Hear Ye, Hear Ye ... I have returned!
Yes, it has been around six months since my last blog post.
Kind of forgot about me, didn't you?
No, over the last three months I've been writing and publishing a book.
Yes, miracles do take place, even in today's world.
Seriously, I decided to get off my duff (as others have been after me to do for years), and write a book. So ... I did!
Now, you're probably saying to yourself,
"Rich is known for sarcasm and humor.
What the hell is this? Horror? Rich?
You've got to be kidding!"
Actually, if you check out the tabs above, you'll see a couple for Gabriela, The Demon Cat. I wrote these many years ago on Hubpages and went through pure hell with their moderators. With the changes they required, the stories lost some of their substance. I got aggravated with the site and moved them all here. (Check them out sometime if you get a chance, but remember they are covered by copyright laws.)
I was faced with a decision when determining the type of book to write. I could 1) make it a humorous fare and do my best to make people laugh 2) make it a political satire and demonstrate that politics are nothing more than a game to keep the rich from being bored, or 3) I could combine #1 & #2 and write a Horror story!
I picked #3 ... but with no politics whatsoever.
There were things I wanted to cover in this writing:
- Narcissism and Control Freaks,
- Sociopathic behavior,
- Love and the time it takes to develop trust,
- How fanatics can influence our lives and behaviors,
- What it's like to get old and find yourself not able to achieve the things you once did.
I attempted, and several of my advance readers have said I accomplished, to do this by intertwining the relationships of four couples and an outsider. It was my desire to get the reader to know the characters so they could make up their own minds on whether to love or hate them. One of my readers stated, "I couldn't believe it. You actually made me cry."
That was my intent in that part of the story.
Oh, and let's not forget, along with the human characters, Horror stories need a demon or ghost or monster or something involving the Paranormal to succeed.
This one has that, too!
Now, my next task was to make the story unlike any other so that the ending would be unpredictable. I think when you read this you'll find there are four surprises that take place, so you'll have to read it all the way through the Epilogue to find them. You may guess one of them, and those randomly shooting out possibilities may get two right, but the other two are surprises that you may find happy or sad. It's up to you.
If you're familiar with my writing, you know I strive to achieve what I call "Common Folk Language" or "Simpleze", both my own terms for what I work for. I remember having to pause time and time again to look up words in my youth and then fight to get the story line back. It's not my goal to educate one's vocabulary. Instead, my goal is to present a story in words simple enough for one to enjoy without having to stop and search a word's meaning. Some of the best storytellers in the world do so around a campfire, where no dictionary is present. And, after all, isn't fiction just storytelling?
Horror Across the Alley isn't your typical horror story. Many of today's writers concentrate totally on the entity and leave the people behind, or use them as throw away characters. People aren't meant to be treated that way.
So, in closing, Horror Across The Alley will make you wonder what's taking place the next time you hear a door slam or see new neighbors moving in next door. Are your neighbors enjoying life as they present themselves to be, or are they hiding secrets that shouldn't be shared? Where do you find safety when there is none? And, who or what are the enemies of whom we need to be wary.
Guess you're going to have to read it to find out!
I thank you in advance for doing so!
