have a different take on Ruby's miracle. Some are skeptical that anything really miraculous has happened. One of the church elders argues that God doesn't speak through housewives. The elders of Ruby's church vote to downplay the incident. Clark acquiesces to the chairman's strong-arm tactics, but he believes something has happened and whatever it is has challenged his beliefs and interrupted his plans to flee the ministry. Another element in the town, centered in a row of shops in the town square that sell occult paraphernalia, is fearful. The morning after the miracle, Ruby and her husband discover a strange figurine made of plant and animal parts in their front yard with a cryptic message inside.

The plot of The Resurrection is complicated. Working in parallel and later together, Ruby and Clark delve into the history of the town of Stonetree and the curse which casts a shadow over the region. Clark and Ruby come face-to-face with evil and Clark barely escapes a sacrificial altar. I will not try to summarize the events and discoveries here. I won't do the story justice and I don't want to spoil your fun if you have not read the novel. It's a cliche to say that "you feel like you're there" when reading a book, but that compliment is especially applicable to Duran's writing. He builds up his characters and their environment with telling details. As a tree-lover, I am particularly impressed with the range of trees that Duran mentions.

Duran populates his story with a wide array of fascinating and well-drawn characters in addition to Ruby and Clark. Tomorrow, I'll discuss some of the major characters.

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of The Resurrection from the publisher.

To read more about Mike Duran and his writing, visit his web site at http://mikeduran.com/.

To learn what the other CSFF bloggers are saying, follow the links below:

Noah Arsenault
Brandon Barr
Red Bissell
Book Reviews By Molly
Keanan Brand
Kathy Brasby
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Melissa Carswell
Christian Fiction Book Reviews
Carol Bruce Collett
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Wanda Costinak
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Janey DeMeo
Cynthia Dyer
Tori Greene
Nikole Hahn
Katie Hart
Joleen Howell
Bruce Hennigan
Becky Jesse

Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Emily LaVigne
Shannon McNear
Matt Mikalatos
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirtika
Joan Nienhuis
Nissa
John W. Otte
Gavin Patchett
Sarah Sawyer
Andrea Schultz
Tammy Shelnut
Kathleen Smith
Donna Swanson
Jessica Thomas
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
Nicole White
Dave Wilson

Friday, March 18, 2011

Another Diner Post

I have another post up at The Midnight Diner blog. This one spotlights Brian J. Hatcher and his story "The Clockworks of Hell." It's a fascinating story about a minister and a curious timepiece, reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." You can read the whole story in The Midnight Diner, Volume 3.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Midnight Diner Post

I volunteered to be a columnist for the Midnight Diner. My first post (Blinded by the Light: Spotlight on Eric Ortlund’s “A Thousand Flowers”) is now up at the Diner site. It features an interview with Eric and some commentary on his story. Look for more of these in the future as I spotlight the stories from The Midnight Diner.