OMINOUS 13 Dark Fiction Author Interview Series: WILLIAM COOK

OMINOUS 13 Dark Fiction Author Interview Series: WILLIAM COOK




Hi William, thanks for agreeing to this interview for my Ominous 13 dark fiction author spotlight series! For starters, let me note that as far as dark fiction, or the macabre, goes, your work is about impressive as it gets: very dark, very creepy. Is it easy for you to get into that kind of vibe to create your dark works?

Thanks Paul – I have always had a morbid fascination with the darker things in life so I am usually in that state of mind anyway. I do use certain techniques to raise the energy/darkness levels when it comes to writing horror. Some things I do to get ideas and the heartbeat racing are to listen to my favorite music while I’m tapping away on the keyboard. I listen to a lot of soundtracks, horror and otherwise. Some of my favorites include the soundtracks to Halloween, Taxi Driver, Maniac (Jay Chattaway), Hannibal etc and other albums from Acanthus, Fantomas, and anything by Danny Elfman and Joel McNeely, to name a few. I have a small study room lined with a lifetime’s collection of horror books and related ephemera which certainly helps ‘ set the mood’ so to speak. So I guess it is relatively easy for me to get a dark ‘vibe’ going, although I wish it was as simple to get the motivation flowing, to actually write something down.

I read in an interview with you by another dark fiction author, Donald White, where you stated that personal tragedy seemed to lead you in the direction of creating dark fiction. Did it help you find closure at all?

On some level I think that the process of writing is cathartic, if not for any other reason than just getting thoughts and emotion on the page. Personal tragedy does provide grist for the mill, so to speak, but “finding closure” through the act of writing about it, does not necessarily happen because one writes about it. Events never happen verbatim in my stories; on some level the event or experience may be retold but usually I prefer to use an analogous situation to relay my personal feelings. I make stories from experiences and that’s all there is to it most times, although the event in question to which you refer (murder/suicide of close friends) will become a story/novella at some point in 2014. I feel the need to tell the event from my own perspective and to impart the message within the story, that suicide has no mercy on anyone that survives.



Your recent work, Fresh Fear anthology, ranks #1 Best Horror Anthologies. Congratulations. How do you manage to get so many great authors to collaborate with you on projects such as this?

http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Fear-James-Ward-Kirk/dp/0615915523/ref=la_B003PA513I_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386895456&sr=1-1

Thank you. Fresh Fear was my ‘outside’ project for 2013. I have worked in publishing as a sub-editor and a proof-reader in the past and wanted to reinvent myself. I put the anthology together as a labor of love as much as it is/was a career move. I have been a ‘stay at home dad’ for the past five years and have some serious gaps in my CV which have me concerned with the inevitable return to the work force just around the corner. Hopefully it won’t be the last of such projects as I found the whole experience to be challenging and rewarding. Hey, I managed to get stories from the likes of Ramsey Campbell, Jack Dann, Robert Dunbar, JF Gonzalez, Billie Sue Mosiman and one of my personal favorites – the fantastic Charlee Jacob. Admittedly, the stories from Campbell, Dann, Dunbar and Gonzalez are reprints but they are no less powerful examples of the horror genre than the day they were crafted. I approached a lot of the authors mainly through social networking sites like FaceBook and Goodreads etc. I crafted a well thought out introductory letter to let them know what it was I had in mind with the anthology. I designed the cover and used that to solicit stories and interest in the anthology and as a result word of mouth spread and the submissions started rolling in. I sent personal invitations to most of the authors included in Fresh Fear and was very pleased with the response. A number of the authors have been online friends for a number of years, which definitely made it easier; I have only met one of them in person, fellow New Zealander Tim Jones, who is a fine writer and was high on my wish list from day one.

So To me, horror, like sex, is like a universal language. Being a New Zealander, what is the horror culture like there?

Well, New Zealand (NZ) is a small country and is still relatively young compared to the rest of the world. Our literary traditions stem back to England and as a result English literary tradition has steeped most of the work produced here. As far as Horror goes as a genre, film production/movies have the strongest output as part of the horror genre. Most people think of Peter Jackson (Bad Taste, Brain Dead, The Frighteners etc) as New Zealand’s only producer of Horror films but we have other talented directors such as DavidBlyth (Death Warmed Up, Angel Mine, Wound) and others like Paul Campion, Glenn Standring, and Garth Maxwell to name a few. We don’t have any horror conventions etc – the closest we come is something called Armageddon – which is more of a pop culture convention. The first real Horror novel produced in NZ (in my opinion) was ‘The Scarecrow’ by Ronald Hugh Morrieson, followed closely by Maurice Gee’s ‘Fire Starter.’ More recently we have begun to produce authors who write what would be considered ‘Horror,’ examples include: Paul Mannering, Tim Jones, Paul Haines, Lee Pletzers, Cat Connor, Rocky Wood, Marty Young and Tracie McBride. There are a few fledgling presses set up now who publish ‘Spec fiction,’ which tends to incorporate fantasy, horror, steampunk and dark fiction but none of the subsidiaries of the traditional publishers seem interested in NZ Horror to date.  Most of our Horror writers (myself included) tend to write with an American or English audience in mind so it is quite hard to pin-point a distinctively unique NZ horror perspective or voice. I have recently set up a FB group called New Zealand Horror Writers and hope to setup an accompanying website early 2014. I feel we have enough talented writers of horror here in NZ to start a bit of a groundswell now and to let the world know that the horror genre is alive and well in Aotearoa (indigenous New Zealand).

You seem like a tireless worker, William, with novels, short stories, cover art and poetry to your credit. Which comes first, the story or the accompanying art?

I’m a very visual person and before I ever started writing horror stories I was drawing monsters and skulls. When I write I tend to plot/think in cinematic terms – Blood Related for example was written with a movie in mind. Ie, I wrote it with a view to develop the story as a screenplay eventually. Sometimes when I’m doing a cover design for someone I will go off on a tangent and create something that I’ll attempt to transcribe to the page as a written story. Most of my art is character based and it does help to develop story characters and their various attributes in a visually compelling way (I hope so at least).  But for me the two don’t necessarily go together and I quiet often use the different mediums (art + writing) as a form of relief from each other when things get a bit wrought.



From reading your biography, you’ve worked quite a bit of odd jobs, from making rat poison to working in meat packing. Which was the absolute worst of these?

Oh man, I’ve had a few shitty jobs. Probably the worst one was when I worked for a huge chemical company as a process worker bottling something called Baquashock, which is basically concentrated hydrochloric acid used for cleaning swimming pools. I can remember having to wear a disposable full body suit with gloves and gas mask but having on occasion splashes of the liquid burn the pigment from my skin leaving white marks on my flesh. On Friday nights after work they had a social club and I’d only need two-three beers and I’d be nearly rolling on the floor – the chemicals seemed to enhance the effects of alcohol, which made the job bearable.

You seemed to have done a bit of everything in the macabre horror genre, except movies. Is there a certain work of yours that you feel would translate best into video form?

Yes. I’d love to see Blood Related made into a film one day – as I mentioned above, I wrote it with this view in mind. I am also currently working on an approved novelization of a great New Zealand Horror movie by director David Blyth, called ‘Wound.’

For someone totally unfamiliar with your work, which of your works would be a good starting point to discover the darkest nature of your work?

‘Creep’ is an easy read at about a 10k word count and has received many favorable reviews. I think it’s one of my better works and it also happens to be the first story in an exciting and gritty new psychological thriller series. Here’s the blurb – “Cassandra: Hunter of Darkness, is a hero to the victim and a merciless angel of death to the evil ones. A killer of killers, she strikes fear into the hearts of those who get their kicks off hurting others. Join Cassandra on her quest for justice and revenge as she begins her journey into the dark underbelly of serial murder and takes care of business, as only she knows how.”

http://www.amazon.com/CREEP-Book-Cassandra-Hunter-Darkness-ebook/dp/B00CSGOUAK/ref=la_B003PA513I_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386898237&sr=1-9


Which do you prefer writing: novels, short stories or poetry?

I love writing short stories but I’m looking forward to writing my second novel. I actually started writing poetry seriously before short fiction and I feel that poetry prepared me for prose with a good understanding of cadence, strong imagery, and most importantly an ability to use language/words economically. The novella is my preferred format/word length as it seems to have many positive spin-offs in that if it’s too short it still works as a piece of short fiction and if it’s too long it can easily be worked up to novel length. So next year, I plan on writing at least three novellas and I hope that will result in at least one novel length work.

What are your current projects and what can we expect from William Cook in the future?

I am currently working on the novelization of David Blyth’s movie ‘Wound’ and expect to have that completed (pitch ready) by March 2014.  I’m also halfway through the sequel to ‘Blood Related’ and hope to have that completed mid-2014. I’m also working on a collaborative novel/novella with friend and publisher James Ward Kirk and have a collection of short fiction nearly ready for submission, amongst other things.

If someone wanted to inquire about working with you on a cover project, what is the best way to reach you and even more importantly, what would make you interested?

Come and check out my design website – http://bloodsoakedgraphics.tumblr.com. There you’ll find prices, examples and testimonials from other clients. I am cutting back on my cover designs in 2014 to concentrate on my writing but I’m always interested in interesting projects. My main website has plenty of contact details/links also – http://williamcookwriter.com

Being a single father of three, I can totally respect your role of father to young girls. I often have to flip the switch from creator of darkness to big softy, often at the blink of an eye. Do your girls have any idea what your macabre works are about and do how do you manage to delve in and out of those roles?

No, they’re too young to know what I do although they do comment on my ‘spooky books’ etc. I have two older girls also (25 yr olds) who like reading similar books and seem to respect my obsession with writing and creating horror. I write in the evenings and when my youngest are at school/pre-school so I always keep my work separate from them really. I definitely have two separate realities in that respect.

Thanks for your time, William! It was a great pleasure digging into the mind of a great creator of darkness!!



Twitter - @williamcook666

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SOURCE

 

Paul Mannering, Tim Jones, Paul Haines, Lee Pletzers, Cat Connor, Rocky Wood, Marty Young, Tracie McBride, David Blyth, Paul DeThroe, James Ward Kirk, Peter Jackson, Paul Campion, Glenn Standring, Garth Maxwell, Ramsey Campbell, Jack Dann, Robert Dunbar, JF Gonzalez, Billie Sue Mosiman, Charlee Jacob, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, LinkedIn, Google +, #Horror, #Writing, #Interview, William Cook

New Release - Kim Cresswell's 'Lethal Journey'.



Recently a friend of mine, award-winning author Kim Cresswell, told me about her upcoming release 'Lethal Journey,' and I quickly volunteered to do a feature on her and her book. Kim is a lovely person and her writing is of a quality and standard worthy of praise, so it is without hesitation that I present her and her latest work to you.

 
Kim lives in Ontario, Canada and has been a story-teller all her life. After working in legal and adult education for most of her adult life she has thankfully returned to her first love, writing.

Her debut thriller, REFLECTION, has won numerous awards, including the UP Authors Fiction Challenge Winner (2013), Silicon Valley's Romance Writers of America (RWA) "Gotcha!" Romantic Suspense Winner (2004) and an Honourable Mention in Calgary's (RWA) The Writer's Voice Contest (2006).

LETHAL JOURNEY was a finalist in From the Heart Romance Writers (FTHRW) Golden Gate Contest (2003).

Her action-packed thrillers have been highly praised by reviewers and readers worldwide. As one reviewer said, "Buckle up, Hang on tight!"

Kim also recently entered the True Crime arena. Her latest story about accused Canadian killer, Cody Legebokoff, will be featured in Serial Killer Quarterly, a new e-magazine published by Grinning Man Press which debuts in December 2013. Her short story collection, Real Life Evil - A True Crime Quickie will release in January 2014.


 LETHAL JOURNEY 


Lethal Journey is a novella inspired by Kim's fascination with the Mafia and her love of action-packed thrillers.


 Lethal Journey900 

A killer lurks in the shadows of Hyde Park, New York…waiting.

Manhattan District Attorney, Lauren Taylor, is about to take on the most important case of her career, prosecuting Gino Valdina, acting mob boss of New York’s most influential crime syndicate.

For three decades, Gino Valdina has led New York’s Valdina crime family. Since his recent indictment for murder, the leadership of the family is in turmoil, appalled by the death of one of their own, Gino’s wife, Madelina. Without the support of the family behind him, Valdina will do anything to save himself.

But Lauren soon discovers, things aren’t always as they seem when she’s tossed into a mystery, a deadly conspiracy that reaches far beyond the criminal underworld and a journey into the past makes her a target…and anyone she’s ever loved.


Holiday Special! On Sale for a limited time for $0.99!


NEWRELEASE2 

Purchase a copy now!
Also available in paperback at Amazon and Createspace!

Praise

“An entertaining and complex novella with some solid twists at the end.” Cheryl Kaye Tardif, international bestselling author of SUBMERGED

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“High tension, high intrigue, and an angry mob boss put young Assistant DA Lauren Taylor on the defensive as she prepares for the biggest courtroom case of her life. All she has to do is stay alive long enough to put the head of one of New York’s biggest crime families behind bars, and the jury is out on whether she can pull that off. Her greatest ally is a man she knew and loved long ago, who shredded her heart as his own demons of guilt tried to drown him in an alcohol induced haze.  
Lethal Journey by Kim Cresswell hits the ground running and does not stop! Are people as they seem or is there more to them? As the attempts on her life escalate and people close to her go missing, Lauren doesn’t have many options on who to trust. Enter the one man who broke her heart, Eric, a homicide detective who has also felt the burn of getting too close to the mob. Can Lauren trust him? Does she have a choice? It would be so much easier if her heart would stay out of it, wouldn’t it?
 
Kim Cresswell’s talent shines through again! With a talent for setting the stage, bringing in the characters and cuing the action, she held me from page one. She is not afraid to write a tale that is real, where the good guys do not go unscathed and they are not perfect. There is grit in her style, and when she says you are in a warehouse with a stench, you smell it. The romantic tension runs high, and using character flashbacks to the past not only builds on the development of each character as a flesh and blood entity, but serve to eventually bring everything full circle with an ending that you will NOT see coming!”Tome Tender’s Book Blog 


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“Lethal Journey, a fast-paced novella hits all the points of a romantic murder mystery. The protagonist is Lauren Taylor, the prosecutor in the trial of a Mafia crime boss who once before slid out from under the punishment he so deserves. Her father is the district attorney, both enmeshed in a tragic family history they can’t leave behind. Eric Brennan is the tough police detective, who moves in and out of Lauren’s life as their sometimes love connection flourishes and then falls apart. There are other great characters in this drama who deftly fill in the blanks as the plot of murder, deception and tenuous connections twist into a knot that defies the reader to solve the mystery and unearth the true antagonist. Be prepared for a surprise ending that will blow you away. It’s a quick read that will keep your attention. Kudos to Kim Cresswell for a job well done.” - Review by Fran Orenstein, Sunwriter


Need more convincing? Here's an excerpt from Lethal Journey

"Eric slowed the Mustang to a crawl and searched the street for his informant, Jimmy Flame. This part of Brooklyn had it all — garbage, graffiti and gangs — a snake pit where debts were paid in blood. As it turned out, he spotted the lanky twenty-something-drug-dealer strolling up the sidewalk.


Eric didn’t trust the scar-faced kid dressed in clothes three sizes too big, but Jimmy knew the streets and somehow stayed clear of the gangs. A real miracle. He also knew Jimmy would be discreet, if he knew what was good for him.


Eric pulled the car over and stopped. Jimmy looked him square in the eye, turned, and kept walking. Eric jumped out of the car and snatched the back of Jimmy’s shirt. “We need to talk.” He whirled him around.

“Hey, you promised you’d only come around at night.” Jimmy scanned up and down the street clearly worried someone might see him with a cop.
“It’s important. Get in.”

Jimmy hopped into the car and scrunched down low in the passenger seat. Eric started the engine and glanced at Jimmy’s low riding jeans. “How the hell can you wear those baggy ass pants? They should be outlawed.”

“What man? You don’t like my gear? These pants are cool.” Jimmy ran his hand over his knee. “What’s so important?”
“Heard anything about prosecutor Stephen Taylor or the new district attorney?” Jimmy kept one hand clutched on the door handle.

Convinced the kid might bolt if he had the chance, Eric sped up.


“I ain’t heard nothing on the DA, but—”

“If you know something, spit it out. I’m not in the mood for games.” Eric looked at him. 

Jimmy’s shaved head glistened with sweat in the early morning sun.


“Man you’re gonna get me killed.” Jimmy sank back into the seat, his fingers tightened around the handle of the door. “Some dude was looking for someone to put the scare into Taylor and the DA. I never saw him, but one of my boys told the guy to hit the road. The deal didn’t smell right. Something was way off.”

“How did Paul Cassico end up dead?”


Jimmy lit a cigarette and took an extra-long drag. “Cassico is a small-time bookie, you know, neighborhood shit, horse races and fights. Valdina learned the guy would be cooperating with the feds so Valdina had one of his crew take him out.”

“Did Cassico ever mention who killed my father?”

“The stupid shit went around flappin’ his gums. Said he knew who shot the cop in the warehouse drug deal. He also said he’d make a large stash when he went to the cops.”


Eric’s heart pounded. “Did he give a name, Jimmy?”

“Nope.”

“Shit. I need to find the shooter.”

“I don’t wanna get involved with Valdina’s crew. You’re talking Mafia.” Jimmy shook his head. “Man. I’m too young to die.”


Eric could tell by the quiver in the kid’s voice, he was scared. Something he’d never seen before. “Has someone threatened you?”

“Not yet. They will as soon as I start asking questions.”

“You’re smart. You’ll find a way to get the info. Besides, if you piss me off, I’ll drag your drug-pedalling ass off to jail. You understand?”


Jimmy remained silent for a moment. “Man, you’re a hard-ass.”

“Find out what you can.” Eric steered the car into an empty parking lot and tossed fifty bucks at him. “I’ll be back in a couple of days and watch your back.”


As Eric pulled away, he heard Jimmy call him an asshole. Okay, he deserved that. And yeah, he was tough on the kid when he needed to be. It was all part of the job. He liked Jimmy, but he’d never admit it. From what he just witnessed, Jimmy was scared shitless and that worried Eric even more."

Buy Lethal Journey now at the special introductory price of $0.99 and SAVE $3.00!




http://kimberleycresswell.wordpress.com/lethal-journey/



Kim Cresswell, New Release, Books, Author, Press Release, Feature, Reflection, Lethal Journey, Amazon, Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, Barnes & Noble, Itunes, Smashwords 

MARK EDWARD HALL - 'SOUL THIEF' - NEW RELEASE ANNOUNCED

I'd like to introduce Mark Edward Hall, a wonderful author of fast-paced thrillers and beautifully haunting horror stories. 


I first met (albeit online) Mark when we shared a TOC in a horror anthology (Masters of Horror) back in 2010. Since then, we have remained online friends and I'm pleased to announce he has a new novel out called Soul Thief, which is the follow up to his fantastic novel Apocalypse Island. Anyway, without further ado here is the lowdown on the enigma that is Mark Edward Hall.

Mark Edward Hall has worked at a variety of professions including hunting and fishing guide, owner of a recording studio, singer/songwriter in several rock n' roll bands. He also worked in the aerospace industry on a variety of projects including the space shuttle and the Viking Project, the first Mars lander, of which the project manager was one of his idols, Carl Sagan. He went to grammar school in Durham, Maine with Stephen King, and in the early 1990s decided to get serious with his own desire to write fiction. His first short story, Bug Shot was published in 1995. His critically acclaimed supernatural thriller, The Lost Village was published in 2003. Since then he has published many books including his bestselling novella, The Haunting of Sam Cabot, his bestselling independent ebook, Servants of Darkness and his acclaimed thriller novel, Apocalypse Island. Soul Thief is his latest novel and is available now.

http://www.markedwardhall.com/




Soul Thief is the second novel in the Blue Light series. The first novel is Apocalypse Island. Although Soul Thief is a stand alone novel, it would be best if you read Apocalypse Island first.


http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Thief-Supernatural-Thriller-Light-ebook/dp/B00F3IZ6IA/ref=la_B002X7W2BI_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385153695&sr=1-1


Here’s a description of Soul Thief:

The Brotherhood of the Order is one of the oldest and most mysterious organizations on earth. Its primary mission is to protect one of the most carefully guarded secrets in human history, an object so enigmatic and powerful that in the wrong hands it could wreak havoc upon the earth. In the right hands it just might have the power to save humanity from its own destructive impulses.

Doug McArthur, hit in the face by a young friend at the age of seven, is suddenly able to see a supernatural creature who calls itself Collector. Doug’s life is turned upside down when he realizes that it’s not just the creature he sees, but the atrocities it commits.

Since marrying Annie his visions have been quiet and Doug is grateful. Now Annie is pregnant with their first child—a child that promises to be special—and their world is in the process of coming apart, beginning with the destruction of their home and forcing them to run for their lives, back into the world of Annie’s childhood, the De RochĆ© dynasty, to a murdered mother and a cruel and enigmatic father.

Doug, whose love for Annie borders on the obsessive, has a deep and abiding hate for her father. He is nearly insane with grief over their plight, but soon finds that De RochĆ© is the least of his worries when he begins to hear the pleading voice of a lost child that he cannot possibly save. And then, in the midst of Annie’s mother’s funeral, Doug is given a strange artifact, along with a dire warning by a dying priest. He must leave Annie and his unborn child and begin a sojourn into the darkest regions of the human heart.

In his attempt to save his wife and unborn child, Doug finds that there is much more at stake than the lives of two people, perhaps the very salvation of the human soul.

Soul Thief is the second novel in the Blue Light Series, a supernatural thriller that will keep you guessing until the stunning conclusion.

Look for On the Night Wind, the third book in the Blue Light Series, scheduled for publication in 2014.



 
Check out the following links for other great titles and interesting information about the man himself.


 Apocalypse Island 
 



Mark Edward Hall, Writer, Author, Feature, New Release, Amazon, Kindle, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace


 

Bram Stoker Awards - Fresh Fear for consideration in Anthology category.

Any HWA members who would like a free copy of Fresh Fear: Contemporary Horror, re. consideration for the Bram Stoker Awards, please let me know and I'll forward you a copy (PDF, EPup/Nook, & Mobi/Kindle available). 


Anyone else (non HWA members incl) who would like a copy for review purposes please let me know via email or in the comments section below. Regards, William Cook (Facebook).




Click on the cover to buy the Kindle version - only $4.99

Here is the link for submitting a 2013 Bram Stoker Award Recommendation: http://horror.org/subhub/index.php?sid=76262

All nominations/recommendations must be made by November 30, 2013.

http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Fear-Contemporary-Ramsey-Campbell-ebook/dp/B00GMRDRU0/ref=la_B003PA513I_1_22?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384460459&sr=1-22

James Ward Kirk Fiction, Horror Writers Association, Bram Stoker Awards, HWA, William Cook, Fresh Fear, Amazon, Kindle, Nook

Special Request to my Readers

Hi everyone, just a short post with an important request to any of you who have read any of my titles. 2013 is rolling along quickly with the new year looming in the horizon, that means it is time for nominations for the 'This is Horror Awards' 2013. 

http://www.thisishorror.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/This-Is-Horror-Logo-Main.jpg

Any of you who have read any of my titles (released between Oct '12 and Oct '13) and enjoyed them, I'd really appreciate a nomination from you via the following link (very quick and easy to do) or via the email address listed below. The following titles are eligible for nomination in the appropriate category: 

Blood Related - Novel of the Year

Death Quartet - Short Story Collection of the Year

Creep + Devil Inside - Short Fiction of the Year 
(Chapbooks and Novellas)

  
For those of you who take the time to vote and show your support I thank you sincerely. For any of you who haven't read any of these titles and would like a free copy so you can make an honest vote - please leave a comment below and I will send you a free ebook version of your choice.

Here is the lowdown from the This Is Horror site - you can nominate from their site or via the email address listed below.

After two successful years the This Is Horror Awards are back!
The first stage of the This Is Horror Awards 2013 begins now. Readers can e-mail in their nominations for each of the fifteen Award categories. Taking into consideration the nominations for each category This Is Horror will then draw up a shortlist.
The nominations stage runs from 1 November 2013 through until 14 November 2013.

Rules

  1. To be eligible for an award, where applicable, the creative work (video game, film, book etc) must have been released between October 21, 2012 and October 31, 2013. This means that the first release – DVD release in the case of films – must have occurred within the above time period. The season nominated for ‘TV Series of the Year’ must have concluded for it to be eligible.
  2. You may only nominate two items per category, if you nominate more than two This Is Horror will only recognise your first two nominations.
  3. You may nominate in as many categories as you like.
  4. Do not send in a nomination for your own work or anything which you are affiliated with.
  5. All nominations must be emailed to awards@thisishorror.co.uk with the subject line ‘This Is Horror Award Nominations 2013′
The award categories are as follows
  • Novel of the Year
  • Film of the Year
  • TV Series of the Year
  • Comic of the Year
  • Short Story Collection of the Year
  • Short Fiction of the Year (Chapbooks and Novellas)
  • Anthology of the Year
  • Publisher of the Year
  • Magazine of the Year
  • UK Event of the Year
  • Soundtrack of the Year
  • Video Game of the Year
  • Tattoo Artist of the Year
  • Artist of the Year
  • Podcast of the Year
Public nominations close at 12:01am on 14 November 2013.
Please note for obvious reasons no This Is Horror publications may be considered for a This Is Horror Award.


Kind Regards

Will

Source: http://www.thisishorror.co.uk/horror-awards-2013-public-nominations-open/?utm_source=This+Is+Horror+Newsletter&utm_campaign=338dacff99-Newsletter6_24_2012&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c3320e40eb-338dacff99-62487389


This is Horror Awards, Awards, Horror, Nominations, Blood Related, Devil Inside, Creep, Death Quartet, William Cook

Poetry Review

Recently Anthony Servante reviewed some of my poetry on his thought-provoking blog, Servante of Darkness: Horror, SF, and Noir. Words & Sounds for the Living. Here is an abridged version of the post, the full version can be found at the link above including features/reviews on other writers like Michael H. Hanson and Mark McLaughlin.
 
*****


William Cook

Author Links:

Follow William on Twitter - @williamcook666



Poem #1
  
Lest We Forget
By William Cook 

We forgot the death-white burden
that lay curled explodingly
on the flat line between here and there

we forgot the gaping pit
of atmosphere that singed the soil
and us that burnt it there above

we forgot the airborne tumours
of ignorance and time that swells
beyond our grasping paws of greed

we forgot the twisting paths
of molecules denied of science
and therefore from our perception

we forgot our mortality
in the feast of fire and flood
as we wash our hands with famine
swill it down with cups of blood

and we forgot that which we taught
to all the objects of our need
that all that grows beyond its use
holds no measure we shall heed

from alpha to omega
we have joined our ends to end
we have bridged between the islands
drained all wells to poisoned sand

we forgot our search for new air
is subconscious flight for fear that
courage is the vice of dumb pride
that shakes and billows rage
in every new-found virgin sphere

and we forgot what it was we once loved
and whose back-yard we played and when
the string in the labyrinth would snap
and disappear in burning cloud of dissolving day

and finally we just simply forgot, because we could not remember
because we could not forget.


Review:

William Cook's poem, Lest We Forget, is a reminder to remember the things in life we choose to forget. But rather than give us a laundry list of events to consider, we get a sequence of metaphors at once recognizable but vague enough to work at a subliminal level. Consider the “death-white burden” that lays “explodingly” on a flat line. Subconsciously we think of an electrocardiogram as “death” and “flatline” (sic) parallel one another, except that it “explodes”, implying a spike, or a labored life, the “burden” mentioned in the line. Furthermore, besides forgetting “life”, we forgot about the ozone that we “burnt” a hole in, allowing ultraviolet light to pour through and “singe” the “soil” (earth). Although the metaphor is not vague, it advances the concept of our (mankind’s) ignorance, our choosing to progress (verb) even as progress (noun) depletes the future. The metaphors culminate with our choice to ignore this depletion and its resultant effects (“poisoned sand”, “dissolving day”, etc). Because William does not send this eco-nightmare message via a flyer or protest march, but rather via poetry, it manages to crawl under our skin and fester, like an ignored infection that threatens to swell to a boil. Cook does not let us off easy. He holds up a mirror to man’s amoral treatment of the future. It is no mistake that we, dear readers, are in the reflection. 
  


Poem #2

Asylum - From the Asylum
By William Cook

Judgment engaged - time’s slave
slips whispers over the shoulder.
Love is the only one to never lie
those branding, burning words
that make the heart grumble
with the cold hands of the stranger’s dominion
presenting polarised arcs, of disparate monologue . . .

What the fuck . . . ?

The long day has only just begun 
and still each evening winds it down.
Still the clock keeps cutting quarters
always gathering doubles,
for the Ark.

For the what . . . ?

Limbs as arrows, chains, and beds 
supported the weighted chest with grief
and sometimes joy. Between
the islands we traverse . . .

Sounds like thighs . . .!

The vessel soaks the sun with journey
as we shed our Winter’s skin - floods
seem far away right now, yet still
the ever eye rings sight. Palladiums
of secrets - carried on caress
of hurried breeze. Kingdoms
of neighbours dissent, are all
of the same suburb on that plane!   

Airplane . . . ?

The same beaches where we bathed
and gave away dead skin, now hold
invisible sacrificial rites - they were always
there, when we were. Still tumbling
birds of prey and pride wrestle
with serpents, under luminous boughs.
and we travel - turns and tides
between these magnets. Eternite

I’m feelin’ pulled both ways . . . !

sides, by side. The age of memory
sweeps shores and provides
such force - behind the oars.
The whip crack that attempts to tame
- tumultuous pump, that billows.
Sucking only air sometimes, like
this warm Etesian air. A cyclone gathers
waves, where earth and sky appear.

That means we’re all gonna die, right . . . ?

But more than that, which sinks beyond
- a secular line of sight and silver
crests the Sun’s slow decline. Dawn’s
ships will still run aground. Raising night.

Raising Cain . . .!

Back on land and back in pain
the movement can seem slow.
The raging current murmurs deep
and only serves to show . . .

The best way down, is to drown . . .

When the eye marries time to the heart’s
blind pull and the blood muscles, bones
of fingers. So cruel – to chaste and touch
with searing fire. They leave the trace
of journey’s charted scars
and the only soothing grace, it seems
- is the dam-burst flood,
of love’s lost dreams. Swimming
in that place between. Where
islands float and birds and serpents
silent scream - Esoteric psalms. At the Night

Or am I awake . . .?


Review:

Asylum - From the Asylum by William Cook deals with biblical promises hidden in half-truths and mythos, an unreachable ken that seems real only in dreams. The problem is: we wake up. The poem begins with “Judgment”, basically where the Bible (with a capital B) ends. Thus the world has ended, The Rapture has passed, The Horn of Gabriel has sounded, The Leviathan has risen, and The AntiChrist is about. It is time to those remaining on our good Earth to be sent to Heaven or Hell. “Love” (for God, for fellow Man?) will be our only truth, and that’s the scary part: Did I choose the right path for this love? Doubles (or couples) are being selected for the Ark, a symbol for those who will be saved (and always between stanzas, in italics, are the reminders that doubt may still be relevant), that this judgment is not real (after the mention of the “doubles for the Ark”, a disembodied voice asks, “For the what …?”). “Birds of prey” (sky) and serpents (earth), evils emerging from all directions, Heaven (God judging) and Hell (Satan creating doubt), create a religious tug-of-war: “I’m feelin’ pulled both ways …!” When doubt dissipates and faith begins to take hold, the “Esoteric psalms”, that is, confuses the nature of faith found in the bible (small “b”), for it is just a book; only with faith can we capitalize the “B”, but how do we acquire faith when doubt makes more sense? The answer becomes clear when it is too late: “At the Night” (capital “N”), and even then, Satan can still win if you believe the Day of Judgment is all a dream (“Or am I awake . . .?”). William Cook grapples with faith and doubt and refuses to offer easy comforts for his readers. And should you, dear readers, be inclined to choose a side, Cook will be there to “pull you both ways.”  
*****

 Michael H. Hanson, Mark McLaughlin, Anthony Servante, Review, Poetry, #FF

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